Evening star., 1961-01-23

AAAoAA ASAc ga OAoAAC, but 44Aobo4l
mental picture.
,1s Is something else, how
ever. that has made him eligible
fora spot in show business his,
tory. He got himself involved.
probably without expecting to
do so, in one of those things
that keep a name alive beyond
&performer's transient fame.
The proprietors of the pay
TV system called Telemeter de-
cided the time has come to try
something other than feature
films, sports events and spec
taeulars. So they offered their
test audience in Etobicoke, a
West Toronto suburb, o one
man show, the man being Mr..
Newhart. When they toted up
the results. they were delighted.
MIR. Newhart attracted a
paying audience of almost g.
000' OF the potential audience
Of 5000 Telemeter sets (29.l
per- cent, to be exact) in one
live performance and two tape
repeatS. He did 1t, what's more.
In competition with feature
films on Telemeter's other two
pay channels and free shows
on the six additional regular
channels available to Toronto
viewers.
bstl ~%*
INTOXICATING DREAMS
At $1.25 per set per perform
ance. this audience of 1000
barely paid Mr.. .Newhart's sal
airy. Of course. The Etobicoke
test. however. is not being con-
dueted as q profit-making ven
thfe. It's aim is to show the DO
tential cultural rewards and
financial returns Of the box
office in the living room.
u is when they project the
results Of something like Mr..
Newhart's triumph that intox-
icating dreams spin in the
minds Of all proponents Of pay
as you 60 video (including
most performers and most mo-
vie-makers).
Suppose. they say, we had a
Nationwide possible audience
Of Is million fee-Tv receiv-
ers. >. No, let's be overly eau
tious and suppose s million
play-for-pay sets. Project the
Newhart audience and It'll
comes out, as anybody who
can add can see. to 2 million. |
And, II you sell 2 million tick
cts at $1.25 each, you take in |
$2.5 million at the box office. |
No matter how you slice this
up between broadcasting sta
ton, show producer, collecting
agency and stars, it still is al
stable chunk Of finance. This
pay Tv could revolutionize thet
entertainment world. 1t might
even revolutionize initiation.
OPENINGS Tonight, Bal
lets Africans, on the National
Theater stage for a one-week
engagement.
Tomorrow night. the New
York City Ballet. with subse-
quent performances Wednesday |
at $3.50 and Thursday at 2:30I
and $3.50 pm. on the Loew'sI
Capitol Theater stage.
Friday, Village Of the |
Damned" q movie about q Wis
itation from space designed to
scare the daylights out of you,
on the screen at Loew's Capitol. |
Friday. Michel de Ghelde-
rode's "Barabbas," first of his |
works to be seen in Washing
ton, at Catholic University |
Theater, staged by the speech
and drama department for two
weeks.
FAITH-It will not cheer
their irascible elders, squares |
that they are. but it will delight |
the young to know that Pro-
ducer Hal Wallis has unflag-
ging faith in Elvis Presley. He |
has signed him to a new con-
tract committing the Bucolic
Balladeer to one picture q year
for the next five years. Nearly
SO million Is involved, accord
ing to report.
Mr.. Wallis seems to have dis
covered that the devotion of
the ga-ga PresleteerS has scared
higher than ever since their