Television: The Secret Commercial

Cameras began rolling stealthily this week on the most elaborately furtive TV production of the season: the first commercial for the Ford Motor Co.’s new medium-priced car, the Edsel. To keep the car’s looks hush-hush until the big unveiling Aug. 27, the ad agency hired Hollywood’s Cascade Pictures, which makes special movies for the Atomic Energy Commission and the guided-missile program. Said a studio spokesman: “We’re using all the same precautions that we take for AEC films.” Five shrouded Edsels were whisked across the country by van from Mahwah, NJ. and unloaded one dark night at the studio. They were locked on a sound stage. Armed security guards began patrolling the area around the clock, inspecting the identification badges of all who enter. Actors were interviewed for jobs without a hint of the sponsor. For outdoor locations, the studio provided sealed vans for the cars, police cooperation at the site and even a stand-in (a Ford) for the rehearsals. All film will be kept in a safe overnight, burned if it does not come up to par, finally sent East by trusted courier so that the TV networks can get ready to show it to 170 million people.