Variety (March 1959)

34 TV-FILMS VSriety Wednesday, March 25, 1959 Telefilmers on Oii Sales At NAB Convention: 'Who Needs It?’ There was some business "writ¬ ten” by syndicators at the NAB Chicago convention last week, but telefilmers. who have returned to their N.Y. bases since then say retrospectively that they did not sign anymore contracts than they estimate they would have done through the usual sales channels. Even Screen Gems, which re¬ ports it did something akin to land- office business from its Conrad Hil¬ ton “hospitality suite,” figures it would have done the same amount via the regular field force. Sales for the Columbia Pictures subsid were due essentially to the fact that it came prepared to peddle to tv stations 140 fresh two-reelers— 40 “Three Stooges” and all of the slapstick variety. Sales came easily as the result of near-sensational track record accomplished by SG’s original “Three Stooges” tv re¬ leases. Despite the failure to come away, in most cases, with enough new telefilm coin to pay for the cost.of the convention suites they main¬ tained. there are indications at this point that the tv filmers will go back again to the next NAB convention. The mor..ent the first moderately big syndicator breaks down and renews its limited mem¬ bership in NAB, they all claim they’ll have to follow, and, where the breakdown is concerned, CBS Films already suggests strongly that it will sign on for another NAB ride again a year from now, even though they all agree “who needs it?” ABC Films Lack Of59-’60 Product Ts ABC Films heading for scarcity of product? Change in command in midseason hasn’t helped the situation, either. Henry Plitt, new ABC Films topper, has been busy disengaging himself from his Gulf State The¬ atres post, that subsid chain of the¬ atres belonging to American Broad¬ casting-Paramount Theatres. He’s had time for one quickie visit to the Coast and has another sched¬ uled. But at this stage, most other telefilmeries are busy tool¬ ing up with fresh product for the spring selling season, some of which will be channeled to syn¬ dication. Nothing new at ABC Films is scheduled to come down the pike at this date, a situation which may result in a real prod¬ uct lack next season if not cor¬ rected. (Plitt replaced George Shupert who moved over to head up MGM-TV). - Meanwhile, syndication sales on previously set properties continue. On “26 Men.” California Spray bought the skein for KRON-TV, San Francisco; Rust Oleum, WCKT, Miami, and WDSU, New Orleans. They headed a list of sales on the oater last week. In the foreign division “Meet McGraw” has been signed for telecasting at HSV, Melbourne, and TCN, Sydney. “People’s Choice” has been-sold to Fuji Tele¬ casting, for playing in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka. CBS Films Rolls Pilot On ‘Honse on K Street’ Hollywood, March 24. Pilot of CBS Films’ “The House on K Street” rolled on location here yesterday (Tues.) under the Gallu Productions banner. Pilot is being produced and directed by Sam Gallu from script by Allen Sloane, and stars Dean dagger and Sarah Hayden. Gallu is also currently filming "Border Patrol” and is due to pro¬ duce “The Man from Antibes” for CBS Films. WPIX's A&C Tribute WPIX, N.Y., will mark a “Trib¬ ute to Lou Costello” tomorrow evening (Thurs.). Half-hour show will be made up of “Abbott and Costello” shorts, including the “Who’s-on-First,” and the famed ^money-changing-wiH-you-lend me- 150 “routines.” Show will be seen at 9 p.m. Canada Lores ’Em Toronto, March 24. The “second-class citizen” treat¬ ment given to syndicators at the National Assn, of Broadcasters in the U.S. isn’t duplicated north of the border. Syndicators attending the cur¬ rent meeting of the Canadian Assn, of Broadcasters here are not barred from exhibiting, as in the case in the U S. with the NAB. National Telefilm Associates, for one, had a colorful display, spot¬ lighting its series and features. KTTV’s ‘Divorce Court’ Hits Coin Jackpot as A Tape Syndication Entry Chicago, March 24. Los Angeles station KTTV has now realized a six-figure profit on its video tape-syndicated series, “Divorce.. Court”, after only five months in 17 markets. Such was the testimony of Robert Breckner, v.p. of the station, at an Ampex- sponsored seminar last week dur¬ ing the National Assn, of Broad¬ casters convention. On KING, Seattle, “Court” is beating Perry Como, and on KRON-TV, San Francisco, it has overtaken “Perry Mason,” Breck¬ ner said. The KTTV show, Ampex reps held, has been doing ground¬ work for the intense tape syndica¬ tion activity to come. Breckner stated that KTTV, now off the hook with “Divorce Court,” can continue to turn out fresh product without concern for residuals. Show is sold to stations by a formula that asks a half-hour rate for a full hour show. Two of KTTV’s series, “Divorce Court” and “Juke Box Jury.” are being distributed by Guild Films. Station, however, will handle the sales and distribution of its newest tape property, “Paul Coates Show,” which will be made avail¬ able for stripping five nights a week. Vidpix Chatter John Howell, CBS Films sales v.p., on Coast . . . Two more licen¬ sees have been added to the list of manufacturers making Steve Canyon products. Contracts were issued to Sackman Bros., Telford, Pa., manufacturers of children’s playsuits and to Golden Press for the publication of “Interceptor Station” activity book . . . “Lassie” has won the American Humane Assn.’s PATSY trophy as the per¬ forming animal tv star of the year. A1 Martigan has ankled ABC Films as N.Y. account exec and joined Independent Television Corp., ,. Phil Williams, ABC Films sales v.p. to Toronto for Canadian broadcasters assn, meeting. Ditto Harold Goldman, NTA Interna¬ tional prejQjr, and other NTA execs. . . . United Air Lines has picked up sponsorship of “Mackenzie’s Raiders,” on KHVH-TV, Honolulu. . . . Richard P. Brandt, Trans-Lux Distributing prez, sailed to Europe today (Wed.) to negotiate tv sales of - “Felix the Cat” . . . Sterling Television new sales on “Abbott and Costello” include WICC, Pitts¬ burgh; WFMY, Greensboro; KTAR, Phoenix; WMAL, Washington; WCKT, Miami; CKNX, Wingham, Ont. . . . WPIX, N.Y., has bought “Adventures of Hiram Holliday” from California National Produc¬ tions . . . KDKA-TV, Pittsburgh, has bought the Paramount library from MCA TV . . . “Tactic,” anti- cancer series, will be telecast on WRCA-TV, N.Y., starting May 2. . .. Bishop Fulton J. Sheen makes his second annual Good Friday ap¬ pearance on WPIX, N.Y., (27) to narrate a one-hour religioso pro¬ gram ... NTA has added 100 “home movie” new titles to its library of 16m and 8 m short sub¬ jects and cartoons. Charles Hoffman, vet producer, signed by Warner Bros.- as a tele¬ film producer . . Walt Plant and Les Norins, both formerly with TP A, now on the NTA sales staff here . . . Playhouse Pictures doing those Ford animated blurbs kid¬ ding the Viceroy “Thinking man’s filter” commercials. ‘Crusader Rabbit’ Series Fetches $1,450,000 Hollywood, March 24. Sales on the new “Crusader Rabbit” series were said to be over $1,450,000, according to Lee Orgel, v.p. in charge of sales for Regis Films. New markets purchasing the show- include WRCA, New York; KRCA, Los Angeles; WGAL, Lan¬ caster, Pa.; and WTVD. In addi¬ tion, the Japanese tv web bought the series for telecasting on each of their six sta Lions. 'Sea Hunt's' N. Y. Shift Co-sponsors Sunoco and Bristol- Myers will keep Saturday night at 10:30 for the N.Y. exposure of “Sea Hunt,” the Ziv-made half-hour telefilm skein. They move the program from WCBS-TV to rival WABC-TV as of May 2. Local advertisers are being bumped from the CBS-TV Gotham key to make way for the network’s new Ray Milland show. KEY ROLES SET FOR . NBC-TV‘BONANZA’ Hollywood, March. 24. NBC-TV will film the pilot of its Actor Residuals at Alltime Peak Hollywood, March 24. Telefilm residuals are now accruing to actors at an annual rate of $3,500,000, an alltime high, according to Screen Actors Guild exec secretary Jack Dales. Current payments are running 33% ahead of last year, when a total of $2,711,134 was collected for the. 12-month period ended Oct. 31, 1958. Since that date, for the four month? ended Feb. 28 of this year, Dales disclosed, the Guild has collected and disbursed to members the record sum of $1,189,904. Latest disbursement brings the total amount distributed thus far in residuals to $8,691,657. Figure does not include use payments for tv commercials or residuals paid on post-’48 features, but is confined to entertainment telefilms. Only Way to Keep a Top Telefilm Exec Is to Give Him Stock Interest Reynolds’ Berlin Pilot Sheldon Reynolds has sold to the Free Berlin tv station a one- shot showing of his pilot, “Ap¬ pointment With Fear”. Reynolds will produce and di¬ rect the series, based on adven¬ tures of an insurance investigator and starring John Dehner. Ray Allan scripted the pilot. The Free Berlin outlet will air the pilot in May. KDKA-TV’s Hoopla On Par Pix Pram; Theatre Screening, Etc. Pittsburgh, March 24. KDKA-TV, 'which announced the purchase last week of 700 pre-1949 Paramount pictures for $1,300,000, is planning quite a bash on April 2 to officially baptize the acquisi¬ tion. Westinghouse station will throw a block party in the Shady- side district, beginning with the screening of one of the top movies at the Shadyside Theatre in the late afternoon for advertising men, sponsors, civic officials and news¬ papermen. Then, instead of the customary cocktail party, each guest will be given a certain amount of scrip good for drinks at ony one of the hourlong color western, “Bonanza,” j man y bars which line Walnut 1 Street in the Shadyside area. There will also be a flock of other stunts. at Paramount Studios, with the show set to roll April 6. Lome Greene, Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker and Michael Landon have been assigned the key roles of a family of ranchers fighting the miners around Virginia City in the 1860’s. Dave Dortort will produce, Ed Ludwig direct. Show is a network- owned package. Ted Lloyd on Prowl For Teenage ‘Archie’ Television rights to the comic book-newspaper strip cartoon char¬ acter “Archie” have been acquired by Ted Lloyds, Inc., tv and radio producers. Pilot film will be shot this sum¬ mer under the title of “The Ad¬ ventures of Archie Andrews.” Plans are underway in newspapers and comic books to find a “real life” teenager to play the title role. Deal with John Gold water, prez of = Archie Comic Publications, in¬ volved radio and motion picture rights, too. The Par buy was made by KDKA-TV only and does not in¬ clude. any of the other four West- inghouse tv properties, in Boston, San Francisco, Baltimore and Cleveland. ♦ Key to obtaining or retaining top telefilm distribution execs ap¬ pears to be in granting them a stock interest in the eompany. The equity in the biz may be in the form of a stock option, or an out¬ right piece of the company’s stock. Recent case in point is that of Maurice . (Bud) Rifkin, third in command at Ziv, and longtime v.p. in charge of sales. Understanding is that Rifkin had received a num*» ber of bids from other telefilmCr- ies, the latest being from the Jack Wrather Organization which formed Independent Television Corp. Rifkin was said to have been offered the job of being in overall charge of all Wrather tele¬ film interests including ITC. Un¬ derstanding is that Ziv, in order to retain Rifkin, counteroffered with a stock offer and kept him. Also understood to have a long-standing stock interest in the privately held company, chairman of which is Frederic W. Ziv,. is prez John Sinn. Reportedly, Charles (Bud) Barry, prez of NTA Film Network, and Michael Sillerman, prez of NTA program sales, were weaned over to OTA with stock option offers. It’s assumed that Walter Kingsley ankled Ziv to become prez of ITC, partially lured by an ITC stock in¬ terest. Manny Reiner left ITC to join Milton Gordon in the Galaxy At¬ tractions enterprise. Reiner, form¬ er foreign v.p. of ITC, has an own¬ ership interest in Galaxy, helmed by Gordon. Wallace Ross Promotes N.Y. Vidblurb Festival Wallace Ross, who helped in the formation of the Film Producers Assn, of N. Y. and for the past two- and-a-half years spearheaded its administration, has formed his own international film-tv relations out¬ fit to promote video blurb festi¬ val and forum in N. Y. next March. He leaves April 9 to rep the in¬ die producers of business, docu¬ mentary and tv advertising films at five festivals this summer, rang¬ ing from one in Harrogate, Eng¬ land, beginning April 21 to ones in Venice in July and Edinburgh in September. He’s also got a trip to the USSR on his agenda. Reruns Ring Cash Registers Rerun operations of telefilm houses have grown to such propor¬ tions that in case after case, the rerun division spells the difference between profit and loss for the syndicator. Growth of the importance of the rerun operation is graphically illustrated by Ziv, whose Eco- nomee division is one of the pio¬ neers in the field. In its first year in ’54, Economee accounted for 6% of Ziv’s total gross. Currently, Economee accounts for over 27% of Ziv’s total gross. What has happened in the five- year period has been a minor revo¬ lution. First, as to product, there are some 300 series now making the rerun rounds from all sources; second, the wide, and proven abil¬ ity of good rerun product to draw ratings; third, the growth of the stripping operation; and fourth, the multiplicity of one-minute spot buys on stations with reruns being utilized as a spot vehicle. It’s not, all a positive picture, not by a long shot. The quantity of shows in many cases has acted to depress the prices in market after market. If overly-loaded, reruns, while they may be commercial, hardly enhance the showmanship image of a station-built to a large extent by freshly produced prop¬ erties^ whether it be live, tape or film. Then, It’s an axiom In the biz that the properties which were turkeys the first time around in syndication or on the nets hardly command respect in the rerun whirl. With that in mind, the estimated 300 properties now on the rerun mill can be whittled down quite a bit to get the signifi¬ cant number. . . Also characteristic of the times is that the time span between I first-run and rerun handling of a J syndicated property has been nar¬ rowed. That’s true today of Ziv, Independent Television Corp., Na¬ tional Telefilm Associates and others. Ziv's Economee operation, which now has 18 properties, is headed by general manager Pierre Weis. ITC’s rerun division. Arrow Pro¬ ductions, is topped by Alvin Un¬ ger. ITC has 12 properties in its Arrow division. OTA program sales division, headed by Michael Sillerman, has reactivated its Famous Films rerun division. Re¬ runs figure Importantly for CBS Films and NBC’s California Na¬ tional Productions, the latter out¬ fit represented by Victory Pro¬ gram Sales. Many series do not earn a prof¬ it the first time around in syn¬ dication. Bailing out such series is the' rerun division. No matter how it’s (diced, the Economees of the biz loom importantly; i Prime Summer Slot (or Golf Pix Chicago, March 24. ABC-TV is giving reruns of “Championship <1011” a prime time berth—Mondays at 9:30 p.m.—in the summer semester this year, feeding it to 92 stations on a co-op. basis under the rerun title of “Top Pro Golf.” It’s the first time the golf show will be shown in golf season. Firstruns for the past two years have been a Saturday after¬ noon entry on the net in fall, win¬ ter and spring. Next fall, the fresh skein of firstruns go back into their 5-6 p.m. clock time slot, having already sewed up renewals from Miller Brewing Co. and Reynolds Alumi¬ num, each sponsoring a regular half hour. It’s the third time aboard for Miller’s and the second for Reynolds. Show is produced by Glen Films and is distributed by Walter Schwimmer Inc. ‘Peter Chambers’ As Philly Vidpic Entry Philadelphia, March 24. Louis W. Kellman, with studios here, is again using a Philly locale for his planned tv series, “The Affairs of Peter Chambers.” He also filmed his first pie, “The Burglar” locally, with Martha Vickers as star and the then little known Jayne Mansfield featured. If the pilot, which the producer started shooting (23), proves suc¬ cessful all the planned 39 segments will be lensed here. Kellman has inked John Dutra for the title role and Shirley Ballard for his coun¬ terfoil. Stories will be scripted by David Goodis.