Variety (March 1959)

32 TV-flLMS USRIEfY Wednesday, March XI, 1959 British Vance-Gruner-Connell Team In Bundle of Projects; 1 With CBS oft New British production team Vance-Gruner-Connell has thre projects underway, one a co-pro¬ duction deal with CBS-TV on a projected comedy-adventure series starring Gracie Fields and Stanley Hollaway. Howard Connell in town on busi¬ ness acted as spokesman for the three-man partnership. Connell, a vet production hand in the U.K., said another project of the team is a Bertrand Russell series of 13 quarter-hour programs. Each epi¬ sode would feature the famed Brit¬ ish philosopher sounding off on a different topic. His topics will range from “Capitalism and its Fu¬ ture” to “Free Love or Sexual Equality for Women.” Format has Lord Russell being introduced and questioned by Woodrow Wyatt, considered one of Britain’s top in¬ terviewers. The comedy-adventure series will be scripted in part by T. E. B. Clarke, who wrote some of the Alec Guinness comedies, including “Man in the White Suit,” “Lady- killer,” and “Lavender Hill Mob.” CBSVTV has come in as coproduc¬ ers of the pilot with the British Broadcasting Corp., with an option to pick up the entire series. Work¬ ing title of the series is “Detectives in Retirement,” with an American star yet to be cast. Filming on the pilot will begin in the fall. The Lord Russell series, as well as “De¬ tectives in Retirement” will be of¬ fered to the American market Rapid development of video tape in England was forecast by Con¬ nell. Other members of the three- man team are Dennis Vance, Brit¬ ish director, and Anthony Gruner, journalist. Responding to the tape development, Vance - Gruner-Con- nell Productions has set up a tele¬ vision drama service to serve small contractors in England. These small contractors usually can’t af¬ ford their own drama department. Under the setup, VGC would pay for all above-line costs in return for world distribution rights of the taped shows. First project in this tape area is a series titled “Over¬ ture,” a half-hour anthology of adaptations of short story master¬ pieces. There will be a 26 epi¬ sodes in the series. 5 VIDPIX SERIES ON MARTIN ROSS SKED Hollywood, March 10. Martin Ross, formerly with NTA, and a group of industry figures, have formed Key Productions for the production of five half hour tv series. Partners with Ross are Robert Lippert, theatrical film producer; David Robbins, former operator of Kling studios, and Charles Brown, erstwhile veepee of Bing Crosby Enterprises and ad chief on the coast for NBC and RCA Victor. Properties being prepared are “Magic Carpet,” starring Jackie Coogan; “Squad Car,” “Will to Win,” starring Bill Stern; “The Fantastic,” an extra-sensory per¬ ception documentary jointly pro¬ duced with Sandy Howard, and “Strange Assignment.” Teleworfd, distribution arm of Key, will be in operation by' ( March 15, accord¬ ing to Ross, who is prexy of Key. Monash’s Teter Fifth’ Hollywood, March 10. Metro TV has given the green- light to producer Paul Monash to go ahead with his new series, ‘Teter Fifth,” a romantic adven¬ ture skein. Monash, who created the series, will draw a hefty participation in it under his contractual deal with Metro TV. He is now working on the pilot, is also readying another series, “The Wrangler,” which was created by Dan Ullman. 'All-Star Golf 7 Repacted Reynolds Metals and Miller Brewing repacted for another sea¬ son of the hourlong ABC-TV “All- Star Golf” package. It’ll be the show’s third successive year, and it begins in a Saturday afternoon time slot Oct. 10. ' Show is owned by Glen Films and was sold by Walt Schwimmer. New Donna Reed Series Set for Bow in Mexico Mexico City, March 10. Donna Reed is scheduled to ar¬ rive here March 30 to inaugurate new filmed series to premiere here under Mexican title (probable) of “Mama Lo Sabe Todo” (Mother Knows Best). Noble Advertising is agency in¬ troducing series in Mexico, hard on heels of their introduction of the “Shirley Temple Hour” here over Channel 4. Influx of U. S. filmed television programs is result of high popu¬ larity of show’s with Mexican audi¬ ences and the extremely improved dubbing of Spanish sound. Why Vidpix Makes Sense: - ‘Rifleman’s’ Residual Potential $1,000,000 Hollywood, March 10. A triumvirate of Hollywood pic¬ ture men who turned to television and came up with a hit series this season aver there’s more coin in vidpix than in producing theatri¬ cal films. At least that’s the experience of Arthur Gardner, Jules Levy and director Arnold Laven, currently partnered in the making of the telefilm series, “The Rifleman,” on ABC-TV. Producers, who have a financial- distribution deal with United Art* ists in addition to their videal with Four Star Films, pointed out In 1952 they made “Vice Squad” at a cost of $262,000, and it netted them around $600,000, in 1953, they produced “Down the Three Dark Streets,” budgeted at $275,- 000 , with a prospective net of around $400,000. While they will break even on their first year of the successful “Rifleman” series, they estimate the residual poten¬ tial on the series vidpix made this season is, conservatively, over $1,- 000.000. In addition they get a 1 piece of the merchandising rights. Although their series is a hit and assured of renewal, they have no intention of leaving theatrical film production, instead plan to do both. They’re now preparing a big-budgeter, “Custer’s Last Stand,” which UA will finance and release, and have several other theatrical film properties in prep¬ aration. TV-wise, they will pro¬ duce the Robert Taylor series, “Captain of Detectives,” next sea¬ son in addition to “The Rifleman,” also have made a pilot on another series, “Tales of the Plainsman,” starring Michael Ansara. ‘‘The only movies made today are big ones or gimmick pictures. We are only interested in big ones. We’d rather do tv than make ‘B’ pictures. There’s more money in it, and just as much quality,” they say. Tory’ Into Syndication Next syndicated property of In¬ dependent Television Corp. will be “Fury,*' retitled “Black Stallion” for the market-by-market belt “Fury” was recently renewed for the fifth year on NBC-TV. Syndica¬ tion product will be the off-net¬ work episodes. Since ITC’s take¬ over of Television Programs of America last October, new outfit has fed the following properties to the syndication mill: “Sergeant Preston of the Yukon,” off-net¬ work; “Cannonball,” a fresh entry, and now “Fury.” WPIX Educ’l Bloc No Deterrent To Wearing the double mantle ot i educational tv outlet and a commercial station has no adverse rating affect on WPIX, N. Y. On the contrary, according to the latest January Nielsen, the N. Y. Daily News indie is top dog in the I rating heap with its kiddie pro- j gramming bloc from 5 to 7 p.m. | The station goes commercial at 5 I p.m. Prior to that its programming j is delegated to educational tv, with | the State Board of Regents carry- I ing the ball. j January Nielsens for the N. Y. j market find WPIX neck and neck with WCBS-TV, with the indie with a 16,1 against a 10.0 for WCBS-TV for the 5 to 7 p.m. span WRCA-TV for the same period has 6.4; WABC-TV, 7.6; WNEW-TV, 4.6; WOR-TV, 2.9; WNTA-TV, 0.9. Daily News indie’s kiddie bloc includes the Kellogg lineup, “Woody Woodpecker,” “Huckle¬ berry Hound,” et al. Station’s line¬ up is all the more remarkable con¬ sidering the lead-ins. Educational tv programming of the Regents Board is intended both for in- Hal Roach Wins Major Victory In SEC Slapdown on Receivership Mirisch-NBC Team On ‘Wichita’ l Hollywood, March 10. In an expansion of production operations, The Mirisch Co. will do two series, “Wichita Town” and “The Iron Horseman,” for its entry into television, under a deal closed with NBC. Joel McCrea makes his tv debut in “Wichita,” created by Dan Ull¬ man. NBC contracted for a mini¬ mum of 26 segments, on basis of an outline sans pilpt. “Horseman” will be jointly turned out by Mirisch and Lou Leslie Stevens. NBC will finance this pilot. “Horseman” rolls in early summer, “Wichita” this Spring. 143 RENEWALS ON ZIV‘SEA HUNT’ Ziv’s “Sea Hunt” series has tal¬ lied the highest renewal rate of any Ziv show ever introduced in mid-season, according to Len Firestone, syndication sales man¬ ager. Skein, he said, has been re¬ newed in 143 out of 186 markets. Prominent among those signing for a second year were gasoline companies, brewers, banking or¬ ganizations and food' companies. Gasoline renewals include those of Standard Oil of Indiana for De¬ troit and Grand Rapids-Kalama- zoo, and Standard Oil of Califor¬ nia for a multi-market spread cov¬ ering seven Western states. Renewing brewers include O’Keefe Brewing, for Buffalo, Wa¬ tertown and Burlington; G. Heile- man Brewing, for Chicago, La Crosse, Madison, Wassau and Green Bay; Carling for Pitts¬ burgh. . . ! Station renewals include WHDH, Boston; WJW, Cleveland; WBAL, Baltimore; WLW - D, Dayton; KTVI, St Louis; WTVJ, Miami; WTCN, Minneapolis; WDSU, New Orleans; WMAL, Washington; and KPRC, Houston. school use and the public at large. ] exec veepee, said that PJR. According to February American’—-— - 1 —* OKC - Research Bureau figures, the edu¬ cational show “Spotlight on Youth,” , with a 1.7, telecast from 4:30 to 5 p.m., Wednesdays, Thurs¬ days and Fridays, is symptomatic of the rating lead-in given to the station’s commercial evening pro¬ gramming bloc. Vidpix Chatter Puerto Rico in Major Bid for Vidpix Limelight; Both Programs & Blurbs Two projects have momentarily at least riveted trade attention on Puerto Rico’s bid for a place in the vidpix sun. P.IL’s first U.S.-tar¬ geted film video blUri* have been turned out by Caribe Films, and, at the same time, this film com¬ pany is nearing the close of dickers with U.S.-based distribbery Official Films for the production of 39 half- hour “Flying Tiger” films. Caribe has just finished a series of four one-minute celluloid com¬ mercials for B.F. Goodrich, with the lensing having involved 16 P.R. locations and some in-studio shooting. Besides the likely Official deal on the action-adventure series, Caribe is dickering too with ABC- TV on a Caribbean pilot film. Paul P. Fanning, who is Caribe’s :ec veepee, said that PJR. film production runs about 25 % lower than in the States. All the shoot¬ ing was done for the tire sponsor at the Caribbean Commonwealth. Fanning disclosed that Caribe is dickering for a 39-week half-hour telefilm dramatic series to shoot in P.R. He ^said locationing down there could knock $250,000 off pro¬ duction costs. Caribe has a studio near San Juan. + Hal Roach Jr., chairman of the board of the beleagured F. L. Ja¬ cobs Co., won an important victory yesterday (Tues.) when N.Y. Fed¬ eral District Court Judge Sidney Sugarman rejected the Securities and Exchange Commission’s ini¬ tial bid that a receiver be appoint¬ ed to manage the company’s af¬ fairs. Instead, all parties in the dis¬ pute agreed upon a stipulation, featuring the projected expansion " of the Jacobs’ board from six to nine members. The three new members of the board to be elect¬ ed, according to the stipulation, are William H. Timbers, former general eounsel of the SEC, Laza¬ rus Joseph, former New York City comptroller, and Milton Gould, an attorney. As part of the stipula¬ tion, SEC agreed to withdraw its application for a receiver and a preliminary injunction against the company. It was further agreed that there will be no disposition of the company’s assets, except in the ordinary course of business, or unless six out of the nine board directors approve the disposition of the assets. Any approval, too, un¬ der the stipulation, must have the approval of at least one of the new directors in the required ma¬ jority. Jacobs is the parent company of Scranton Corp., Hal Roach Stu¬ dios and Mutual Broadcasting Sys¬ tem. Option to buy MBS has been secured by a group of N.Y. busi¬ nessmen (see separate story). UA TV SCRATCHES ‘INTI AIRPORT’ SKEIN Hollywood, March 10. .. United Artists Television has TV has sold the Paramount libra- ! topped “International Airport” as one of its telefilm projects for next Kark Genus will direct and serve as associate producer of the new CBS Films video tape series ‘Theatre for a Story.” . . . MCA- ry to WLOS-TV, Asheville, N.C. . . . Bob Welch, producer of MOM- TV’S “Thin Man” series is explor¬ ing possibilities of shooting some future episodes in Europe. He’s in town for confabs with Colgate- Palmolive . and Ted Bates Agency on renewal possibilities . . . Hal Linker, whose “Wonders of the World” now is syndicated by Guild Films, got a 78-week renew¬ al on his local live show of the same title on KCOP, Los Angeles . . . American Stock Exchange has approved the listing of 1,150,000 common- shares of Desilu Produc¬ tions . . . Flack Abby Rand ankles Rogers & Cowan to join Wolhaii- der Associates, formed by Joe Wolhander, ex-Rogers & Cowan eastern v.p. . . . William E. Hus¬ ton; becomes director of- interna¬ tional sales for Filmways . . . Harry Goldstone to United Artists Associates sales staff, covering Al¬ abama, Georgia and Florida. WGN-TV, Chicago, has bought 82 episodes of MCA TV’s “State Trooper.” Station, now telecasting first-runs of the skein, co-sponsored by Schlitz Brewing and Oklahoma Oil, will begin its rerun schedule in the fall . . . Wondsel, Carlisle & Dunphy (WCD), producers of indus¬ trial, educational and tv film com¬ mercials, have begun .filming “In Search of Lincoln” for the United States Information Service . . . Arthur R. Lerner, assistant treas¬ urer at Guild Films, promoted to the post of administrative v.p. and treasurer. Gerald Dickler and C. Whitcomb Alden Jr., have been elected to Guild’s board of direc¬ tor* . . . Seymour Reed, exec v.p. of Official Films, to Coast fall and has moved Lee Bowman, who was slated to star, into a new show, “Miami Undercover,” pro¬ duced by Aubrey Schenck and Howard W. Koch. Latter produce theatrically for UA release. in making the switch, UA-TV is dropping Hi Brown, who was to have filmed “Airport” in New York. Company attributed the change to the fact they felt they had a bet¬ ter property in "Miami” and hadn’t committed so deeply to Brown that they couldn’t get -out of the pre¬ vious deal. Schenck-Koch wall shoot new series completely on lo-. cation in Miami. Mex Whodunit Series Hollywood, March 10. A new whodunit teleseries to star Gilbert Roland as an Amer¬ ican detective in Mexico will be jointly turned out by actor and Metro, latter to distribute pro¬ gram titled “Amigo.” (Word has been a form of address^y actor for many years.) Series, in which Rodolfo Hoyos will act as Roland’s Mexican counterpart, Iwill be lensed in Juarez. Don! Segal will direct from Herb Meadow teleplays. MEL FENSTER TO MCA Milford (Mel) Fenster, longtime o&o film buyer for RKO Teleradio stations, has resigned to join MCA TV in an exec capacity. At MCA TV, Fenster’s current assignment will be to assist in the sale of the Paramount library. SETON MILLER SET FOR G-K’S‘ROGUE’ Hollywood, March 10. Vet «film writer-producer Seton I. Miller makes his telefilm bow next month as partner with stunt flyer Paul Mantz in “Rogue for Hire,” adventure series about a charter pilot which Gross-Krasne Productions will film for National Telefilm Associates. Deal’s a three- W T ay partnership among Miller and Mantz, Gross-Krasne and NTA. Only a pilot will be filmed, with NTA then putting the show up for national sale. Decision as to syn¬ dication if a network deal isn’t made is still up in the air. Miller, who scripted the pilot, will pro¬ duce, with Mantz as technical ad¬ visor and Jack Gross and Phil Krasne as exec producers. Stanza is slated to roll April 1, provided casting can be completed. Dave Gerber and Marty Sperber of Fa¬ mous Artists agented the package. “Rogue” is the second of two se¬ ries Gross-Krasne will produce for NTA. “Fate,” dramatic anthology series which will consist completely of potential pilots, is due to begin shooting by March 31. Ed Sutherland’s New Private Eye Series London, .March 10. Edward A. Sutherland, who steered the “Martin Kane” series of vidpix, returned to London from New York last week With, a deal for a new skein under his belt. Lineup of 39 half-hour mellers also involves Official Films Inc. and Britain’s ABC-TV. Guy Morgan, the story editor, brought up the basic notion of the series during a trip to New York last year. It’s centered on New York’s Burns Agency private de¬ tection setup and will be interna¬ tional in settings. Associated Brit¬ ish Picture Corp. studios at Elstree will be used for the project. ‘Skinny & Me’ RoDs “Skinny and Me,” Galaxy At¬ tractions’ first half-hour tv series, goes into film production today (Wed.) at the Jerry Fairbanks Stu¬ dio in Hollywood under Norman Tanrog’s direction. Situation comedy series, created and produced by Ben Park, will be filmed under the supervision of Fairbanks. Cast includes Charles Herbert, Val Dufour, Sandra White, Steven Widders, Karen Green and. Gabrielle des Enfants. Milton A. Gordon, president of Galaxy, leaves New York for Cali¬ fornia today to confer with Taiirog on production plans for the series.