Variety (October 1950)

©RCHESTRAS-MUSIC P^SRlEff Wednesday, October ll, 1950 Strain between disk companies > and the American Federation of Musicians, following the latter’s ban on dubbing vocals atop previ- ously taped instrumentations, is easing up, with the union promis- ing a more flexible application of this and other rulings surrounding \vaxing practices. Major diskeries, while conceding the union’s right to Bar dubbing, were chiefly irri- tated by a related AFM. ruling which .demanded payment for musi- cians once the musicians were en- gaged for a recording date whether N.Y. For Edinburgh ’51 Edinburgh, Sept. 26. The Visit to the 1951 Interna- tional Festival of Music and Drama by the New York Philhar- monic Orchestra will be limited to Edinburgh, it is reported here. No other concerts^ will be given by the orch in Europe during 1951. There are 12 performances set, six under Professor BrunO Walter the session was:.held or not. Under] and six under Dimitri Mitropoulos. . . _ . -I. ■ C> a « W a m 1 • .tfk. 4. .~J ' M A I 1 A l’«« M the dubbing ban. if a star vocalist became, ill, the cost of the musi- cians represented a’total loss to the diskeries. Currently,/however, the AFM is yielding on the. strict application Of both rulings. If a star vocalist be- comes ill,, the AFM is permitting cancellation of the date with the understanding, that the same musi- cians will be booked when record- ing becomes possible. It’s under- stood that the AFM is also mulling the possibility of granting permis- sion to cut the instrumentations alone under such circumstances. Disk cry execs are not too confident, however, that the AFM. will grant this right since the union would fear abuse of this privilege. RCA Victor and national AFM execs made ; a compromise agree- ment: on a test dispute that stemmed from a cancellation of a Jane Pickens' recording session. Some 20 musicians were engaged and AFM’s N.Y. ,Local 602 demand- ed payment for this date as well as the subsequent recording session. Under the Victor-AFM deal, which is expected to set a pattern for sim- ilar cases. the AFM decided that only those musicians who were hired for the date, but not used for the recording session, were to be paid under the no-cancellation clause. Before gaining this point, Victor carried its challenge to top AFM echelons. Several noted soloists, including Dame Myra Hess; Zino France- scatti and Rudolf Serkin, are ex- pected to appear with the orches- / tra. | Other musical outfits set for the 1951 Festival include the Royal Philharmonic and Halle Orches- tras under their permanent con- ductors, Sir Thomas Beecham and Sir John Barbirolli. Kathleen Ferrier and Bruno Walter are likely to give two Lieder recitals in the Usher Hall. The Glyndebourne Opera Co, also is set while the Sadler’s Wells Opera will: stage the world preem of Benjamin Britten’js new opera, “Billy Budd.” Ballet will be rep- ! resented by the Sadler’s Wells Co. Best British Sheet Sellers (Week ending Sept, 30) London, Oct. 2. Silver Dollar......,... .. Pic. Bewitched .... .......Sterling Mona Lisa New World Sam’s Song*/Sterling Have I Told You.... *,.Leeds Sentimental Me.. .Cinephonic Blackbird Box & Cox Once in a While.. . . . , .Magna Goodnight Irene ....... Leeds Daddy’s Little Girl.. .. ,. Yale If 1 Loved You ... Williamson Count Every Star ,,.. Imperia Second 12 Ashes of Roses.,.... .Connelly Tzena Tzena Tzena.. i. Leeds Quicksilver .. .... . /Morris My Foolish Heart .......Sun Candy & Cake ..... Dash Have Eyes for You . .Feldman Let’s Do It AgainV. Lennox Your Heart, My Heart Wright Me and My Shadow . F* D. & H. Piano Roll Blues . .. .. Leeds : Happy Times ..... . Feldman Dearie ..... .... . Connelly .By HERM SCHOENFELD. Columbia Releasing Third ‘Hear It’ Album Columbia Records is releasing, a third “I Can Hear It Now’’ album, covering; the period in American history from 1919 to 1932. Album, which was shipped to distributors early . this week, again features CBS commentator Edward R. MUr- row. First two albums cover the periods from 1932 to 1945 and 1945 to 1949. New one re-enacts some of the; voices, because of the absence or poor quality of the recordings available, sticking to original scripts. / Among voices featured are former Presidents Wilson, Harding; Coolidge, Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt; Will The Statler hotel chain is going) 2, 0 1 5? rs; T A1 Sm ™ h ,V A ? ilU T A 11 *" .' : ■■ ■ ^ ■ i White; Jimmy Walker, and others, all: out for bands in Washington and Buffalo. Orchs booked Into both locations are being pushed by. the chain as part, of a “Parade of Bands” promotion. Musical crews, most of name stature, will supply the sale entertainment at both sit- • x • . uations which, in the past offered . h^onth except for one open day. Kaye Go£s Horsey Sammy Kaye’s^ orch, which be- gan a one-niter tour last week, will play the Baton Rouge, La., horse show Nov. 9-12. Band is booked solidly this acts, in addition to bands, a policy still maintained at some of the other Statler outlets. Shep Fields’ orch goes, into the Washington Statler, Monday (16) for two weeks, following Ted Weems' band, which finishes, its current engagement there Saturday (14). Chuck Foster’s crew goes in behind Fields for two weeks, Starting Oct. 30, with Lawrence Welk’s band coming -in Nov, 13 for two weeks. . Same bands will fill engagements at the Buffalo Statler, which cur- rently is offering.Hildegarde, along with her accompanist, Salvatore Gioe, and the William Norris orch. Weems is slated to follow, Oct. 17- Nqv. 12; Foster, Nov. 14-26; Fields, Nov.: 2$-Dec. 10, and Welk, Dec. 12- 23. Benny Strong’s orch is sched- uled to begin an engagement there Dec. 25. Low purchasing; power in Hol- land has kept the music business there at a poor level, according to H. Ch. Gomperts, president of Edi- tions Internationales Basart, Gom- perts departed for Amsterdam Monday (19) after three weeks in New York huddling with Leeds Music and Music Publishers Hold- ing Corp., which he reps in the Netherlands. Lack of proper purchasing power and high prices make the . average hit among a 10,000-15,000 copy seller, Gomperts said. There have been a few songs that have sold as many at 45.000, lie added, but these are very infrequent. About 50% of publisher income comes from performances on the country’s two radio stations, he said. Gomperts also noted a growing trend in Holland toward favoring ( American songs as opposed to Ger- man music. Up to the end of the second World War, lie said, Ger- man music was far and away the leader in the Netherlands. Since 1945. however, American music has been climbing in favor, until now about 50% of music played and sold in Holland is American, with the rest divided among Eng- land, Germany, France and other countries. Apart from huddling With Leeds and Warner execs, Gomperts picked up rights while in N. Y. to “Good- night, Irene,” from Cromwell Mu- sic, and the British “Two on a Tandem” from English publisher Ed Kassner, who is also in N.: Y. Bing Crosby-Patti Andrews: “If I Were a BellVTve Never Been in Love Before” (Decca). Two more tunes from Frank* Loesser’s musical, “Guys and Dolls,” in con- trasting moods. “Bell,” with its bright beat and smart lyric, is a surefire hit and this free-wheel- ing Crosby-Andrews duct should send it winging. Frankie Laine’s version for Mercury is a different- ly-styled but equally solid cut. On the Decca flipover, Crosby solos a conventional ballad. Axel Stor- dahl’s orch accomps. Perry Como: “So Lang Sally”- “Marcheta” (Victor). “Sally” is a sweetly sad ballad that registers big via this simple Como rendition. Paul Weston’s more elaborate orch and choral treatment for Co- lumbia has an excellent sound but lacks intimacy. Como gives an- other firstrate vocal oil the oldie, “Marcheta.” Mitchell Ayres orch backs up. Erskine Hawkins Orch: “Ten- nessee Waltz”-“Skippin’ and a Hop- pin’ ” (Coral). “Tennessee Waltz” is an outstanding number that rates special attention. Ace Harris' vocal, gives this side a terrific emo- tional wallop that is sustained over repeated spins. Solid jock and juke fare. Bottom deck is a driv- ing instrumental. . Frank Sinatra: “Accidents Will Happen”-“One Finger Melody” (Columbia). Sinatra is in his best form in some time on “Accidents.” from the Paramount pic, “Mr. Music.” It’s a slow ballad per- fectly matched to his crooning style. “Melody” has some pleas- ing musical figures to hold it up* Axel Stordahl is once again back- grounding Sinatra's disks. r / Joe Graydori: “Somewhere, Somehow, SomCday”-“I’ve Never Been in Love Before” (Coral). “Somewhere,” a fine ballad with a lovely lyric over a lilting beat, gets a rich and tasteful treatment on this side, with Joe Graydon neatly vocalling.in front of George Cates orch an d the He a rtbeats choral group. Eve Young-and Jack Pleis orch have a good cut for London but the side is marred by tricky echo effects. Trudy Richards' slice for M-G-M is neatly. styled on a slightly faster tempo. On the Coral flipover, Graydon nicely de- livers the Frank Loesser tune. Art Mooney Orch: “Serenade in Blue”-“Aren’t We All” (M-G-M). “Serenade,” from the 20th-Fox pic, “Orchestra Wives,” gets a solid treatment by the Mooney orch with Matt DeLila and the Cloverleafs handling the vocal. It’s a clean sharp-sounding side executed on a firm beat. Reverse is an okay in- terpretation of the fine oldie, the Cloverleafs delivering the vocal chorus. Bing Crosby: “A Marshmallow World’VLooks Like a Cold, Cold Pfc&IETY ♦ ++♦♦♦♦ » ++♦♦♦♦ 4- on Week of Oct. 7 »♦♦ > +♦♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ly 2 . 3. 4. 5. GOODNIGHT IRENE (10) (Spencer) MONA LISA (14) (Paramount) 7. 8. 9. \ Jenkins-Weavers ....... . Decca .,............| jr ra nk Sinatri Columbia ! King Cole Trio ......... Capitol • • • • > • * • • • • • 4 \ Victor Young ,. .... ...... Decca ALL MY LOVE (5) (Mills) ................... Patti Page ............ Mercury CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN (6) (Valando) ...................... Ames Bros . ... ......, Coral SIMPLE MELODY (9) (Berlin) .. ............ i .. Bing & Gary Crosby..... .Decca TZENA, TZENA. TZENA (13) (Cromwell. • •} mtch^Uner^ .•'.ColS I’LL NEVER BE FREE (2) (Valando) /;...................... Kay Starr-Tenn. Ernie.-. .Capitol ... , i........... Tony //....... ... . Victor { Frankie Laine; .....<. .Mercury .,..., j Tony Martin ...).:;... . . Victor l Bing & Gary Crosby .. . . . . p.ecca LA VIE EN ROSE (7) (Harms) . ... MUSIC MAESTRO PLEASE (2) (Bouime) I 10. SAM’S SONG (12) (Weiss) ’} Joe “Fingers” Carr .... /Capitol Second Group Big Promotion / Christmas . song whi^h attracted considerable attention last year in Philadelphia through the efforts .of disk jockey Stu Wayne is get- ting a big promotional push this year by Broadway Music. Song, “Christmas, in My Heart,” by Jerry Bresner. Ray Madison and Jerry Kanher, came out too late last year to warrant recording activity, but; disk jockey waxings by June Win- ter on the Mayfair label were sent put; , Wayne, on WPEN, pushed the tune strongly in Philly and created some excitement there. This; year Mercury picked up. the Mayfair master*for release on its own la- bel, and Broauway exec pick Kuhn has Set recordings by Fran Allison on RCA Victor and Percy Faith on Columbia. CINCINNATI DANCING PIG (Hickory) ,. DREAM A LITTLE DREAM (Words & Music) HARBOR LIGHTS (Chappell) ... BONAPARTE’S RETREAT (10) (Acuff-R) COUNT EVERY STAR (Paxton) I LOVE THE GUY (Shapiro-B) ... I’M FOREVER BLOWING BtBBLES (Remick) I’LL ALWAYS LOVE YOU (Famous) . VAGABOND SHOES (Jefferson) « « * i i t •. •' > i i • i t « I WANNA BE LOVED (18) (Supreme) OUR LADY OF FATIMA (Robbins) JUST SAY 1 LOVE HER (ABC) NO OTHER LOVE (Disney) PATRICIA (BVC) . . . / . .* ORANGE COLORED SKY (Frank) | Red Foley .. ...,........ Decca l Vic Damone .,. ,....... Mercury . Frankie Lain* <..,Mercury - .Sammy Kaye ,....... Columbia. Kay Starr v ..........Capitol Hugo Winterhalter.,.., . .Victor Fran Warren .....,..,. *.. Victor JenkinsrShc w .......... Decca Dean Martin ... .Capitol Vic Damone ... /,..... Mercury {Andrews Sis-Jenkins ..... .Decca \ Billy Eckstine .. ........ .M-G-M i KaUen-Bayps .......... Mercury } Red Foley .... . . .Decca Johnny Desmond ....... .M-G-M Jo Stafford ..,......... Capit ol Como ..,....... >;Victor Cole-Kcnton .,.... . Capitol Winter”; “Autumn Leaves”-“This Is the Time” (Decca). More firstrate sides by Crosby who is delivering in his best relaxed style. “Marsh- mallow World,” is solid winter- season novelty, should bounce into the hit lists with this cut. “Win- ter” gets its best treatment on this side and should stir some noise. Sonny Burke orch and Lee Gordon Singers aecomp. “Autumn^ Leaves” is a lovely ballad with a big poten- tial. ‘Time” also rates strongly. Axel Stordahrs orch accomps. Betty Hutton-Perry Como: , “A Bushel and a Peck”-*!She’s a Lady” (Victor). /The scramble on “Bushel” is fierce but this Hutton- Como cut should have no trouble in stepping out among the front- runners in the field. Miss Hut- ton’s vocal zanyisms neatly con- trast With Como’s casual manner. The Kitty Kallen-Richard Hayes slice for Mercury is another okay duet. Doris Day’s solo for Colum- bia pars the songstress’ customary sock delivery, this, side getting a big assist from a fine string back- ground. Connie Haines also punches this number across for Coral, with backing from a male vocal group and the Morey Feld combo. Victor bottom dock is a > cleverly written item. Mitchell Ayres orch backs up. Gordon Jenkins Orch and Chorus-Bill Kenny: “Stranger in the City”-“Our Lady of Fatima” (Decca). Bill Kenny, Ink Spots* tenor, delivers a strange and dra* matic religious number, “Stranger in the City,” Which: should make, some impact during the holiday season* Reverse is a /good rendi- tion of another religioso item. Gordon Jenkins orch and chorus furnishes excellent backgrounds. Jack Smith: “Ca Va Ca Va”-“A11 My Love” (Columbia). “Ca Va,” a French importation, is excellent material for Smith’s personality style. He gives this item a cute workover that sells. Equally at home with ballads/ Smith delivers neatly on “All My Love.” Bob Dewey Orch: “Beloved, Be Faithful”-“Home”; “Somebody’s Crying”-“Get Happy” (Victor). Newly organized RCA Victor band, under Dewey Bergman’s baton, dishes up clean, daiiceable brand of music in a sweet style that, at many points, overlaps with the Guy Lombardo and Sammy Kaye styles. Bergman, former Lombardo arranger, accents the reeds on top of a good beat. Combo is especial- ly effective on “Get Happy,” riding a snappier tempo. Tommy Furtado handles the vocals in firstrate style. Platter Pointers With football in the air, disk- eries are rushing their sets of col- lege tunes. Percy Faith has pack- aged a good collection for Colum- bia as has Vaughn Monroe for Vic- tor and Russ Morgan for Decca . . . “Molasses” is a meretricious tune but seems to be catching on none- theless. Roberta Quinlan comes up with another sticky version of the tune backed by Jan August for Mercury. This number, hoWevqrt . may have the good effect of kilting off this type of novelty, it’s hoped . . . Bob Crosby’s Bob Cats drive home another solid side in “Rain- bow Gal” (Coral) . A1 Morgan vocals excellently on “The Place Where I Worship,” for London , . . petty Clooney, sister of Rosemary Clooney, shows fine talent on the King Record side, “When You Love” . . . Russ Emery has a good [Figures in parentheses indicate number o] weeks song has been in the Top 10.1 *>+++♦+♦♦♦ f ♦ » ♦ ■♦ ♦ ♦ »♦»»ft♦ » » » f ♦ »+ ♦ »»♦ ♦ 4 # + ♦ ♦♦♦# »»♦♦ f ♦ ♦ jock and juke side in “I’m You” (Columbia) . . One of the best of the numerous slices on “The Petite Waltz” is Jerry Murad’s Harmonicats for Mercury , . Sarah Vaughan is tops in a couple of oldies, “Don’t Worry About Me” and “I. Cover The Wa- terfront” for M-G-M and on “Perdido” and, “Whippa-Whippa- Woo” for Columbia . . . Another good slice of “Life Is So Peculiar” by Monica Lewis (M-G-M) . . , In a strictly jazz vein, the superlative sax of Johnny Hodges is featured in “It Shouldn’t Happen To A Dream” on Mercer Records . . . Remington Records has packaged two fine jazz long-play sets by Ethel Waters and . Sarah Vaughaii . . » “When You Kiss A Stranger” is an interesting tune delivered -by Sonny Calello for Apollo Records ... “My Teats Won’t Dry,” vocalled by Tony Arden for Columbia, is worthwhile .... , Decca has pack- aged orchestral versions of the “Kiss Me Kate” and “South Pacific” scores on one long-play disk, New Queens Hall orch play- ing Under Louis Levy . . .Another solid “Dance Date” disk by Harry Janies for Columbia . . . Georgia Gibbs’ Version of “If I Were A Bell” is strong (Coral) »