Variety (February 1958)

24 TV-FILMS PUKm&r But Why Blanks? • Denver- Feb. 18. “26 Men*” syndicated show being telecast here by KBTV, is riding the crest of some snazzy publicity breaks. There’s a gun-drawing duel slated Saturday (22) between *‘26 Men” star Kelo Hender¬ son and Sam Toole, reputed to be Denver’s fastest drawing living citizen.; Duel grew Out of. two Den¬ ver Post columnists, Thomp¬ son Watt and Red Fenwick,; taking opposite tacks on . the prowess of the. tv Arizona Ranger. With the help, of ABC Film Syndication, match was set to. settle the arguments " ; ' P.S.: Blanks will be used. Jan. Pick-Me-Up; mm The month of January, usually relatively dull period in. syndi¬ cation, being midpbint between the traditional fall and spring sell¬ ing spurts, has turned out to be a surprisingly good month for a number of the major syndicators. For . one, CBS Filth Sales has Chalked up some solid sales on “Gray Ghost,” “San Francisco: Beat,” “Whirlybirds” and “Amps ’n* Andy.” Total gross for the mOnth was put at a sizable $1,000,- 000, counting some February biz 1 . Biggest chunk of coin. came from Continental Oil which has been picking up market after market on renewals, for “Whirlybirds,” now beginning: unreeling With second year production. Another hefty slice of business came from Strohs Brewery, which picked up “San Francisco Beat” in 15 mid¬ west markets; Television Programs Of America reports the biggest month for biz in the history of the company. NBC’s California National Produc¬ tions previously reported that gross income for the month ex¬ ceeded •. all previous records in CNP’s eight-year history. It added that the week of . Jan. '17, with sales totalling more than $650,000, constituted a new seven-day mark for CNP’s sales force.; The swing around of biz in Jan¬ uary again underlies the growing character of syndication as a year- round business, with traditional lulls being utilized for a variety Of sales campaigns to hypo biz and even Out the sales curve. United Artists TV has moved its department from UA headquarters on . Seventh Ave. to new offices on Madison. Ave . . .. David Sutton, MCA TV topper, has returned, from a tour of MCA exchanges ... Peter Zanphir, advertising-sales promotion consultant, is servicing ABC Film Syndication. Scott McKeown, formerly south¬ east sales r e p res e n t a t i v e for Richard H. Ullman, producer- and j distributor of animated commer¬ cials, has joined ABC Film Syndi¬ cation. McKeown will be ABC’s southeast representative ... . “De¬ coy,” Syndicated series produced by Pyramid Productions dealing with the adventures of a N. Y. policewoman, is being utilized as a Gaining film for neophyte police¬ women in 11 citiesv Kirk Torney appointed; sales manager of Sterl¬ ing Television. He wias recently with Associated Artists Produc¬ tions, where he was a division manager . , . Bob Joseph named producer, of a new telefilm series, titled “The Life .of the Party,” With production slated in New York . . MacManus, John & Adams now has 10 tv commercials under production at National Screen Service, with Steve Ben¬ nett producing for the agency and William K. Kent supervising for NSS . . Leslie; Harris, CBS Film Sales; topper, back from the Coast and . Bud .Barry, Metro TV v.p., back from Englahd, inTV (nematics; N.Y. And Indicative of the type of draw topline features have on television is the . fact that in three showings since early December in the New York area alone, “The Bells of St. Mary’s” the Led McCarey Academy Award winner, has been seen by an - estimated 4,220,000 viewers. Picture was aired first on Dec. 7, a Saturday night, then again on Dec. 27, a Sunday, and then in the early evening as a two-parter on Monday and Tuesday, Feb: 3 and 4. All showings were via WRCA- TV, the NBC flagship in N Y... which licensed the pic from National Tele film Associates. Latter acquired the film last spring in a negative buy- out of several McCarey films. Roiigh estimate is that the N.Y. tv audience alone amounted to about one-third of the film’s total 1 U.S. theatrical audience. Wcdnciday, February 19, 1958 Ulin Hollywood, Feb. 18. Universal International Pictures has formed a production part¬ nership With NBC, under an agreement reached between Alan W. Livingston, NBC-TV program v.p., and Milton Rackmil, U-I prexy, - and Morris Weiner, studio operations manager. For a starter, the studio Will begin within two weeks, production of th» pilot western series “Saddle Tramp,” based on the U-I picture of the same title made eight years ago;. That" NBC may cast its lot with U-I for all filmed properties is indicated by the statement of Livingston that “the long range aspects of the arrangement will be announced later. It’s known that NBC’s telepic subsid for its syndication arm, California National pro- . Auctions, 'will pull stakes on the California lot after its stage leas¬ ing deals expire. How this new partnership will affect NBC’s relations with MCA and Revue can only be conjectured. It was recently disclosed by Lou Edelman that his producing outfit was “getting up a team for NBC” and that, all its future series Would first be offered to that network. It can only be guessed that NBC may concentrate all its film production for both network and syndicate at the Universal plant.. It Is admitted by both the studio and NBC that the new agreement covers considerably more than a leasing of space. Financial arrangement of the partnership is not disclosed but it is believed that U-I will produce the pictures from NBC blueprints and net will make the sales; From out of the proceeds of the sale, U-I would get a flat price per pic similar to ABC-TV’s arrangement: with Walt Disney and Warners. NBC would pay for the pilots. Guild’s $7,500,000 Gross Since 18 on Uberace s Umpteenth Reruns - — --r————-A nasal, wavy-haired pianist be- With the entrance of Universal- International into telefilm produce tion, the roster of major Holly¬ wood motion picture companies now engaged in vidfilm activities virtually is complete. The degree of activity of each of the majors differs, some con¬ firming their telefilm branch to fi¬ nancing as opposed to the full scale operation of the kingpin, and oldest established of them all, Co¬ lumbia’s subsid, Screen Gems. But the drive stems from a- com¬ mon desire to diversify in other show biz areas in the face of dimin¬ ishing motion picture horizons. Among the latest to cross the line were U-I and Paramount Pic¬ tures, both of which recently sold their pre-48 feature backlogs for tv distribution. Cinematic tv dis¬ tribution though is mainly a liquids ation operation, with the prospects of big revenues sharply diminished from that source following the ini¬ tial big market sales. For continued revenue from tv, there must be a source of fresh production, there¬ fore the drive to enter the vidfilm field. Universal - International, Which has a healthy commercial film op¬ eration, has made deals with CBS- TV and NBC-TV for telefilming. U-I’s pact With CBS-TV calls for a filmed entry on “Playhouse .90,” titled “The Dungeon” starring Paul Douglas. Details of its NBC-TV vidfilm pact are being worked: out. Paramount Pictures recently am nounced plans for co-financing of vidfilm. properties. United Artists, another new entry in the field, is busily engaged in lining up pro¬ ducers for its projected “UA Play¬ house” anthology series. UA also, bought controlling, stock interest in Associated Artists Productions, which owns the Warner Bros, li¬ brary, the Popeye shorts and other properties being distributed to tv. The UA move, though, still is being challanged in the courts by Na¬ tional Telefilm Associates, which claims a prior deal. In addition to the. aforemen¬ tioned companies, there are Loew’s Metro TV, 20th-Fox’s TCF, and Warner Bros. Metro TV has two projects inked for network expo¬ sure, “Thin Man” and “Northwest Passage,” with a roster of pilots for national sale; 2dth-Fox is partnered with NTA in the NTA Film Network and also is . engaged in pilot production! WB has four western entries currently net¬ worked, with four pilots up for sale next season. Republic Pictures Hollywood Television Service, inactive in the new production field, is expected to stay .in business taking care of the distribution of post-’48 Repub¬ lic pix. RKG. Teleradio Pictures has a_ number of properties its. bandying around for national sale, sans conventional pilots. Gross-Krasne’s Ur. Glencannon’ London, Feb. 18. Gross-Krasne’s next teleseries project will be. “Mr. Glencannon,”” a sea saga starring Thomas Mitchell. Exec producer Donald N. Hyde has hired Patrick Allen for. the fea¬ tured role. With British director John Knight slated for the meg- ging chores. Series Will be pro¬ duced. entirely in England, witii the parent company, Gross-Krasne, Inc. holding rights to distribu¬ tion in the western hemisphere. Production on the pilot is under¬ way, with present plans calling for a fall start Q-K, has sold “African Patrol” in London with a March 15 sarting date. Mitchell starred in G-K’s “The O. Henry Playhouse” series. Which launched the company about a year and a half ago. Goldstone to England Duke Goldstone winged to Eng¬ land last week to make final ar¬ rangements on lensing of “Sabo¬ tage," a new telefilmed actioner being made in England and Europe ’ by Guild Films, CROSS COUNTRY With Lloyd : Burlingham, . Bill Mason, Dick Passage, Dana Bur- • nett, Joe Dwyer, Herschel New¬ som, others Executive Producer: Fred A, Niles Producer: Tex Barron Director; Tom Rook Distributor: Fred A. Niles Produc¬ tions Fred Niles Productions : is “net¬ working” on around 40 rural sta¬ tions a Weekly half-hour film whose high pretention it is to be of service and/or; interest to agri¬ culture people everywhere. This kind of universality is; easier said than accomplished when it’s a mat¬ ter, of keeping the. folks in the cot¬ ton and corn belts involved. in a show that also focusses on fruit growers and cattle ranchers, but “Cross Country” negotiates it han¬ dily with its fast moving format which, like a newsreel, scopes sun¬ dry interests in various parts of the country without lingering long on any. But this poses a limit on the depth to which any issue may be covered, and the coverage is usually superficial. How valuable this kind of . show can be to farmers and other rural dwellers is impossible to estimate from an urban viewpoint, but as an agricultural newsreel it is certainly interesting, even in parts to the city feller. Vital it can’t be be¬ cause of the. time factors involved in filming, editing and distributing, but Niles has designed the film with a built-in five minute hiatus for regional news, weather and market, reports from the local com- mentatorsjo give it timeliness. Edition viewed got off to an un¬ intoxicating start with a couple of routine interviews and a closeup on the automatic egg factory in Fairbury, Ill., the last smacking of an educational documentary. Lat¬ ter part proved the more interest¬ ing with a segment on the Chicago Board of Trade, the ground-break¬ ing cereinonies. for the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma, and a Dept.. of : Agriculture film clip on experiments for separating the best cotton seed. Most interesting —but perhaps only to the citified mind—Was the bit on ai new meth¬ od for tranquilizing wild animals, by shooting hypodermics of nico¬ tine at 'em by rifle. Lloyd Burlingham, a longtime farmcaster, is the pivot, and the film cuts back and forth to. him in Chicago, “Cross Country Head¬ quarters.!’.. Burlingham has a warm, I (Continued on page 38) DAVID NIVEN PREPS ADVENTURE SERIES Hollywood, Feb. 18. . David Niven is prepping new half-hour mystery-adventure vidpix series, which he’ll produce through Four Star Films Inc., in Which he’s partnered with Dick Powell and Charles Boyer. As basis for series, Niven bought French author Henri de Gacher’s “The Man in the Pan¬ ama Hat,” and currently is nego¬ tiating With Eric Ambler to script. Niven will Shoot background ma¬ terial for series bn a three-month trek through Yugoslavia, Greece, India, Thailand and Japan, leaving here in mid-April. He!ll also gather research. Sponsors in syndication are es¬ tablishing a track record of either staying with particular properties or renewing with the same syndi¬ cation house, but on another ve¬ hicle. Of all Ziv shows which have been in syndication for more than one season,. 68% have had the same sponsor, through at least two years. Other houses, such as CBS Film Sales, NBC’s California Na¬ tional Productions, National Tele¬ film Associates, have had s imilar experiences, especially with fresh production on established proper¬ ties. In case after Case, the same, sponsors have taken another 52- week on new productions on such series as “Whirlybirds,” “State Trooper,” “Silent Service” et al Ziv study showed that individual sponsors have stayed With a Ziv series as long as seven years. “Highway Patrol” scored a re¬ newal rate as high as. 97%, "Men of Annapolis,” which has hot gone through Its first year Contracts in most of its markets, , has already received advance renewals for 18% of, them, including 17 major Coast markets for Carnation Milk’s Albers division, .Exemplifying those sponsors staying in the market blit switch¬ ing .properties is Olympia Brew¬ ing, Which recently picked up the tab in 35_markets for Ziv’s new “Target.” Previously, the brewery rode On “Favorite Story” and “Science Fiction Theatre.” 'African Patrol' Pacts Eleven tv stations; have pacted for “African Patrol,” the syndi¬ cated half-hour telefilm skein pro¬ duced and distributed by Gross- Krasne. Outfit started peddling the actioner after Jan. 1. “African Patrol”-is the Second series made by the new G-K com¬ pany since it’s formation gan his fifth year on viddo yester¬ day TTues.). Since Feb. 18, 1953, when the first of the Liberace telefilm half-hours began in Den¬ ver on KBTV, his shows, Which now number 118 in all, . have grossed an estimated $7,500,000 for their distributor! Guild Films, and the several hundred tv stations which have carried him and his candelabra have, pulled in roughly $30,000,000 in time and talent charges to advertisers as a result . Liberace was the first telefilm success for Guild. The distribs sup¬ plied the earnings figures. At one point* Liberace flicks were appear¬ ing on 221 video outlets and today, in their umpteenth rerun (Guild and Liberace parted company a few years ago and no more half- hours were produced), Liberace is still appearing on 150 stations. They’re still on KBTV, which drew a very retiscent Denver National Bank as his first bankroller. Altogether, the program has had more than 400 sponsors, who either participated in the half-hour or bought it outright in their respec¬ tive markets. Though they paid premium prices for the dulcet plan- istics and soapy singing,: the re¬ turns to sponsors were reportedly great—in the main, at any rate. The Society for Savings of Cleve¬ land, according to Guild, reported $20,000,000 in new deposits over a 15-month period and most, if not all of it, was attributed to the bank’s underwriting of Liberace on tv. (At one time, he had 78 bank¬ ing and Io£n sponsors.) Though the majority of critics held their noses when he appeared, Liberace’s impact is almost a show biz f abie* Zhr’s W Set London, Feb. 18, Plans for the launching of a new British vidpic series were being finalized in London last week by Edward J. Stern, president of Ziv International. The new skein, en¬ titled “999,” is- likely to start roll¬ ing in the late Spring and Will probably be produced at the As¬ sociated British Studios at Elstree. This will be Ziv’s second British series, the former being “Martin Kane” which was lensed in Elstree last year with William Gargan in the title role. . “999,” like “Kane,” will - be- pro¬ duced for Ziv by Harry Alan Tow¬ ers. It will star =bne British and one: Canadian artist and, as the title indicates, the subject has a Scot¬ land Yard background. Stem told Variety last week that the series could be‘ iensed in Hollywood for just about the same cost. They, were hot using a Brit¬ ish studio to save on the budget but because the title called for Britisb locales.