Variety (February 1959)

29 Wednesday, February 4, 1959 PfatlETY RADIO-TELEVISION ’59-’60: SITUATION COMEDY YEN ABC-TYs 10-Ft Tall Nielsen ABC-TV racked up some fresh and imposing laurels with the release this week of the latest Nielsens (first report for ’59). Over¬ all it was the network's most impressive showing to date, high¬ lighted by ABC’s No. 1 position in first place half-hour wins in a breakdown of the 42 half-hours that span 7:30< to 10:30 p.ra. seven nights a week. The score: ABC 15; CBS 14; NBC 12. Also based on average audience ratings, ABC took the lead from both NBC and CBS four nights of the week within the 7:30-10:30 prime time framework—Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. And in the Top 10 sweepstakes, ABC and CBS. led with four apiece; NBC two. Fund For Republic Evaluates Role of TV Critic & Rates ’Em Previewing, as a style of tv criti-- cism, may supplant after-the-fapt criticism” in terms of profits, num¬ ber readers, and influence,” accord¬ ing to Patrick McGrady who re¬ cently finished a seven-month study of “The Role of the TV Critics” for the Fund for the Republic. McGrady, who spoke at the Radio & TV Execs Society luncheon (28), thought the previewing meth¬ od was a great influence on viewer preference. He said surveys re¬ vealed that program mention or non-mention by a previewer does influence ratings by as many as nine points. He cited the rapid in¬ crease of newspaper subscribers to such services. He said the chief practitioners of this service were Steven H. Scheuer, Richard Klein¬ er and Marie Torre and that “even staid European journals have be¬ gun the practice recently.” “It is not inconceivable that after-the-fact reviewing will go the way of the free lunch and the nickel beer: both dandy ideas, but In the end commercially passe,” he observed. “Right or wrong, how¬ ever, the trend is that way.” After interviewing 44 of the top tv critics (only two critics, Jack O’Brian of the N. Y. Journal and Nick Kenny of the N. Y. Mirror, refused to see him) in the country, including trade press, wire serv¬ ices, several magazines and a num¬ ber of ad agency veeps and broad¬ casters, he came up with what he Considered the top 10, those with the most impact on tv generally. » Gould Tops Slate McGrady was certain of the first three or four on his list “but shaky about the last ones.” He rated Jack Gould (N. Y. Times) upper¬ most in influence. The others in order were John Crosby (N. Y. (Continued on page 54) Another 52 Wbs. For Gillette files GUlette Co., which has been sponsoring the Friday night fights for more than a decade, has re¬ newed the ‘time period with NBC- TV effective July 1, in a 52-week deal signed by the razor company and NBC. Production .costs on .the bouts are estimated to be in the neigh¬ borhood of $1,300,000 yearly .not counting time charges. Deal was concluded through the Maxon agency with the network. Instead of dealing with the International Boxing Commission, which has been* ordered to disband, Gillette will conclude its deal with execs Of Madison Square Garden. For ’Geo. Borns Show’ Although Colgate is cancelling out on the NBC-TV Tuesday night ‘‘George Bums Show” in April, the sponsor is committed* to the 9 to 9:30 time period until July 31 and is currently mulling a replace¬ ment to fill out the remaining 13 weeks, , l At the moment -it looks like “Californians,” recently cancelled by Singer and Liptdn in the - Tues¬ day, at 10 slot, wiUvbe reactivated, for.Colgate for the'-balance q£ then cycle. Mritfr Colgate IBuying half of 1 that-and also taking sik “Blaek Saddle” segments. 7 Jack Sobel Exits GAC Jack Sobel has resigned as vee- pee of General Artists Corp. radio and teevee sales to go into busi¬ ness for himself. He’s forming Jack Sobel Associates which will represent tele packagers to agen¬ cies and networks. Sobel had been with GAC for about seven years and was given v.p. chevrons about two years ago. No successor has been named at GAC, although Art Price has taken over some of Sobel’s duties. Looks Like Congress Itself Will Tackle Thorny Spectrum Issue Nothing Finah Than Dinah On Identification •Hollywood, Feb. 3; Westerns, to nobody’s surprise, continue to achieve relatively low sponsor identification among view¬ ers, even in cases of single spon¬ sorship, while the “personality” shows, headed by Dinah Shore, rate high identification for adver¬ tisers. That’s the gist of the latest Trendex sponsor identification sur¬ vey. Dinah heads the list with a rat¬ ing of 87.3%, meaning that of the viewers surveyed, that percentage could identify the singer with Chevrolet*. Another Chevy person¬ ality, Pat Boone, scored nearly as wqll, with an 80.8. Lawrence Welk scored for Plymouth with 76.0, and Tennessee Ernie Ford for Ford with 74.4. Bing Crosby, with only one Oldsmobile special under his belt, still achieved a 68.7. And Ed Sullivan pulled down a 55.3% rec¬ ognition for Mercury but only 23.3 for Eastman Kodak, Westerns are topped by “Gun- smoke,” with a 45.6% rate of rec¬ ognition, and “Maverick,” with 44.7. “Wagon Train,” though one of the highest rated, managed only a 16.0. “Have Gun” reached 22.4, “Restless Gun” 24.8 and “The Texan” 19.2. “Trackdown” hit 16.8%. Jack Benny tops the comics with a 71.2 for American Tobacco; the “I Love Lucy” reruns manage only a 20.0, buff the new “Lucy-Desi” specials pull down a fat 53.3% for Westinghouse. Others include 46.4 for Danny Thomas and General Foods, • 48.8 for “Father Knows Best” and Scott Paper, only 18.3 for “Dragnet” and ’’Benrus.” As to the Chevy impact, Camp- bell-Ewald radio-tv veep Philip L. McHugh attributes it to three fac¬ tors. Miss Shore’s been repping Chevy for seven years; she never plugs another product and refers to Chevy in every guest and per¬ sonal. appearance;, and she inte¬ grates references to Chevy in every show, including the. indispensable signoff kiss and Chevy theme song. MORT NUSBAUM TO WEVT Rocheste r, Feb .'3. - Mort Nusbaum joins WYET Ra¬ dio here: as/a morning; deejay ef¬ fective March'.-SP* ; Hft succeeds George! .LiButU who. was named, sales account' exec.-*?.</. - * Nusbamn was previously sales manager -for'WQQW; Washington-, ahtf deejay bir WBBF hete. For better or for worse, spon¬ sors have written off the balance of the season. Their prime con¬ cern—eight months in advance of October premiere time—is “what about ’59-’60?” The clients are not only shopping—they’re buying. Network execs say that not within j recent memory can they recall such j frantic scrounging about oh the part of the advertiser so many • months ahead of time. (Usually at this time they start to think about the summer programming lineup, but they’re hardly giving that a thought—so concerned are they over next season’s prospects.) 'They’re looking at everything that’s available for ’59-60 and, surprisingly enough, the situation comedies are getting a play. (It’s been several seasons since spon¬ sors have had a real yen for this type format.) This week Kimber¬ ly-Clark put in an order at CBS- TV for half of the new “PecFs Bad Girl” series starring Patty Mc¬ Cormack. This followed by a week Kellogg’s pacting of the new “Den¬ nis the Mena'ce” situation comedy series, with Kellogg going for the full sponsorship at a $5,000,000 tab. CBS-TV doesn’t'start shooting its pilot until next week on the new Cy Howard “World Of Little Julius” situation comedy series starring Gregory Ratoff, Sam Levene and Eddie Hodges, but already sponsor interest is red hot. Fourth situation comedy series, “Father of the Bride,” based on the Metro feature click, looms on the General Foods ’59-’60 roster, with GF footing the bill for the pilot. Still a fifth series, “Hennessey,” with Jackie Cooper, looms as a Lever Bros, entry with the client picking up the ta’b for the pilot. All about a naval doctor. The eight - months - in - advance sales activity isn’t being re¬ stricted to situation comedy. Lever Bros, has put in an order for CBS- TV’s “Blue Men,” based on the N.Y. police force. P. Lorillard is shelling out coin to reactivate “This Is Show Business,” with Dick Clark helming the stanza. (How¬ ever, this may kick off as a summer entry on ABC-TV.) Marlboro has a ’59-’60 entry tucked away— Keenan Wynn’s “Troubleshooters” out-of the UA-TV shop. Even in the area of specials, sponsors have that ’59-’60 gleam. Equitable Life has committed for the one-a-month “Biography” dra¬ ma series on CBS-TV with a $5,- 000,000 budget. CBS-TV Ups Tom Ryan Thomas H. Ryan has been named a general exec in the CBS-TV pro¬ gram dept. Ryan will report to Harry Om- merle, veep in charge of network programs and to Hubbell Robinson Jr., exec veep. Ryan previously was with the business affair s dept, of the Veb. ABC-TV STILL HAS A WALLACE GLEAM Though Mike Wallace has noth¬ ing appearing on ABC, especially now that the network’s N. Y. owned & operated outlet has cancelled his production, “The - Ben Hecht Show,” the network hasn’t lost in- , terest in using him next season. In hopes of keeping him on, ABC- TV is underwriting a Jape pilot of “Take a Good Look,” with Wallace as emcee, 0 . “Look,” which has panelists guessing at the identity of once- famous faces, goes before the cameras" this week. Irving Mansfield and Wallace’s Newsmaker Productions, which produced Hecht on W ABC-TV, are partnered in latest venture, backed by network coin. Wallace’s $100,- 000-a-year contract with ABC ends in April. In all likelihood, even if “Good Look” were sold for fall on ABC* TV, Wallace andthe network .wbqld not renew their exclusive contract for his services. There is a chance that he wiU recbpimenc& his Inteiv viewing on one of the local: N. Y. stations, WNTA^TV being the hot¬ test -prospect at the mqmenV.it.is reported. \ : • Wallace- has rejected NSd-TV^l bid Jo make hiar the new* “Ellery- ,• Queen.?. • tl: - L&M Blows Up Brighter Trendex Smoke on NBC-Hf The once grim faces of tv execs at McCann-Erickson who worked feverishly on the Liggett & Myers account are breathing easier these days as a result of the latest Tren- dexes which put L&M’s shows on NBC in a more favorable light after a shaky start. Ciggie company started out the ’58-’59 tv season with “Brains & Brawn” and Ed Wynn, which be¬ fore they got knocked off the air had a combined rating of 19, with Wynn getting a Trendex of 9 and “Brains,” doing a hardly booming 10 rating. “Black Saddle” which went into the NBC Saturday at 9 slot for¬ merly occupied.by “Steve Canyon” has piled up an impressive 28 rating. A second replacement show, “The D. A.’s Man” which got a berth -in the “Brains & Brawn” slot on NBC Saturday at 10:30 has upped the ratings in that t : me period by some 10 Trendex points scoring an 18 as compared to “Brains' ” 10. The third change had “Steve Canyon” going into the Ed Wynn spot and the 9 Trendex Wynn was getting was upped to a respec¬ table 17 “Canyon” receives in that time period. Instead of the 37 combined total the replacements and changes in time periods has added 26 rating points to the three shows and they now have a combined total of 63. ’3D COMMANDMENT’ SEG GETS RCA COIN RCA will pick up the tab for: “The Third Commandment” on ■ “NBC Kaleidoscope” Sunday (8) over NBC-TV. i Teleplay by Ben Hecht will have ’ Arthur Kennedy in principal role, that of a disillusioned" newspaper¬ man who becomes a Coast gag writ¬ er, then fake ^evangelist. Others in the cast are* Anne Francis and Fay Spain. Jess Oppenheimer will produce. ’Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ As Carney-Baird Spec Minnesota Mining is close to a decision on its second ABC-TV spectacular, with the most likely candidate at the moment being an adaptation to video of Dukas’ “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” music. However program choice is not final. What seems to be definite is the use of Art Carney and Bil Baird’s puppets. Date pencilled in is April 5. ABC executives are in the mid¬ west now talking to the prospec¬ tive client. Carney and Baird were involved in the production of the MM-sponsored “Art Carney Meets Peter & the Wolf.” By LES CARPENTER Washington, Feb. 3. Congress itself may take the troublesome spectrum space bull by the horns this year. This do-it-ourself attitude on Capitol Hill would mean junking previous plans for setting up a Presidential commission to explore a new division of the spectrum be¬ tween commercial and educational (and possibly pay) television on one hand and the military on the other. Nothing is firmly' jelled yet. But present indications are that Rep. Oren Harris (D-Ark.) may want his House Commerce Committee (which he chairmans) or a subcom¬ mittee of it to tackle the thorny spectrum problems after the com¬ mittee concludes its pay-tv hear¬ ings, now slated ,to start in late February. There is aiso a possibili¬ ty, however, that a joint House- Senate committee could be created for the spectrum study. This is considered less likeiy. Networks and the tv industry generally are expected to react with lusty applause to a Congres¬ sional group undertaking the spec¬ trum study rather than have it carried out by a White House com¬ mission. There has always been a strong suspicion within the tv industry that a commission of the executive branch of government might be over - sympathetic with military needs (to the point of reducing present VHF channels available to the public). Congress, on the other hand, is composed of politicians sensitive to voters who want more (not less) tv on channels which bring them best reception. While Congress, of course, has the re¬ sponsibility of satisfying military requirements within the spectrum, legislators could be expected to require Defense Dept, officials to justify completely its need for every channel. By nature, the law¬ makers lean toward the wishes of the public generally. First hint of the new Congres¬ sional attitude came in a recom¬ mendation contained in the lengthy recent report of the Harris Legis¬ lative Oversight * Subcommittee (after its sensational ’58 probes of the Federal Communications Com¬ mission and other regulatory agen¬ cies). In the report, the Harris group said: study of the use of the entire spectrum and a determina¬ tion as to its allocation and use is urgently needed. This technical job requires the authority of a spe¬ cial Congressional task force, since 'Continued on paee 55> ' TARZIAN'S FM OUTLET ■ Washington, Feb- 3. : Federal. Communications Com¬ mission hasawarded new Bloom¬ ington;'Ini, FM Outlet to SafkeS Tarzian Ihe.' Tarsia* already has Wl v TV (TV) 3dd-WTT3: AM.rintib iff Blooming-, ton. * - - . CBS Bags Some Daytime TV Coin CBS-TV daytime biz was plushy this week with several programs bragging SRO or virtually SRO status. General Foods and Toni bought quarter-hour Sh^ts on the Jimmy Dean afternoon series, leaving open only me quarter-hour availability on the five-a-weeker. Ed Friendly recently took over the show reins as producer. General Foods and Toni also bought into soapers “Edge of Night,” “Love of Life” and “I Love Lucy.” Sales staffers, at this mo¬ ment, are crowing at SRO status' of five daytimers, “Verdict Is Yours,” “As the World Turns,” “Edge of Night,” “Secret Storm” and “House Party.” On the other daytimers, both Arthur Godfrey and “I Love Lucy” reruns are reportedly showing strength with both shows averaging seven out of 10 quarter hours sold. In a nighttimer dicker. Equitable Life Assurance Society of U.S. paeted ah alternate quarter-hour of Doug Edwards’ newscasts. Quaker Oats tiffs week J|lso latched, on to the soaper, “As the World Turns’! on a alternate quar¬ ter-hour basis.