The Busy Air

P: Comedian Sid Caesar announced last week that he had patched up two old breaks: 1) he telephoned Imogene Coca, his original mate on Your Show of Shows, and in a tear-choked chat won her consent to their TV reunion; 2) he called NBC, which he left in a huff in May because the network could find no sponsors for the costly ($110,000 a week), rating-laggard Caesar's Hour, TV's best comedy show. Subdued, after almost two months of contemplating a new season without him, Caesar offered to render unto NBC a "reasonably" priced half-hour series with the old team of Caesar and Coca. The network hopefully set about trying to get a sponsor and a spot in which to fit the new show.

P: TV's best home-grown playwright, Paddy (Marty, Middle of the Night) Chayefsky, now producing movies on his own, announced a break with TV, and to the New York Journal-American gave two reasons: 1) "I never made any money in TV. I received $1,200 for Marty, and the most I ever got was a little more than $2,000 for a Philco script. One year I wrote nine full-hour shows and numerous half-hours, and made $12,000 altogether"; 2) "I ask a lot. I insist on veto power when it comes to casting. I ask for veto power on a director. I insist that nobody can change a line in my scripts except me ... Not many people are willing to make these concessions."

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