Spieling Stars

It may have looked strange, but there on the TV screen was Bing Crosby extolling the virtues of a kitchen crammed with American Gas Association appliances. Other times, other channels, John Wayne, Rock Hudson and even Zsa Zsa Gabor clutched Gillette razors, while Teresa Wright praised Scott Paper. Ever since Jack Benny came on saying "JellO again," radio and TV stars have plugged away at their sponsors' commercials, but never before have so many Hollywood big shots--some of whom otherwise shun TV--been available for commercial spieling.

Nabbing the stars, says Walter Bien, head of the commercials assembly line at Four Star Films, "involves a lot of personal ingenuity." Adds another commercial producer: "One time Bing will do it for nothing; another time he wouldn't do it for all the dough in the world." One of the lures is simple friendship: John Wayne agreed to the Gillette spiel because his longtime friend Dick Powell, a co-owner of Four Star, had promised Gillette some big names if it gave him the contract to film its commercials.

Other stars have leaped onto the bandwagon for more mundane reasons. Why does Rock Hudson, the nation's No. 1 box-office draw, plug safety razors? Says a friend: "Naturally, because he can use the dough." Fred MacMurray and Wife June Haver lent their faces to American Gas for a $6,000 kitchen, plus air conditioning for their ranch. Claims one bubbly member of Ad Row: "We can give very high-style publicity. Now we are selecting stars, not soliciting them."

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