Issue Archive
Simpler times
I first met Fred when he had just retired after selling his company (then UA-TV, which in about 1960 bought Ziv-TV) and he had returned to his hometown of Cincinnati and showed up at CCM to hold some seminars. He also kept a residence in Palm Desert in California.
I graduated in 1968 and went to UCLA for graduate studies and while there went down to visit Fred in the desert. He agreed to a request by me to write my master's thesis about the history of his company. After a two-year delay due to military induction, I was finishing the thesis when I needed to return to his desert home to clear up some questions I had encountered in the research.
Fred had successfully adapted some of his radio syndicated shows to television, one of which was "Boston Blackie", a detective yarn. In researching the contracts, I couldn't cleanly track the rights issues from radio to television. When I asked Fred about the missing documents, he showed his frequently exhibited impish grin and commented to the fact that he couldn't wait to clear up all the rights issues, and he clearly remembered just going ahead with it and worring about it later!
Obviously simpler times and a less litigious society!
His success with Ziv-TV was, and still is, unprecedented. I believe it was 1957 when Ziv-TV, an independent company, owned something like four of the top eight shows then on television (not sure any more of the exact numbers) competing against the then three national networks. All that from an attorney from Michigan who repurposed local advertising for rye bread on records for radio stations in the Midwest.
He was always a gracious man that wore his success well.
Tom Bruehl, CCM '68
Executive with Paramount Pictures
Master of the chase
He was passionate about his work and his stories revealed the passion. It is exciting to be around someone who is passionate and successful. He was clear that a good show needed good writing. "In the beginning was the word." We heard that often.
He explained that his formula was a simple one, it was the chase. The chase underwater was Sea Hunt. The chase on land was Highway Patrol with the besotted Broderic Crawford. The chase on horseback was Cisco Kid.
He was comfortable with us. Happy to tell stories. He'd stress fundamentals of storytelling. He seemed to relish his place as teacher at the head of the seminar table. He wanted to be there as teacher, he wanted us to benefit from what he knew.
What I do remember is that he was modest about his accomplishments and as I recall didn't need to tell us how wonderful he was.
Jef Gamblee, CCM, '74
Night chaplain at Calvary Hospital in Bronx, N.Y.