Variety (December 1954)

Wednesday, December 8, 1954 MUSIC 41 PREP KAYO OF 78 SPEED IN ’55 SPA, MPPA Joining Legal Appeal To Get Royalties on Pre-1909 Tunes Importance of the Marks Musics appeal against the N. Y. Federal ‘ Court ruling that mechanical royal- ties are not payable on pre-1909 copyrights is cuing both the Song- writers Protective Assn, and the Music Publishers Protective Assn, to enter the case on Marks’ side as amicus curiae or friends of the court. Marks dropped the origi- nal decision earlier this year in its action against Remington Records to collect royalties on the oldie, “In the Good Old Summertime.” Both the MPPA and SPA, in their petitions to enter the case as amicus curiae, declare they are not involved in the specifics of the Marks vs. Remington suit, but want to discuss the general ideas underlying the case. MPPA, through its attorney Sidney Wm. Wattenberg, and SPA, through its attorney John Schulman, jointly applied to the Federal Appellate division for the right to present briefs in the case. Both the SPA and MPPA will seek to establish that mechanical royalties should be paid on tunes written before the Copyright Act of 1909. Basic contention of pub- lishers in such situations is that, even if the song itself is in the public domain as far as mechani- cals are concerned, the later ar- rangements are entitled to full pro- tection of the copyright statute. The original court’s ruling af- fects royalty payments on all tunes written ‘ between 1898 and 1909 when the two 28-year terms of copyright protection were es- tablished. All tunes written be- fore 1898 are already in the public domain. Dmh of Sr if cun's Tin fan Alloy Lawrence Wright MM Pop Music as the Best Anglo-U.S. 6 Diplomat 9 * . * * of tho many bylina pieces in Hie forthcoming 49th Anniversary Number of JETr due soon Capitol Aims For lover’ Carbon In Gleason on TV ASCAP Distributes Special $1,090,000 * t IS FINAL BLOW Melon Earned on O’seas Performances The oldstyle 78 rpm disks, W’hich have been steadily declining in the single field in favor of the 45 rpm platters, will probably be knocked J out of the box completely next year due to a now-considered in- ! evitable change in the industry’s pricing setup. In line with current thnking of some major company : execs, it’s expected that the price of the 78s will go up from 89c to about $1 sometime in 1955. While the 78s are going up, the j 45s will hold the line at 89c. Thus, | ; the slow speed platters will not | only have the convenience of un- ! breakability, portability and easy i storage, but will also be cheaper. 1 At the present time, the 45s are forging ahead of 78s in the single j J field and with the price differential operating, it’s expected that the 45s will quickly assume an over- whelming dominance to the pont where some companies may sus- pend the manufacture of 78s al- together. Major factor in the projected price increase on the 78s by some companies is the increased cost of production. As the 78s decline in importance, their unit cost of pro- duction rises and will continue to rise until their final demise. Industry execs Will not be sorry to see the end of the 78s and the establishment of a two-speed basis in the wax market. With 45s domi- Capitol Records is banking on lightning striking twice on tv. Label will try to duplicate the impact of the video plug on Joan j nant in the pop field for singles Weber’s Columbia etching of “Let! and albums via the EP sets and Me Go, Lover” over CBS-TV’s • the 33 rpm LPs firmly entrenched Songsmhh Pat Ballard hat hit own Umi of How Not to Be A Songwriter * * * an interesting bylina place in tha 49th Anniversary Number af Fred Rose, 'Berlin Of Country Music,’ Dies In Nashville at 57 Fred Rose, who died last week (1) in Nashville at 57, was one of the most successful publisher- writers in the hillbilly music field. Often referred to as “the Irving Berlin of country music.” Rose be- gan his career as an ASCAP w'riter, but in the past decade his major publishing activities were under the BMI banner. His firm, Acuff-Rose, launched in 3942 with hillbilly singer Roy Aeuff. has racked up more than 10.000,000 sheet copy sales w'ith 1.300,000 sales credited to “Ten- nessee Waltz.” His son, Wesley, J will continue operation of the firm, as well as Milene Music (ASCAP* and Hickory Records, which w'as formed last year. A tunesmith in his own right, Rose also was noted as a song- doctor. It’s understood that he nur- tured a flock of tyro writers, fixing up their songs and taking no (Continued on page 46) Rosa Ponselle Comeback Via New Victor Platter Rosa Ponselle, onetime leading Met Opera soprano who retired about 20 years ago at the height of her career, is making a comeback via wax. RCA Victor is issuing an LP platter of songs which she re- cently recorded in her home in Baltimore under the diskery’s supervision. Decision to make a new com- mercial disk follows Miss Pon- selle’s recent success with a pri- vate set she made in behalf of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra fund campaign. over “Studio One’’ a couple of weeks ago with its Bob Manning slice of “My Love Song To You” on Jackie Gleason’s show (CBS-TV) Satur- day (11). Tune, which was especially writ- ten for the program by Roy Alfred and A1 Frisch, will be an integral part of the show (Gleason and Art Carney will play the writers of the song), and it will wind up with the airing of the Manning etching. Diskery is going on the hook for lots of coin on the platter. It was cut last Friday (3) and 200,000 rec- ords are being pressed and shipped around the country so they’ll be in the retailers’ hands when they open for business the Monday fol- lowing the tv plug. Cap also is prepping a heavy exploitation campaign to push the platter’s tv preem. “If it doesn’t happen,” one Cap exec said, “we’ll just have to eat those 200,000 disks.” Tune, incidentally, is being pub- lished by Songsmiths, Gleason’s publishing operation. in the longhair market, dealer in ventory problems will be enor- mously eased. Boost in the 78 rpm price, if and when it’s executed, will also en- courage the sale of new phono- graph equipment. It’s expected that customers, who are still stick- ing to the 78s, wll switch to the new speeds to cash in on the sav- ings. CECIL THE SERPENT READIED FOR WAXING Hollywood, Dec. 7. Cecil the Seasick Serpent and his pals are finally going to be available on wax. Decca set a deal over the week- end for a long term kidisk pact with Bob Clampett, originator of the local television show, “Time for Beany.” Layout is one of the highest-rated moppet video pro- grams on the air and deals cur- rently are in the works for national distribution of the program. Henri Rene Going Back to Coast As RCA A&R Head Henri Rene. RCA Victor musical director who has been stationed in New York for the past two years, will return to Hollywood early next year to take over the post of Vic- tor’s artists and repertoire chief on the Coast. Rene replaces Harry Geller, who exits the company to direct a series of tv films to be made by the Ames Bros. Rene, in effect, will be resum- ing the functions he gave up when he came east in 1952. He will be Coast a&r chief of all Victor de- partments, from pop through hill- billy. He will report to Joe Carl- ton. Victor’s overall pop a&r head, in N. Y. In addition to his a&r duties, Rene will also continue to record with his studio orchestra. An im- portant segment of Victor artists, such as Dinah Shore, Tony Martin and Phil Harris, work on the Coast and will cut under Rene’s direction. Geller was brought into the company by Carlton, who worked with him while Carlton was a&r chief of Mercury Records. Rene went to the Coast over the weekend for conferences with Carlton there and will remain there for several days. He will probably return to N. Y. the end of this week to begin clearing his desk. MGM Inks Longhairs MGM Records bolstered its long- hair roster last week with the pact- ing of pianist Lenore Engdahl and maestro Arthur Winograd. Miss Engdahl’s initial release, a collection of modern piano pieces, ls se t for release early in Febru- ary. Winograd already has cut a series of chamber orchestral "orks. Latter package is due late in January. OUT SOON! The 49th Anniversary Number Of Forms closing shortly Usual Advertising rates prevail Special exploitation advantages Copy and space reservations may be sent to any Variety office NEW YORK 34 154 W. 44th St. HOLLYWOOD 28 4311 Yucca St. CHICAGO 11 412 N. Michigan Ava. LONDON. W. C. 2 8 St. Martin’s Placa Trafalgar Squara Writer and publisher members of the American Society of Com- posers, Authors & Publishers re- ceived a big year^end windfall last week with a special distribution of foreign income. Dividend amounted to about $1,000,000 and will be followed shortly by ASCAP’s usual fourth-quarter payoff, which i& expected to top $4,000,000. Foreign money covers the 1951- 53 period from England, Australia, France, Germany, Holland, Portu- gal, Switzerland and several South American countries. This coin is collected lay the foreign perform- ing rights societies and is then re- mitted to ASCAP. Most of the coin comes from the exhibition of U S. pictures abroad. Splitup of the foreign coin, be- tween ASCAP writers and pub- lishers is highly complex, with each writer and publisher being paid off on actual performances abroad. In addition, some U.S. publishers have deals with foreign firms or affiliates to collect the perform- ance money, so that they would not share in the current ASCAP distribution. In any case, the $1,000,000 melon is understood to be largest foreign dividend ever distributed by ASCAP. ASCAP’s domestic revenue Is split evenly down the middle for allocation to writers and publishers under their own payoff systems. •i < Andrews Sis May Stay As Duo Depending On , Aussie Aud Reaction Hollywood, Dec. 7. The future of the Andrews Sis- ters may be determined during a current 11-day trek in Australia. Maxene and LaVerne Andrews are working Down Under as a duo, sharing billing with Billy Daniels in a unit set up to play dates in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. They’re getting a flat $25,000 for the tour. Sisters have a tentative deal wdth British singer Dorothy Squires to join the act next year, replacing Patti Andrews who has gone out as a single. However, the deal has not been finalized and will not be finalized until Maxene and La- Verne return from Australia. Meanwhile, sisters are paying careful attention to Aussie audi- ence reaction in an effort to de- termine whether they have a strong potential as a dup. If the reaction is good, the deal with Miss Squires probably will not be finalized and the Andrews Sisters will hence- forth work as a pair. Sacks Better, Attends Atlantic City RCA Meet Atlantic City, Dec. 7. Manie Sacks, RCA vice-prexy and general manager of the disk division, exited the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia last weekend in time to attend the RCA meetings in Atlantic City this week. Meetings of all the RCA consumer products division convened yesterday (6) and will run to Friday (10). Robert Seidel, exec vice-prexy over consumer products, will pre- side at several of the sessions of the field staffers. It’s the first time that the disk staffers are meeting joinlly with other RCA depart- ments, such as radio-tv, phono equipment, airconditioners, ranges, etc. Shaw’s European 0.0. Arnold Shaw, veep of Hill & Range Songs, is flying to Europe with his wife this Friday (10) lor a month’s holiday. “Of course I won’t shut off my ears," says the music man, "and if we hear anything worthwhile for America in Madrid, Home, , Paris and London, naturally we ll i act pronto.” J