Variety (November 1957)

Wednesday, November 15, 1957 CSTERNATIONAL TV-RADIO 59 -f (Wtek Ending Oct . 27.) Play of the Week—“Lost Boundaries'*. *..... (AR) "j Double Your Money.... (AR) i 69% Val Parnell’s Saturday Spectacular.. (ATV) j Carroll Levis Show... . (AR) 68% San Francisco Beat—.....(AR) ) Take Your Pick.....;.... (AR) j 66% Jack Hylton • Presents—“The Lady Ratlings Here Again”......... (AR) 65% Emergency Ward 10—Friday.(AR) ) Sunday Night at London Palladium .(ATV) \ 64% Emergency Ward 10—Tuesday....(AR) I Highway Patrol....(ATV) ) 61% (These figures reveal the audience in the London area television homes, capable of receiving both BBC and 1TV programmes.) ' Paul Gordon Exiting Berlin’s ETG To Form Own Vidpix Production Service +-—-:- Berlin, Nov. 12. Paul Gordon, co-owner and‘co- founder of European Television Co. (ETG), ’op vidpix producing out¬ fit here, has left this company whose production-in-chief he had been since. its setup seven years ago. Gprdon participated in raising ,ETG- to the status of one of Eu¬ rope's foremost tv programming outfits. Company claims to have this continent’s largest tv catalog corfsisting of about 4,000 different programs. It is selling vidpix to all German, Austrian, Swiss, French, Belgian, Dutch and Lux- emburgian video stations and is also making deals with stations in Australia, Japan. Canada, the United Kingdom as well as South America and the U. S. Gordon, a U.S. citizen, said that he is about to establish a new company whose aim is to assist U.S. film and vidpix outfits on co¬ production deals and to place the second unit (studios, exteriors,- production plans, extras, small roles, settings, props, costumes, etc.) at their disposal. In addi- . tion, he intends to take over the representation -of some leading American tv programming com¬ panies. His Connection with ETG will be maintained inasmuch as he re¬ mains in company’s wing -in his function as an advisor with on pro¬ gramming and catalog setups. Japan’s 43 Mew Video Channels Tokyo, Nov. 5. fhe Postal Services Ministry granted preliminary tv licenses to seven stations of the semi-gov.ern- mental Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) of 36 outlets of 34 indies. The stations are not expected to start broadcasting before 1969. The 43 additional licenses would give Japan a total of 68 stations with 23 part of the NHK web. Cur¬ rent stations actually telecasting daily include 11 of NHK and five indies. In granting preliminary licenses, various conditions were attached by the government. One declared that licenses would be cancelled for applicants'' whose organization was not completed by the end of March, 1958. Another was that quasi-educational outlets .. should telecast at least 20% educational programs and more than 3Q% cul¬ tural. Limitations were also made to restrict execs and investment by newspapers from being intro¬ duced. * SIR IVONE KIRKPA1TUCK CHAIRMAN OF UX's-ffA London, Nov. 12- Sir Ivcine Kirkpatrick, the re¬ cently retired permanent head of the Foreign Office, has been ap¬ pointed chairman of the Indepen¬ dent Television Authority. He succeeds Sir Kenneth Clark, who held*the post until his retirement in September. Gabber’s Debility May Kill Radiothons in Mex Mexico .City, Nov. 12. Radiothons in Mexico seem on the way to being outlawed fol¬ lowing the tragic experience of Juan Manuel Wuilliard, young an¬ nouncer for station XEMU at Piedras Negras, '■ over the border from Eagle Pass, T^x. After he had spieled for 80 hours, during which he raised $8,000 for the poor children’s Xmas fund and im¬ provements to a public school, doctors ordered Wuilliard to quit when his voice wavered and his body sagged. Doctors are striving to restore to Wuilliard his faculty of speech and are treating him for general physical and mental exhaus'ion. 10,000,000 Italo Lookers^ Good ' Thurs.-Sat.-Sun. Rome, *Nov. 12. Thursday, Saturday and Sunday are the most popular video even¬ ings in Italy, according to a poll DOXA, Italy’s top public opinion organization, conducted recently for RAI-TV, the local telenetwork. Same source also Indicated an av- | erage number of viewers per pro¬ gram of some 4-5 million (with 600,000 sests in use), and a top .au¬ dience of over 10,000,000. It should be added, however, that while the results have just been released, they date back some time, and are therefore merely Indicative. Current estimates are to be- con¬ sidered higher, because of the sub¬ sequent completion of the Italian network via the inclusion of the south and elimination of some blind “pockets,” as well as by the shift of some important and pop¬ ular programs to other nights. Two of the top draws in the local picture-remain the quizzers “Lascia o Radoppia” (Thursday nights) and “Telematch” (Sunlays), while Sat¬ urdays usually feature a variety show and/or a drama In serial form. Popularity of the former show, in¬ cidentally, dropped from a 1956 top of 1*0,000,000 viewers to a 1957 figure of some^ 7,000,000. Brlt.’f l5-Mil TAM Wham London, Nov. 12. It’* estimated that 15,055,000 viewers in around 4,360,000 homes can now watch commercial tv. This is a 100% increase in both homes and viewer* during the last 12 months, according to Television [Audience Measurement Ltd. .* j TAM adds that in established | commercial tv areas an average of 168% of all homes with tv are now programs, compared with- 60%, in I April and 50% in October, 1956. ATV Expanding Elstree Film Studios; $10,000,(1) 2-Year Take on 14 Shows By JAY TOMSON Vancouver, B.C., Nov. 12. CBC-TV budget cutbacks antici¬ pated since the Conservatives ousted the-Liberals in Ottawa are now felt here, with firings and layoffs following a steady exodus Of staffers from this city's sole television outlet, CBUT. CBC regional heads here said! that “staff has been quitting at the rate of three or four a month to! take other jobs or move into other fields.” Staffers being dropped, it was stressed, were not being fired but laid off. In view of the Fowler Commission recom¬ mendations that CBC should con¬ centrate its production centres in eastern Canada, using such outlets as CBUT as network carriers, the term “layoff” seems to be a wish- wash. 'euphemism for “sacked." Typical of the vacillating state of CBC at this time is the matter of CBUT set designer Jim Flan¬ nery who was notified he had been “laid ofP’ while on his vacation last month, later notified that he would receive a codicil to his con¬ tract retaining his services for three months, which is tantamount to three months’ notice to quit the corporation. Another casualty of CBC jitters is senior producer Peter Elking- ton. His contract expired in Sep¬ tember and was not renewed, part¬ ly due to a hassle with his su¬ periors over his decision to hire singer Pat Morgan for the new “Call For Music” network series which kicked off Nov. 5. Morgan was finally hired and the producer quit. Outcome was that Elkington was. awarded a sixmonth Contract instead of the usual twelvemonth, deal. This will take the “Call For Music” series safely through its run, which was of vital concern to CBUT hrasshats since other pro¬ ducers had expressed inability to sustain the musical. Elkington has been with CBUT here since the sta¬ tion’s inception four years ago. CBUT sources state that 15 IATSE members have been let out and that present intentions are to lay off roughly 30 more staffers. Attempts to verify this informa¬ tion have met with evasive replies. * Meanwhile, local radio station operators have been given no indi¬ cation if and when they will be permitted by CBC to move into the telecasting field. At the pres¬ ent, time a large percentage of metropolitan tv advertising reven¬ ue flows to KVOS, Bellingham, Wash., which is also incorporated here with its own production and sales facilities under management of longtime Canadian radioman Gordon M. Reid. ‘Emergency-—Ward 10’ Started as 12-Episoder, Now Heading for 100th London, Nov. 12. A live commercial tv program, which started out as a 12-episoder on a two-a-week basis last Febru¬ ary, is due to notch its century early in the New Year. The ser¬ ies, “Emergency—Ward 10,”. net¬ worked by. Associated Television, relies on a simple formula, which inspires viewer identification. In its nine* months on the air It has established a pafrem for programming, which is unique on commercial tv in Britain, as well as in America. It’s cap¬ tured and consistently held a mass audience, has been regularly list¬ ed In the top 10 ratings, and is now seen in more than 2,000,000 homes every Tuesday and Friday The series is based on an idea by ATV promotion writer Tessa Diamond and Spotlights the day- to-day happenings in a provincial hospital. AtuU time team of script writers and directors is employed on. the series and the five principal characters, who have been with the program since it first began on Feb, 15, have, from time to time, to be written out of the script to give them a rest. London, Nov. 12. Two new full-size stages are be¬ ing added to Associated Televi¬ sion’s National Studios at Elstree to cope with its expanding tele¬ film production program. The com¬ pany aims to have a minimum of six series in the works during next year. The studio expansion, apart from the stages, includes new work¬ shops, latest equipment and addi¬ tional production facilities that will give the studio a total of six stages. The ATV production program is _ carried out by its associate outfit. Incorporated Television Program Co., which in little more than two years has filmed 14 complete series Which have returned to Britain a total of around $10,000,000. With i one exception, they've all been j made in partnership with American companies. j The champ dollar earner has | been “Robin Hood,” now in its i third series, which has returned \ to Britain upwards of $3,000,000. Two other skeins from the same stable.— Sapphire Films — “The Buccaneers” and “The Adventures i of Sir Lahcelot.” have each earned ] $1,000,000. Other ITP projects j which , have been substantial dollar Edinburgh, Nov. 12. -earners are “The Adventures of Too large a proportion of Scot-: Charlie Chan,” “OSS” and “The based programs would make indieiLa S t of the Mohicans.” and upcom- tv less popular, according to Roy j mg series include “The Sword of Thomson, program contractor here, j Freedom” and “White Hunter.” Innocent Abroad London, Nov. 12. Michael Westmore, head of light entertainment for Asso- ciated-Rediffusion, just back from a working quickie to New York where he gathered ma¬ terial for the London weekday programmer’s news feature program, “This Week,” had a real hectic time there. He arrived five hours late because of bad weather and had around 60 minutes to film his interview's before the ma¬ terial was processed and* flown hack to England.' His inter¬ view pitch—a pedestrian is¬ land in the middle of Times Square. . Scotland’s Gotta Have Masses; Let BBC Go to‘Class’ He said Scotland had talent, hut not enough to provide anything like continuous all-Scot programs. They now aimed at giving the The “OSS” series is due to be completed within a few weeks and a decision will be made by the end of the year whether a new' skein of best possible programs from every-: 39 is to be put into production, where, Scotland included, but; The "Charlie Chan” series came obviously most of them must come j off the floor last week on schedule from London, the center of Bri- and Qri budget, tain’s talent. In reference to U.S. films, he : i said non-British films were among; I the most popular programs, but:! they were limited to a total of; seven hours per week. Thomson, claiming they were not; out /to educate viewers, added:) “We are a commercial service, andj our objective is primarily to en~- Singapore, Nov. 5. tertain people. I don’t have anyj Television was launched here to- apologies for putting on clean, de-< night (Tues.) under a campaign cent entertaining programs which similar to the one held in Seoul, can help brighten the lives of, Korea, several months ago. With viewers. The BBC, by its nature,*an aim to stimulate local interest must cater to minorities, but! m se t buying, nine receivers were frankly we are looking for the great, placed in the Cathay skyscraper to Cathay‘Cathodes’ Singapore TV Bow mass audience all the time.” give the population a chance to see a 20-mnute variety show from the Cathay Restaurant. The nine sets, priced at a total of about $20,000, carried the whip¬ dancing a cabaret act of Maurice & Margaret. Stuart Garrett, of Cathay, organized the tv preem. In coming days, the tv receivers will be on display at various Singa¬ pore .sites. Public will be able to watch daily tv programming, ac¬ cording to the Cathay Organiza¬ tion, which will use local talent. Cathay controls hotel, theatre and nitery interests. Earlier this year, in Seoul, the Korean RCA distributor placed tv sets in public buildings and staged a variety show of its own. Mobs jammed the streets and had to he controlled by Korean police. Gar¬ rett arranged for Singapore police to regulate the local mob scene. RAI-TV & ITALO ASSN. RESOLVE GRID ISSUE Rome, Nov. 12. As expected, the Italian football federation and RAI-TV, the local radio-television network, have come to an agreement over cover¬ age by the Italo net of this sea¬ son’s football events. Controversy had been going on for some time and at one point threatened to result in a boycott of all sporting news on the part of RAI-TV. A ’‘status quo” solution has been adopted, meaning that RAI will continue to broadcast half of cer¬ tain games over its radio net, \vhile the video outlet will continue to show filmed clips of selected games over the various sport programs. No direct pickups of national games are planned for the moment, though the federation has agreed that any two teams can arrange for such a pickup (for a fee) by mere¬ ly switching the game to Saturday I Glasgow, Nov. 12. (instead of Sunday! after notifying’ The British Broadcasting Corp. and clearing it with the Associa- j & s tiii putting out rival claims to ‘ Scot indie tv over the top-rated programs here. BBC Sez It’s Reaching Top in Glasgow With ‘Rock Bottom’ & Others tion. RAI-TV payments to the football association will also continue on the current basis (that is, for the radio broadcast only) until a law court establishes the football fed¬ eration’s right to charge the video outfit for the privilege of shooting and then broadcasting clips of se¬ lected games. RAI claims that this is covered by convention on “news” coverage, while the soccer people feel it’s an infringement on their rights to the “show” they stage even' Sunday. Latest list comes from BBC-TV base here, with the claim that the 10 largest Scot tv audiences for broadcasts (BBC or STV Ltd.) in the week Oct. 13-19 were all for BBC shows. Estimate is credited to BBC audience research. Leading ratings were gained by “What’s My Line?”, “Miss World Contest 1957,” “Dixon of Dock Green,” Tommy Steele in “The Golden Year.” “This IS Your Life” and “Rock Bottom,”