(2 of 2)
Hal Roach's production this year will top the combined footage of Metro Goldwyn Mayer, 20th Century-Fox and Warner Bros. Right from the first, says Roach "it was plain that this hungry TV medium could only be fed with film." But the casualties were high. Banks refused to lend money. The major studios refused to let their stars appear in TV shows. Of some 500 embryo TV filmmakers, only 46 survive, and only half a dozen make sizable profits. Roach aims solely at producing entertainment by assembly-line methods, says: "It's like the auto business."
Roach made 98 films of Racket Squad sold them to a sponsor, but just barely made expenses ("I was banking on the fact that I could show the films again and cash in"). He won his gamble by reselling the films to the ABC network for $1,000,000. He has 30 writers hard at work on three on-the-air series (Public Defender, Duffy's Tavern, My Little Margie) and seven new programs.
Nothing in the immediate future is likely to be decisive in the struggle between live and film TV. Color TV will probably be taken in stride by both sides. Electronic tape, due in from two to five years, seems to promise advantages to everyone!
Like most such struggles, live v. filmed TV may end up as an uneasy compromise. Says one TV producer: "Believe me, there's room in this business for everyone. We can have live and film and tape and color. Just as long as nobody wants the whole pot."