Variety (December 1954)

48 MUSIC Wednesday, December 8, 1954 Reeled Manuti Local 802 Prez; Iucci Now Out A1 Manuti, president pf Local 802, N. Y. wing of the American Federation of Musicians, w'a? re- elected as topper of the largest AFM local in a complete rout of opposing parties. When the bal- lots were counted last week, Ma- nuti received 6,351 votes against 1,971 votes for the leader of the opposing Blue ticket, Charles R. Iucci. It was the biggest margin In recent years. Manuti also swept all candidates for his Musicians Ticket in with him. The new exec board com- prises Max Arons, Irving Bloom, Sherman Brande, Robert Effros, Patsy Fasanella, A1 Gentile, Joe Lindwurm, Tiny Walters and Harry Kantor. A1 Knopf was renamed as vice-prexy; Aldo Ricci as secre- tary, and Hy Jaffe as treasurer. The current sweep of Manuti contrasted to his initial victory two years ago, when he was elected by. a relatively close margin as prexy and discovered that the majority of the exec board were adherents of the opposing Blue Ticket. Many of the Blue Ticket supporters on the exec board, however, soon switched to Manuti. With his defeat in his bid for the prexy post, Iucci now leaves the post of secretary which he has held for many years. Iucci has been a longtime administrative exec for the local and, for the past two years, was head of the Blue Ticket. Also defeated with him were two former Local 802 prexies, Dick McCann and Sam Suber, both of whom ran for the exec board. There were no clearcut differ- ences in programs between the opposing groups this year, so union insiders ascribe Manuti’s sweep to his personal popularity. Manuti’s major problem has been and re- mains the chronic unemployment situation among the 30,000 AFM members in N. Y. “DIXIE DANNY” Recorded by The Matys Brothers Sound #106 A Published by SOUND MUSIC CO. Soiling Agent Moonlight Music, Inc. 1733 BROADWAY, NEW YORK A WONDERFUL SEASONAL SONG St r end Cahn'j 'LET IT SHOW!" UT IT SHOW!" LTTITSNOW!" CAHN MUSIC COMPANY ZARIEfY Scoreboard OF TOP TALENT AND TUNES Compiled from Statistical Reports of Distribution Encompassing the Three Major Outlets Coin Machines Retail Disks Retail Sheet Music as Published in the Current Issue NOTE : The current comparative sales strength of the Artists and Tunes listed hereunder is arrived at under a statistical system comprising each of the three major sales outlets enu- merated above. These findings are correlated with data from wider sources, which are exclusive with Variety. The positions resulting from these findings denote the OVERALL IMPACT de- veloped from the ratio of points scored, two ways in the case of talent (coin machines, retail disks) and three ways in the case of tunes (coin machines, retail disks and retail sheet music). POSITIONS This Last Week Week TALENT / ARTIST AND LABEL TUNE CHORDETTES (Cadence) Mister Sandman fl Need You Now EDDIE FISHER (Victor) i Count Your Blessings Fanny This Ole House 4 5 5 7 .6 8 9 10 8 10 POSITIONS This Last Week Week ROSEMARY CLOONEY (Columbia) <{Hey There (Mambo Italiano JOAN WEBER (Columbia) Let Me Go, Lover De CASTRO SISTERS (Abbott) Teach Me Tonight fShake, Rattle and Roll BILL HALEY’S COMETS (Decca) 4 Dim, Dim the Lights [Rock Around the Clock PERRY COMO (Victor) J£f? a L ° v ® s , Man l bo /Things I Didn t Do DON CORNELL (Coral) Hold My Hand PAITD \ (Mister Sandman FOUR ACES (Decca) / lt’ s a Woman’s World AMES BROTHERS (Victor) Naughty Lady of Shady Lane TUNES (♦ASCAP. fBMI) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 8 2 3 > • 6 5 4 7 9 TUNE ♦MISTER SANDMAN PUBLISHER Morris fLET ME GO, LOVER : Hill & Range ♦I NEED YOU NOW • T Miller fTHIS OLE HOUSE Hamblen ♦COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS Berlin ♦TEACH ME TONIGHT Hub-Leeds ♦PAPA LOVES MAMBO Shapiro-Bernstein ♦IF I GIVE MY HEART TO YOU Miller ♦HOLD MY HAND..! Raphael ♦NAUGHTY LADY OF SHADY LANE . Paxton Jack Rael Counters Miller’s ‘Copy’ Charge; ‘It’s Only Competition’ The “great music business de- bate” sparked by Mitch Miller’s allegations that rival diskers had “copied” the arrangement for Joan Weber’s Columbia etching of “Let Me Go, Lover” faded last week into just a quarter-hour retort over WNEW, N. Y. indie, by Jack Rael, Patti Page’s manager. - ; Miller, Col’s a&r chief, started the brawl on his regular WNEW. N. Y. show,' ‘‘The Money Record,” Another BMI *pj n Up" Hit THIS YEAR’S SANTA BABY eartha kitt ** corded b r & JETHRO Victor E UG GUMS . Victor Pf PEP, *ORCH Sooco (Non-exciusivfiy „ c#(ls#d — • • Rainbow Published by trinity MUSIC, INC. i*p I E4 1 irr XT I when he slapped the Coral (Teresa Brewer) and Mercury (Patti Page) versions as “copies” of the Col cut. Rael and Coral’s a&r chief Bob Thiele immediately demanded ‘‘equal time” to answer Miller and the station slotted them both for a 15-minute shot each during the I week as well as for a special roundtable with Miller on his Sun- day <5) show. Thiele, however, didn’t show and Rael came on last Wednesda'y <1> for his return vol- ley. Everything was dropped after that. In his turn at bat, Rael stressed the importance of competition to the record industry. “There’s no reason.” he said, “why the public should be forced to buy only one version.” If the song is a big enough hit, he added, everybody should have a piece of it. He men- tioned that it's become a common practice for major labels to cover the indies and none has raised any squaks. He cited Mille-’s following Denise Lor’s “If I Give My Heart To You” on Majar with a Doris Day slice that had the same basic idea. It’s not copying per se, he wound up. it’s competition, and it’s good for the record industry. ‘Hit Parade’ Lineup (On Dec. 4 NBC-TV Show) 1. Mister Sandman ...Morris 2. Count Blessings ....Berlin 3. If I Give My Heart . .Miller 4. This Ole House . Hamblen 5. Teach Me Tonight ... Hub 6. Papa Loves Mambo . S-B 7. I Need You Now ...Miller ‘Hit & Run’ Hit With 150G Infringe Suit Los Angeles, Dec. 7. Charges of unfair competition and wrongful appropriation, involv- ing his tune, “Blessing in Dis- guise,” were filed in Jack Watson’s $150,000 suit in Superior Court. Named as defendants are Lou Levy’s Duchess Music, Don Rose- land, Roy Cormier, Mel Van and 10 John Does. Plaintiff declares the first 14 bars of the song, “Hit and Run Affair,” are the same as those in his “Blessing.” He demands an ac- counting of all profits in addition to damages. Tune was etched by Perry Como for RCA Victor. DELANEY BICYCLING AGAIN Joe Delaney, RCA’s Label X sales chief, heads westwards again this week on a cross-country tour of distribs. He recently returned from a similar checkup. Decca, 20th Team For Big Push On ‘Business’ Album Decca Records and 20th-Fox are teaming on a major promotional campaign for the soundtrack album, less the voice of Marilyn Monroe, on “There’s No Business Like Show Business.” Diskery is kicking off its drive next week with spe- cial screening for disk jockeys and retailers in all the major cities. Decca branches are setting up the screenings in conjunction with 20th’s staff. Irving Berlin, who did the score for the pic, has taped interviews for circulation among the jockeys and will, by remote control, do the same kind of plugging job he did for the Paramount pic and Decca album of “White Christmas.” Ber- lin’s music publishing staff is also hitting the road to plug the film and album. With Miss Monroe out of the Decca set due to her RCA Victor deal, Decca has wrapped up the rest of the top players, includ- ing Ethel Merman, Donald O’Con- nor, Dan Dailey, Johnnie Ray (courtesy of Columbia Records) and Mitzi Gaynor. Georgie Auld to Slice Jazz Oldies for Coral Hollywood, Dec. 7. Coral is completing a new 12- inch LP album of jazz classics featuring Georgie Auld. Initial four sides were cut last week and the remainder will be recorded this week to wind up the package which will be released early next year. Album shies* away from “wild” jazz to provide a special treatment of the classics. Auld is backed by Jud Conlon’s Rythmaires and side- men who include vibist Terry Gibbs. Latest DECCA Release STARS NEVER CRY b/w NOT TOO YOUNG TO HAVE MEMORIES CHARLIE APPLEWHITE P«r. Mgt. Direction WYNN LASSNER WM. MORRIS AGENCY from the 20th Century Pox CinemaSt ipf Production WOMAN S WOP. I D” IT’S A WOMAN’S WORLD ROBBINS MUSIC CORPORATION It's Music by JESSE GREER Program Today Y os tor day's FLAPPERETTE MILLS MUSIC, INC. (1419 Broadway, Now York) America's-Fastest ^Selling-Records!