Variety (February 1957)

RADIO-TELEVISION PToiMff 34, Wednesday, Febniaiy 27, 1957 TV Crosspings on the Way Out? Curtis, Remb^on Invoke Tabu With growing beefs from adver tisers and agencies that the alter j nate week sponsorship pattern tends to deprive the sponsor of an “identification’' with the program, Remington Rand-., and Helene Curtis have decided to do some¬ thing about it. Their solution though not a complete one, is simple — eliminate the crossplugs on their “What’s My Line?’’ show. Sponsors have' already begun the pattern, under which Reming¬ ton will keep its full quota Of com¬ mercial time on its sponsorship week without any commercial ref¬ erence to alternate sponsor Curtis. Cosmetic outfit will solo on its week, sans a plug for Remington. From the Remington -Young & Rubicam viewpoint, the setup first of all gives the shaver outfit great¬ er identity with the valuable “Line’’ property, and second, per¬ mits more flexibility in commer¬ cials, since Remington wants to do a two-minute blurb on its men’s shaver and follow it with one min¬ ute on its new lady’s shaver. Curiously, the new pattern, which may start a swing over to elimination of crossplugs on a wide scale, is actually an old one. When the trend toward alternateweek sponsorship first started, there weren’t any crossplugs, And when sponsors began demanding them (apparently under the im¬ pression the crossplugs would heighten identity or at least con¬ tinuity), they ran into some ex¬ treme opposition on the part of stations, many of whom began de¬ manding the 10-minute rate for the crossplug. Now of course, the crossplug is the standard, pattern, and the move by Remington and Curtis Is the exception to the rule. don’t permit, children to visit in¬ side the hospital. Unit is installed in the lobby; and youngsters can talk to patients (their parents, for example) via closed-circuit tv and phone. Another unit is being used in jails for supervisory and educa¬ tional purposes; freightyards use it in the same manner as depart¬ ment stores, to survey their wide area, while industry uses it in radioactive or high-temperature furnaces. Dage’s success grew largely out of its work on the vidicon camera, the lightweight, even portable unit which uses a vidicon tube instead of the standard and bulkier image orthicon. Apart from the camera’s [dower cost and greater applicability for industry and other purposes, it’s been used by the networks as well for special events coverage like the political conventions. Continued from page 31 — to which the systems can be put. The Penn Station installation, a “wholesale-priced’’ project, is acr tually a “pilot’’ system, which if successful, will be installed by Pennsy in its other terminals and by other transportation companies throughout the country. The $50,000 “station package’’ is a fullyequipped 200-watt tv station with a signal area of about 25 miles, designed for smaller communities. It includes everything — the trans¬ mitter, two vidicon cameras, pro¬ jection equipment, monitors, lights, recorders, turntables, even makeup kits. Weather-vision unit is a closedcircuit system used by the Air Force for briefing purposes. In¬ stead of having to. collect all squad¬ rons into one briefing room for weather information, difficult in a widely scattered base, the Air Force does it by closed-circuit tv to several monitors instead. A “visit-vision’’ unit is another appiication used by hospitals which WNAC-TV Continued from page 24 — in scenes of entire families fleeing across snow driven wastes. Shots of Austrian high officials and their comments on the situ£(tion are. nice¬ ly handled. Outstanding is an in¬ terview with a masked woman ref¬ ugee, who detailed her escape, and said, “I couldn’t do it again.’’ Shots of Vienna and the stream of refugees and shots in the hos¬ pitals and aid stations where babies and young children are broifght back to consciousness after being drugged so they would not cry out during the flight to freedom are graphic in their portrayal of the plight of the Hungarian refugees. Some of the problems Austria is encountering in leeding and hous¬ ing the refugees crossing to their friendly border is explained by high Austrian government spokes¬ men. Highlight of the documentary is the crossing of the border between Hungary and Austria. Jeff Forbes, producer-director, and Bud Brady, an American volunteer, have a dramatic interview. Brady, Ger¬ man, English and Swiss volunteers and the Knights of Malta are shown as they went into Hungary to welcome 45 refugees on a« an¬ cient tractor. Interviews with the refuges in which they report their feelings and what freedom means to them are great portrayals. Latter portion of the film is de¬ voted’ to the Bogladi family, which WNAC-TV was instrumental in -bringing to America and Boston. Sandor Bogladi, operatic singer and former editor of an underground newspaper in Budapest, sets the scene and outlines the background of the revolution against Commu¬ nistic oppression. Bogladi, his wife Susanne, daughter Judy, and for boosting time slot rating by 262%* with No. 1 in time slot. Sponsors: Mrs. Smith’s Pies and Freihofer’s Bread •ARB, Oct. 1955 for your market availabilities, call, write or wire ABC Film Syndication, 1501 Broadway, New York • LA 4-5050 brother-in-law, Frank, are all in¬ terviewed. An interview with Frank, in which he recounts the position of the son of a business¬ man in Hungary under the Com¬ munist regime and his effort^ to study to become a film director is poignant. Frank Luther handles several of the interviews in slick fashion. Stories of the interviewers come through fine despite difficul¬ ties with English and some are made through interpreters. Excitement of the refugee pas¬ sengers on airliner as -the Statue of Liberty comes into view is de¬ picted. in long and nlose range shots through the plane and on the statue. Bogladi’s story of his pub¬ lishing of the Hungarian freedom newspaper, Igazsag, during the reolution is dramatic fare. The doc¬ umentary has a complete musical score and does a fine job in point¬ ing out the present and future needs of the refugees. WNAC-TV was recently cited in Congress for its venture in send¬ ing a film team to the border to make the film. CBS-TVHarMore Ideas Than Time Slots for Sat. Nite Saturday' night continues to be the major CBS-TV programming stumbling-block for next season, with the web oscillating between several proposed lineups for the fall. Latest plan, still far from firm, would be the placement of a new hour western, “Have Gun, Will Travel,’’ in early-evening time followed by the hour Perry Mason series and “The Big Record.’’ But even under this plan, which would make use of three hourlong shows during the evening, the ac¬ tual time slots continue to be a problem, “Have Gun,’’ the Rich¬ ard Boone starrer which has been expanded from its original halfhour concept, could at this point go into either the 7:30 or 8 p.m. time slots. The 7:30 period, it’s felt, would give Columbia an ad¬ vantage over NBC’s Perry Como via the early start. On the other hand, a 7:30 to 8:30 slotting would still leave the 8:30-9 half-hour to fill (assuming “Perry Mason’’ goes in at 9), leaving Como with a strong second half. As of now, the situation is up in the air, with the network brass waiting, among other things, to see how the “Have Gun’’ pilot turns out. One show mentioned earlier for the 8:30 period, if “Have Gun’’ were slotted at 7:30, is the • new Walter Slezak comedy series, but that idea has been scrapped. Even the 10-11 “Big Record’’ projected slotting isn’t firm yet, what with “Gunsmoke” having established itself so strong¬ ly at 10 for Liggett & Myers. RCA’s Peak Sales But Earnings Dip Radio Corp. of America hit a record volume of $^27,774,000 in 1956, an increase of 7% over 1955, its first billion-doll^r year. Earn-j . ings • after taxes during the past year, however, dropped to $40,031,000, equal to $2.65 a share as compared with 1955’s $47;525,000 or $3.16 a share. Total dividends paid out during the year were $23,965,000. Company’s annual report reveal¬ ed that sales of RCA products to the Armed Forces reached $240,000,000, or 21.3% of total business. NBC's television billings rose 22% over the previous year, and in line with the RCA push on color, its tint programming was increased by 500% over the previous season. Radio set sales increased by 20%, while phonograph sales more than doubled the ’55 total. Reason for the decline in earnings is not given. San Antonio — Pearl Brewing Co., will sponsor a series of “live” bowling programs here over KENSTV from bowling alleys in the San Antonio Express-News Bldg., owners of the station. Foreign TV Reviews Continued from p^ge 2S who was finally voted the winner, and a skiffle group. Levis, who emceed the show, did much to put his discoveries at ease, and his air of informality kept the 30minute spot at an easy tempo. Decor was simple but effective, and camera work in the same vein. Others taking part were a crooner, two young contortionists, and a twin brother impersonation act. Bary. With David Jacobs, Jill Day, Ron¬ nie Hilton, Edna Savage. Bryan Johnson, Lor rac Desmond, Frank Horrox, Frank Weir Quintet, Concert Orchestra and George Mitchell Singers conducted by Stanley Black. Producer: Francis Essex 45 Mins., Tues. 9 p.m. BBC-TV, from London This series of shows is the result of a tie-up ^between music publish¬ ers and the BBC. The publishers put forward songs they think have a chance of getting somewhere, but which have never been heard be¬ fore, and the BBC supplies the or¬ chestra and artists to put them across. The winning song in each of the series of four programs, is decided by a panel of judges from widely scattered regions of Britain, who give their verdicts at the close of each show. The winning song and runner-up go on to the next round, and so on until the final. Artists taking part in the show, most of them headline British chirpers, made a good job of much poor material. Hardest worker 'of all, however was emcee David Ja¬ cobs, who brightened up the show whenever he appeared with his slick patter. Even the best lookers on the program suffered as a re¬ sult of bad lighting. This show has room 'for much improvement, and with a little initiative could make the grade as first rate entertain¬ ment. Bary. CBS Radio Rates Continued from page 23 • work radio to serve as a competitor to local spot broadcasting by of¬ fering sponsorships uniquely be¬ longing to local radio stations. The CBS Radio Network will continue to. sell no unit of less than five minutes duration and while its rates will exceed those of network com¬ petitors, the inherent worth of the audiences and the program struc¬ ture of the network continue to make them outstanding in all ad¬ vertising.” ^ Rivers’ reference to “sponsorships uniquely belonging to local radio stations” was a direct fingerpoint¬ ing at NBC, which having started the practice with “Monitor,” now offers all over its schedule any¬ thing from a one-minute to a 30second spot and even six-second na¬ tional system cues. It was this sort of pattern tha the CBS af¬ filiate board sought to circumvent by recommending adoption of the rate slash by Its membership. Inci¬ dentally, the , normal six months’ rate protection' applies. Dallas — Ralph Nimmons, ex¬ manager of WFAA-TV here, has been named general sales manager of WFGA-TV, Jacksonville, Fla. New station, under construction, is owned by Florida-Georgia Televi¬ sion Co. ‘Ton^ht’ Topped By Mike Wallace Mike Wallace is now topping NBC-TV’s “Tonight” in the New York market, with his “Night Beat” stanzai pushing up WABD to the No. 2 position between 11:15 p.m: and midnight, just behind WCBS-TV’s “The Late Show.” Both Telepulse and ARB ratings for February, rating the new “Tonight” format for the first time, give Wal¬ lace a substantial edge.,.. Telepulse count for the Feb. 1-7 weeknight lineup shows “Late Show” well out in front with a 12.1 average for the five nights. Wallace’s WABD '“Jljfight Beat” is second in the market with a 5.4 four-night average (he’s off Mon¬ days). “Tonight,” which pre¬ miered Jan. 28, is third with a 3.5 average. “Tonight” topped Wal¬ lace only one night (Feb. 1, a Fri¬ day), with Wallace easily outpacing the NBC stanza the other three nights he was on. Curious sidelight is that in the ratings a month before, Wallace was an also-ran, in spito of the terriiic word-of-mouth hip show had stirred. At that time, the trade pundits felt that perhaps he was still appealing to a higWy se¬ lective audience. However, it ap¬ parently took a little longer than was thought necessary for the word-of-mouth, to catch hold on a general viewer level. Majors’ Race -■ Continued from page 27 the other companies, has' a com¬ mercial tv division, which last year grossed $500,000 and this year is expected to hit pvei* $1,000,000. The only two majors left out of the roster at this stage are Para¬ mount and Universal. Paramount, which has just negotiated sale of its vintage ' pix backlog, though, has a large stock interest in Du¬ Mont Television, as well as outright ownership of KTLA, Los Angeles. Additionally, Paramount's tv stake embraces., pay-as-you-see Telemeter and the development of its Chro¬ matic tri-color tube. Universal, also reportedly listen¬ ing to overtures for its backlog, at this stage is limiting its tv ac¬ tivities to filmed commercials, a department said to be grossing in the neighborhood of $3,000,000 an¬ nually. With the floodgates opened by the sale of the feature backlogs— the first major one that of the RKO library to Matty .Fox, occurring only about a year and. a half-ago — the race by the majors for the tv dollar, on a continuing basis, was on. And it is continuing at a faster clip, year by year. Bob Post’s ’Presidency’ Wins Foundation Award Pittsburgh, Feb.^ 26. Bob Post, documentary producer and tv packager, has just been a.warded his third consecutive George Washington Honor Medal by the Freedoms Foundation of ■Valley Forge for his short on “The Presidency.” Post got the Free¬ doms Foundation nod first in 1955 for “Law of the Land” and then again last year for “Trial by Jury.” Contact: CHARLES C. BARRY, Vice-President MGM-TV, a service of Loew's Incorporated 1940 Broadway, New York, N, Y. • JUdoon 2-2000 FESTIVAL OF BRITISH POPU¬ LAR SONG