Jackson advocate. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1939-current, 1957-12-14
Nat King Cole -.
(Continued from Page One)


the TV cameras.
Cole, in a statement here last
week blamed the advertising agen-
cies for failing to obtain national
sponsor for his show. The net
works, always with an "out," also
blame the ad agencies. In turn,
tt agencies blame southern seq
ments of the country, who sup
posedly object to color'ed perform
ers.
A 15-Billion Dollar Market
Just how much of this is ac-
tually true-the advertising agen-
cies represent products which col
ored folks buy and-according to
/ a recent speech by a government
official who should know-it is a
15-billion dollar market they are
insulting. This, in itself, should
serve to jog Madison Avenue lad
agencies row. into capitalizing
upon this market.
But this has not been the case,
neither in television, nor in the
field of Negro publications, etc.
In the latter case, with newspapers
particularly, the ad agencies have
long practiced the same bar.
On the television scene, as yet
no network has discovered the for
mula for the full exploitation OF
the Negro performers talents. II
some network has, it lacks the
CUTS to give it a try-remembel
| ABC and Sammy Davis, or the case
| of the "Ole Black Magic" purveyor
Billy Daniels.
Cole is the third of the nation
ally known Negro artists to at
tempt to be the first to win ma
tional sponsorship of his show
When he signed initially for a 13
week TV appearance beginning No
! vember 5, 1856, his show was KEEP
on the air by NBC, in the hop,
that it might attract a nationa
! sponsor. Much of the show wa
on sustaining until this Fall, whel
it sold on a local-sponsorship owe
! 77-station web.
'They Could, Had They Wanted To
In blaming the advertiser,
: agencies, Cole said: "They coul,
: have sold it 1.-THE show, if the,
wanted to. They sell much worse.
The advertising agencies, how
ever, claim that the difficulty il
!, selling the program nationall
i stemmed from the attitude of tn
southern viewers toward Negr
performers. Cole, however, dis
counted this, saying:
4 "You can't always put the blam
on the South for these things. w
are always using the South as
whipping post. But the only diff
p ference between the south and Ger
tain areas of the North is tina
Southerners are outspoken. In tn
q North, they smile at you once ant
, then knife you in the back. Ii
the South, at least you know VIVA
to do"
South Likes Mats Show
AS far as the South is concerned
II reports from that area have bee,
overwhelmingly in favor OF retain
ing the Cole show. AS a matte
I OF fact, the South has been quit,
vocal about Coles retention, de
spite their views locally on tn
Negro. The opinion was that hi
show was excellent TV fare.
! In addition to the South. Col,
received heavy support from var
lous white entertainers who, at /;
financial sacrifice, appeared on hi
show to give it boost. The "fi
nancial sacrifice" means that the,
appeared at scale" pay, far below
their usual asking price.
/ Cole himself received $4,000 8
week for the show His asking
price, however, is between $40. 900
i Sl2,OOO for a single appearance
he, and his guests, made the sac.
rlfice however, to prove point
They proved theirs, but the cards