tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post7729879373559544447..comments2024-03-17T18:19:49.076-04:00Comments on It's About TV: This week in TV Guide: February 23, 1957Mitchell Hadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08695771505209080030noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-32874219974319563682016-03-17T06:19:19.173-04:002016-03-17T06:19:19.173-04:00Myron Wallace also appeared on Broadway, in the 19...Myron Wallace also appeared on Broadway, in the 1954 comedy RECLINING FIGURE, set in the art world. And it was the tragic death of his college age son in 1962 that convinced him to give up the entertainment side of his life (at the time he was being offered the hosting job on THE MATCH GAME)Paul Ducanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-8546733476637053142016-02-22T17:32:33.614-05:002016-02-22T17:32:33.614-05:00Actually, "barter" goes back even furthe...Actually, "barter" goes back even further, to old-time radio days.<br /><br />Some syndicated shows were sent out on transcription disks, which looked like records, but were half again as wide and silver in color.<br />Barter shows carried the spots for the advertiser who was footing the bill, and left musical "beds" which the local station would dial down to insert the local ad spots.<br /><br />Later, when film syndication came to TV, producers like Frederick Ziv would make deals with sponsors, who would take half the commercial time in a show; ad agencies would go from city to city and sell the shows to individual stations. Kellogg's cereals (and their Chicago-based agency, Leo Burnett) sold the George Reeves <i>Superman</i> series in just this way.<br />So when Matty Rosenhaus brought it back in service of Lawrence Welk, there were enough older station managers who remembered the old system to form a receptive market.<br />The rest you know.Mike Dorannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-17492215458502745272016-02-22T14:19:54.756-05:002016-02-22T14:19:54.756-05:00Matthew Rosenhaus' company (which made Geritol...Matthew Rosenhaus' company (which made Geritol, Seratan, Aqua-Velva, etc.) actually sponsored or co-sponsored Welk's TV show for much of it's network run.<br /><br />Even as far back as 1971, "barter" was being used for some first-run TV syndication (in this case, a TV station would get a show free of charge if it ran the two or three minutes per show of commercials the sponsor put in the program; the station could sell the rest of the spots to local sponsors).<br /><br />When ABC dumped Welk, Rosenhaus supposedly told the maestro and his producers "We can continue producing the show for syndication under this 'barter' arrangement. I'm sure lots of stations will want to pick the show up".<br /><br />And they did. The Welk show finally ended in 1982, not because of bad ratings, but think because Welk's had decided to retire.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-54897206223543621442016-02-20T21:58:53.221-05:002016-02-20T21:58:53.221-05:00On - or off - topic?
You decide.
When Quiz Show, ...On - or off - topic?<br />You decide.<br /><br />When <i>Quiz Show</i>, the movie, was released, nearly all the rave reviews set great store by the idea that the film " ... named all the names ..." of the various participants in the <i>Twenty-One</i> scandal. <br /><br />And so it did ...<br /> ... with one curious exception:<br /><br />You may remember "The Sponsor", played by Martin Scorsese.<br />This is supposed to represent two real-life men who were the runners of Pharmaceuticals Inc., the manufacturer of Geritol.<br />Scorsese's character is named 'Martin Rittenholm', and his speech near the end is sort of the moral that Robert Redford is preaching here (what Jack Webb used to call "the Jesus speech" when he did it on <i>Dragnet</i>).<br />One of the men that 'Rittenholm' is based on was Matthew Rosenhaus, the real-life head man of Pharmaceuticals Inc., which later evolved into the J.B. Williams Co.<br />In showbiz annals, Matty Rosenhaus (as everybody called him) is known for two things:<br /> - As the underwriter of Lawrence Welk's TV comeback in syndication, after ABC cancelled the Welk show in 1971;<br /> - As the major stockholder in Columbia pictures who singlehandedly tried to save David Begelman's job as studio head, after that gentleman was caught forging checks and pocketing the cash.<br /><br />Ever since I saw <i>Quiz Show</i>, I've been trying to figure out why, out of all the real people who were portrayed in the movie, Rosenhaus was the only one whose real name wasn't used.<br />It wasn't because Redford and his studio feared legal blowback, because Rosenhaus had died several years the movie was made.<br />Besides, nearly all the other real people involved were still alive (Jack Barry was the only other important decedent), so that wasn't it.<br />As I said, it's a mystery ... and normally, I like mysteries.<br />Still, this one is a head-scratcher.<br /><br />The above is excerpted from a much longer takedown of <i>Quiz Show</i> that I wrote to Roger Ebert's Journal a few years back, to which he did not respond.<br /><br />I just wanted to get this puzzling part of it on the record here.Mike Dorannoreply@blogger.com