Evening star., 1951-12-04
On the Air:
elevisiion
MightSove
The Stage
By Horry Macarthur

now and provide the way to battle
Excessive production costs. which
producers see as the theater's
main ailment right now.
Rumors have been drifting in
from New York for several days
about some television plans the
Theater Guild has for "St. joan
and the talk now seems to be re-
moved from the rumor stage.
What the Guild plans is a closed
circuit telecast of the play starring
Uta Hagen to 10 or a dozen TV-
equipped movie theaters. during
an actual performance at the Cort
Theater in New York.
The unions involved have given
tentative agreement to the ex-
pertinent and what remains now,
apparently, is the Guild and the
theaters to get together on divi-
sion of the proceeds. The Guild
also. presumably, has yet to de-
eide on whether or not to show
"St. Joan" on theater television in
cities where it may tour later.
Whatever happens, you can be
sure that the Times Square set
will keep a close watch on the pro-
Iceedings. The possibilities OF this
sort of thing are vast and the most
enthusiastic see day when play
might pay back its original in
Ivestment on opening night.
* y y
At a time when a straight
drama costs $4,000 to $50,000 be-
fore the first night curtain rises,
and a musical five times as much,
the thought of this additional
revenue is intoxicating. 1t has a
prospect of breathing new life
into the theater by making 1t
easier for producers and investors
to bet on something other than
the sure thing. or what looked like
a sure thing at the time.
A closed-circuit telecast to 10
or u theaters would be more OF
an experiment. of course. than a
method of paying off the cost OF
st. Joan" in one fell swoop. 1t
is impossible, naturally, to say
at this stage what return the
Guild might get from the 10000
to $4,000 customers who could be
expected of capacity business.
1t would be a percentage deal,
most likely. In the case of mo-
ton pictures this return depends
on who can euchre whom into the
most favorable contract. Per-
centages paid to distributors range
from 25 per cent to 10 per cent OF
the gross. They have run as high
as 90 per cent, in which case the
theater owner usually is given a
guarantee which covers his oper-
ating expenses at least.
Theater television Of New York
plays will bring its own set OF
problems. One of the early ones
will involve the wisdom OF tele-
vising an actual performance,
rather than arranging special
performance for television.
Supporters of the actual per-
Torrance notion will say that this
is part of the lure, the seeing OF
the same performance OF Broad
way play that it's New York audi
ence is seeing at the same time.
Whether this will be enough to
offset the obvious shortcomings
is debatable.
1t has been exciting to attend
Metropolitan Opera openings IN
previous years via television. but
the NBC operas staged especially
for television have proved far more
satisfactory as TV fare.
The cost of an additional per-
formance for television can't enter
into this argument, because the
producer who televises his play
will be sure to pay it anyhow. The
cost inevitably will go up when ne
takes to television. The talent
unions and craft unions are sure
to want an additional televlslon
fee. even if the performance OF
one task once for both mediums
is all that is involved.
The producers who are think
ing about television as a source
of additional revenue for the thea
ter might just as well, then, start
thinking in terms of special TV
performances. The return may
not be adequate from 10 or IL TV-
equipped movie houses, but 1t will
be when the circuit grows to SO
or 100 theaters.
The potentialities really become
breathtaking when you consider
the wedding of the theater and
some form of subscription tele-
vision, such as Phonevision. A
magnificent financial return could
be expected from an audience only
four million say, which is small by
television standards, just about
the size, that is, of the audience
which, by NBC-TV estimates,
watches "Kukla. Fran and Ollie"
4 X X II
Noted in Passing-Ed MurroW's
lCBS-TV "See 1t Now came up
with another solidly dramatic
half hour of news commentary
Sunday afternoon. most tellingly
| in tracing the course Of pint OF
blood from donor. across the
country and the Pacific by air, to
Korea where it became part OF an
emergency operation on wound
ed soldier. Another complain
ant about the curtailment OF
"Kukla, Fran and Ollie" is Robert
E. Sherwood. His letter to the New
York Times concluded: "The loss
| of this rare and remarkable pro-
gram would be a calamity"
Margaret Truman's next TV ap-
pearances for NBC will be with
Ezio PIMA on January II and with
james Melton on January "a.
- j. s~A .