Television News

Television looked more & more promising. Some of last week's developments: P: The Theatre Guild got a well-pedicured toehold in the medium. The first of six Guild-NBC productions, a full-dress treatment of John Ferguson* was presented over NBC. Each play would require four weeks of production, unmentionable costs (mostly paid by NBC). Said Guildsman Lawrence Langner: "We want to communicate culture, not nonsense; to elevate television from the saloon to the living room. . . ."

P: Manhattan barkeeps, with 12,000 television sets, were doing such a rush business that in many bars regular customers were getting screenside reserved seats, while nondrinking kibitzers were banished to the back of the room.

P: Hollywood was still as clammily aloof as ever, but several foreign moviemakers were getting into the act. Gainsborough Associates agreed to procure for U.S. television several big-time British and continental films (including such hits as Mayerling and Open City). Televiewers could hope for something better than the drab diet of Bs that Hollywood provides.

P: Radio Comedian Edgar Bergen was deep in experimentation with his own television film studio. Last week Bergen had several finished films ready for eventual airing, featuring two gabby plastic hens and a rooster, known as Bergen's Telekins (see cut). But Charlie McCarthy will continue to be heard & not seen: "He's not at liberty. When Chase & Sanborn go television, then Charlie will too."

P: NBC will add a sixth station--Boston--to its expanding television network (the other five: New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Schenectady).

P: Television Magazine reported an increase in television advertisers (89 in August to 107 in September). NBC will soon hike the price for the use of its television studios from $850 to $1,500 an hour.

P: In Washington, Harry Truman saw himself (in films) on the White House television screen for the first time.

P: Manhattan's Roosevelt Hotel installed television screens in 40 of its best rooms. Next week the service was promised to guests--for an extra $3 a day.

* A sentimental choice. St. John Ervine's Irish melodrama about rape, murder and an unpaid mortgage was the Guild's first hit 28 years ago, pulled the fledgling producers into the black at a time when they were down to their last $19.50. For news of another Ervine play, see THEATER.

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