Variety (February 1958)

TV RERUNS ON CLUB CIRCUIT ’ Ziv bitl Topper to Moscow .... Milan, Feb. 18, Eitel Monaco, prexy of ANICA, declared here, in the course , of •a lecture at the. Second National Convention of Writers for the Cinema that '-there is the possibility of some sort of collaborationr- between the State and the privately-owned: cinema. industry for the opening of a new tv channel exclusively reserved to the trans¬ mission of films. That is: seeing that people don’t go to the cinema 'because of tv we will bring filnis to their home, through the 'same medium.” . Monaco went on to say that in 1957 only 780-million tickets had been sold in Italian cinemas in spite of the fact that new theatres had been opened and a large percentage of the old ones had been re¬ modeled. In 1956 over 810: millions of people paid their admission fees to the Italian cinemas. Monaco added that in .1957. the cinema exhibition industry paid in taxes to the state 32 milliards of iires (about: 50 million dollars) while tv taxes aimounted to only two. milliards liras. The state, as such, could not ignore an industry that contributed so much in taxes. No MCA Pattern Yet on Sale Of As First U.S. Vidpix Emissary Management Corp: of America*’ subsidiary of Music Corp, of Amer¬ ica won’t lack for customers when it begins selling the newly-acquired. "Paramount pre-’48 feature film SG Ups Sackheim Television Programs of America it begins selling the newly-acquired. Hollywood, Feb. 1.8, Paramount pre-’48 feature film William Sackheim^-.ha§ been < c * *■ : * * upped to director of programming library to ty stations.. Number of j or screen Gems. He’ll operate key groups are champing at the bit under production v.p. Harry Ack- right now, awaiting MCA’s first erman in supervising all program- move to place the features on the m £g aptivties and development. , Sackheim has been with Screen market.. Gems for four years as a writer One such group, it’s known, is an( j producer, having worked on the CBS-TV owned stations, which *‘Ford Theatre” and soma-of SG’s is interested in acquiring the Para- gio-minute productions for ‘‘Play- mount features in a multiple-sta- house 90.” tion buy similar to the $11,000,000 ____--- 4 purchase it engineered on the en- ' . time Metro library. Another in- JLK, ¥1 .r ■ ». terested party, but with some quail- If 1 3TIH V RGlllfir S fi cations, is the NBC owned sta- HWUUIJ IkVUlVl » tions, which recently purchased . » ■ the post-’48 Republic backlog in a - | AA lmAt $2,000,000 deal. U jC2(S JACKPOt NBG group, however; , is inter- * ested only if MCA decides to split | n .1 the library into smaller-sized pack- I In I U A \a|aa ages: Reason is that whereas CBS |/I1 11 il UdlCv uses features in the late-night peri¬ ods seven nights a Week, the NBC Television Programs of America outlets use. them only'on weekends, ^ tic^ng off the new year with ince they cany the live Jack some hefty sales, abroad/ with Paar Show on. weeknights. Web foreign v.p. Manny Reiner simply couldn’t handle the volume repor tj ng a gross of over $330,000 of -the, entire Par backlog. in program sales for the first six Most of the'interest at this time weeks of 1958. is purely anticipartory, since MCA Sponsors buying TP A skeins simply hasn’t decided yet just how abroad include Bendix, Canada it will market the backlog. Key Dry, LaSuerte Cigars arid Cigarets, men in the sale of the films will Coco Rico Candy and Metro Drug be v.p.’s DaVe Sutton and Lou Co. Programs include “Lassie,” Friedland, and they were on a pre- which TP A distributes for Jack viously scheduled, business trip Wrather; “Adventures of Tugboat most of last week in Kansas City. Annie”; “New Adventures of On their return early this week, Charlie' Chan”; “Mystery Is My they were expected to go into hud- Business”; “Susie” and others, dies with top MCA management on “Susie” was sold in the Philip- working out a sales pattern for the pines and in Hong Kong, while backlog. They have met with some “Fury” was bought in Mexico and station people, but meeting have Switzerland; "Adventures of Tug- been informal expressions of in- boat Anriie,” in: Australia and terest. Hong Kong; “Lassie,” in Australia, ■ .*t -r' : Argentina, Cuba, Puerto Rico, . Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, El Y > PT * Salvador and Guatemala. Kellog I ACCPr Q I Q|73n bought the “Lassie” series for LvOuvl w I W sponsorship in all Latin American countries other than Argenti , #|1 I .. A where the sponsorship .was picked lelepix on Again ***> H „» g Kong and Sweden, as well as the Hollywood, Feb. 18 Philippines. With a “Tarzan” theatrical film Sales total for the six week pe- . . Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, El in lu rYEP VEE1 Y y PT * Salvador : and Guatemala. Kellog Au All XiACtl/ ill] LACCpr Q I 217211 hoxim . se A rfes . for With Sy Weintraub slated to O 1UI AUiA sponsorship m all Latin American out as a partner, Telestar Film _ countries other than Argenti ., name( i David. Savage as exec #|1 I 1 . H where the sponsorship .was picked pea lelepix on Again soia in *** Hollywood, Feb. 18. phiifppfiies 8 ^^ 11 ’ ** ^ ^ wiU be in charge of administ* With a “Tarzan” theatrical film Sales total for the six week pe- We o a now before the cameras, Sol Les- r i 0 d of over $330,000 represents an Pt 0 Srainming.^^Sa aer has reactivated his plans to impressive figure in that hone of shoot a vidpix series based on the the sales was made in either of 2w^rnHc^ kaSmg finn ’ Th at character created by Edgar Rice the-' two major foreign markets, .“ ses r - Burroughs. . , - Canada or-the United Kingdom. Weintraub and Bem^dScht Previously, Lesser filmed a pilot Those two major markets pay a™ dissolving their partaershi with Gordon Scott and Lisa Davis more than the others because of ^Telestar. Weintraub bad co-starred but objections and a their greater Set count and the functioning as prexy; Schubei legal hassle with Commodore Pro- commercial broadcast facilities board chairman- Company has auctions at that time curtailed there. new^ser es ln^syndication, V continuation of the “Tarzan” tele- -_L_---„ HimterJ along .wth several r films. Now, however, Lesser is re- A Ap Still Salima se ”i s ^ hlch Schubert ori S i] A„bo*S con , p « , ; : Tomey to Sterling Some of television’s prestige net¬ work programs are seeking—and finding—a 'tremendous acceptance in schools and community clubs. “Twentieth Century,” the CBS-TV public affairs series sponsored by Prudential, has become the latest web stanza to go the route , that once belonged exclusively to in¬ dustrial films: Prudential, which owns "Cen¬ tury/’ has already released nine of its programs to clubs and schools via. Association Films. Eaeh tele¬ film is being released to the 16m market , some six to eight weeks after it appears on the network, so that by-the end of next summer the entire, series: will be out. So •far. Association Films, which makes a big biz out of distributing in¬ dustrials on the schooielub route and also to tv stations, now has “Century’s” 60-ihinUte “Churchill: Man of the Century” available, plus “Guided Missile,” “F.B.I;,'”: “Toward the Unexplored” “Verti Jet,” “Mussolini,” “The Windsors,” “Mach Busters,” and “Brainwash¬ ing,” also'V full-hour show; . This replaying of tv shows on the club circuit began a few years ago when Hallmark released its two-hour “MacbethiV presentation- through Association. Show,-which was done live, has been shown on kine (with commercials and sta¬ tion . breaks left, in fact) 5 ^84 times and to 617,146 persons. Hallmark later sent “Richard II” on its way. thusly and it has played 2,661 dates. Same for “The Cradle Song,” with 561 dates, While Hallmark did not release the three shows to television as re¬ runs. Smith, Kline & French Lab¬ oratories did with three of their stanzas, two of which: played on the “March of Medicine” 1 series. “Mon- ganga” became one of the most popular industrial films to play as local pubservice tv programming,, as a .Vamety institutional tv pro¬ gram' chart established last year. SK&F also released “We, the Men¬ tally Ill” and “A World Alone:” Together, the three stanzas, in ad¬ dition to tv showings, have, played L278 clUbs^and schools. According to Association Films, there is a terrific demand; among community groups for topnotch tv stanzas. In the'eases of Hallmark, Prudential arid SK&F they each pay the shipping costs on. the dis¬ tribution of the shows, otherwise there is no charge for the. pixr SAVAGE TO TELESTAR AS AN EXEC VEEPEE With Sy Weintraub slated to bow out as a partner, Telestar Films has named David. Savage as exec vee- pee. Savage, formerly director of station relations at Guild Films,- will be in charge of administering Telestar’s sales force, as well aug¬ mentation programming. Savage, before- joi ing Guild headed his own tv packaging firm. Theatrical Enterprises,; Weintraub and Bernard Schubert are dissolving their partnership in rTelestar. Weintraub had been, functioning as prexy- Schubert as board chairman. Company has one new series in syndication,. “White Hunter,*’ along with several rerun series which Schubert originally j produced. Off-Network Entries Offrnetwork properties cur¬ rently form the largest; new group put into the syhdieation .field. The foster includes: NBC Film. Sales’ “Medic” and “It’s : a Great. Life”; Screen. Gems’ “77th Bengal Lancers”; Tele¬ vision Programs of America’s “Lassie”; and CBS Filin Sales’ “Assignment Foreign Legion,” and “You Are There.” One of the most successful off-network skeins put into syndication recently is CBS Film Sales’ “The Horieymoon- ers,” placing among the Top 10 in many markets surveyed by American Research Bu¬ reau. H-H-L Sets Four Ambitious Sked Hollywood, Feb. 18. Hecht-HilLLancaster, is moving into telefilm. production field with ambitious, plans. Virtually as a starter, the leading indie theatrical film outfit plans four yidpix series y all; based wholly or in. part on the: company’s former features. First series Will be based, on “Vera Cruz,” produced in 1954 starring Bprt Lancaster and Cary Cooper. Pilot on the series is now being written by Marion Hargrove (“See Here, Private Hargrove”) and John Hawkins, new writing team. Second series will be based on “Apache,” released in 1954 star¬ ring Lancaster arid Jean. Peters. Third,, is an adventure series based on “His Majesty O’Keefe,” Lan¬ caster 1953 Starrer; fourth. “The Office,” based on one. incident in company’s 1957 release, “Bachelor Party.” HHL presently is negoti¬ ating for an experienced tv pro¬ ducer to head up . the television subsid. Company is also intending to go ontside for likely tv-pix ideas and production talent to handle them as series. GANG’S GLOBAL SWING WITH NTA PRODUCT Samuel Gang, National Telefilm Associates foreign sales represen¬ tative, is off for a six-week tour - of Tokyo, Hong Kong, Manila and Sydney, Australia, pitching a group of telefilm. properties and theatric cal reissues. For tv. distribution, Gang will have .-‘Sheriff of Cochise,’* ‘‘Official Detective,” and “China Smith” skeins, cartoons, short subjects and a liriuted number of features. For theatrical reissue. Gang will be offering “High Noon,” “Cyrano de Bergerac,”' “The Men” arid “Gulliver’s Travels.” His first stop will be Tokyo. -* London ,Feb. 18. Edward J. Stem, president of Ziv International, is leaving Lon¬ don tomorrow (Wed.) for Moscow, where he will be the first U.S, tv topper to talk to Russian television execs. He’ll be accompanied by Joseph M. Brandel, recently ap¬ pointed. veepee in. charge of Euro¬ pean operations. Stem is going to Soviet territory with the full support and encour¬ agement of the U:S. State Depart- irient which has described his mis¬ sion as an important contribution to peace. Stern, himself, looks on his trip as a means of establishing closer understanding between the people of Russia and those of the Western World. “I am not” he insists, “going to Moscow just to sell them tv films. I want primarily. to get to know m the . heads of their tv industry to exchange ideas with them and achieve a closer understanding of their tv problems. That, to my way of .thinking, is of more impor¬ tance than just trying to unload a few series to the Russians.” Until, he gets there and sits around the table with them, Stom I has no idea how long, he will stay in Moscow. He hopes, however, it will he long enough to enable him to survey the situation comprehen¬ sively arid learn their method of operation. He admits that he would ^ like to discuss the possibilities of h co-production and also would like a the Russians to see some of the films that have recently been made . in the Western World, e Stern and Brandel will also be visiting Warsaw for talks with Po- Q lish tv toppers and their visits have i been confirmed with both countries. ' Eve Brent femirie lead of the tion sAles inked. '' theatrical vmien. co-stars .with AdditipMlly Sterling’s "&wt00n Scott in the televersion. Rickie Classics” was picked Up by WMAL, Sorensen .Lo in the theatrical Washington; KOMO. Seattle; Ilm! ^11 recreate his -boy” role KTVI St. Louis; and WLWI. Ihdi- anapohs. Stations inking for the ^Pilot S i?s ?S understood, is entitled “Abbot & Costello" series include •‘Taman “nd the Trappers.” Lat- WFBC, GreenviUe, N. C:; WGAN, ter Die is now in the editing stages Portland, Me;; WBKB; Chicago; and will be available for agency KFDA, Amarillo, Tex.; and WNEM, screening- shortly. Ba Y cit y» Mich. Kirk Tdrriey has been named sales manager of Sterling Televi¬ sion, replacing Bernice Coe in the ■post.'. : Mrs. Co§ will remain with the. company as overall administrative exec. Torney comes to Sterling af¬ ter two years at Associated Artists Productions, where he was suc¬ cessively .national sales manager and station sales coordinator J Into 81 TV Markets Thirty-one tv stations have pur¬ chased r National Telefilm Associ¬ ates’ “Champagrie' Package” of 58 pix within the past month, putting the package in a. total of,. 81 mar¬ kets: Latest deals were inked with KCMO-TV; Kansas City; /WOW- TV, Omaha; KFMB-TV, San Diego; KIRO-TV, Seattle; WJAR-TV, Providence; WDBJ-TV, Roanoke, Va.; WBNS-TV, Columbus, O.; WREX-TV, Rockford, HI.; and WSBT-TV, South Bend. Ind. Package includes “High Noon,” “Spellbound,” “The Third Man,” and “Bells of. St. Mary.” Cyanamids Farm Seg in 25 States • A new 15,-minute syndicated farm newsreef series, produced by Cunningham & Walsh for Ameri¬ can Cyanamid, has been launched on 62 stations in 25 states. Titled “Cyanamid Farm News¬ reel,” it consists of 13 episodes, to be unreeled weekly in the farm, belt, in conjunction with the mar¬ keting of Cyanamid’s product Aureomycin, used for livestock and poultry. Originator arid producer of the newsreel is <Tom DeHuff, Cunning- | ham & Walsh tv account exec. Main source of film for the show will be INS-Telenews, tv division Of Hearst Metrotone News. Legion of Decency Trench Line’on TV San Antonio, Feb. 18. The Legion of Decency has forced postponement of a tv film showing here. A1 Johnson, general manager of KENS-TV, has announced that “The French Line” starring Jane Rus¬ sell has been cancelled. The pic was scheduled to have been shown last Saturday. “We’re postponing the show out of deference to many requests from the Legion of De¬ cency,” said Johnson. “I don’t know whether it will go on later. We are giving the matter study.” . Notice of “Thg French Line” showing first* came in the previous Sunday's tv log; Nearly 100 letters of protest hit Johnson’s desk. “We planned to delete scenes not in good taste. But the Legion ob¬ jected to the film in its entirety,” said Johnson: “There was one petition from St; Mary’s University. We decided not to make an issue of it.”