Variety (Apr 1949)

y«faw J«yi April 6, 1949 oncnRSTiiAS-MVsic 47- Inside Orchestras-Music mrforv of "Everywhere You Go," recently cut by Guy Lombardo for nilJ* and published by his Lombardo Music, operated by Bregman- JlfwnlConn, is unusual. Tune is actually an old one which became '^Au when first issued in 1927, only in the midwest. It was pub- Iffi by Milton Weill's Sun Music, Chi firm, which issued "Rose Col- «!rGlasses" at the same time, and the latter got so big it smothered SJvwhere." Few people outside Chi and St. I^ouis. where the latter «s hit ever heard of the tune. Some weelis back, when Lombardo's S«r-Frazer broadcasts were on Mutual, they needed a sort of "trav- ine" tune as background music for an interview. Ray Harbey, pro- A«ftt suggested "Everywhere." The Lombardos liad never heard of (Hit took five days to find the tune and its publislier) and the maestro iiirt his brothers fell hard for the song, Curiously^ Sun Music is now ISmed by Decca, for whom Lombardo records. He immediately made . de«l with Sun for his BVC-operated Lombardo Music to take the ♦■me over and work on it. "Everywhere" was written by Larry Shay, Joe Goodwin and Mark Fisher, AFM locals around the country are being polled as to their feelings Ml the question Of standbys when traveling bands are booked into local situations and if the standbys are eliminated, MCA chairman and foun- der Jules Stein can take all the credit. Stein wrote James C. Petrillo, AFM prexy, suggesting that more theatres might add stageshows if the various key-city locals would stop demanding local standbys. His rea- loning is that whether a working musician is a traveling man or a local It all adds up to more employment in the profession. In Frisco, for example, Local 6 demands standbys. So do half-a-dozen big eastern locals. Understood Petrillo hasn't formally answered the letter yet but copies have been sent to locals around the country inviting opinions. Hollywood Local 47, which does not exact standbys, already has notified Petrillo that it shares Stein's views. BGA-Victor, which has been very active; of late in making special promotion recordings for disk jockey use, cut another last week with Perry Como. It's « script thing, including the use of a parody on the tune, "A'You're Adorable," which Como made with the Pontane Sisters ' for'bninediate release. It'll go to all disk spinners as a sort of "thank you" ft)Jf past and future favors; Victor last year made a special disk called the "Tommy Dorsey Story," which included bits of every hit tiine he made over the years for Victor, leading up to his then current "Until." Victor is currently in the process of making a special 164nch platter by Charlie Ventura called "Five Lessons In Bop;" strictly for radio spins, not for sale. Arnold Shaw, Leeds Music promotion head, develops some unusual song-exploitation ideas. He's now in the process of shippmg packages worth |5 each, containing Revlon "Orchids To You" powder, lipstick, etc, to disk jockeys to promote performances of Leeds "Orchids To My Lady" recordings. He follows that up with shipments of live orchids to jocks close enough to i^et them before the flowers pass out. Both Meas were promotions with no cost involved for Leeds except mailing; Few weeks back, Shaw sent good-looking notebooks to various disk jocks and the first pages of each book contained inserted notes de- signed as reminders to Jocks about spinning a string of Leeds' recorded tunes, from "Galway day" down. Emerson's 45 Solo tm,erson Hadioi h^s gotten into the RPM battle. It is releasing two new low-priced radio-phonograph I models that will handle only the i 45 RPM disks being issued by j RCA-Viclor. They will not spin even the standard 78 disks. An- other, more expensive set, is being made that plays the 78s and' the 45* with an adaptor; An idea of the confusion attend- ant to the new speeds, is in the Emerson press release citing the j new macliines. It consistently re^ fers to RCA new platters as "long-^ playing" records. Sonny Bnrke to Solo Decca Coast Operation Hollywood, April 5. Sonny Burke will have complete charge of Decca's local artists and repertoire problems. He has been more or less in thiit position ever since he joined the company, but in recent months Dave Kapp, Decca v.p., has been here most of the time. Due to the death of Decca's founder and foi'mer prez, Jack Kapp, his brother will hereatter spend most of his time in N. Y. heading up a & t affairs. D. K. gets back here later this week and will remain for only four or five days before heading east. WARING SONGPLUGGER ROUTINE FOR VIDEO Fred Waring's weekly interviews 1 of music publishers' contact men I on liis Tuesday morning NBC ra« i dio programs will become a part i of his new video series on CfiS I Sunday evt-nings 9 to 10 p.m., spon- I sored by General Electric. CBS 1 program debuts Easter Sunday. ! Waring runs weekly meetings , with contact men in N. Y. to get I their new songs and chin with I the pub reps. A shot of these get- I togethers, which for years occurred I at a NT. Y. r utomat, was kihescoped last night (Tuesday) fi-om a CBS playhouse for use. on the broadcast; Mrs. Thomas Dorsey, mother of Jimmy and Tommy D., often makes one-nighter tours with either one of her son.s' band.^. When she gets tired of staying at the home the freres bought her in California, she'll call one or the other, hop a plane and hit the road. During the past few weeks she has been in the east traveling with first one of her sons' combos and then the other. It's not anything new, either. During recent years, when she still maintained the family home at Shenan- doah, Pa, she'd be m hand alone or with other members of.her family if either one of the Dorsey bands played nearby—at Pottstown, Reading, Scranton, etc. As a result of collectors' demands, RCA-Victor is releasing a pair of sides etched by Marlene Dietrich in Germany 25 years ago. Although lyricizing is in German, collectors have long yearned for the disk since it is generally regarded as the best job of piping Miss Die- trich has ever done. In capturing the cynicism of the period, she. de- livers an authentic flavor rarely caught oh wax. Backing is by Frederick Hollander orch. Hollander, now a film scorer on the Coast, also did the arrangements. Ditties are "Ich Bin Die Folsche Lola" (I am the Gay Lola) and "Kinder Haut Abend Such Ich Mir Was A us" (Girls, Tonight I'll Choose Someone). "That Wonderful Girl 'of Mine," new tune being published by Su- preme Music, in which Decca Records and Biegman-Vocco'Conn are partnered, is a pop rewrite of the Jewish standard, "Mem Shtelele | Belz," written by Jacob Jacobs and Alex Olshanetsky. Recorded by i Larry Adler for a Decca harmonica album by hhn, the .Jewish melody created enough interest for Decca and BVC to get ideas^about a pop •career, Sammy Gallop wrote an English lyric and Suprem* is worlc- ing on the tune. Al Jolson recorded it for Decca. J. J. Kammen pub- ; lished the original song. « Jump bands may be heard in the Casino ballroom on Catalina Island this year for the first time. P. K. Wrigley, who has operated tlie terpery since it was erected, has decided to lease it out tliis year. He has notified local ops that new lessee will be able (o set his own policy. Iftthe past, Wrigley has flatly banned jump arrangements by bands. Johnny Bothwell's new small bop orchestra was signed by National }tm, not Apollo. It's National's idea to use Bolhwell, a sax waj- ™ «n effort to replace the loss of Charlie Ventura's orchestra to KCA- Vlctor. Chester Conn's Own Tarantella' Lyrics I Chester Conn, partner in Breg- I man, Vocco & Conn music tirm, is I pulling a switch in the fitting of English Ivrics to the tune "Si- cilian Tarantella," Italian instru- mental now creating noise here via | RCA-Victor's Reina Orchestra re- ' cording. BVC recently secured the U.S. rights to tlie tune from the Italian publisher and will market it as an instrumental and with lyrics. Conn has written the words himself. As a rule, when publishers seek to fit a lyiic to an instrumental of any kind, they farm the job out to.. Several established writers and pick the best. BVC has done it often in the past. Conn, who U Writer or co-writer of many sub-. stantial lunes of the pa.st, hasn't: written anything in quite a while.! SONGWRITER 'I" •|UMl' af lal«ntMi> iMrtonabl* pion- '•t wilRng to lintl* In Mopcrativ* *•»•««. ConldM <»ENE SELIG. Tl 2-2527 Thurtday evening •r Safuriiay; CAPITOL THEATRE, M G M RECORDS :hE greatest name in ENTEPrAlNMEM