Variety (February 1959)

24 TV-FILMS PfiSRIEff Network For ReBgioso Telefilms Erickson* Vivian Vance For ‘Guestward Ho’ Hollywood, Feb. 24. Leif Erickson lias been set to co- star with Vivian Vance in Desilu’s upcoming “Guestward Ho!” pilot, which Ralph Levy will produce and direct. Package is a CBS- Desilu coproduction based on the Patrick Dennis book. Levy will roll the pilot next month at Desilu, with Bob Weis- kopf and Bob SChiller scripting the segment. Guterma Hearing Off to March IS N.Y. Federal District Court hear¬ ings on the Government’s anti¬ fraud charges against Alexander Guterma and F. L. Jacobs have been postponed until March Iff. Postponement came after Federal Judge Sidney Sugarmah held pre¬ liminary chamber conferences with all sides on Monday (23). Guterma faces a different hear¬ ing Monday (2) before ILS.- Com¬ missioner Earle N. Bishop. This is on an arrest warrant* in which, the Securities and Exchange Com¬ mission charged him with failing to file required reports and planning to leave the country. Guterma has denied both charges. F. L. Jacobs is the parent company whose sub- sids include Scranton Corp., Hat Roach Studios and Mutual Broad¬ casting Co. All sides. squared away for the legal battle at the initial N. Y. Fed¬ eral District Court hearings, seek¬ ing to bar Guterma from buying or selling securities in what the SEC calls “schemes to defraud the public.” SEC also is applying for a court appointed receiver to man¬ age the F. L. Jacobs Co. The initial hearings were held Satur¬ day (21). Hal Roach Jr., who replaced Guterma as prez of Jacobs, was represented in court by Henry L. King, of the law 3m of Davis, Polk, Wardwell, Sunderland and Kiendl. King told the court that the Roach management was wholly independent of Guterma and would prosecute Guterma if it were es¬ tablished that he had dissipated assets. In an affidavit, Guterma’s coun¬ sel, Richard EL Weis, challenged the power of the SEC to ask for court appointment of a receiver. The affidavit contended that Con¬ gress never granted the SEC such power. RACHML’S EXCLUSIVE PACT WITH ffl TV Hollywood, Feb. 24. Vet pic producer Lewis J. Bach- mil has signed an Exclusive pafct with Ziv Television, under Which, he’ll function as a toplevel creative exec with the studio and as a pro¬ ducer on specific series. Raehmil is ‘the latest addition to a burgeoning" staff of well-known creative talents, which Ziv hasn’t been ballying but which nonethe¬ less exists at the lot. Lineup in¬ cludes * Morton Fine and David Friedkin, Elliott-Lewis, Ivan Tors and Doug Heyes. Latter are func¬ tioning on individual series. Fine & Friedkin on “Bold Venture,” Lewis on “Mackenzie’s Raiders,” Tors on “Sea Hunt” and Heyes on “Bravo.” „ A vet of seven years at Columbia and three at RKO, Rachmil’s most recent productions are "Gldget” and “Lou Costello and His 30-Foot Bride.” Aussie Com! TV Telefilm Entries HSV, the Melbourne commercial outlet and TCN.its Sidney video counterpart, have inked for the series rights in Australia to .five, more U. S.-made 30-minute tele¬ film skeins. Charles Michelson, agent in this country for the two tv outlets, has inked with CBS Films for 52 “Small World” half- hours and 39 each of “Rawhide” and "Wanted Dead or Alive.” From William Morris, Michelson bought 30 “Real McCoys”" and 39 “One Step Beyond” half-hours. Additionally, in the midst of the hot Down-Under buying spree, Michelson recently firmed up a deal for the hourlong Don Sharpe- Warten Lewis “Wire Service” flicks. All six series begin in Aus¬ tralia sometime in mid-March. Sales flurry among these two. commercial tv’ers is another index of the Aussie’s desire for Ameri¬ can-made telefilm product. For example, the sked on TCN consists of over 80% American celluloid. There isn’t a single day of the week on the TCN log that doesn't contain at least five American im¬ ports. The average number of American shows per night is closer to seven. A random example is Monday on TCN: “Abbott & Cos¬ tello” at 7 p.m.; “Last of the Mohi¬ cans” at 7:30; “Restless Gun” at 8; “Lucy” at 8:30, an American drama anthology at 9; “Track- down” at 9:30, and—after the local "Bobby Limb Late Show”—^there are feature films (mostly Ameri¬ can) at 11. >-»++»♦+♦♦ + ♦♦» Syndication Reviews RENDEZVOUS Wednesday* February 25* 1959 Takes Powder On ‘How To Marry A Millionaire’ ; With a Passel of Gripes Hollywood, Feb. 24. Case study in how to spot-book religiose* telefilms for maximum effectiveness .is offered by Dr. Paul M. Stevens, director of the radio- television commission of the Southern Baptist Convention^ which produces and distributes the half-hour “This Is the Answer” telefilm series. With all the vagaries in spot¬ booking, and particularly for sus¬ taining religious film. Dr. Stevens has succeeded in creating a “net¬ work” for the “Answer” series and in so doing tying in national promotion and publicity on a per- episode basis. With every telecast each Sunday, some 30,000 Baptist churches are tied in to publicize each show, and a printing of 13,- 000,000 pamphlets dealing with the topic of the specific show is dis¬ tributed among cooperating churches, which also encourage viewing parties and discussion groups. The "network” effect is achieved this way. Ordinarily, “Answer” is bicycled among up to 200 stations with a minimum of prints. How¬ ever, Dr. Stevens this yeaj decided ] on a switch, ordered 100 prints of each of 13 episodes and restricted the series to 100 stations, insisting however on Sunday- afternoon time from each station. Actual lineup turned out to be 105 outlets, virtu¬ ally all of them playing the show Sunday afternoons. With 105 stations playing the same episode virtually simultane¬ ously, the Baptist Convention was able to focus its promotional drive. Member churches were contacted, urged to promote the show locally and to tie in with viewing parties and discussions. Pamphlets were printed and circularized, each dealing with specific "Answer” epi¬ sodes and timed to the simultan¬ eous showings. In short, the book¬ ing technique added all the na¬ tional promotional advantages of a network showcase. ' Baptist Convention only pro¬ duces, via Family Films here, 13 “This Is the Answer” stanzas *a year. Consequently, the “network” run is only for 13 weeks, following which the bicycle technique is used for the remaining 39 weeks of the year, with greater reach but lesser effectiveness. Next season, the Convention may up the ante to 26 firstruns instead of the cur¬ rent 13. Films are budgeted at $25,000 to $30,000 each, but re¬ flect higher costs because key tal¬ ent works at scale instead of their accustomed hibher fees. “Answer” doesn’t proselytize; via dramatic stories it merely makes the point that people can solve their problems by attending church and consulting a minister or rabbi. Baptist church isn’t men¬ tioned, and this, according to Dr. Stevens, is one reason he can achieve such wide bookings. Sta¬ tion programmers find that the nondenominational pitch avoids beefs from other church groups who want equal time for their shows. Also in work is a new radio se¬ ries starring the David Rose orch which the Conference will allow stations to sell for sponsorship, a first for religious broadcasts. Show is so, designed as to permit two one-minute spots which station may sell. Dr. Stevens s&id the decision was made to make it available this way because some radio stations have pleaded hard¬ ship in sched uling religious pro¬ gramming. 1 CBS-TV’s New Role In Taping of TV Com’Is CBS-TY appears to be moving strong in the production of tv tape commercials, setting up a special unit under John W. Hundley to handle the video tape commercial biz. Hundley, manager of client rela¬ tions for the operations depart¬ ment of the web, has been given an increased area of responsibility. He also will be in charge of video tape sales. Advertisers and agencies have been using CBS-TV tape facilities for commercials, upon request. But now, it’s understood, CBS-TV is ready to act as producer and cre¬ ator of video tape commercials. (Mama Pontani) With Charles Drake, Lily Kama, Julia Hopkins, Maurice Kaufmah, others Producers: Edwin Knopf, Howard Erskine Director: Pat Jackson Writer: Taddy Manning O’Brine Distributor: CBS Films 30 Mins.; Wed., 10:30 pjn. SHE INGOLD BEER WRCA-TV, N.Y. [film) * (Foot, Cone & Belding ) It had to come. Someone had to do a 30-minute capsule version of an Ita.ian neo-realistic motion pic¬ ture. Producer Edwin Knopf gets the credit for taking the first tele¬ film dip in that genre; he also shares in the ran for its failure to come off. “Mama Pontani” was the initial episode telecast in this 0 anthology series, known in the N.Y. market as “Rheingold Theatre ’59,” but sold by CBS Films under the over¬ all title of “Rendezvous.” The se¬ ries has some excellent writers and players, with plots ranging from suspense to comedy. It would be wrong to judge the series solely on the initial episode and even the opener, despite its faults, had an adult, offbeat approach which may be translated more effectively in future episodes. But “Mama Pontani?” Well, aj little background will help to understand its failure. Under pro¬ ducer Howard Erskine, CBS-TV made 13 episodes before "han ding over the series to its subsid CBS Films. The subsid made a copro¬ duction deal with Associated Re¬ diffusion to film the remaining 26 episodes in England, hiring Knopf as producer for the remainder. “Mama Pontani” was.filmed in England; it’s a teleplay about a wartime incident in an Italian vil¬ lage, with the- lead charaeters earthy, volatile Italians. Julia Hop¬ kins, as. Maria, and Maurice Kauf¬ mans, as the bed son, had more of an English than an Italian fit.vcr. As Mama Pontani. Lily Kann was the most convincing. She appeared to be a fine actress and might have gotten away with the histrionics had the teleplay been better. Hers was the major role and she lent warmth, sympathy and humor. The script by Taddy Manning O'Brine, though, tried to accom¬ plish too much in the 30-minute span and was flawed by plot com¬ plications beclouding motives and story developments. The story in a nutshell concerned the wartime reminiscence of an ex-G.I. He told an essentially interesting story, of how he knew of an Italian mother who sent her own son, a bad hombre, to be killed. There are sex (Continued on page 43) Markle to Munich To Helm‘Rendezvous’Trio Hollywood, Feb. 24. Fletcher Markle has been signed by CBS-TV to direct three vid- fftms in its “Rendezvous’*" series, being readied by CBS-TV Film Sales. Markle left Sunday for Munich where he will direct the telepix. Producer of the series is Edwin H. Knopf. Two G-K Series To Roll for NTA Hollywood, Feb. 24. With finalization of a deal for Gross-Krasne to produce two series this spring and fall for National Telefilm Associates, the NTA made-in-Hollywood slate now calls for a minimum of six half-hour series during the coming year. It’s likely that figure will be advanced to as many , as" nine or ,10. Mini¬ mum outlay involved is' $7*500,000. Gross-Krasne will produce “Fate,” its dramatic anthology series, plus a second untitled action series, starting in a few weeks at its California Studios. Series will mark the first Hollywood produc¬ tion venture for G-K in some three years—all its production activities during this period have been con¬ fined abroad. Also due to start shortly is “High Noon,” televersion of the Stanley Kramer film, which currently is in the casting stage. Already well ad¬ vanced in production is “The Third Man.” In both Instances, “High Noon” and “Man,” NTA is produc¬ ing itself rather than distribbing a studio property. In addition to these four, NTA has renewed “How to Marry a Mil¬ lionaire” and “Man Without a Gun” for It second year on its NTA Film Network, with 20th-Fox Tele¬ vision to produce. *This Is Alice,” the^network’s third show, is prob¬ ably due for cancellation. “Alice” is a Desilu production, but that shop figures to get a second-year renewal on the syndicated “U. S. Marshal.” Besides these, NTA prexy Ollie Unger is looking closely at other Desilu, 20th and indie product as possible network or syndicated en¬ tries. This, apart from the video¬ tape and foreign coproduction deals on the NTA slate. Vidpix Chatter Producer Jules C. Goldstone In N. Y. for screenings of' “The Thirty Third” pilot, starring Charles Bick¬ ford . . . Charles Lamont will di¬ rect United Artists Television’s “Dennis O’Keefe Show” . . . Rob¬ ert Herridge begins shooting in April in N.Y. on his video tape se¬ ries for CBS Films, titled “Theatre for A Story” . .. Independent Tele¬ vision Corp.’s “Treasury Agent” has started filming in Washington . . . Bob Kole, formerly with Film- ways, has joined Pathe News as quality supervisor -. . . Bernard L. Schubert, Inc. is prepared to in¬ stall juke boxes in leading high schools of the nation as a promo¬ tion tie-up with Schubert’s “Your Musical Jamboree” show .. . MCA- TV has inked Paramount library deals ”it KFJZ-TV, Ft. Worth- Dallas; and WBNS-TV, Columbia, O. . . . George Shupert, MCA-TV, v.p., has returned from a Coast trip . . . Nina Dorrance, editor of True Story Magazine, and Allene Talmey, editor of Vogue, will be panel guests on an episode of “Tactic,” the anti-cancer series produced by NBC-TV . . Gerald Beadle, director of tv broadcasting for British Broadcasting Corp., was the guest at a luncheon given by National Telefilm Associates at its headquarters. Following the luncheon, Beadle visited NTA’s Telestudios . . . WPIX, N.Y., which has adopted the blocknight tele¬ film programming format,- has de¬ signated Sunday evening as “De¬ tective Night.” Sunday evening formerly was “Family Night,” but that’s been shifted to Saturday evenings, with rerun features pre¬ viously slotted Saturdays dumped. Hollywood, Feb. 24. If NTA decides to have a second year of production of its "How to Marry a Millionaire” series, it’s going to have to get itself another girl. Lori Nelson, who shares star billing with Barbara Eden and Merry Anders, has had it 0 Miss Nelson refused to grant NTA an extension to Feb. 20 be¬ cause “I was unhappy at the thought of doing it again. There was no way I could get out if they went ahead by last Jan, 6, They didn’t and asked me.for an ex¬ tension to Feb. 7 20. I wanted out so told them I would grant the extension only if they would give me a certain amount of time off. They said they couldn’t because it I might he in. breach of contract if [there was a strike or anything, so I got out and I’m so glad. If they met my terms, I might have a different attitude. “I had first billing, but that’s all I had. Loco (Barbara Eben) got the most footage and Merry Anders had the sharp Hues. I was the mediator and had little else to do, I will never again do a series with two other girls, or even one other* for that matter. I was third in everything, despite my first star billing. ‘T didn’t want to work for NTA again. They’re bad boys. They cut on the budget. It wasn’t like a major studio situation. I did a ‘20th-Fox Hour’ for 20th several years ago, and NTA is now re¬ running that series. My show has been on locally a number of times, but I’ve received no residuals. I called Screen Actors Guild about it* and they told me NTA won’t pay residuals, so Fox will have to. I don’t have any yet. “NTA wanted us to go on a p.a. tour for the series, but didn’t want to pay us. Our contract'stipulated only one week of p.a.’s and they wanted three, the other two free. I wouldn’t, and they finally agreed to pay $200 less than my weekly salary: They got their money’s worth. I worked harder on the tour than I did on the series. We would have several interviews at the same time, we didn’t have an itinerary until the last week. It was utter confusion. They Wouldn’t give us expense money, so we three howled, and they sent us our first week’s salary, but no expense money. We never did get that. “I don’t think the series has hurt my career, but it hasn’t helped me. A lot of people think I’m silly to give up security in an insecure business, but if I did it again I’d he another year behind. “I haven’t worked in six months. I’ve never done bits. I was always starred and co-starred in pictures at UI except for my first one. Un¬ fortunately the pictures UI makes are not those which the industry likes, and if the industry doesn’t like them it doesn’t help your ca¬ reer. I know my craft I’m attrac¬ tive. I have something to offer. But this doesn’t stem to mean a thing. People say ‘she’s been around a long time.* It’s kind of tragic. Where do you go from here? I’ve only had three parts I’m proud of in eight years—two pictures, ‘All I Desire’ and ‘If I Died a Thousand Tinfes,’ and one ‘Climax* in tv,” she said. Contract Bridge Tourney As Syndication Series Hollywood, Feo. 24. • In the first action of its kind, a pair of local tv producers are put¬ ting up the coin by wiu>h the World’s Championship Contract Bridge team from Italy will “fee brought to the U. S. to participate in a world’s championship tourney strictly for ty purposes. Coverage of the event will be syndicated throughout the country after beam¬ ing here. Henry Schrage and Larry Stus- ser, producer of KTLA’s "What’s the Bid?” teleseries, are bringing to L. A. the seven-man Italian bridge team to compete in the tv tourney against a six-man team of American players. A special two-hour telecast of opening play in the event was carried by KTLA Feb. 22.