Variety (February 1957)

RADIO-TELEVISION Tele Followups ; Continued from pa^e 30 ; ticularly, since Murrow wasn’t able to strike any conversational sparks. Miss Lee, of course, is a savvy talker and even made some stuff about fish bait attractive— for fish¬ ermen. There was an air of super¬ ficiality about this polite and Soph¬ isticated chit-chat which may even be more glaring these days because of the Mike Wallace style of slug¬ ging Interview guests over the During the first half of the show, Murrow visited another Lee, Mrs. i John G. Lee, president of the League of Women Voters, who lives in Washington. Once again, Murrow was unable to arrive at any common ground with his guest and her husband and shadowboxed with all kinds of generali¬ ties. Certainly, Murrow should once and for all drop that queiy; How do you manage to combine a career and a family? The answer to that one never has revealed anything yet. Herm. Steve Allen Show A neat vaudeo layout, aided by some imaginative camera tricks, registered nicely on Sunday’s (10) Steve Allen outing. Guests includ¬ ed quiz-whiz Charles Van Doren, Lou Costello, Peter Lawford, Mar¬ garet Whiting and the Step Bros. While there was no socko stint, each act had enough talent to im¬ part something to the general DOMINANCE Thert an ill kinds, but if youV been lurching thi Southirn California mirkit for audlinea dimlnanct..* look no ^further, friend... Now established as a nightly ritual, KTTV’s Million Viawar Thaatra lets the viewers put ttie moppets to bed, do the dishes, put all tha household dis¬ tractions aside and relax with a solid MGM feature film. After 15 weeks on tha air, it's no longer a novelty, it’s a tradition. December '58 Pulse shews that KTTV’i Million Viewer Theatre was In 1 $t place in 24 out of its 32 quarter hours on the air, with ratings up to 1 4.0. I lanuary ’57 fM shows Million I Viewer Theatre In first place I in 24 of the 35 quarter hours ! rated, with ratings up to 1 3.0. ! In eighteen of those quarter ( hours, KTTV’s rating is greater ; than that of the two leading network stations combined. So, if you’re looking for proven, lastj;" ing audience dominance, remember ...Southern California is different, and the difference is KTTV. overall entertainment. Steve Allen, as emcee and participating per¬ former, was his usual polished self, doing better in some roles than in others. Lou Costello, minus his partner Bud Abbott, did a takeoff on the “Student Prince,’’ using a talented “diva,” Nina Varella, as a foil, to good comic effect. Van Doren in his short ' stint was relaxed and showed a good deal of stage savvy, discussing the book he has written about Lincoln and relating a few Lincoln jokes. Margaret Whiting in okay pop fashion rendei-ed “Spring*in May.” In a smart checkerboard setting, the ^Step Bros, did some pro tap¬ ping, with Allen and Peter Lawford joining in at 'the end for a finale. Lawford and Allen teamed up in a foreign car act utilizing tricky camera ’ work for back¬ ground. creating an illusion that came off well. The Lawford-Allen team also clicked fairly well in a mirror dance number. The manon-the-street interviews were weak, but there were .one or two good visual gags in the “crazy shot” number. Horo. Wire Service Being a fair actioner, “Wire Service” may have known undue suffering in. its old 9 to. 10 p.m. Thursday slotting on ABC-TV, be¬ cause “Climax” got the jump on the audience by coming in at 8:30 on CBS-TV. By shifting the Don Sharpe-Warren Lewis telefilm pro¬ duction to Monday at 7:30, the net¬ work hopes, with reason, for a tactical advantage to increase the 60-mlnute drama’s ratings. “Wire Service,’’ which rotates Dane Clark, Mercedes McCambridge and George Brent as three roving correspondents for TransWorld, is far from being a work of video art, but it has most of the adventure elements, including some suspense, to work Into a strong Monday night package. In its first week (11) of Mondays, Dane Clark, as reporter Dan Mil¬ ler, got involved in a cloak-anddagger tale about a plot to blow up the whole British navy and start World Wqr III. Because “Wire Service” doesn’t earn any laurels for story original¬ ity, Clark wears a well-worn cloak passed on to him by the legion of rugged Journalists across three decades of celluloid. Clark is illogically placed, up to ears' in the British navy’s counterespionage plans to foil an extremist scheme to plant a bomb in the middle of the fleet. Scrlpteir Fredric Brady spent roughly the first half-hour of Monday’s yarn trying to make this lack of logic seems logical. But after the rationale, “Atom at Spithead” became a pretty interesting meller; hinged to a race against time. At that point, the story, based on a novel by David Divine, took on cijedibillty. Shot in England by director Lance Comfort and photographer Jimmy Wilson, the story co-starred English actor Robert Beatty, as the naval officer who frustrates the bombing. Beatty, Clark and the Britishers who comprised the cast helped matters with their neat un¬ derplaying. Art. Robert Montgomery Presents Why the Robert Montgomery staff assumed that a flop on Broad¬ way might succeed on television is something of a poser, although possibly ■ they thought that the tightening process in cutting the show to 50-odd minutes might turn Ronald Alexander’s “The Grand Prize” Into a comedy winner. Los Angeles Times-MGM Television i | 1 /tepresenled nalionally by OLAtR“TV i ^ Comedy and farce have been tv's toughest’ nut to crack, and pos¬ sibly the Montgomery group felt this might be a worthw’hile chal¬ lenge. As It turned out, it was — for one act. “Grand Prize” is a comedyfarce about a secretary who wins the right on .a tv show to be “the boss” for 24 hours. While the ac¬ tion centred on the tv show — a combination of “Person to Person” and “Queen for a Day,” the action and comedy were crisp and de¬ lightful. But after that, when the se.cretary-c base s-boss, secretarycatches-boss routine set in, the play, as adapted by D.aria Folliett, groaned under its own weight.' June Lockhart and John Newland transposed their Broadway starring stints to Television. Miss Lockhart was fine throughout, playing her role broadly and makin,g the most of her opportunities, most of which came during the tv quiz sequence, where she mugged, pantomimed and cavorted in great style. But after tha.t, it was more a matter of keeping up with the script, which she did in . bouncy style. Newldnd also made the most of his comic moments, but he seemed somewhat self-conscious about it all, as if he was trying to wriggle into the role with a shoe¬ horn. Some extremely funny sup¬ porting bits were turned in by Wil¬ liam Win'dom. as ‘the quizmaster and Pat Sully as the pitchgirl, and Ray Boyle had a wonderful drunk scene. Judith Braun did nicely in a vacuous part as the man-hungry girlfriend. Perry Lafferty directed the show in almost a prbscenium style, and a studio audience made the studied theatrical effect even greater. The leads even took curtain calls at the end, to tumultuous applause. Chan. Kukla’s Poser Continued from pai^e 33 — record for any individual group of tele performers. In November, 1948, Kukla & Co. were piped out to the NBC-TV midwest network from WBKB under RCA auspices. They went out to the then full network in January the next year and in Au¬ gust of 1949 they left WBKB to originate their show from WNBQ, NBC-TV’s own Chicago station. Then in September, 1954, they re¬ turned to their old stamping grounds at WBKB, which in the interim had. become part of ABC via the web’s merger with United Paramount Theatres. Actually, Kukla and Ollle have been working togefher since 1939. Madame Ooglepuss also was an early member of the troupe, with Beulah Witch, Colonel Crackle and Fletcher Rabbit coming along later. Fran Allison likewise pre¬ dates tv as a KFO regular, having met the group during the wartime bond drives. Producer Beulah Zacharay has been with the video show since its inception as has director Lewis Gomavitz. Sterling (Red) Quiiilan, now ABC veep ii\ charge of WBKB, was a script writer and audio man at the station In those early days, Ollie remembers. Asked . about Burr Tillstrom. also associated with the program, Ollie says “I ignore him. You have to ignore -some one who has been standing back of you all these years. He’s what you call anony¬ mous. Everyone, of course, knows me when I walk down the street.” Ollie might have added that without Tillstrom’s guiding genius backstage, television would have been deprived of one of its most unique and acclaimed assortment of personalities. TV Access Continued from page 35 ; Wednesday, February 13, ' 1957 STEINMAN EXPANDS _ TV-RADIO EMPIRE All proposals up to now that would foster tv access are “referred to committee/’ Of course the com¬ mittee never meets, hence the pro¬ posals die. But it seems to me that this is political short-sightedness of the lowest order. Politicians humbly admit that they are supported by taxpayers — “servants of the peo¬ ple” is the phrase they use, I be-’ lieve. The answer is simple. As one veteran “public servant” put it — he is an alderman of a west side ward and a spokesman for the political majority in Chicago’s City Hall: “We don’t mind being called chiselers and payrollers by the op¬ position in front of a chamber au¬ dience of 50 people. But we get bashful if we’re gonna get called a lot of names in front of a live television or radio audience.” This pork barreller may be right . but time has a way of marching on, and new ideas have a way of catch¬ ing on. Just this month the Maryland Senate and House of Delegate permitted live radio and television coverage of their proceedings. In spite of abortive Canon 85, many courts in the land have permitted television and radio access. Cer¬ tainly there must be progressive politicians in some cities who will take the lead in this matter. I ] wish I could say that my town, which bleats a strident tune about being progressive, will take the lead in this important area. But 1 know my town. It will never hap¬ pen in Chicago. The question then is: where will it happen first? Here Is where broadcasters can step in. Let all broadcasters urge and encourage candidates in the next election to run on a platform of unrestricted access by tv to all meetings in city council chambers. Let these can¬ didates who step forward on thi? vital issue be supported by all broadcasters. RKOPixTaABC Continued from page 31 deal or the pix revert to Matty Fox, who distributed the overall RKO package to local tv. Twenty-six of the pictures, as It has been detailed, are under imme¬ diate option. The network re¬ serves the right to take the remain¬ ing features later on if original salesG click. Most of the post-’48 stuff is in the second group. ABC-TV Is blueprinting the plx for an April start. Pictures In the first 26 are: *'Abe Lincoln in Il¬ linois,” “Bachelor & Bobby Soxer/' “Bringing Up Baby,” “China Sky,” “Enchanted Cottage,” “Experiment Perilous,” “Fallen S p a r r o w,” “Flight for Freedom;** “Gunga Din,” “In Name Only,” “King Kong,” “The Locket,” “Marine Raiders,” “-Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” “Mr. Blandings,” “Night 5ong,” “Onf»a TT»^on a Honeymoon,” >*Out of the Past,” “Race Street,** ‘-Rachel & the Stranger,** “Roughshod,” “Story of Vernon & Irene Castle,’* “Tall In Saddle," “Top Hat,” “Walk Softly, Stranger,” and ^Woman’s Secret.” At least half a dozen of these plx have already appeared on one or more of RKO Teleradio’s tv sta¬ tions. . “I LED 3 LIVES” Starring RICHARD CARLSON SYNDICATED SHOW LOUISVILLE! 3liJI "HIGHWAY # # PATROL". Starring Broderick Crawford, “SCIENCE FICTION THEATRE"...;.... 33.0 321 Washington, Feb. 12. Steinman family acquired inter¬ ests in its seventh radio and its third tv station last week when the FCC appi’oved Its purchase of WRAK and the permit of WRAKTV (UHF) in Willianisport, Pa., last week. Steinman interests also include WGAL and WGAL-TV in Lan¬ caster, Pa.: WE^T in Easton, Pa.; WORK in York, Pa.; WLEV-TV in Bethlehem, Pa.; WKBO in Harris son, Pa.; WRAW In Reading, Pa.; and WDEL in Wilmington, Del. Commission voted 4-3 on the WRAK acquisition, with Comrs. Robert Bartley, Robert E. Lee and Richard Mack dissenting.' St. Louis — Robert Hyland, gen¬ eral manager of KMOX, local CBS outlet, has been appointed broad¬ cast radio officer for the joint St, Louis-St. Louis County Civil De¬ fense plan for commercial and television broadcasters. mmm AND THE OP THE Jomw F^nimore CooperVon^ family etdsite has a ready* made audience. Hawkeye*! everybody's {doll Thrilling outdoor action— on "Easrem** filmed on location In octual French-Indlan War Country# You get better sponsor Iden* tificotion. Excejient morketl Stilt available. Wirt or phone collect right now fof your market before another sponsor beats you to it. PULSE, June, 195$ HOTHme rmNSOH thi HIAT HKI a ZIV PRQVUCTIOH! \ TV COMMtRCIAL STUDIO FOR SALE— Completely Equipped. Terms to Reipontlblo Purchoier. VARIETY. Box No. V-212-57. 154 W. 46 $t.. New York 36, N. Y.