Variety (December 1954)

¥eJnwday» December I, 1954, MUSIC 53 DISKERS ON TV TRAIL ‘Smooth’ Spice The Worst Now that the naughty lyrics thing has been brought out in the open, particularly by the Variety editorials, the music men concede thdt “Worse than the out-and-out tough stuff usually lound on the r&b labels, they're even worse when they're ‘‘smooth' lyrics.” That's the Brill Bldg, billing for slick spicy wordage—‘smooth.” And whether it’s those yesteryear naughty-, rabut-nice. (now considered) standards like “Paradise” or Cole Porter's “Love For Sale,” or the out-and-out “pool table papa” and “rock me with a. steady roll” or "the clock struck one (two, three, etc;),” they're of the same ilk. It's an open trade acceptance that the disk biz prosperity de- pends on “the kids” (so-called). Only difference is that today’s brand of “kid” ain't what they used to be, as statistics on reefers and juvenile delinquency, circa ppst-midcentury, fully attest. These' “kids,” for all their unsophisticated hero worship of this ior that disk idol, are plenty hip on the s/a. department,'and it’s just out-and-out wrong to further pander to that phase with wordage that should be beyond their years. The r&b (rhythm & blues) releases were called “race” or “Har- lem” records in another unself-conscious era,, blit whether r&b or “race,their raciness is no lohger limited to Harlemani The “smooth” wordage has gotten more daring and it’s just not worth it for a “fast buck” to further project such untoward ideas about “teach me tonight,” “make yourself comfortable,” and the like. The government-controlled British Broadcasting Gorp., with complete awareness of its vast impact because of die farflung. electronic projection into the intimacies of the home or the cluB/ the campus rooms and the fraternal environs, has been quick to control this brand of lyric, no matter how “smooth.” . ** •* ■ •* Whether it’s the rendition or the basic material, there is a great obligation from, within the music business to curb these effusions. True, they are sporadic and occasional, but the trend appears markedly inching forward, and before there is needless hue and cry from PTA’s and kindred civic and church groups, or even before it reaches the stage where the broadcasters, net<- work or indie, deem it politic to place a tabu, the music men on all fronts should take stock pronto. It just ain’t worth it! What’s more, it’s wrong and a disservice tp all concerned, especially with a recognition that the whole world is experiencing a moral retrogression 'which already has been linked to postwar de- terioration. Abel The “equal radio time” appeal -f* has spread to Tin Pan Alley. De- mand was touched off by Mitch Miller’s allegations on his WNEW (N. Y,) platter show Sunday (28) that rival diskers had “copied” the arrangement for Joan Weber’s Co- lumbia etching of “Let Me Go, Lover.” Bob Thiele, Coral’s art- ists & repertoire' chief; ‘and Jack Rael, Patti Page’s manager, imme- diately asked for “equail time” to- answer Miller. , Station - has agreed to air Thiele’s comments today (Wed.), while Rael will be given airtime the following day. WNEW also has set a roundtable gabfest for Miller, Thiele and Rael on Miller’s regu- lar Sunday afternoon show, “The Money Record.” Although Teresa Brewer (Coral), Patti Page (Mercury), Sunny Gale (RCA Victor) and Peggy Lee (Decca). cov^ cd Col’s “Let Me Go, Lover” si I Miller took only the Coral am« Mercury plat- ters to task. After hinting at “shady” distribution deals and “murky” practices, he slapped the Brewer 4 and Page versions as di- rect copies. He even tacked on the comment that Miss Page makes a habit of copying. Both Rael and Thiele pointed out that Miller has two Songs “riding” for him now that can be called copies. These are Doris Day’s “If I Give My Heart to You,” from both Denise Ldr’s Majar cut and Corinee Boswell’s Decca slice, and Rosemary Clooney’s “This Old House,” . from Stuart Ham- blen’s RCA Victor cut. Meantime, each faction is claim- ing that undue pressure is being put on. the deejays to get spins for their side. Col claims that the Joan Weber slice already is in 700,000 homes, while the other companies are. all claiming hefty sales. Capitol and MGM are sitting this battle out. CAP EXEC RESHUFFLE; Capitol Records reshuffled its admi istrative setup this week, creating a new post of general con- troller. Walter H. Theiss has been named to take oyer the; g.c. spot. In another move, Cap’s veepee in charge of finance, Daniel C. Bon- bright, takes over as company treasurer, replacing Victor O. Ber- quist, who ankled effective yester- day (Tues.). By MIKE GROSS The shortest route i;o a recording pact these days is Via the tv lanes. All a singer need now is a perma- nent slot on a tv show and. a disk deal is virtually assured. Video’s impact on the music biz has become increasingly potent and was evidenced again last week by the sales spurt of “Let Me Go, Lover,” after the Joan Weber Co- lumbia disking was showcased on CBS-TV’s “Studio One.” Now the disk company artists & repertoire men are scrambling for artists who can showcase their newly-etched tunes on their regular video out- lets. Heretofore, the performer and the disk company had to hunt up guest shots to get that im- portant video plug. The a&r men figure that artists on a regular tv stanza can riot only kick the tune off properly but can lay on it the first few weeks of the disk’s release: Importance of this plugging outlet has touched both major and indie record companies and everyone is out on a signirig st ee. Springboards The Garry Moore show (CBS-TV) has springboarded Denise Lor and Ken Carson to the shellac field. Miss Lor was launched on the indie Majar label, but recently switched to Mercury while, Carson Was tapped by Dave Miller’s Essex firm. Robert Q. Lewis’ stanza (CBS-TV) sent Jaye P. Morgan and Jan Arden into deals with RCA Victor. Russell Arms, a “Hit Parade” regular, was tagged by Epic Records, and Steve Lawrence, of the Steve Allen (NBC-TV) show, moved to Coral. Betty Clooney, who’s showcased on the Jack Paar stanza (CBS-TV), was picked up by Label X, while Betty Ann Grove, of CBS-TV’s “The Big Payoff,” currently is being dickered by two major labels.: The current disk company yen for tv singers follows along the same lines as last year’s splurge for Video comics. During that binge Red Buttons and Art Carney were tapped by Columbia and Wally Cox recorded for Victor. ASGAP Up* Devany John Devany, field rep for ASCAP, has been. appointed to the Society’s radio-television station relations division, Devany will headquarter in Philadelphia and will service radio- tv outlets along the southeast coast. Pregnant Possibilities Hollywood, Nov, 3()' Naturally, it's not recom- mended indiscriminately, but the Coast artists and reper- toire department of Columbia Records feels It has discovered a new factor in hit diskirigs. Motherhood. ,The best examples at hand are Jo Stafford and Rosemary Clooney: Miss Stafford became pregnant and had three hits in succession: “You ; Belong To Me,” “Keep It A Secret” arid • “Jambalaya.” Miss Clooney, now enciente, has had “Hey, There,” “This Ole House” and “Mambo Italiano” * quick, succession. Steve Carlin, head of RCA Vic- tor’s children’s disk operation for the past six years, is joining the radio-tv packaging agency, Louis Cowan, Inc., as vice-prexy and exec producer Jan. 1, While at RCA Vic- tor, Carlin had also been an active: producer of several video shows, notably “Rootle Kazootie,” as well as acting as consultant to the Caples Co., a Chicago ad agency. Carlin exits Victob on completely amicable terms and has been asked to Work on future kidisk packages on a consultation basis. Victor v.p, and general manager Manie Sacks even suggested that Carlin keep his office in the Victor headquarters so that he could more easily switch between the two jobs. Victor, at any rate, is riot naming a replace- ment for Carlin at this time. Be- sides the kidisks, Carlin worked on special projects, notably the “Show Biz” album, a 1953-54 sell- er, which is being reissued for the Xmas ’54 trade. In his new spot in the. Cowan agency, Carlin will, take over the exec production reins on such shows as “Stop the Music,” “Down You Go” and “Conversation.” Car- lin has also been working with Cowan on a variety of program ideas. White Joint Regent Vet plugger Elmore White >.has. joined Regent - Music as profession- al manager. White previously had been associated with Joe Diamond's Forrest Music firm: ■vRegent is headed by Gene Good- maid^ The Of Major disk company execs are getting worried over the heavy ac- cent now being put on the physical packaging of longplay platters. What’s in the groove, they fear, is being subordinated to how attrac- tive the album covers can be made. While no one is opposed to bet- ter packaging, the disk execs are troubled by the steep rise> in costs necessitated by the fancy outer wrappings. Multiple color jack- ets, boxed sets, leatherbound al- bums with numerous photographs, are now becoming the rule rather than the exceptional packaging idea/ Now that the more pqpular works in the longhair repertory have beeri cut in multiple versions by all the major companies, th only competitive pitch still open in the de luxe packaging. )The.in- die companies, moreover, are not being left behind in this selling phase and numerous ultra-fancy in- die longhair packages are now on the shelves. An exec of one major compariy said his compariy would issue de luxe “loss leaders” from time to time iri order to boost- the whole catalog. He stated, however, that most fancy album packages in the" future would be marked up in price to cover the upped produc- tion costs. Originally, the diskers produced faricy packages for multiple-platter albums. Currently, however, the trend has spread to single platter LPs, many of which are being sold in boxes rather than the more con- ventional jackets. Moondog Wins Air Suit; Would Rather Be Disk Jock Than Press Claim Moondog, the blind street m cian, would rather program Allan Freed’s (WINS, N.Y.) dee jay show than press his suit for $100,000 damages. In N.Y. Supreme Court last week, th . musician came out on top in his; appeal to restrai Freed from using the “Moondog” tag. Referring to the $100,000 suit. Justice Carroll G. Walter stated that the musician might have referee decide what damages he had- suffered “if he thinks it worthwhile!” According to Moon- dog’s attorney, Abner Greenberg, the blind musician is more inter- ested ip selecting platters for the Freed show than in seeking a coin settlement. . Suit was brought to court by Moondog, nom-de-street of Thomas Louis Hardin, agaipst Freed, who had been referring to himself on the air as “King of the Moondog- gers,” his show as “The Moonaog Show” and his audience as “Moon- doggers.” Freed will now drop, all reference to the “Moondog” mon- iker. . Freed, who came to New York a few months ago from WJW, Cleve- land, revealed that the Cleveland station was still operating a “Moon- dog” show. Greenberg currently is pressing to restrain the station from using the tag. Forms closing shortly Usual Advertising rates prevail Special exploitation advantages Copy and space reservations may. beseint to any Variety office NIW YORK 34 1*4 w. 4** ir. HOLLYWOOD. It 4311 Vk<«C f. CHIC ADO 11 411 Ili4licklf«« - Av«. LONDON. W. C. 1 8 St.MertlaVHece TreM«er H«ere =c-l= FOR GERMANY, AUSTRIA E. B. Marks Music expanded its. global affiliations last week, ink- ing a longterm pact for exclusive representation in Germany and Austria with Ralph Siegel’s Musik Verlag. Tieup marks an addition to the already existing list of Marks’ foreign reps in Italy, Spain, Holland, Australia, Brazil, Japan and all the Scandinavian countries. Top individual music companies handling the firm’s catalog in Eng- land and France will continue’ ‘ their present status. . v Siegel; one of the leading •Ger- man publishers/ also is a song- writer, He - recently' .penned * the German lyric for “Malaguena.' The German firm - also will* rap Marks* * serious vmusic 'catalog. Siegel returns to his home base later this week. ‘