Frank C. Beazley, TV marketer

Frank C. Beazley, 83, of Bala Cynwyd, retired president of Center City Film & Video Inc. and husband of former TV personality Jane "Pixanne" Norman, died of complications from Parkinson's disease March 4 at their winter home in Palm Springs, Calif.

In 1961, Mr. Beazley was appointed general sales manager at WCAU-TV in Philadelphia. At the station he met his future wife, who was appearing in a children's program as Pixanne, the inhabitant of an enchanted forest.

"Frank was very creative and innovative," Norman said. When the program first aired in 1960, she said, the sponsors were cereal companies and toy manufacturers targeting children. Mr. Beazley realized that the children's mothers were also watching the show and he persuaded Procter & Gamble and other companies that appealed to women to advertise, Norman said. Pixanne moved to WNEW-TV in New York in 1969 and was nationally syndicated until 1977.

Mr. Beazley left WCAU-TV in 1973 to be a director of marketing for Television News Inc. and later headed his own company, Newtel Syndication.

In 1976 he was named director of marketing for Alcare Communications in Wayne. He was also a partner in the company which produced syndicated features for television and radio, including a series, One Great Moment in Sports, and a commentary series, One Moment Please, with Mort Crim.

Mr. Beazley also teamed with his wife at Alcare to produce Maintenance Ms. The syndicated series of 117 tapes featured Norman giving fix-it advice. The response to the series was "overwhelming," Mr. Beazley told a Philadelphia Daily News reporter. "It's a big hit with women because the show explains in easy-to-learn details how to repair things around the house," he said.

Mr. Beazley and Norman again collaborated in 1978 to produce a daytime special, The National Kids' Quiz. The program, hosted by actor Michael Landon, asked young people to make choices when confronted with a problem.

In 1979, Mr. Beazley cofounded and became president of Center City Film & Video. The firm produced videos for corporate clients and short films for TV stations, offering consumer tips. It also added animation and special effects to commercials and rented out production equipment.

In a 1987 Daily News interview, Mr. Beazley said videos were useful marketing tools, often replacing brochures and catalogs. He said training films could have pizzazz, citing a safety-film "musical" his firm produced for a paper manufacturer that featured singing forklift operators.

After retiring 12 years ago, Mr. Beazley was a volunteer at Inglis House, a nursing facility for adults with physical disabilities.

Mr. Beazley graduated from San Mateo High School in California. He played saxophone and clarinet and had a band when he was in high school, his wife said. The piano player was Merv Griffin.

During World War II, Mr. Beazley served in the Navy Air Corps in the States. He earned a bachelor's degree from Stanford University in 1949 and then worked in sales for TV stations in California and Chicago. He was a national sales account executive in New York for CBS-TV before moving to Philadelphia.

In addition to his wife of 48 years, Mr. Beazley is survived by a son, Peter; a stepson, Richard Norman; and three granddaughters.

No services are scheduled.

Memorial donations may be made to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, Church Street Station, P.O. Box 780, New York, NY, 10008 or www.michaeljfox.org.