Pied Piper's Problems

"Congratulations," said a well-wisher last week to NBC's newly appointed vice president for television programming. "You mean condolences," replied Emanuel ("Manie") Sacks, a short, dark man of 52 with a talent for finding talent. Sacks was only half kidding. With the possible exception of watching the screen all day long, no task in TV is tougher than figuring out how to keep it filled. One of the big challenges facing Sacks and his fellow programmers on the other networks : the current season has turned into a big Unspectacular, and so far there is little in the way of new shows or fresh ideas to replace the many failures.

Last week the planners felt the first big wallop of another challenge: through local stations in major viewing areas, a broadside of some 2,500 recently available pre-1949 Hollywood movies began hitting the TV screen as if it were a bull's-eye. In a blaze of ballyhoo, Manhattan's WCBS began unwrapping its $20 million package of 725 M-G-M films at the rate of two a day. With Clark Gable in Command Decision, the station scored a whopping Trendex rating of 28.4 on Saturday night after 10:30 p.m., then found that even on a Monday enough viewers stayed up past midnight to give an impressive 21.1 to Ronald Colman and Greer Garson in Ran dom Harvest. In Chicago WBKB leaped from fourth to first place by launching 740 RKO movies with a showing of Rosalind Russell in The Velvet Touch, and two other stations rushed in fresh Hollywood features of their own. Philadelphia's WFIL led its field late at night by dipping into a vault newly stocked by RKO, M-G-M and 20th Century-Fox.

Lana at Peak Hours. Viewers had little cause for complaint, except where too many commercials studded the movies to pay off their huge costs. Some network executives professed to be unworried; they said that affiliates are showing the big movies on their own time, not during the choice hours pledged to networks. But NBC, staunch champion of "live" television (in part because of its deep involvement in color TV) is frankly fretting.

In Boston and Providence, NBC affiliates have dropped the costly live network show, Your Hit Parade, so they can start their own movie features half an hour earlier that night. NBC's nightly Tonight, with Steve Allen, has been so badly mauled by competing movies that the network is revamping the show--though, gamely, still on a live basis. What NBC dreads is that it may one day be helpless to accommodate an advertiser on its full national network because too many of its ISO-odd "optional" affiliates will be engrossed by Robert Taylor making love to Lana Turner at peak hours.

NBC's answer to the movie threat would also meet the threat from CBS, which last week captured all top ten Neilsen ratings for November and all but one of the top ten rated by Trendex. The answer: more and better live shows.

"A No-Talent Guy." Though he is the key man charged with producing the answer, Manie (pronounced Manny) Sacks has never created any entertainment in his life, once told an interviewer: "I am strictly a no-talent guy myself." But he probably can commandeer more live talent than anybody in broadcasting. Born and educated in Philadelphia, Manie, who looks like a rough draft of Frank Sinatra, learned show business as an actors' agent (show biz lingo: "flesh peddler") for the Music Corp. of America, then took over bookings for Columbia Records. In that job, he successfully persuaded Dinah Shore, Sinatra, Benny Goodman, Harry James, Xavier Cugat to switch their recording allegiance to Columbia from RCA Victor. In 1950, Manie himself switched to RCA Victor, and brought in his wake a batch of loyal recording stars.

What makes Manie a Pied Piper of stars? He says: "My relations with artists are close. I'm a bachelor. Supper isn't on the table at 6 o'clock. I come and go as I please. So I can devote my time to them and I'm blessed with their confidence." He was best man when Harry James married Betty Grable, gave the bride away when Sinatra married Ava Gardner. In a world of sharkskin-suited man-eaters, he has risen to the top by sheer amiability, consideration and eagerness to please. Once when he was flying to Hollywood with Milton Berle, the comedian exclaimed unhappily that he had forgotten to buy life insurance for the flight. "Have half of mine," said Manie graciously, and endorsed his policy accordingly.

Long an NBC vice president without portfolio, Sacks comes to his new job with frank qualms: "I didn't know I was competent for it." But he plans to do what he does best: woo plenty of new talent (including idea men), and sign up the most promising to long-term contracts. He believes that TV was not meant to be a mere exhibitor of old movies. Says Programmer Sacks: "Our job is creating. If you don't create, you might as well close shop."

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