BOGIE & BETTY WANTED MORE TIME ON THEIR BOAT THAN IN A RADIO STUDIO - AND THEY GOT IT.. .
BOGART & BACALL’S BOLD VENTURE
Network Radio was in atrophy in 1950-51 - no new programs reached the season’s Top 50. There was nothing new to attract listeners or sponsors. The situation was made to order for Fredric Ziv, who was making millions every year with his newly produced and/or repackaged transcribed programs that few listeners could tell from network offerings. (See Fred Ziv - King of Syndication on this site.)
Humphrey Bogart avoided Network Radio whenever he could. Unlike Edward G. Robinson, (see Big Big Town on this site), Bogart turned down a number of series. It was simply too much work at too little money for the 51 year old actor. When not busy in films, he preferred to relax with his 26 year old wife Betty, (Lauren Bacall), aboard their second home, the 54-foot sailboat Santana.
Again, it was an ideal situation for Ziv who could present the couple with a series that had a huge profit potential yet far less work than Network Radio demanded of them - just record your lines and we’ll do the rest.
With Ziv’s encouragement, writers Morton Fine and David Friedkin approached Bogart and Bacall with Bold Venture, an adventure series set in Havana where Bogie, as Slate Shannon, owned a small hotel filled with seedy characters. (Any similarity between this setting and Rick’s Café Americain in Casablanca is purely intentional.) Bacall was cast as Gail (Sailor) Duval, his sultry ward and shipmate aboard Bold Venture, Shannon’s boat where much of the series action took place - much like in the couple’s film To Have And Have Not.
Ziv wrote in his sales presentation for Bold Venture: “We accepted this challenge where the networks had failed because we had made up our minds that these were the two people we wanted. We discussed our ideas with many writers. We selected two men to write this program whose credits among network dramatic shows list like a Who’s Who in radio. We are today paying the highest script prices ever paid for any radio dramatic series. (1)
“When we had several scripts to present to Mr. Bogart and Miss Bacall, we took them out to them. They read the scripts and they liked them. But they still had one more request to make. They asked if we could do a couple shows with them to allow them to listen before they gave us their answers. And so, for the first time in the history of our business we auditioned a radio program for the talent appearing in them! They listened to both programs. Their answer to us was, ‘They‘re great! We‘ll sign!’ ” (2)
Bogart explained why the storyline appealed to him in TV-Radio Life magazine: “I didn’t want the usual detective and his husky-voiced blonde. You know the type. There are at least ten or twelve on the air nightly every week. After telling these two writers what I didn’t want, they came up with Bold Venture. It’s the sort of thing that kids will love - it’s a quick-paced adventure story for the entire family. We’ve got some Calypso music in it because we don’t use any of the narrative stuff - and plenty of snappy dialogue - and we usually kill off someone every night.”
He didn’t mention the appeal of being able to track their lines for multiple shows in one recording session, unlike the five days of preparation and rehearsal required for 45 minutes of script on Lux Radio Theater. (3) Bold Venture offered Bogart and Bacall the flexibility they wanted and excellent money from original and repeat broadcasts for relatively little work. What’s more, Ziv promised to support the Bogarts with network quality talent and production values - a promise he backed with a first year's budget of $600,000 for talent and production costs.
Bold Venture’s only other regular cast member was veteran composer and actor Jester Hairston who appeared as Shannon’s sidekick, King Moses, singing Calypso storyline narratives between the acts. Other actors were drawn as needed from Hollywood’s rich talent pool including: Nestor Paiva, William Conrad, Shirley Mitchell, Jackson Beck, Sheldon Leonard, Betty Lou Gerson, Barton Yarborough, Paul Frees, Parley Baer, Howard McNear and Gerald Mohr. Music for the series was provided by David Rose’s studio orchestra.
Contracts were signed on December 4, 1950, between Ziv and the Bogarts’ Santana Pictures - named after the couple’s schooner. The contract called for 52 half-hour programs, the first six to be recorded by January 15,1951, when Bogart was leaving for Africa and the filming of The African Queen. Bogart received $1,000 for each episode of Bold Venture and Bacall was paid $500. In addition, Santana was to be paid 40% of Ziv’s first $10,000 in gross syndication revenues and 50% of revenues over $10,000.
Ziv also agreed to advance $127,400 for the production of the 52 programs. Of the $2,450 per episode, the Bogarts received $1,500. Four hundred dollars was budgeted for all other actors. Rose and his orchestra received $500 and $50 was allotted for sound effects.
Bold Venture first aired on March 26, 1951, priced from $13 an episode in the smallest markets to $750 in the largest. By April it was sold in 423 markets - more stations than the CBS and NBC radio networks combined.
Given a conservative average price of $60 per station, the weekly gross for the show would have exceeded $25,000 or $1.3 Million for the 52 week run. The Bogarts‘ personal take of that amount was a guaranteed $78,000 with an additional $600,000 for their Santana production company. And that was just from the first year’s run - not including the additional 26 shows or repeat broadcasts of all 78 episodes.
When Bold Venture debuted across the country to good reviews the couple had already gone overseas for filming of The African Queen. Ziv’s successful marketing campaign for the series received another boost the following year when Bogart won his only Academy Award for the picture.
Episodes of Bold Venture posted below track the relationship of the two central characters. Episode 1 describes the original relationship between Slate and his “ward” Sailor. Then the two become increasingly romantic in Episode 5, Episode 6 and Episode 9. Although Bold Venture wasn’t billed as a romantic melodrama, it definitely had the sub-plot remindfull of the Bogarts’ films To Have & Have Not and Key Largo.
Network Radio’s Golden Age passed into history with the 1952-53 season but Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were still heard regularly in over 400 markets and collected handsome royalties.
Their venture with Fred Ziv wasn’t really so bold after all - just a very smart one.
(1) Writers Fine and Friedkin were paid $600 for the pilot script and $700 for all others - a tidy sum of $36,300 for the first year and $54,500 for the entire 78 episode series. The pair later collaborated on CBS programs Broadway Is My Beat, Escape, The Lineup and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.
(2) The Ziv presentation and financial data for the series appear in Dr. Morleen Getz Rouse’s 1976 University of Michigan PHD dissertation, The History of F.W. Ziv Radio & Television Syndication Companies, 1930-1960. Our thanks to Media Heritage of Cincinnati for making this work available.
(3) Lux Radio Theater was formatted into three 15 to 17 minute acts plus a two minute scripted “interview” between its stars and the program’s host. The first table reading of the script was held on Thursday followed by more readings on Friday, a rehearsal with music on Saturday, a recorded dress rehearsal on Monday morning, then a final dress rehearsal at 7:30 p.m. and the live broadcast at 9:00. Stars appearing on the show received up to $5,000. Bogart and Bacall appeared together on Lux only once. Their performance of To Have & Have Not is posted below.
Copyright © 2015 Jim Ramsburg, Estero FL Email: tojimramsburg@gmail.com
Network Radio was in atrophy in 1950-51 - no new programs reached the season’s Top 50. There was nothing new to attract listeners or sponsors. The situation was made to order for Fredric Ziv, who was making millions every year with his newly produced and/or repackaged transcribed programs that few listeners could tell from network offerings. (See Fred Ziv - King of Syndication on this site.)
Humphrey Bogart avoided Network Radio whenever he could. Unlike Edward G. Robinson, (see Big Big Town on this site), Bogart turned down a number of series. It was simply too much work at too little money for the 51 year old actor. When not busy in films, he preferred to relax with his 26 year old wife Betty, (Lauren Bacall), aboard their second home, the 54-foot sailboat Santana.
Again, it was an ideal situation for Ziv who could present the couple with a series that had a huge profit potential yet far less work than Network Radio demanded of them - just record your lines and we’ll do the rest.
With Ziv’s encouragement, writers Morton Fine and David Friedkin approached Bogart and Bacall with Bold Venture, an adventure series set in Havana where Bogie, as Slate Shannon, owned a small hotel filled with seedy characters. (Any similarity between this setting and Rick’s Café Americain in Casablanca is purely intentional.) Bacall was cast as Gail (Sailor) Duval, his sultry ward and shipmate aboard Bold Venture, Shannon’s boat where much of the series action took place - much like in the couple’s film To Have And Have Not.
Ziv wrote in his sales presentation for Bold Venture: “We accepted this challenge where the networks had failed because we had made up our minds that these were the two people we wanted. We discussed our ideas with many writers. We selected two men to write this program whose credits among network dramatic shows list like a Who’s Who in radio. We are today paying the highest script prices ever paid for any radio dramatic series. (1)
“When we had several scripts to present to Mr. Bogart and Miss Bacall, we took them out to them. They read the scripts and they liked them. But they still had one more request to make. They asked if we could do a couple shows with them to allow them to listen before they gave us their answers. And so, for the first time in the history of our business we auditioned a radio program for the talent appearing in them! They listened to both programs. Their answer to us was, ‘They‘re great! We‘ll sign!’ ” (2)
Bogart explained why the storyline appealed to him in TV-Radio Life magazine: “I didn’t want the usual detective and his husky-voiced blonde. You know the type. There are at least ten or twelve on the air nightly every week. After telling these two writers what I didn’t want, they came up with Bold Venture. It’s the sort of thing that kids will love - it’s a quick-paced adventure story for the entire family. We’ve got some Calypso music in it because we don’t use any of the narrative stuff - and plenty of snappy dialogue - and we usually kill off someone every night.”
He didn’t mention the appeal of being able to track their lines for multiple shows in one recording session, unlike the five days of preparation and rehearsal required for 45 minutes of script on Lux Radio Theater. (3) Bold Venture offered Bogart and Bacall the flexibility they wanted and excellent money from original and repeat broadcasts for relatively little work. What’s more, Ziv promised to support the Bogarts with network quality talent and production values - a promise he backed with a first year's budget of $600,000 for talent and production costs.
Bold Venture’s only other regular cast member was veteran composer and actor Jester Hairston who appeared as Shannon’s sidekick, King Moses, singing Calypso storyline narratives between the acts. Other actors were drawn as needed from Hollywood’s rich talent pool including: Nestor Paiva, William Conrad, Shirley Mitchell, Jackson Beck, Sheldon Leonard, Betty Lou Gerson, Barton Yarborough, Paul Frees, Parley Baer, Howard McNear and Gerald Mohr. Music for the series was provided by David Rose’s studio orchestra.
Contracts were signed on December 4, 1950, between Ziv and the Bogarts’ Santana Pictures - named after the couple’s schooner. The contract called for 52 half-hour programs, the first six to be recorded by January 15,1951, when Bogart was leaving for Africa and the filming of The African Queen. Bogart received $1,000 for each episode of Bold Venture and Bacall was paid $500. In addition, Santana was to be paid 40% of Ziv’s first $10,000 in gross syndication revenues and 50% of revenues over $10,000.
Ziv also agreed to advance $127,400 for the production of the 52 programs. Of the $2,450 per episode, the Bogarts received $1,500. Four hundred dollars was budgeted for all other actors. Rose and his orchestra received $500 and $50 was allotted for sound effects.
Bold Venture first aired on March 26, 1951, priced from $13 an episode in the smallest markets to $750 in the largest. By April it was sold in 423 markets - more stations than the CBS and NBC radio networks combined.
Given a conservative average price of $60 per station, the weekly gross for the show would have exceeded $25,000 or $1.3 Million for the 52 week run. The Bogarts‘ personal take of that amount was a guaranteed $78,000 with an additional $600,000 for their Santana production company. And that was just from the first year’s run - not including the additional 26 shows or repeat broadcasts of all 78 episodes.
When Bold Venture debuted across the country to good reviews the couple had already gone overseas for filming of The African Queen. Ziv’s successful marketing campaign for the series received another boost the following year when Bogart won his only Academy Award for the picture.
Episodes of Bold Venture posted below track the relationship of the two central characters. Episode 1 describes the original relationship between Slate and his “ward” Sailor. Then the two become increasingly romantic in Episode 5, Episode 6 and Episode 9. Although Bold Venture wasn’t billed as a romantic melodrama, it definitely had the sub-plot remindfull of the Bogarts’ films To Have & Have Not and Key Largo.
Network Radio’s Golden Age passed into history with the 1952-53 season but Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were still heard regularly in over 400 markets and collected handsome royalties.
Their venture with Fred Ziv wasn’t really so bold after all - just a very smart one.
(1) Writers Fine and Friedkin were paid $600 for the pilot script and $700 for all others - a tidy sum of $36,300 for the first year and $54,500 for the entire 78 episode series. The pair later collaborated on CBS programs Broadway Is My Beat, Escape, The Lineup and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.
(2) The Ziv presentation and financial data for the series appear in Dr. Morleen Getz Rouse’s 1976 University of Michigan PHD dissertation, The History of F.W. Ziv Radio & Television Syndication Companies, 1930-1960. Our thanks to Media Heritage of Cincinnati for making this work available.
(3) Lux Radio Theater was formatted into three 15 to 17 minute acts plus a two minute scripted “interview” between its stars and the program’s host. The first table reading of the script was held on Thursday followed by more readings on Friday, a rehearsal with music on Saturday, a recorded dress rehearsal on Monday morning, then a final dress rehearsal at 7:30 p.m. and the live broadcast at 9:00. Stars appearing on the show received up to $5,000. Bogart and Bacall appeared together on Lux only once. Their performance of To Have & Have Not is posted below.
Copyright © 2015 Jim Ramsburg, Estero FL Email: tojimramsburg@gmail.com
| lux_theater_10-14-46.mp3 |
| bold_venture_episode_1.mp3 |
| bold_venture_episode_05.mp3 |
| bold_venture_episode_06.mp3 |
| bold_venture_episode_09.mp3 |