Show Business: Loose Coin

¶ Judged from the broad end of the picture tube, television had a bad year; its brightest moment shone like a candle in a morass of mediocre programs. But commercially, the industry seemed to be doing better than ever. Advertisers paid out a record $1.42 billion, a gross increase of 10% over 1957. By year's end the U.S. had a total of 512 operating TV stations (there were 495 at the end of 1957) catering to nearly 50 million TV receivers.

¶ Hollywood, looking at the statistics for a so-so year, managed to keep from dissolving in gloom. Only 216 pictures went into production during 1958, as, opposed to 297 in 1957, and movie-theater attendance dropped 7.6% from 1957. But theater owners cut their losses to 2.5%. Their method: raising admission prices.