Saturday, January 22, 2022

Bold Venture - "The Terminal Key" (09-03-51)

The Terminal Key (Aired September 3, 1951)

Bold Venture was a classy production from start to finish. At an estimated cost of $36,000 per taping week [or about $12,000 per episode], it pretty much had to have been. Even subtracting the Bogarts' contribution of $5,000 per episode, that still left $7,000 per episode to fund the remaining production costs. That's about $420,000 a week in today's dollars. More than enough budget to ensure a top notch production. The cost to the sponsor-subscribers reportedly varied between $25 a week to as much as $250 a week, depending on the size and reach of the target market(s). That would have yielded anywhere from $975,000 to $9.75M over the course of three years of Bold Venture's sales. Even arbitrarily averaging the varying theoretical sales would have yielded on the order of at least $5M to Ziv and company over three years. Subtracting even $1M in production and marketing costs would have yielded at least a $4M profit. Show Notes From The Digital Deli.

 

THIS EPISODE:


 
September 3, 1951. Program #24. ZIV Syndication. "The Terminal Key". Commercials added locally. A dumbsounding jockey gives Slate the key to a locker at the bus station. Inside, there's a $100,000 in stolen money. Don't miss the finale...it's a shoot-out in a shooting gallery. Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Tony Barrett, Jester Hairston, Nestor Paiva, Henry Hayward (director), Morton Fine (writer), David Friedkin (writer), David Rose (composer, conductor). 26:34. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.

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