Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1960)

VOL. 16: No. 26 7 Cost savings are “a strong factor,” Epstein said, but travel expenses have already been sizable. T-L’s Richard Brandt is having Willie McBean produced in the Queensway studios in Canada for 2 reasons: “To tap Toronto’s animation excellence and to fall under the British TV-film quota.” Despite the high costs of launching an animated series, most producers consider it a good risk because of the enormous rerun values, particularly if it appeals to children. “Every year, a whole new group of children grow up into the age group that enjoys Popeye and Warner Bros, cartoons. This constantly replenishes the audience,” is how UAA vp & gen. sales mgr. Robert Rich put it to us. Added a Screen Gems official: “You don’t have to worry about how to keep a cartoon character looking young in TV, or that your sets, props & costumes will be dated a few years from now.” With a canny eye on the long-range earning potential of animated series, virtually every producer launching a new package is producing the show in color. They tell us they expect “little or no special revenue” for colorcast versions of their shows now, but that their cartoons will still be making the rounds of rerun syndication when color is widespread. Animated commercials: Back in 1940-41, when Botany Fabrics was experimenting with commercials in the thenpioneer TV medium, Botany’s film spots featured an animated series of little lambs jumping over a fence. Animation, therefore, is no newcomer to the arsenal of sales devices used by clients & agencies in TV, and miles of animated spots have been produced. Improvement in Animated Commercials The principal change taking place this year in commercial film animation is subjective. “More significant than the increased volume of animation is the increased quality of story & creative art work in animated commercials,” said Robert Lawrence’s Cooper. “This is chiefly the result of agencies allowing commercial animation companies to create commercials rather than telling them they must follow storyboards exactly. It’s a healthy trend for the commercial film industry, too. I have many times heard agencymen say ‘I think it’s great but the viewers won’t get it.’ What manner of insecurity compels us to believe in our own superior maturity? Who is better equipped to conceive, stage and design an animated film utilizing everything the medium has to offer than a person who spends 50 weeks out of every year doing nothing else ?” Animation, however, represents the secondary output of nearly all commercial production firms that do both animated & live spots. The breakdown of commercials scheduled this season at the Robert Lawrence studios shows: 11% are animation, 26% are live-atcion & animation, and 63% are live-action. Nevertheless, the animation orders show a “noticeable increase” over past seasons. Producers who have invaded the animated program realm naturally offer their services to do animated commercials that tie in with the series (such as the Kellogg spots on NB’C-TV in Ruff & Reddy). Again, this gives the producer an unusual amount of creative freedom in the commercials, since he can legitimately insist that the “sell” in the show pair off nicely with the “entertainment.” One of the newest trends in animated commercials is the use of famous comic-strip or theatrical cartoon characters. J. Walter Thompson, for Ford Motor Co., this season made a deal for the TV rights to the United Features syndicate Peanuts strip, and haa been amusing (and, presumably, selling) audiences of Ford-sponsored shows with Peanuts commercials. They’re produced by Playhouse Inc. for JWT and Ford, and are far from inexpensive; reportedly, the Peanuts commercials cost a hardly-peanuts $18,000 apiece. Similarly, UPA has done a commercial series, equally expensive, for GE, featuring its near-sighted “Mr. Magoo” character. In both cases, the advertisers gain extra mileage by using the TV cartoon characters in print. Long a favorite with TV viewers (who consistently vote such animated commercials as those of Piel Bros, and Hamm Brewing to the top of the “best-liked commercials” lists of ARB), commercial animation came into its own professionally at the recent American TV Commercials Festival in N.Y. Of the 83 winners, 22% were animated commercials — about one out of every 5 — and of the 250 entries picked as finalists, 26% — slightly better than one out of every 4 — were animated commercials. In the category of 8-10 sec. IDs, all 7 of the finalists were animated. Stated festival dir. Wallace A. Ross, who screened over 1,000 commercials submitted to the event: “I think this indicates growing recognition of the ‘immediacy of effect’ and the direct, rapid communication which animated commercials afford. The animated winners weren’t just ‘entertainment,’ either. All contained direct & specific sell.” 1960’s Emmys: Although TV film now constitutes the bulk of network programming, film as usual received a minority of last week’s Emmy Awards, 7 of the 21. CBSTV won 14 statuettes, NBC-TV 5, ABC-TV 2. Desilu Productions led the film winners, its successful The Untouchables, bringing Emmys to Robert Stack (actor in a series), Frank Smith and Ralph Berger (art direction & scenic design). Charles Staumer (cinematography) and Ben H. Ray and Robert L. Swanson (film editing). Other film winners: Huckleberry Hound (children’s program), Jane Wyatt (actress in a series). Rod Serling (writing; Tioilight Zone). CBS-TV Pres. Dr. Frank Stanton received the trustees' award for “out.standing service to the TV industry.” Other winners : Playhouse 90 (drama). Fabulous Fifties (variety). Art Carney special, VIP, (humor). Huntley-Brinkley Report (news), 20th Century (public affairs & education), Robert Mulligan for The Moon and Sixpence (directorial achievement in drama), Ralph Levy and Bud Yorkin for Jack Benny specials (comedy). Harry Belafonte, Tonight With Belafontc (performance in a variety, musical or series), Laurence Olivier in The Moon and Sixpence (single performance by an actor), Ingrid Bergman in The Turn of the Screw, Ford Startime (single performance by an actress). Sam Perrin, George Balzer, A1 Gordon and Hal Goodman, Jack Benny Show (comedy writing), Howard K. Smith and Av Westin, The Population Explosion, CBS Re)H>rfs (documentary writing). Winter Olympics (electronic camera work), Leonard Bernstein & N.Y. Philharmonic (achievement in music), GE supersentitive camera tube permitting colorcasting in no more light than is needed for b&w (best engineering or technical achievement). TV debate between Presidential aspirants would outdraw by a landslide any solo TV appearance by candidates, according to a poll conducted in N.Y. last week. Pulse Pres. Dr. Sydney Roslow reports that 84% of 500 adults queried said they would watch a debate; 66% said they would pass up a favorite program for a particular candidate. Dr. Roslow said it was doubtful that a single candidate could draw 66%, since only a small percentage of those who say they would watch a candidate on TV actually do so. In the 1956 campaign, he noted. President Eisenhower attracted 9.8% of viewers on Oct. 12. Other findings: 90% of those queried said they plan to watch the 1960 convention telecasts; 78% reported they saw parts of the 1956 conventions on TV. TV aide to Vice President Nixon is recently-appointed 39-year-old L.A. TV producer Edward A. (Ted) Rogers. Comments the Wall St. Journal on Rogers’ advisory duties : “In coming months [he] will figure out the types of TV shows to be used in the Nixon campaign, arrange filming & taping time? and take caye of technical details.”