Variety (May 1958)

26 KABIO-TELEVISION .Wednesday, May 7, 1958 Stations across the country are carrying their rating weight with locally originated strip shows, the* crossboard variety ranging from; news to“Popeye.” j . This is readily ascertained by a study of the VARiEXY-Telepulse charts printed in each issue. The story of how local shows shape up alongside network programming, both having the common denom¬ inator of a strip format, is told under the heading of the “Top Ten Multi-Weekly.Show's/ 1 . From Los Angeles to Phoenix, the study reveals that when, it comes to listing among the “Top Ten Multi-Weekly Shows,’/ it’s a tossup whether there’s a greater representation of local or network; entries. In most cases, of course* the time being measured is other .than Class A time, centering: main¬ ly in the afternoon, early evening, or late evening periods. But in those “offbeat" periods, “Popeye/’ for instance, as a daily strip at 5:30 p.m. in San Francisco, can draw a 19.1, as compared to an 18.3 for NBC News, at 6:15 p.m. The situation on multi-weekly shows, with the local programs shaping ujT rating-wise, in the Top 10 scramble, is evident in the following markets: Los Angeles, San Francisco, St. Louis, Boston', Seattle, Washington. Baltimore, Phoenix, and Columbus, Ga. These are all recent markets tabbed in the VARiEXY-Telepulse charts. Washington’s 6 to: 4 In Washington, for example, six local shows, as Opposed to four network shows, made the Top IQ for the March 1-8 rating period. The top program was WTOP’s “11 p.m. Report,” cross-the-board from 11 to 11:15 p.m. It was fol¬ lowed by the stripped network “Mickey Mouse Club” . entry at 5:30: The other local shows mak¬ ing the Top 10 multi-weekly shows in that city were the “Late Show',” “News," “Milt Grant’’ and “Ranger Hal.” As in other cities, these stood up very Well alongside such network entries as “Modern Ro¬ mances," “Captain Kangaroo” and “Queen for a Day," which''were the remaining web shows in the Top 10 multi-weekly category. On the basis of recent Variety- Telepulse charts, in Baltimore, the ratio was seven to three in favor of local representation among the Top 10 strips in the market: in Boston* the ratio was six to four in favor of local shows; in Los Angeles, it was a draw, five and five; in Phoenix, the ratio Was in favor of the network programs, six to four. This neck-and-neck rating per¬ formance between local arid net¬ work programming in the multi- weekly category, in fringe ,jtime periods, is in contrast to tire fating performances of One-a-week shows or "specials” in prime or near- prime periods. The latter setup can be deter- mined by comparing the rating perforinance of the “Top 10 Net¬ work Shows” against the “Top 20 Syndicated Shows” in the Variety- Telepulse charts. Invariably, as re¬ ported previously, the ratings of (Continued on page 52) Trackdown’ Clients Set CBS-TV has wrapped up a 52- week renewal from Socony Mobil Oil and American Tobacco Co. for “Trackdown,” the shootin’ film series based on the Texas Rangers aired Fridays at .8 p.in. Four Star Films package, produced, by Vin¬ cent Fennelly, got off to a good rating when it was launched last fall. ABC-TV station affiliates at the NAB confab last week Were grip¬ ing about the state of the web’s summertime programming. Many affiliates expressed the attitude that there were many weak shows, on the hotspell lineup, which would not necessarily keep the schedule warm (insofar as the audience was concerned) for the fall schedule. A web exec conceded that the affils were upset, but that the con¬ cern was built up basically through a lack of .communication about plans on summer shows. Grice de¬ tails were explained, according to the web, the affils quieted doWri considerably. (Late yesterday, ABC-TV pro¬ gram executives reportedly decided to produce new live shows in all “to fill” time slots 4his summer. Live shows will also replace un¬ sponsored; film fillers mentioned elsewhere in this story.) ABC possesses .five prime time slots about which there has been some question. Situation was cre¬ ated because.it is growing problem in getting national bankrollers to buy . 52-week firm contracts. For instance, at 9:30 Sunday nights, ABC has skedded a public affairs show called “Enterprise.” Afils would rather have something with .a greater audience potential. A similar situation exists Mondays at 7:30 when the summer sked reads “American Odyssey.” Also, Fridays at 10 where "Holiday Handbook” is slotted. . Elsewhere* the network has a problem of finding programming, and has called on its affils for help. In June, Mondays at 8 and again at 9, the network has not set any programming yet. THE! HONEY DREAMERS Guest artists on the Canadian Broadcasting Co,;. Toronto, May. 13. Records Transcriptions Mgmt: ART WARD Direction Oxford 7-9034 MCA . Elaine Carrington, ‘BoliT Journey’ Renewed "Bold Journey,” the Avenco Productions travelog whose status was reported as shaky, has been renewed for next season by Ral¬ ston Purina on ABC-TV. Program is slated to be aired Mondays at 8:30. ' Renewal set by Gujld, Bascomi & Bonfigi. Dies in N. Y. at 66 Elaine Sterne Carrington, who fostered the idea of soap opera fare from her onetime snug hide¬ away on Brooklyn Heights, died Sunday (4) after a brief illness. She was 66 years old.. Mrs. Carrington was reportedly the first of the soap opera creators in the Fifth Estate arid .was known in the industry as the “Queen of the Soapers.”.. She launched . her daytime shows in 1932 with ‘‘Red Adams” oil NBC. It subsequently became “Red Davis” and ultimate¬ ly ended up as “Pepper Young’s Family,” one of radio’s most suc¬ cessful cross-the-board / daytime shows, In 1939 she wrote the serial “When a Girl Marries” and four years later day timer*- listeners were introduced to another Car¬ rington serial, “Rosemary.” At the height of her. writing career she was pouring out approximately 40,000 words a week. She dictated her dialog into a recording ma¬ chine nearly always from a reclin¬ ing position in a seven-foot bed. She was credited with grinding out more than 12,000 daily install¬ ments of washboard weepers. : Like many soap opera writers, she hankered for credit from loft¬ ier literary sources and tried her hand at superior writing.. She was the author of a group of short stories, “All Things Considered,” which literary critics treated with considerable respect. She was the wife of George Dart Carrington who died in 1945. A son arid daughter survive. "Bingo’ Bango-Even in Brai Philadelphia, May 6. “The commotion created by ‘Bingo-at-Home’ on Channel 12 is little short of fantastic,” according to Terry H. Lee, managing director of WyUE-TV. Lee noted that in one day the daily mail count reached 105,044 entries. Since the start of the show, March 24, station has received 548,837 postals, all representing winning cards. , A research report by Dr. Myron S. Heidingsfield, chairman of the marketing department of Temple U., showed that 677,699 dif¬ ferent television homes—51% of all tv homes in. the Philly area —play the game. Station is also getting some off-the-cuff promotion: A restaurant on the Baltimore Pike has a banner strung across highway an¬ nouncing customers can play Bingo with Channel 12, with free coffee served during show. A local printer is taking heavy ad linage for pads and pencils. A blind woman. devised a Braille bingo card for herself and submitted a winning enetry. Berns Proxies RTDG Hollywood, May 6. Seymour Berns was elected prexy .of Radio and Television Di¬ rectors Guild at its annual mem¬ bership meeting at the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel last week. He suc¬ ceeds Jack Donohue, and becomes a member of the board. William A, Bennington was named , v.p.; Tom Belcher, secre¬ tary; Miss Maury Orr, treasurer. Elected to the council, were John Frankenheimer, Bob Banner, Buzz Kulik, Paul Nickell and Alan Yor- kin. $12,(1,d Deal . 1 ' Quaker Oats made two alternate- week buys on ABC-TV this week, and set into motion a possible j change in the Wednesday night; lineup for next fall. Cereal com- i pany bought the remaining halves j of “Ozzie and Harriet” and for; Screen Gems’ new telefilm, “Naked ' City.” . [ Eastman will share the tab on! “Ozzie.” now shown at 9; p.m. on j Wednesday. But the Quaker move-! In came simultaneously with con-' sideration of a plan to move the situation comedy into the 8:30 anchorage, . held this season by Bristol-Myers for “Tombstone Ter¬ ritory/’ ABC was planning to put the new Donna Reed series in at 8:30, and may still do so if "Ozzie” is kept at 9. . “Naked City” is also .owned by Brown Williamson, and ]is set for Tuesday at 9:30“. *' By ROBERT J. LANDRY Pressagentry in recent years tended to assume that Elaine Sterne Carrington “invented” the daytime serial in radio. This is improbable in the extreme as she started com¬ paratively late, around 1933, in New York whereas Chicago was an early soap opera production center and Irna Phillips of that burg iriay well have been the brood mother. Frank and Anne Hummert would have claims, too, for origination, at least in the mass-production format of serials. . Most of these pioneers (including Bob Andrews of Chicago) have been duly celebrated in rnagazine profiles over the decades, the best remaining being that of James Thurber in the New Yorker, later reprinted in one of his books. Mrs. Carrington: was. ever, the show- woman arid in interviews - always accented the positive. She never conceded, as far as known,, that she used “ghosts.” The trade consid¬ ered this a necessity and the Hum¬ mer ts long ago solved the dilemma of writers - employing -writers by saying that the hired hands were ‘dialoggers.” Procter & Gamble had what amounted to a love affair with Mrs. Carrington* She was as precious as the formula of Ivory Soap. They loved her, of course, for her rating points; She was not perhaps the writer of greatest originality irt. the genre but originality was not the prime value in serial writing—ten¬ ure was, how long the show was on the air in the sairie slot, how many repetitions of impact had been piled up. Mrs. Carrington survived year after year with a canny kind of knowing and the suc¬ cess that breeds more success. It made academic the comments in the Radio Writers Guild, that was, as to whether, she was “the mostest” in skill. Mona Kent looked like the gal most likely to meet and best the Carrifigton reputation arid no¬ body ever “ghosted” for. her. Miss Kent had as much “sentiment” scriptwise as Mrs. C but more real¬ ism arid . more psychology. The high priestess of th$ serialized tone (Continued on page 52) &'Studio’Ouster Desilu’s $12,000,000 deal with Westinghouse for 48 one-hour Monday night ^shows on CBS-TV comes as a blow to Ford and J. Walter Thompson agency, for it shuts out the automotive on future sponsorship of the Desi & Lucy specials, which will be incorpor¬ ated into the new 60-minute series, : It’s a particularly bitter pill on two sfcores: (1) the Desi-Lucy spe¬ cials racked up tv’s highest ratings throughout the season; (2) Danny Seymour, tv chieftain at JWT, played no inconsiderable role in helping whip the idea together. Desi-Lucy “got away” from JWT and Ford because of indecision on part of auto company in finalizing its budget for next season, with result that McCann-Erickson, on behalf of Westinghouse, moved in and bought the whole “DesUu Playhouse” kaboodle. It’s the richest deal in the his¬ tory of television, involving as it does $12,009*000 time and talent for 42 originals and six repeats. Programs to include six specials with Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball and the remainder in which Arnaz will host and Miss Ball appear oc¬ casionally, will succeed “Studio One.” Arnaz said the hour-specials with him and Miss Ball would be budgeted at $350,000 while the other hour shows would wrap up for around $150,000. Up to now the Dinah Shore show for Chevy at $10,000,000 for time and talent was the top money show. Flexible, format would be util¬ ized on “Playhouse,” Arnaz said, and will include mostly family comedies but with occasional mu¬ sicals and westerns. Series leads off Oct. 6 with Maurice Chevalier as guest in the first of the specials. “What we don’t do,” said Arnaz, “are stories with violence, psycho¬ logical or triangle dramas/.’ Two stories by Garson Kanin are now being considered. Washington, May 6. Role of the Federal Comriiunica- tions Commission in its reconsid¬ eration of the channel 10 Miami case in the light of Congressional disclosures is still not clear. So the agency told the Court of Ap¬ peals last week In a petition for clarification of a recent order which directed that the case be re* he^rd to determine whether the- grant to National Airlines should be voided because of former Com. Richard A. Mack’s participation. What troubles the Commission is that part of the Court’s order which requires that the agency re¬ port back its findings and make recommendations* Despite the serious questions involved, it does not believe it should serve as a ‘special master” for the Court. Accordingly, the Commission petitioned the tribunal to make it clear that it is not precluding the agency from setting aside the grant or . reaching some other decision. Whatever determination is made, it said, would not affect its obliga¬ tion to make : recommendations to the Court with respect to the dis¬ position of the appeal case before it. . For some time, the Court has had before it an appeal by WKAT in Miami of the grant to National. Following . the Congressional dis¬ closures arid the resignation of Mack, the Commission requested that the case be remanded to it. The Court complied but retained jurisdiction. Bob Crosby Mulled As Summer Sub For Como Bob Crosby is under considera¬ tion. as the summer replacement for Perry Como on NBC-TV. Ten¬ ure will be for 13 weeks. However, it’s subject to an okay from CBS since Crosby is still under contract to ^that web.. Un¬ derstood Columbia t :W]il. ript stgpd in his way if deal* Is hnauzed. Look-See in U.S. London, May 6. Ronnie Waldman, BBC-TV exec¬ utive in charge of program buy¬ ing and sales, leaves London on Sunday (II) on a month's tour be-' ginning In .New .York and embrac¬ ing Hollywood ahd Ottawa. He will be In New York until May 20 before heading for a nine- day stopover in Hollywood and will then go to, Ottawa, where he will remain until June 4, He will stay a few days In New York on his return journey to his London base. During. the course of his trip Waldman is in the market to ac¬ quire top U.S. tv programs for the . BBC network and will also have negotiations on the sale of British material to the U.S. webs. There is already considerable Interest in the recent “World Theatre” series which includes many famous stage classics. Eugene O’Neili’s “Strange Interlude,” which formed part of the skein, was ; spread over two programs. U. S. Steel Buying Hottelet TV News United States Steel has bought 52 weeks of the Wednesday 8:45- 8:55 a.m. period of Richard Hot¬ telet Morning News on. CBS-TV. It also has the U. S. Steel Hour, alternate weeks, Wednesdays 10 to 11 p.m. on CBS-TV. Oldsinobile, whose “Big Rec¬ ords” departs frofn CBS-TV June 11, goes into Hottelet’s newscast on Fridays starting June 20. Oldsmo- bile sponsored the. same segment earlier this season. D - : ^ *hMgen-, cy for Olds, BBD&O for Steel.