Variety (March 1959)

30 RABIO-TELEV1SION Wednesday, March 11, 1959 ZftftiEfr A6C-TV Puts on Razzle-Dazzle 'Hey, Look at Us Presentation i, Trial of Milton Berle’ Dinner for Milton Berle by the N. Y, chapter of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Satur- ABC-TV spent something over $15,000 to make a bullish report to 1,100 advertisers and industry executives who gathered yesterday (Tues.) at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. As the net¬ work’s pitchmen did at the same hostelry exactly two years ago. the ABC execs yesterday described in showmanlike terms the network’s • day (7) was attended by 1,100 rating successes, although the pre- ; members of the industry. Waldorf- vious time all the web really had to ! Astoria bash, called a “Close-Up” offer was a promise while yester- j and fashioned after the perennial day four spokesmen exclaimed that: Friars Club frolics, drew on the ABC was now on absolutely even [ talents of Phil Silvers, Jan Mur- competitive rating terms with its ; ray, Jack E. Leonard, Hal March, rivals NBC and CBS. \ Tallulah Bankhead, Danny Dayton, Don Coyle, vice-president of: Arnold Stang, Dorothy Collins, ABC-TV’s research and sales devel¬ opment " departments, and Bert Briller, in charge of the network’s sales presentations, set aside twin 15-foot step ladders, the new sym¬ bol of ABC’s climb “to the top,” and told the assemblage of its No. 1 nighttime cost efficiency status, how ABC lead the other two webs four out of seven nights of the week (source: Nielsen) on “overall programming” and was the only network with five shows in the top 10 (same source), and that it was the network with the greatest pro¬ portion of its audience in the “im¬ portant (in terms of purchasing power) under-40 age bracket.’ The razzle-dazzle employed the same colorful Cellomatic large- screen, presentation it used the last time ABC made an effort to over¬ whelm its trade audience, and aim utilized" network prexy Leonard Goldenson. For further color and a few loosely-arrived-at laughs, the network threw in half a dozen of its program stars, a magician, three beautiful dolls and two Waldorf attendants. Cost of the onward- upward pitch to N.Y. included a buck-and-a-quarter coffee and roll breakfast for the attendees. Web is going to toss in another $15,000 or so to carry the Cellomatic, execs, et al. to Chicago for duplicate presentations on Sunday and Mon¬ day of next week, first to ABC-TV affiliates and then to Windy City advertisers. Steve Allen, Dorothy Kilgallen and about a dozen others, all of whom engaged in the “Trial of Milton Berle,” a two-hour script produced by Max Liebman and heavily over¬ laid with adlib commentary. Robert Lewine, prexy of ATAS, N. Y., in an introductory speech, informed payees that within three months a N. Y. Emmy Fellowship would be established, open to members of the drama and Eng¬ lish departments of colleges and universities in the O'. S. Students will be given a chance to study production techniques firsthand at Gotham tv studios. An item that is expected to have | explosive consequences at next | week’s gathering of National Assn. ! of Broadcasters is that the Broad- i cast Pioneers are planning to hon- j or retired musicians’ union prexy, | James C. Petrillo. with an award “for his contribution to the indus- ? try.” Some outrage has already been While ABC did stress its strong i expressed by a few industryites Tuesday-Thursday- Friday - Sunday j w ho have learned the hushed-up stand vis-a-vis the competition and i °ews and who, from their en- PelrOlo Tribute At NAB Meet Cues Discordant Notes tanglements with the former chief- Itain of American Federation of i Musicians, have come lo believe that Petrillo’s interests have al¬ ways been inimical to those of the broadcast industry. One veteran broadcaster, who has had a history of, grief with AFM, says he will boycott the Pio¬ neers annual banquet at which the award is to be made. Another, hearing the news for the first time, said he wondered if the Pioneers hadn't gone senile. “As far as I can tell,” he said. “Petrillo’s con¬ tributions to broadcasting have __ _ ■ u j .» v i i i only beeix negative, if not damag- New group headed by Malcolm Now we ’re honoring and. praising him like he s done us a great service.” It’s understood the Pioneers would have reconsidered their choice, once they realized what an unsettling effect it might have, but the ball was rolling, Petrillo had already been informed, and it was too late to change anything. I did express a high degree of hope r^out its Saturday-Sunday-Wednes-. status next season, Messrs. Coyle and Briller and, later on, presidents Treyz and Goldenson, danced away, except for the brief¬ est pre-dark notation, from discus¬ sion of the network’s five-month- (Continued on page 48) Can’t Keep Mutnal Score Withont a Scratch Sheet Smith, prez of export-import firm of Harrison Home Products, which has taken an option to buy Mutual Broadcasting System, has about two weeks to exercise that option. MBS execs, though, are confident that the Smith group will do so, pointing to the $50,000 posted by the group to make the option bind¬ ing. MBS affiliates, a group of whom are more than worried about the net’s status, will be apprised of the situation at the affil meet¬ ing in Chicago Sunday (15) on the eve of the National Assn, of Broad¬ casters convention. Blair Walliser, MRS exec v.p., and Robert Hur- leigh, senior v.p., hope to have the deal wrapped up by Sunday. First overt displeasure from affils came from the Intermountain network, which had been an exclu¬ sive outlet for MBS. Now Inter- mountain, in an apparent effort to protect itself in case of MBS’ col¬ lapse, has made a deal with ABC Radio Network. Intermountain hasn’t dumped MBS, but the re¬ gional web of 42 stations now has a dual affiliation, MBS sharing In¬ termountain with ABC Radio. Identified with the Smith group is Adolph Hult, vet broadcaster who in the days of RKO Teleradio ownership of the net was MBS* v.p. in charge of sales. Troubled net has the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. as one of its major creditors, owing AT&T a bill for the use of long lines in excess of $275,000. AT&T has given notice to MBS affils of possible end of service, although setting no deadline date. Barnes to Roam U.S. in CBS Radio Quest for Talent Immediately after the NAB con¬ vention in Chicago, Howard G. Barnes, veep in charge of network programs for CBS Radio, will em¬ bark on a talent hunt across the country. He will search night clubs and out of the way bistros and other potential talent sources in an effort to beef up the program¬ ming array on the web. “PCP is not a vise,” Barnes said this week.” I have the encourage¬ ment from management to move around the country for new talent. We’re not going to be standing still and we’ve got the room and the money to play around with worthy new ideas. Actually, there’s no limit to the amount of money we can spend.” Barnes hopes to come up with what he describes as a free-wheel¬ ing type of personality salesman, cast, perhaps, in the mold of Arthur Godfrey or in the fashion of Art Linkletter. Meanwhile, the radio web is m the midst of pre¬ paring several spectaculars for potential sponsors. Also, Barnes is confident that this year’s New¬ port Jazz Festival again will be Sponsored and that the web will be. offering radio versions of sev¬ eral popular tv programs, a la “Have Gun, Will Travel.” Barnes Is certain that a number of video westerns and whodunits would make first-rate radio pro¬ grams, in fact, some of them would be far superior in the audio me¬ dium. Listeners, he . observed, have, in many instances, better paint brushes in their minds than the best of video’s scenic de¬ signers. CBS Radio’s PCP did hot, ac¬ cording to Barnes, affect the em¬ ployment situation in program¬ ming, the only casualty being one producer. A current major prob¬ lem is Edward R. Murrow’s re- (Continued on page 52) A Manie-Splendored Thing The star-studded “Manie and His Friends” 90-minute spec on NBC-TV last Tuesday (3) registered one of the top ratings of the. season, despite the fact it was competing against one of ABC-TV’s finest hour and a halfs. As the 90 minutes progressed the rating increased, hitting 38.8 for the final half-hour. In the 7:30 to 8 period, “Manie” hit a 31.0 as against a 15.2 for ABC’s “Sugarfoot” and in the 8 to 8:30 slot it climbed to a 34.2 as opposed to a 19.3 for “Sugarfoot.” Not even “Wyatt Earp” in the 8:30 to 9 period could withstand the “Manie” onslaught. .In contrast to the spec’s 38.8, “Earp” could do no better than a 17.7, while- CBS-TV’s “To Tell the Truth” trailed with a 7.3. NBC translates it into an audience of 58,000,000. Terry Clyne, who sparked the spec in honor of the late NBC- RCA veepee Emanuel Sacks, is awaiting the soundtrack of last week’s telecast with an eye to transmuting that into an album, similarly titled. Proceeds would go to Emanuel Sacks Foundation of the Albert Einstein Memorial Hospital, Philadelphia, as did the $200,000-plus realized from last week’s video spectacular. T Because of the diverse diskery commitments of the participants (Perry Como and Eddie Fisher are RCA Victor artists; Frank Sin¬ atra is on Capitol; Dinah Shore just shifted from Victor to Cap, etc.) it will have to be resolved whether RCA or Capitol will dis¬ tribute. This applies also to Kay Starr, Dean Martin, Rosemary Clooney and the other participating talents, all of them “Manie’s Friends.” Clyne says he plans next year’s spec on ABC, in deference to Sinatra’s contractual commitments with that network. The year after it will rotate to CBS, and so on. Those Premature Ratings What happens when Nielsen makes a mistake on compiling the Top 10 shows and when the networks rush in to herald their standing before Nielsen even has a chance to double-check his tallies was all too regretfully illustrated last week, much to fhe chagrin of the networks and everybody else concerned. (So anxious are the networks these days to examine the advance ratings and find out who did what to whom that it’s become a practice for the webs to station a messenger at the airport to meet the Nielsen representative flying them in from Chi headquarters). Last week Nielsen, in one of the few instances on record, goofed on the advance copies of the Top 10. It listed “Wagon Train” as No. 1 with a resultant full-page trade ad display from MCA-TV. It showed ABC-TV* with three of the top five programs, cueing some premature bally by the execs of that network. Too late, Nielsen reps got on the phone and confessed that the advance list was in error, that in reality “Gunsmoke” was still the top rated show (with “Wagon Train” No. 2) and that instead of having three of the top five, ABC only had one (“Rifleman.”) But the damage had been done. In one respect Nielsen did call it right the first time out—ABC stood pat on the “five in the Top 10 ” compilation. * Here’s the amended—and correct—rundown on the Nielsen AA (average audience) for the first February report: Gunsmoke (CBS . 39.1 Wagon Train (NBC) ...'.... 38.3 Danny Thomas (CBS) .. 34.3 Rifleman (ABC) . 33.9 Have Gun (CBS)... 33.8 Wyatt Earp (ABC) . . 32.9 Maverick (ABC) .. 32.9 Sugarfoot (ABC) . 31.8 Real McCoys (ABC) . 30.7 Ford Show (NBC) ....1 Wells Fargo . ^30.2 The Texan .. :.j Stem Ends 30,0Mile Safari In NBC Inti Bid for Global Horizons - Olds Repacts ABC-TV ABC-TV has, signed Oldsmobile for next season to essentially the same contract the sponsor now has in affect at the network. Bankroller, which owned the two live Bing Crosby specials of this season and the January golf spe¬ cial, run by Crosby on the Coast, has decided to refirm for the same three events in 1959-’60, Decision came shortly after last week’s sec¬ ond Crosby special on ABC. Show received both critical plaudits and a large share of the video audi¬ ence. J. P. Marquand, Costain Set For 'Commandments John P. Marquand and Thomas B. Costain will make their maiden appearances as tv scripters for NBC-TV. Each will do a “Ten Commandment” script to be pro¬ duced by Jess Oppenheimer, NBC producer, who was respons¬ ible for the Ben Hecht “Third Commandment” script on NBC- TV’fe “Kaleidoscope” recently. ' Oppenheimer came in from the coast this n week to huddle with Herb Sussan, director of special events, for ;NBC, regarding the up¬ coming series of 90-minute top- budgeted dramatic productions dealing with the Ten Command¬ ments. Scripts will be telecast in prime evening time with name performers. Each of the commandments will be dealt with in modem settings. Marquand will assay the second commandment under the heading, “Courtesy of the Port.” Costain will update the ninth command¬ ment, “Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness.” Como’s Pontiac Special With Flock of Legiters Perry Como, who will front the Pontiac special set for March'24 on j NBC-TV, will be supported by a host of Broadway’s top talent. Al¬ ready signed for the Roncom pro¬ duction are France Nuyen, Gert¬ rude Berg, Cedric Hardwicke, Cyril Ritchard with negotiations current¬ ly being carried on to bring Clau¬ dette Colbert Into the fold. Special will be based around the legit talent with Como visiting the various theatre and dressing rooms of the Broadway stars. f Alfred E. Stern, NBC’s peripatetic director of international relations, is on home base again at 30 Rock after a 30,000 mile missionary and biz-producing safari through Japan, Saigon, Manila and Australia. This was a five-week expedition dedi¬ cated, as in the past, to selling NBC’s International Ltd.’s serv? ices to overseas broadcasters. Evi¬ dently, there’s considerable yen to be had, particularly in Japan and shillings in Australia, judging by Stem’s enthusiasm for. the enter¬ prising tv endeavors particularly in Down Under and Far East areas. Stern said Japan would have 41 government and privately-operated tv stations by January, 1960. Pres¬ ently, there are four commercial tv outlets in Tokyo alone, all do¬ ing zooming biz, but unfortunately there is no good rating service available in Nippon territory. One ad agency, it appears, does a “lim¬ ited” type of nose-counting but all Japanese telecasters recognize the need for an independent service similar to our Nielsen or Trendex. Japan is slightly behind England and Canada in tv viewing, and is doing considerable video taping. Virtually all telecasters, are using tape or have ordered taping ma¬ chines. Stern powwowed with sev¬ eral Japanese film producers with an eye toward co-production deals and there is a strong possibility that such deals will eventuate with the * Japanese handling local dis¬ tribution and NBC International looking after the rest of world dis¬ tribution of co-produced vidpix. Present import situation in Japan calls for limit of nine 30-minute programs per week for Tokyo sta¬ tions. Stern said new Japanese regulations on foreign tv programs would be announced April 1, and he looked for an easing of regula- (Continued on page 52) WCBS-TV’s 52-Week Sports Package at 44G For first time in station’s history, WCBS-TV is offering clients a 52- week-a-year sports package. In the past, Gotham outlet of the web of¬ fered spots around pro football or hockey as separate package deals. Now Norman E. Walt Jr., general sales manager, says this can be im¬ proved on because the sports schedule is being handled on a year-round basis. Full offering by the sales dept, of WCBS-TV calls for spots in and around the network’s schedule of. horseracing, pro football, college football, golf, swimming and div¬ ing, pro hockey, etc. Clients can have 20-second and 10-second an¬ nouncements as well as one-minute spots. WCBS-TV is presenting several plans designed to capitalize, on sports events over course of 12 months. Plan One with 60’s and 20’s would cost $44,067.50.