Variety (September 1957)

Wednesday, September 4, 1957 | ILL If You Knew ‘Susie’ Like— Television Programs of America has adopted a unique plan of action to fill retiring Ann Sothern’s role in new production of “Private Secretary,” the Jack Chertok production distributed by TP A. , Three different leads, as yet unselected, will ‘play a four-minute. scene for a special 12-minute “Private Secretary” film to be made shortly. Clients and advertising agencies will be asked to pick their Susie. Don Porter, who has played the part of Susie’s boss -since the start of fhe series four years ago, has been signed for the same part in the specials film, as well as future in shows. The successful situation comedy series of 104 episodes now in syndication was utilized as a summer replacement on CBS-TV, going off that net Sept. 10, only to-be picked up then for a onemonth run as a ‘daytime strip on NBC-TY. Chi Trib Syndicate’s Top Comic _ Strips as Pery Telefilm Entries Nicholas D. (Nick) Pery, formerly vicepresident of Columbia Pictures International, with which he]. had been for 22 years, and‘most recently in charge of the company’s: Continental distribution and production, has tied up with the Chicago Tribune-N. Y. Daily News Syndicate to produce its top comic strips for television. Pery has exclusive tv rights to practically all of the syndicate’s comic strips, including “Brenda Starr, Reporter,” “Dondi,” “Mooh “Mullins,” “Winnie Winkle” and “Gasoline Alley,” among others. . Paul D. O’Brien (O’Brien, Driscoll & Raftery) acted for Pery with Richard J. Clarke; prez of the Trib‘News syndicate, in the deal which will probably see “Dondi’” and “Brenda Starr” first going into vidpix production. Former strip appears in 65 dailies with 22,000,000 circulation, created by Gus. Edson and Irwin Hasen. Edson also created “The Gumps”; Hasen is a for‘mer sports cartoonist. Dale Messick (Mrs. Oscar Strom, wife of an Indiana attorney) authors “Brenda Starr” which is carried in 84 dailies with 30,000,000 circulation. Pery resigned from Col to go into independent. film production and, presumably, these tv series may eventually see theatrical production as well. ~ Pery. returned to the Coast over the weekend to prepare shooting. SG Defers Push On U Chillers Screen Gems is holding off on any concerted effort. to sell its “Shock” package of 52 Universal chillers until the second -week in October, after the company’s exploitation and advertising on th package breaks and the first rating returns are in. The Columbia Pictures subsid has: appropriated a special budget -of $25,000 for a two-week explgitation campaign in four key cities on the package, this to be concentrated during the period from Sept. 16 to Oct. 3 (premiere date) in New. York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles. and San Francisco. Campaign will be supervised by Phil Cowan, SG publicity-exploitation director. Though Screen. Gems is holding off on sales calls on the package until the rating: and exploitation results are in, it.isn’t turning down any bids on the package in the interim. Latest purchaser of the chillers is KTNT, Seattle-Tacoma, mor oeo: e 9 ‘Diplomatic Mission As Copa-TV {nitialer Hollywood, Sept. 3. “Diplomatic Mission," based ‘on the literary material telefilm of former State Department. employe Robert Deindorfer, will taunch the telefilm activities of Copa-TV, indie in which Ted Richmond is partnered with Tyrone Power. Latter will not appear in the vidfilms. 26 Men’ in Aussie Sale. First foreign sale of. ABC .Film Syndication’s “26 Men” was made to Amalgamated Television Services for two Australian stations in Sydney and Melbourne. -Additionally, Amaigamated for the same two. markets bought ‘Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.” ~ ABC Film Syndication also sold “Three Musketeers” to. Pep soft drink in Mexico City. WBBM-TV Buy Of Rocket 50° Zings Up Chi Pix Rivalry Chicago, Sept. 3. here were intensified still further last week -when the CBS ouitlet, WBBM-TV, went after some new | ammunition, namely ‘the “Rocket 50” package owned by National | Telefilm Associates, for which the station is paying a reported $7,500 per, or thereabouts. Ironically, most of the 50 blockbusters were TV’s most formidable feature. film (Continued on page 46), . By MURRAY HOROWITZ. National Telefilm Associates’ deal ‘with Exquisite Form Bra, one of the largest current barter projects, has run into trouble, with NTA failing to fulfill all the terms of the tough contract: and thereby Iosing exclusivity in furnishing product for. the barter. arrangements, Trouble came after NTA had already lined up about one-third of the-sought after 116 markets, deals ‘ing in the situation also pinpointe what appéars to be some stiff station resistance to the multiplicity of barter deals being pitched. that the National Assn. of Radio and Television Broadcasters, has indicated its displeasure at the number of barter deals being ‘bandied around, Concurrently, details of Exqulsite’s deal with NTA, terms which made it tough, were ‘learned. Exquisite, via Gray Advertising, had provisions in its contract, spelling out the number of stations, time by last Thursday (29), NTA was unable to deliver up to 116 markets, utilizing’ affiliate stations of the threenetworks, as well as fulfilling other terms, Exquisite reserved the right to drop its exclusivity with NTA. for product to barter, as well as “Richinond’s deal with Deindorfer| purchasing spots for cash in cer includes many works on counter-| tain markets, in New York for inespionage including “Spies and!stance. — Counter Spies.” Bra outfit, saying it’s pleased The feature film wars:on ty already beamed in Chi by WBBM-. for which stand. NTA’s flounder. _ Grapevine has it, incidentally, sought, number of spots required | -jand .type of stations required. If. It has exer-|. cised that right and is now dicker-{ Poroue will. be lensed here and injing with other syndication outfits +. ISTATIONS FLOCK. [CBS TV Fi Sales’ $10 90001 TD “SHOGK’ PIX Stations are beginning to take a} | highly flexible attitude toward fhe NARTB’s Television Code, as witness the rush to get in on the hor ror, pix business via Screen Gems’ “Shock” package of 52 chillers including “Frankenstein,” “Dracula” | & Co.. Code section on “Acceptability of Program Material” declares that “the use of horror for its own sake Will be eliminated; the use of visual or aural effects which would shock or alarm the viewer, ‘and the detailed presentation of brutality or physical agony by sight of sound are not. permissible.” “Responsibility Toward Children” states that stations shall avcid “material ‘which is excéssively vio lent -or -would create morbid sus-_ pense, or other undesirable reac ‘tions in children.” Stations don’t feel that the children's prohibition is an issue in the use of the horror pix, since they haye all purchased them for latenight. presentation, with little dan-. ger of the youngsters being up to watch. The “acceptability” is another matter entirely, however, and the stations, though cognizant of the Code’s restrictions, feel their use of the horror films is justified. Basic point taken by. the stations is that they are presenting the hor-} ror films as an explicit package of | chillers, and advertising them and promoting them as such. Point is that the films will appeal to a cer ‘tain viewing group who want to see the. shockers, and there's little chance that the ‘films will be misrepresented as anything other than what they are, or that a stray .| Viewer will run across them and be “| shocked. . for shockers’ sake, the stations feel, the viewer comes in well prepared | for horror, and since there’s no interpolation® of horror into. other types of material, there’s no violation of the Code, at least in spirit. In buying the horror package, all the stations thus far have purchased within the framework of late-night showing—that is, their deals “with Screen Gems involve limited runs without the necessity. (Continuéd on page 48) The Barter and The Bra with NTA’s efforts which was generaled by v.p. Ed -Gray and which WHI be the keystone to the company’s fall campaign, feels sure that by Sept. 14, it will have the 116 markets, either via further barter arrangements or by cash. Ex |} quisite has allocated $2,500, 000 for its spot campaign, utilizing the barter arrangement in the hope of get An ‘Aye’ for Barter Advertising thinking in pursuing barter as outlined by an Exquisite Form Bra _ spokesman, and indicative of the Many, medium and smaller advertisers pursuing the technique; was outlined as follows: The bra industry grosses. about $250,000,000 annually compared to the multi-billion dolar gross of the auto industry. ‘It needs tv exposure to move goods, but finds the regular route via network and spot’ buys too expensive for the splash it would like to create, Exquisite Form has allocated $4,000,000 for tv this year, .$1,500,000 going for spec” network exposure and “$2,500,000 for spots. Firm feels,-despite the headaches of © barter with a big nationalsales push slated to. kick. off Sept. 14 and many markets still to be closed, that barter, supplemented by cash buys, is the answer. With $2,500,000 in the spot kitty, bra outfit feels if can get another $1,000,000 worth of time by following the coupled barterplus-cash route, Section on) sistant v.p. In presenting shockers, ‘bought for cash. '| Class A, B, and C times and with -more than 60% of the spots could j of the contract, according to an Ex |}some. of whom maintain there is {room for a limited number of flex.|ible barter arrangements beyond | which they cannot go if they are to sacunige Gross for 57; Up 25% Over 6 “TPA’s Policy Powwow A general policy meeting, with production plans for the smal syndication business ig reflected in the fact that CBS Television Film Sales will rack up an estimated $10,000,000 in gross billings during 1957, a full 25% ahead of last year, when the vidpix subsid hit a peak of $8,000,000 gross, Moreover, it’s understood the major contribution toward the new peak has been Film Sales’ new firstrun product with billings on current sales carrying over into next year and promising even a brighter return then. Particularly strong grossers for the CBS subsid have been “Whirlybirds,” on which Film Sales is expected to order second-year production, and the as| Dew “The Gray Ghost,” on which | billings get underway next month, Beyond the firstrun entries, Film Sales has ‘been doing a strong foreign business and has had heavy business in network rerun sales. In the foreign field, it’s understood nearly 25°% of the gross has come in from Canada, South America and overseas; and the foreign market is still expanding. On network rors, Film Sales has been doing olid business with “The Honey-~ mooners and “Our Miss Brooks,” | and has the Phil Silvers show upcoming as well. Understood the telefilm opeération has been working on a 10% profit margin, which would make its ’57 contribution to the CBS Ine, profit pot a fat $1,000,000. Oaters Hot As | TV Cinema Fare The Western staple again Is proving itself in the feature field, judging from the Varrety-Amerlcan Research Bureau Feature Film Chart in this current issue, spotlighting the Houston and Indfanapolis markets, . In Houston, July ARB ratings show the Republic Pictures Roy j Rogers and Gene Autry features, .|which have been distributed via MCA-TV for a long while now, ] placing in four spots among the top 10 films for the market. Ratingwise Rogers and Autry beat such entries as “It’s a Wonderful Time,” “A Bell for Adano,” and “Foxes of Harrow.’ The top feature for the market was another oater, the comparative up-to-date “Red River” of ; United Artsits-TY. In Indianapolis, a Roy Rogers starrer placed second and Gene Autry captured fourth position, of the year and early ’58, as well as sales expansion plans, topping the agenda, is being held by Television Programs of America. Coming in from the Coast for the meet, which got underway yesterday (Tues.)} and will continue throughout the -week, were Legn Fromkess, v.p. in charge of pro-. duction, and Bruce Eells, western division v.p. Also attending are Milton Gordon, prez, meet chairman; Mickey Sillerman, exec v.p.; Hardie Frieberg,. eastern division v.p.; Walt Plant, central division tranager, and Kurt Blumberg, AAP’s Post48 TV Pix Fees Set For Writer-Directors Hollywood, Sept. 3. Flat per picture payment to directors and a sliding scale percentage arrangement to writers has removed the first obstacle to tv release by Associated Artists Productions of 10 post-1948 Warner Bros. films. Deal, which ended ‘a year of negotiations, moves AAP one step closer to reaching the market with the new films, but arrangements must still be: made with Screen’ Actors Guild and: American Federation of Musicians. It was emphasized that the agreements, which in the case of the writers specifies payment for release of the films on any pay-see tv system, cover only the 10 pictures and are not intended to establish a pattern for widespread industry release of features made since 194 Directors and writers guilds each approached the problem from (Continued on page 48) ting about $3,500,000 in. rate card spots, some of which would be Other requirements of the NTA deal were that on the average lined-up stations would furnish seven spots a day over the period of the deal, that the spots would | tbe.telecast from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m, | ratingwise beating such films as and 7:30 to midnight, with certain |. Gotden Boy,” “Stage Coach,” and percentages to be furnished in! %0U Can’t take It With You” in the market. Consideration, of course, should be given to the comparative time slots, station rank, and opposition, as well as the popularity of sage brushers in a market. All the same, it’s a show of strength. Locked Out of Chi Affi NTA Sells Shirley Temple TV Specs to Rival WBKB Chicago, Sept. 3. the further limitations that not be furnished in Class C time. NTA, which still will be working. on the deal, although it no longer has exclusivity, has acknowledged that in some markets it just could not make a barter deal under terms quisite spokesman, This acknowledgment is echoed by a ntumber of station operators, the NTA film network affiliate here refused to clear Sunday afternoon time for the series of four Shirley Temple “spectaculars” the local ABC-TV-owned WBKB grape st in a hurry. s pact with WGN-TV, its atfil | hove, allows for dickering elsewhere if the station should nix any of the network projects. Sterling: (Red) Quinlan; veep of the ABCTV station, said he accepted the Ideal Toy-sponsored shows “bee cause they fit in nicely with WBKB’s programming scheme to changing discounted time for what | compete with the more cultural they consider needed program-|Sunday afternoon fare on the ming. — other two networks.” ~~ maintain spot cash income and if they are to maintain their public service spot pitches for cancer campaigns, community chests, etc. Others,. repping some strong stations, are in the “view with alarm” mood, pointing to what they consider a potential “monster” in light of such blue-chippers:.as Procter & Gamble having its agencies investigating the barter technique. Then, there are stations, as evidenced by | the NTA deals made before its exclusivity collapsed, which go along with the barter technique, ex ‘It’s highly irregular, but when. Overall brightness of the telefilm