Variety (August 1957)

Wednesday, August 28, 1957 P^RiEfr TV-FIL3IS 51 ‘FAT CAT’ STATUS OF VIDPIX •+ +- Desilu Lot Grinds ’Em Out Hollywood, Aug. 27. Desilu Productions lensed 20 half-hour vidpix segments last week, unquestionably a record figure for any single telefilinery in a week's span. Not all of the series involved were Desilu prop¬ erties, some such as the Danny Thomas show merely using Desilu facilities but the Desi Arnaz-Lucille Ball company is handling pro¬ duction on all of the series involved. Boom in production has stretched the Desilu home base—Motion Picture Centre—way beyond capacity, and space is being rented at RKQ Gower, RKO Pathe and Paramount Sunset to take care of all the production/' Lensed last week by Desilu are two “Meet McGraw” vidpix; one “Date With the Angels”; two “The Sheriff of Cochise”; one Danny Thomas show; one Eve Arden show; two “Wyatt Earp”; one “De¬ cember Bride”; two “The Lineup”; one “The Real McCoys”; two “Jim Bowie”; two “The Californian”; one The Walter Winchell File, and two “Official Detective.” Vidfilmery is also prepping the second Ball-Arnaz hour-long show for next season. First has been filmed. Note toll. S. Syndicators: Aussie TV Dollars Now Made Available Sydney, Aug. 27. Following inside political pres¬ sure, agreement has been reached between Aussie Treasury .'official^ and television commercial station operators covering the availability of dollars for the purchase of top- grade tv programs in the UJ5. This week the Exchange control authority announced a new policy on dollar spending following a governmental review of the local tv scene. A government spokesman said tv companies could now use foreign exchange to meet all reasonable program requirements. Current restrictions on each li¬ censed tv station presently are: A maximum 60,000 pounds a year expenditure for foreign films, meaning those mainly from the U.S. No more than 40,000 pounds of the 60,000 pounds may be spent in dollar countries. Government spokesman added that organizations would not be permitted to build up “unneces¬ sarily large’* stocks of imported films. Government has also agreed to allow organizations other than li¬ censed tv stations to import pro¬ grams for the first time. There is a general air of satis¬ faction in homebrew .tv circles over the government's dollar change of heart. Opinion is that the added coin will see an influx of highgrade shows for the local tv* loops and thus create wider audiences in the keyers. Antiquated celluloid has hamstrung the Aussie tv commercial station operators to a marked extent. It may be assumed that the U.S. will secure the major portion "of dollar- allocation as the Aussie tv operators swing .into the market for shows carring the tag of Uncle Sam. Shoot Rome Segs On Catholic Hour’ Four half-hour programs are being filmed on location in Rome, with the cooperation of the Vatican for presentation on the “Catholic Hour” television program next January. The venture, jointly revealed by the National Council of Catholic Men "and NBC „ was described as the biggest single project under¬ taken by “Catholic Hour” in its six years on video. “Catholic Hour,” produced by the NCCM, is carried by more than 160 stations of the NBC web: Scripts for the Rome series were written by Paul Horgan, author and Pulitzer Prize winner. Key personnel of the NCCM and- NBC are in the Eternal City for the filmed project Purpose is “to show the continuing significance of Rome and the Papacy in the history of Christianity and western civili¬ zation, and the contemporary im¬ portance of the Vatican in world affairs,” according to NCCM Ex¬ ecutive Director Martin H. Work. Hi-Jinxed Official Films prez Hal Hackett planed out during the day a week ago Monday (19) to Londbn, to confer with pro¬ ducer Hannah Weinstein over current and upcoming shows. Miss Weinstein arrived at Idlewild .the same night, to talk to Hackett about the same thing. Gould’s telefilm Recording’Saving New technique of producing commercials, employing what in effect is an “original kinescope” equal in end quality to regular film but also resulting in savings of 30 to 35%, has been developed by George Gould, head of Telestudios Inc. in New York. Gould has al¬ ready shot commercials for Hoover and Vick Chemical for Leo Bur¬ nett and Morse International utiliz¬ ing the system and has more orders in negotiation. Gould calls the system “35m telefilm recording,” the term “tele¬ film” applied to the use of elec¬ tronic or kinescope recording. But the poor quality of kinescopes in the past, according to Gould, is at¬ tributable to the fact that they’re always been taken off live shows prepared for live broadcast. Secret of achieving quality in his new system, Gould states, is that the production and shooting, is not done for live broadcast, but for film recording only. Consequently, the lighting and video controls are operated to at¬ tain a maximum of quality in the recording, rather than for live transmission as is the case with (Continued on page 41) For Miami's WCKT Miami, Aug. 27, WCKT, which has been program¬ ming some of its top Metro fea¬ tures Sunday nights beginning at 9:30, shows an American Research Bureau rating of 30J2 for the July rating Veek of MGM Theatre. The 30.2 co mpa res with the 13.3 rating for the WTVJ lineup, r unn ing from 5:30 to midnight “What’s My Line” from 9;30 to 10 draws a neat 29.5; hu t Jul y ARB ratings show a dip for WTVJ’s opposing feature, f WCTK, which has a, midday movie starting at noon ana another feature scheduled cross the board from 5 to 6:45 p.m., shows a July ARB of 62.2 from noon to 6 p.m., compared to 33.7 for WTVJ for the same period. But from sign-on to signoff, WTVJ edges out WCKT 53.5 to 41.6, according to July ARB ratings. BUT FBI MAY \ Vidpixers, both in telefilm and feature syndication, with a grow¬ ing stake in the medium, as film ] becomes more firmly entrenched as the basis of most local opera¬ tions throughout the country, are looking to the new fall season for answers spanning the areas of new programming trends to the possi¬ bility of the disputed “soft” net- ' work market hitting syndica¬ tion field. Despite the many disappoint¬ ments on the national level, the failure of manv telefilm outfits to sell pilots, syndication is approach¬ ing the fall season as a “fat cat,” compared to a year or more ago. And struggling to retain that status, they will be watching the fall season for the following signs: 1. Within the limited range of syndication product, mostly action- adventure, which new strain will prove most successful audience- wise? Last season, it was above the air “Whirlybirds” and under- the-water “Silent Service” which created some noise among the late entries. Among the current west¬ erns being offered for the new sea¬ son will the rating glory go to “26 Men,” “Grey Ghost,” or “Boots and Saddles?” In many instances, it’s argued that the ratings are not governed by the quality of the show, but the time it's slotted. Be that as it may, the advertiser, the station and the syndicator him¬ self, buys the rating when plan¬ ning for a. new show. 2 . What about the features? Has it been a May-December romance, with the public initially excited at getting old pix on a new medium free, only to cool off when the novelty is gone? The pro-feature crowd respond with a resounding no, contending that feature enter¬ tainment is proven programming that did get an audience, that is and will continue to gamer audi¬ ences—providing, of course, that the picture is good. That tagline brings up the problem which will grow more pressing in years to come, when the pre-’48 theatricals are played out, and more up-to- date cinematics, not nearly as plentiful as the pre-’48 backlog, will be needed, with a residual formula to pay. And in order to keep their pictures “good,” many stations in self protection have paid and probably will continue to pay hefty coin for new pack¬ ages, giving the top pix play dur¬ ing their best feature show and telecasting the “leaders” during rating week* Without the noise and excitement that attended the influx of theatricals last season on the market, will the features con¬ tinue‘to show rating strength? 3. Syndicators, too, will be watching-the performance of-new network shows very carefully for a number of reasons. One, with the networks going in heavily for “bread and hutter” programming, in competitive markets it will be a network western pitted against a syndicated western, the same true right down the action-advem ture line. Two, telefilm outfits ex¬ pect a lot of network casualties and many telefilm houses have a I (Continued on page 41) » ‘Showbiz Japan’ Producer Steve Parker plans to do a 90-minute filmed spec, titled “Showbusiness Japan,” with Gene Kelly, aetipg as host, as well as directing. To be shot on location, Parker says he’ll get the project rolling by mid¬ dle November, adding that he has a handshake deal with . NBC-TV for telecasting in the fall of 1958. Cost of the color project is estimated at $300,000. Parker recently. completed two documentaries, sponsored by the Japanese government, for theatrical release in the ,U:S. Regarding the “Show- business Japan” project, Parker says he plans to use some of the footage for a fea¬ ture he plans with Gene Kelly, titled “An American in Japan.” Duram Warns of Saddling Clients With Rising Cost of Vidfilm Prod. New Shows ‘Psyched* . RKO Teleradio in prepping presentations on new shows is researching the public’s un¬ conscious, as well as ratings, etc. For its “El Coyote” pres¬ entation, it called in the Social ReseafCh Institute of Chicago, which did a survey based on characters and plots to find out psychological reactions to the proposed western. RKO and producer Ken Murray made some changes on basis of the findings. WATV Wants Out Unless Hollywood’s film* pro¬ ducers assume more of the risks in the production of telefilms, the major advertisers in the medium will be forced to return to live sponsorship. So warns Art Dur¬ am, veepee of radio-tv for the Fuller & Smith & Ross agency in New York. There are other factors begin¬ ning to mitigate against film too, Duram observes, but the key to the problem is the question of ris¬ ing costs in film production which are passed along to the sponsor by the producer. Duram. has particu¬ lar reference to “industry-wide” i cost increases, ranging from in¬ creased costs for stage rentals, set construction and even raw stock for which producers are tapping the sponsors. On Feature Pix; Dickers SeBoff WATV, N. J., which joined New York's competitive first?run feature sweepstakes with its multi-run “All Star Movie” last season, appears to be giving up its feature program¬ ming and turning to foreign lan¬ guage programming instead. The station, which was up for sale a few months ago, has been approaching other tv outlets In the New York market, seeking to sell off its latest package of 85 theatri¬ cals, mainly 20th-Fox pix, bought from National Telefilm Associ¬ ates. So far, there have been no takers. WATV committed itself ^to., pay about $12,500 per pic at the time of the deal. Going foreign language proba¬ bly hinges on WATV’s success in subleasing the feature package. WATV, reportedly currently losing from $20,000 to $30,000 weekly, hasn’t been as successful as WOR- TV with its multi-run "Million Dol¬ lar Movie.” Currently foreign language tele¬ casts are limited to Saturday and Sunday mornings, with other shows ; in English oriented to special mi¬ nority groups in New York, Polish, Ukr aini an, Greek, Spanish, Italian, Jewish and Negro. It’s understood producers of the aforementioned special appeal shows have been dickering with management for the switchover, promising guaranteed sponsors with the change. “The practice has become an em¬ barrassing one and a dangerous one for agencies. We can’t come to the client in mid-season with a bill for thousands of dollars and tell him it’s a result of increased costs that weren’t foreseen at the time we signed the contract. He’ll think we were careless. We don’t object to absorbing the Increases for unions, guilds and crafts, be¬ cause they are fairly predictable and can be figured In a budget. But the ‘pass-aiong’ provisions for ‘industry-wide’ increases mean we can’t even pin down a reliable budget for a show. We feel that the producer has to sjjare some of the risks.” # Duram contrasts the uncertain¬ ties of the film situation with live programming, where if there are cost increases in below-the-Iine items, the networks absorb the costs. “If the Rockefellers-decide to raise NBG’s rent, NBC doesn’t charge off the difference to us,” he observes. “Live dramatic program¬ ming has never been profitable for the networks,” he points out. Duram intends to press the is¬ sue before the radio-tv committee of the American Assn, of Adver¬ tising Agencies, and will ask a poll of the membership so that the AAAA can take a stand on the matter of “industry-wide” cost in¬ creases. He feels that the pass- along practice on increased, cqsts for unions, crafts and guilds is justi- (Continued on page 41J Henry White’s SG Program Status WTOP-TV Cuts Healthy Rating Melon on Features Washington, Aug. 27. WTOP-TV, which has been pur¬ chasing a cross-section of all the major feature packages, is finding that its Early Show and Late Show is garnering some nifty rat¬ ings. According to the regular Ameri¬ can Research Bureau rating for July, for example, the Late show hit a 7.5 average, as against a 2.6 for WRC-TV, a 2.3 for WMAL-TV and a 0.9 for WTTG. While a 7.5 ARB average, compared to some feature ratings * in other markets for similar slotted fare, is not re¬ markable, it tops the combined ratings of the other three stations for the period: Recently, the station bought United Artists TV’s* new' package of 52 and 96 first-run Warner the¬ atricals and is negotiating for other pix. Siler's Filmcraft Slot Hollywood, Aug. 2.7. David Sher has joined Filmcraft to head tv outfit’s sales division. He also will be In charge of new pro¬ gram development. Sher previously was with Wil¬ liam Morris and Louis Shurr agen¬ cies. Henry White, director of adver¬ tising and promotion for -Screen Gems for the past two and a half years, has been named to the new" post of director of program pro¬ curement fof the Columbia Pic¬ tures subsidiary. White, who’ll con¬ tinue to headquarter in New’ York, will retain his ad-promotion chores while handling his new job. Appointment of White to the pro¬ gram procurement post winds up Screen Gems’ program develop¬ ment personnel expansion. Unit, is now a six-man operation, with Doug Whitney as v.p. in charge of programming, William Sackheim as director of program develop¬ ment and Bill Froug and Winston O’Keefe as producers for the pro¬ gram development unit, all on the Coast, and Steve Krantz and White in New* York, former as director of program development. Eva Wolas Quits Wyman Series After Six-Weeks Hollywood, Aug. 27. ■ Eva Wolas has resigned as pro¬ ducer of the Jane Wyman vidpix series after a difference of opinion over the meaning of the word pro¬ ducer. With company six weeks, she will receive credit for two shows. She formerly produced “Playhouse 90” telepic for Screen Gems. Prior to that she was story editor for “Climax,” “Danger” and “Suspense.”