Variety (Dec 1939)

Wednesday, Dt-ccmber 6, 1939 MUSIC—DANCE BANDS VARIETY S9 IS Best Sheet Music Sellers (Week ending Dec. 1, 1939) South o( the Border Shapiro Scatterbrain BVC My Prayer Shapiro Oh Johnny, Oh Forster Lilacs in the Rain... Bobbins EI Rancho Grande Marks Blue Orchids ■.•>• Famous In an Eighteenth Century Drawing Room Circle •Over the Rainbow ("Wizard •of On") Feist ♦Good Morning ('Babes in Arms') Chappell Goody Good-Bye Olman Last Night .....Feist fl Didn't Know What Tim^ It Was ('Too Many Girls').Chappell Beer Barrel Polka Shapiro God Bless America Berlin •filnittsicot. tProductioJi. MUSICIANS ANGRILY ASSERT IBEW ORG. FOSTERS MECHANIZATION FOR OWN ENDS S.P.A. Ultiinatums PubGshers to Sign ;c. 11; Given Choice of 2 Contracts ByDe( Sommerer Promoted To ! Head All Victor Plants Camden, N. J., Dec. 5; Harry L. Sommerer, former assist- ant to the executive v.p. of the RCA- Victor, has been appointed manager in charge of' manufacturing in all RCA plants. A veteran of 30 years in RCA-Victpr employ, he will be in charge of the plants at Camden, Harrison, N. J., Hollywood and In- dianapolis. HiF headquarters will be here. In 1930 Sommerer went as manag- ing director of the Victor Talking Machine Co. of Japan. When the company was sold to a Nipponese syndicate, he returned to Camden to take charge of the motion picture soimd recording department. Songwriters Protective Association late yesterday (Tuesday) sewed no-, tlce upon the music publishers who have not signed contracts with the association that unless this was done by Monday (U) the SPA would pro- ceed to administer the mechanical rights of members who have recently placed manuscripts with such firms. The ultimatum letter gave publish- ers the choice of accepting either of two contract forms, namely, the one negotiated by Metro-Robbins last week or the one "that the Warner Bros, group accepted Oct. 2. The SPA takes the position that the two contract form.<; are pretty much alike and doubts the belief ex- pressed by publishers that the exist- ence of two contract forms Will re- sult in much industry confusion. Metro-Robbins publishing group and the SPA last week got together on their new standard writers' con- tract and the only thing remaining to make it a binding arrangement are the signatures of the SPA's special administrative committee, all of whose members are on the Coast. This contract, which was negotiated between Julian T. Abele.s, Metro- Robbins counsel,, and John Schiil- man, SPA lawyer, will be made available to other pubs who haven't already signed up \yith the SPA. The Abelcs-Schulijwin document makes the second contribution to this field. The Warner Bro.'. group ne- gotiated its own standard agreement with the SPA several months ago and this same contract was later signatured also by the Max Dreyfus group and Mercer & Morris as well as several firms whose owners are likewise SPA members. A lawyer who represents several major indie publishers declared Monday (4) that he would advise his clients not to ac- cept either of the available agree- ments, but to let him negotiate one of his own. Under the terms o( the covenant worked out by Abeles, lublishers are obligated to charge a minimum royalty of 2c for phonograph records. They are likewise barred from mak- ing a deal on special fees for discs used in coin-machines, without call- ing in the SPA. Johnny O'Connor, a.' KPnernl m;in- nger of Words & Music, Inc., ac- cepted a contract from llie SPA last Friday U). His wa.« the Warnei- Bros.' form. Not Co-Maker Music publishers' professional men now have an excuse for re- fusing to endorse finance com- pany notes for band leaders. They can point to the contract between the contactmen's union and publishers which, in the un- fair practices clause, taboos gifts, loans or any 'other subterfuges.' Endorsing the note of a plug source could be interpreted as coming within the purview of 'other subterfuges.' SHOTWELLPRO, CON WEIGHED Willie Horowitz Buying Joe Davis Catalog In Partnership With Silver Number of leading publishers will for the second time within a week be f.aced with the question of sup- porting or opposing the Shotwell copyright bill when the board of di- rectors of the Music Publishers Pro- tective Association meets this after- noon (Wednesday). After a bitter barrage from the publisher faction Ihe board of directors of the Ameri- can Society of Composers, Authors j and Publishers last week voted to Willie Horowitz and Abner Silver have signatured contracts for the purchase of the Joe Davis Music Co., and the deal will be consummated Friday (8) upon their delivery of a stipulated amount of additional cash. Proposition includes the payment of | royalties to Davis on numbers he ! owns outright or has written over a period of years. Among the numbers in the catalog are 'Surposin,' 'Basin Street Blues,' 'I Ain't Got Nobody,' '. fter You've Gone' and 'Keepin' Out of Mischief.' Davis will con- tinue in business as the Georgia Mu- sic Co., and he may resume the busi- ness use of his name after two and a half years. Horowitz.was with Bobbins Music Corp. for about 10 years, coming to New York from Chicago a year and a half ago to handle the Miller cata- log. Silver is the songwriter. Will Biadley.'s orchestra at Baker Hotel's Mural Boom, Dallas. support the bill. The opposition to endorsement at the ASCAP board meeting was led by Saul Bornstein, of Irving Berlin, Inc;, who charged that the copyright divisibility and copyright on crea- tion phases of the bill are bound to work out to the serious detriment of the publishing business. Louis Bern- stein, of Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., also voiced like fears, whereas Her- man Starr, head of the Warner Bros, group suggested that the publishers permit the Society to go on record as favoring the bill and if they wanted to express publishing in- dustry opposition they could do it through their own. trade organiza- tion. He stated that he couldn't see anything inconsistent in voting for something that he thought was good (or ASCAP and Inter on opposing the same principle when it came to pub- lisher interests strictly. The argument over the Shotwell bill at the ASCAP meeting lasted close to four hours. The enforce- ment was interpreted as conveying ASCAP's belief that the bill consti- tuted a substantial advance in the theory of copyright protection in the United States. Declare Coin Machines Used in Hotels Are Serviced by IBEW and 'Union Label* Then Used Against the Musicians Triple Bromide Because his appearance . the show and subsequent date each evening on the bandstand o( the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, N. Y.. are so closely timed, Benny Good- man cannot take a curtail) call for his part in 'Swingin' the Dream' at the Center theatre. N. Y. Leaves the show each night with aljout five minu' s to gel to his location stand at the hotel. Saturday's schedule for Good- man is one reason why band- leaders go crazy. Starling at 2:30 p.m. it reads like a train time table. Thai hour the .show's matinee begins and lasts till 4:45. At 5 there's a two-hour re- hearsal for the Camel program. Hour and half later, or 8:30, back for evening performance of 'Dream.' Camel show airs 10- 10:30 p.m. and at 10:38 he has to be back at 'Dream.' At 11 p., m. he starts at the Waldorf, where the band finishes at 2 a. m. Goodman leaves 'Swingin' the Dream' Jan. 1. That was his original agreement wilh Erik Charell—just four weeks. Mixed Orchestra Cuts Special Discs in N. Y. For English Swingophile Leonard Feather, English swing critic and writer now in this coun- try, has gathered a small mixed combo of all-stars and signed 'em to record for 'Victor. Colored and white personalities group includes Hazel Scott, colored femme pianist- singer. They cut four originals by Feather Friday (l). Group includes Danny Polo, clari- netist-leader; Alfred Harrl."!, guitar; Pete Barry, string ba.<:s; Pete Brown, sax; Arthur Herbert, drums; and Miss Scott, piano. Polo, Harris and Barry recently relurjied from play- ing wilh Ambrose's band in England and are while. Polo plays wilh Joe Sullivan's mixed band at Cafe So- ciety, N. Y., cmrenlly, and Mi.ss Scott sings there. ^ Pete Brown has his own small i band at the Onyx Club, N. Y. Her- ■ bert is drummer for Coleman Haw- ' kins' band now at Arcadia Ball- room, N. Y. American Federation o( Mu.<;ici;ir).s will call this week on the head:; of ' the International Brotherhoud (>f Electrical Workers to do something about curbing the part that IBEW members are playing on the west coast in the wholesale replacement of musicians by coin-operated pho- nograph record machines. The coin-machine operators, it is charged, have been able to extend thc-ir lield to even private parties by' cutlinj^ in IBEW members on the proceed.'; and to confuse the issue at the same lime by playing one group of or- ganized labor against another. Joseph N. Weber, AFM prez, who will make the representation.s, has gathered, much data oh the situation, wilh the most pertinent part of it coming frorii the federation's San Fnincisto local. The west coast AFM locals' comr plain that the coin-machine dislrib- utors have succeeded in making tremendous inroads on spots which formerly used union musicians and that these distribs have artfully frustrated the musicians' protests by picketing and by employing mem- bers of the IBEW's soundmen's di- vision to service the machines. Through this device, states the imion, the distributors have availed them- selves of a retort to the musicians' plaint that the record machines are putting them out of work. The dis- tribs point out that they certainly cannot be accused of anti-union be- havior since a union man (a mem- ber of the IBEW) is emplo.yed on every one of the machine placements in hotels, taverns and private parlie.°. According to the San Francisco local, the remuneration o( the IBEW men on most of the placements is 20% of the machine's take. In some cases, such as hotels where the man- agement does most of the coin- depositing, the IBEW man gets e flat nightly fee of $10 and tl extra for each room to which loud.<:peaker equipment has been extended from the master mechanism. While roost of these assignments, .says the Frisco local, rate as mere sidelines for the IBEW members, the tieup between them and the machine distributors has sufficed to frustrate any counter measures attempted 'by ihc mu- sicians. The AFM and IBEW are fc-liow alTiliates of the American Federali<jn of Labor. RESERVE DECISION ON RCA-WNEW MOVE U. S. circuit court of appeal.'; in New York Monday (4) reserved de- cision on RCA Victor's motion to dismiss the appeal taken by WNEW, N. Y., from a lower court decisi restraining the station from using Paul Whiteman's phonosraph rec- ords. Victor argued that WNEW has already obtained a licen.se to broad- cast these recordings, which,' it add- ed, constituted an' admi.ssion that Victor controls such right.s. WNEW was the original defendant in the restraining suit brought by Whiteman, but when the trial took place the station put in no defense. With the result that Victor, which Ij^d meanwhile intervened, and .Whiteman remained the lone con- lending parties. The WNEW appeal IS being backed by the National As- "'cjation of BroBdcnster.t. Band Parade of ^39 heading IS/laestros Best Sellers of 1939 in iorthcoming 34th ANNIVERSARY NUMBER of y^niETY To he Piihlished Late in December USUAL ADVERTISING RATES PREVAIL ADVERTISING COPY MAY BE SENT TO ANY VARIETY OFHCE NEW YORK 154 West 46th SL HOLLYWOOD CHICAGO 1708 No. Vine SL 54 W. Randolph St LONDON 8 St. Martins PL Lou Diamond Scores ASCAP Ratings Given Famous and Paramount Lou Diamond, head of the Fijmoti?: and Paramount Music Corps, ap- peared Monday (4) before Ihe' pub- lishers availability committee of the American Society of Composers. Au- thors and Publishp'f to protest against the ratings of the two firms. The discussion developed into an ex- change of personalities bclwtcn Dia- mond and Louis Bcrnsteir a nitm- ber of the committee. Diamond questioned the ability of the committee's members to deter- mine the value of an old number any better than he himself and bit- terly scored the methods used by ihe committee. Decision on his npfAi- cation for rating increases wna re- served. Billy Moon Badly Hurt Rochester, N. Y., D(-c. f>. William Moon, apparently ;.• mid- west orchestra Icarler, serioii."=ly in- jured here last ,week when his < iir crashed into a tree. He w.n.s Ijktn to Strong Memorial Hospital, whtit his condition was reported critic::!, [with probable fractures of the skull, left arm, right leg, right wrhi .-,ii(l face and body cuts. Deputies investigating the accidiDt ! found a picture in the car labeled "Billy Moon's orchestra' and records of musicians. Driver's liccn.sc had n Detroit address and car bore Mlclii- gan plates. EITort was made Ic imct relatives.