Variety (August 1959)

: Wednesday, August 26, 1959 p^UUEff RAIIIO-TKLEVISION 27 Some Snazzy WW Ford Models First 15 shows scheduled to be run off by Ford on its Tuesday night “TV’s Finest Hour” series on NBC—although dates and . rotation have yet to be resolved—are indicative of the star-happy powerhouse status gradually being achieved. Series kicks off Oct. 6 with “The World of: Entertainment ■’ starring Rosalind Rus¬ sell* with Jess Oppenheimer producing and Dote: Schary as con¬ sultant. ' These are the other 14: JERRY LEWIS—“The jazz Singer’’ INGRID BERGMAN—“The Turn Of the Screw” ART LINKLETTER—“Kids Say the Darndest. Things” JIMMY STEWART—“Cindy’s Fella” DEAN MARTIN SHOW—With Frank Sinatra.: “THE MAFIA”—By Luther Davis TONY CURTIS—“The Russ Columbo Story” . “AN EVENING WITH CYD CHARISSE” V SIR ALEC GUINNESS—“The Sin of Gebel Deek” SHIRLEY BOOTH—“A Child is Born,” With Marian Anderson . GEORGE BURNS SHOW—“A . Night .at the Palace” With . Jack Benny ' THE ETHEL MERMAN SHOW DEAN MARTIN JERRY LEWIS—“Merton of the Movies.” - . . Hollywood, Aug. 25. " Los Angeles television stations scored a major victory against the American Bar Assn.’s Canon 35 last week, when it secured court permission to film the preliminary hearing on whether model; Carole TregOff should stand trial in the sensational Dr. Bernard Finch murder case. >’ Five of the seven L. A. stations were on the scene with soundfilm newsreel equipment, each filming their own pictures. Only condition placed on the coverage by Munici¬ pal Judge William M. Martin in West Covina's Citrus Court. was that the cameras not take pictures of him/ since he didn’t want any charges of “personal aggrandize¬ ment” leveled at him for permit¬ ting coverage. First on the .air .with complete coverage was KTTV, which at 5 p.m. the same, afternoon (18) had a half-hbur special on the filming. . Special events director Bill Welsh, who narrated the special, claimed it- to be the first courtroom- cover¬ age permitted television in this area.,'/’"- Coverage itself was somewhat on the dull side, since it was re¬ stricted tp arguments by prosecu¬ tion and defense attorneys and the judge’s decision on whether :ber constitutional rights had been vio¬ lated by virtue of her not having (Continued on page 28) Kluge’s 228% Hike In Met’s Earnings Since John Kluge assumed com¬ mand at Metropolitan Broadcasting Corp. lastJanuary, the station chain has hit a phenomenal 228% rise in earnings. Net earnings of the company totalled $1,004,252 for the 26-week period ending July 5, as compared to the $306,194 tallied in. the like 1958 period. Gross revenue of Metropolitan, which owns and’operates WNEW- radio-plus-tv in New; York, WTTG (tv) in Washington and WHK, a Cleveland radio outlet* was $8,- 074,896 this past six-monther as opposed to the previous $6,774,437. When Kluge took over, WHK was a heavy loser. Moreover, it garnered only about 6:8% of the Cleveland audience. A new man¬ agement was installed, the format changed, and in six months the station claims 25% of the total audience, making it No. 2 in the market, of eight .radio stations. Topper is that Met figures on a break-even “soon” as far as the profit-loss statement is concerned. : Until last, year; WNEW . Radio was the only money-maker Metro¬ politan owne d, it explained’ WNEW-TV lost coin until early *58, Which was before Kluge’s time. But soon thereafter it began turn¬ ing a straight profit. WTTG, according. : to manage-, ment, is “attracting a steadily .in¬ creasing share of national busi¬ ness.” »’s WBC Post San Francisco, Aug, 25. : Philip G. Lasky becomes vice- president in charge of the West Coast area for Westinghouse Broadcasting: C§. In this, new ca:- pacity, Lasky, * who had been charged only with management of KPIX here, will also oversee opr orations of WBC’s Portland, Ore:, radio outlet, KEX.=/ • Lasky has been a WBC. executive director since 1956. He’s been with. KPIX since it began in ’48. : SplituppnTtoF Biggest problem at the moment in lining up overseas talent for the. revamped “Person to Person" that Charles Oollingwoqd will host is getting the usejof Intercontinental Television’s nfobile tape ; unit which has been kept busy on a flock of other assignments. Once availability dates are cleared with IT, “P to P” pro¬ gram builders |ohn A. Aaron and Jesse Zoiismer will see that these dovetail with the schedules of the guests-to-be. Collingwood said this week that about 50% of the shows would be taped ■ overseas but was. hesitant to say who the guests would’ be until air details were buttoned up. In. some. instances, he . indicated, they might be individuals who had previously appeared on “P to P” show's ■ from hotel rooms in this country.. In the new setup, and wtli half-hour cohcentration on each: guest, viewers Would thus .be getting an. opportunity for more (Continued on page 28) MEX BALLET PACTED FOR CHI TV SPECIAL Chicago, Aug. 25.. Ballet Folk Lorico de Mexico, company of 42 musicians and danc¬ ers in town for the current Pan American Festival, has been tapped for a 90-minute special on WBKB tomorrow night (Wed.), themed in with the Pan American Ga m e s which b e g i n the next day and which the station is carrying ex¬ clusive. ' /:■/ The ABC anchor, going hot and heavy with one : shot s h o w s this summer, is preempting its 10 p.m. Wednesday film (a spot. carrier) for the dance program and, sihee it’s unsold at deadline, undoubtedly will use spots in it. It’s understood Folk Lorico com¬ pany has a deal pending for an outing on the Ed Sullivan Show next February. By ART WOODSTONE NBC-TV has embarked—at not inconsiderable risk-^-oh a series of costly and ambitious interlocking projects to reestablish as much as possible internal control of. talent and programming. - in addition to other moVes in that direction during the past four months, the network is now ready to add a four-ply clincher to^ its “Made at NBC” ambitions: At least seven new pilots, and probably more, are to be made by NBC-TV for the 1960-’61 selling season. Hoping to lay its mitts on some bigname talent that hasn’t- been overworked on the video lanes, the web, for the first time internal¬ ly in several seasons, is preparing to offer' performers solid hunks, of any NBC package In. which they appear. • To: find and nurture hew tv tal¬ ent, along" the lines of an older, aborted network plan; NBC Is lay¬ ing open a larger budget to its di¬ rector of , talent relations, Dave Tebet. It’ll be Tehet’s additional Tebet’s Tag David Tebet, : who two r months / ago was named “gen¬ eral program executive,” - was . giveii a title. this w’eek that • ; formally recognizes the job he’s been filling all along: that of head of NBC-TV’s tal- - erit operation. Tehet’s hew title is director . of talent relations. He’s. been in the NBC talent area since the spring of ’56. talent-searching job to . uncover aiid train, by One estimate, between four and 14 singers, dancers, straight actors and comedians each year. They’ll be used on NBC’s own programs, including the dra- matic shows, and they 11 probably be sent on toiir in; an NBC-pro¬ duced industrial showcase. /■■■/. • Fourth, program vicepresident David Levy, the one who seems lb be chiefly behind ’ the lets-do-it- ourselves concept, has/ instructed Alan Livingston* Coast program executive, to build a program de¬ velopment /division in Hollywood similar to the oiie he recently cre¬ ated in New York, There have been signs over the past four months that: NBC was heading in the direction of home¬ made video stanzas. First, the web, in a series of cautious maneuvers, cleared away the obstacles techni¬ cal labor had placed in the path of NBC telefilm productions, And then, the network put two 100%- NBC pic productions on the ’59- ’60 sked—“Fibber McGee & Mol¬ ly” .and -‘Bonanza.” Plus that. Levy got his pet project, the live . “Sunday Showcase” dramas defi¬ nitely slotted,; even though, when they were scheduled, • they were totally sponsoriess. . How to Win Friends, Etc. Deliberate, effort to do as many inside shows as. NBC can handle within the next few seasons is said J&i. be due .to three . motives: Bugged by the creeping notion that “television is worse than ever,” NBC wants to bring them (Continued on page 38) , Saudek’s Europe Swing Boh Saudek, chieftain of Rob¬ ert SaUdek: Associates, jetted for London yesterday (Tues.) and a two-week hop that will take him to . Paris, Milan, Venice, Vienna, Moscow and Leningrad. One objective is to set things up so that his staff can proceed with taping of at least four Leon¬ ard Bernstein concerts in Moscow, Venice and London as part of Ford-sponsored deal starting in the fall. Saudek also will scan location possibilities for some of the mystery specials his outfit will pro¬ duce for Dow Chemical Co. in spring of 1960. D.C. Hearings On TV Ratings? Just Don’t Expect ’Em Washington, Aug. 25. The Senate Commerce Commit¬ tee’s idng-discussed, often-post¬ poned investigation of television ratings is off again until 1960. In fact, the Senate committee with authority over tv has no hearings of any kind * on broad¬ casting planned between, the Con¬ gressional sessions. Congress is expected to quit in mid-September until next January. Hearings on quiz shows have definitely been turned over to the House Commerce . Committee, as things now stand. Seri. Mike Monroney (D-Okla.), sparkplug; of the proposed ratings inquiry, will leave for Europe within a few days, not planning to be back until the session is over, “I regret that we never got to hearings on ratings this year,” Monroney said. “It is a subject on which Congress and the American people need more facts.. But Com¬ mittee. members have been -too busy with other matters. I hope we can do something next year:” : Monroney first announced plans for a careful look into ratings and their effect on the quality of net¬ work programming one year ago; But the target date to launch the study has - been continually shoved ahead. The only work actually done has been the mailing cut of lengthy questionnaires to leading advertising agencies, asking nu¬ merous questions about ratings. But they produced little in replies except typewritten doubletalk ri¬ valing the correspondence between Washington bureaucrats. Monroney, however, has filled the Congressional Record through the year with many newspaper edi¬ torials criticizing tv programming in general and the cancellation of “Voice of Firestone” by ABC-TV in particular. He. has also been kept up to. date with the .Fed¬ eral Communications Commission’s study of network programming being carried out by Chief Exami¬ ner James D. Cunningham. Yaks or Better to Open Hollywood, Aug. 25. Practice by some sponsors of using the fourth or fifth episode of a telefilm series as the premiere show after they’ve bought a series on the basis of the pilot has continually irked the producing fraternity here as absurd. But R.J. Reynolds and Bristol-Myers , hit the heights last week with a double-about-face on their “Stac¬ cato” series. Sponsors started out with the decision that the pilot in the series would be tjie premiere episode. They skedded the pilot, “The Naked Truth,”/ for the. .kickoff date. Sept. 12. Couple of weeks later, they changed their min^s, and substituted a new segmerft directed by star John Cassavetes, “Murkier for Credit.” as the kickoffer. . Last week, they again underwent a change of heart and pulled “Murder” to again substitute the pilot as the opening show. Trade is still awaiting the next move. IjTVVivVV Ill U ivAVve ► Ford Motor was spot radio’s biggest spender in the first six months of this year'with the top 50 advertisers investing 544,400,- 000, according to the Radio Ad¬ vertising Bureau’s second dollar report on the medium. The top 10 billers include four tobacco companies, three car com¬ panies, two brewers and a toiletries maker. Ford spent $3,500,000, fol¬ lowed by Liggett & Myers, $2,- 500,000; R. J. Reynolds, $2,400,000; General Motors, $2,200,000; Chrysler, $2,125,000; P. Lorillard, $1,500,000; American Tobacco, $1.- .450,000; Anheuser-Busch, $1,300,- 000; Schlitz, $1,275,000; Thomas Leeming, $1,250,000. RAB says the figures represent actual expenditures for spot radio time rather than the general media measure of gross figures, which can run 20% above actual outlay. . By category, cig firms were the major spenders with five compa¬ nies totaling $8,400,000. Other leaders were automotive, $8,075,- 000; drugs and toiletries, $7,195,- 000; foods, $6,080,000; gas and oil, $4,635,000; beer, $4,635,000. * ! RAB’s first dollar report was is¬ sued in December of last year. Th* list of 50 issued this time repre¬ sents about 50% of ‘vhe national and regional spot radio coin. Probably within the next two weeks the Bureau will be issuing a new radio set count, devised and financed by RAB and being done in cooperation with the Advertising Research Foundation and the U. S. Census Bureau. Study will attempt: to show not only radio house-’ holds and cars but also location of radios in the home. Census inter¬ viewers checked 36*500 households (Continued on page 40) Toy King Marx In JlOtfl,009 Splurge Louis Marie & Co., the world’s largest toy manufacturer which never before has advertised, is shelling out $1,090,000 for an Octo- ber-through-December tv campaign to plug seven of its toys. Marx’s pre-Christmas drive will be made via. six shows on three major networks in; addition to saturation coverage on local stations. Toymakerj is buying in on ABC- TV’s “Paul iWinchell Show,” “Rin Tin Tin” and “Rocky and His Friends”; CBS-TV's “Heckle and Jeckle Cartoon Show” and “Cap¬ tain Kangaroo” plus NBC-TV’s “Howdy Doody Show.” Exposure on local shows will include partici¬ pations on such kid fare as “Woody Woodpicker/’ “Three Stooges” and “Popeye.” j . * Plugs will be built around "Magic Markie ” an animated char¬ acter who’ll serve as the toy- maker’s singing tv spokesman. In a brochure aimed at the toy trade, Marx estimated that its campaign will reach some 27,000,000 kids an average of 18 times each week. .Marx also described its upcom¬ ing drive as “the biggest, most powerful pre-selling effort of its kind ever exerted by any manu¬ facturer in the history of the toy business.” Dealers were first ap¬ prised of Marx’s plans for an ad. campaign at last Spring’s Toy Fair. Among toys to plugged are the Ma'x-Man Ricochet Carbine, Marx- O-IVi tic basketball game and the Marx-tronic electric train ‘ system. Battle for Wax Kick Preen floor wax enters the spot tv arena in October where, over the last year, wax makers have more than tripled expenditures in the battle for the consumer buck. Series of puppet commercials produced by Britten-Faye produc¬ tions and Filmack are scitedulsd in 60 markets. Preen company U A.. W. Harrison. Charles Hoyt Is the agency.