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Frederick
Ziv, R.I.P
By Marty Baumann
Pioneering
television producer Frederick Ziv, known throughout the industry as
"the father of syndication," died last week at his Cincinnati home.
He was 96. With a University of Michigan law degree, Ziv landed a
$10-a-week job with an advertising agency in 1929. The following year,
he opened his own agency. He had a knack for concocting successful
advertising slogans and campaigns and was soon applying his talents
to the burgeoning radio market. Ziv traveled the country selling programs
such as Boston Blackie and Bold Venture into radio syndication.
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Lloyd
Bridges and the cast of Sea Hunt.
Image Courtesy Ziv Productions |
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When
the television era dawned, radio and movie producers thought TV was
a fad with a short lifespan. Ziv thought otherwise. He staked his primetime
claim before the major networks realized TV was here to stay. Among
the now-classic programs Ziv brought to the small screen were The
Cisco Kid, Sea Hunt, Bat Masterson, Whirlybirds and Highway Patrol.
All were phenomenally popular and profitable. Ziv believed that a good
script was the hallmark of any successful program, and on many occasions
he personally hammered out first drafts. Seeing the sure-fire audience
appeal of Ziv's action-adventure series, the networks soon followed
suit. Many series, including the final two seasons of The Adventures
of Superman, were filmed at the Ziv facilities.
Ziv forever endeared
himself to sci-fi fans with the seminal series Science Fiction
Theater. Hosted by radio vet Truman Bradley, the programs
were earnest and intelligently scripted attempts to convey the
wonders of science in a modestly budgeted, half-hour format.
It featured top-flight actors and seasoned directors such as
Jack Arnold and Herbert L. Strock. Strock, who recalls "directing
two shows a week for five years" while working with Ziv, remembers
Ziv as "charming, a very intelligent guy who knew his business."
Says
Strock, "At the beginning, none of [the executives at ZIV] really
knew much about TV; John Sinn, who was Ziv’s son-in-law, ran the ZIV
film production unit, he was the president of the company. Besides
me, there WERE a couple of other directors there who had SOME TV experience,
but I had a LOT of it. So they gave me Highway Patrol, the
pilot, to do, and things like that. And Highway Patrol 'sold'
10 minutes into the screening! Ziv had a great sales organization
— they could sell anything to anybody [laughs]! They were wonderful!"
Ziv sold
his company to Universal Artists in 1960 and turned to teaching at
the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music, which
presents an annual broadcasting award in his honor.
This
article originally appeared in designer/illustrator Marty Baumann's
"The Astounding B Monster." Samples of Marty's work can be found at
www.martybaumann.com.
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