Variety (December 1954)

Decca’s 'Show Business’ Set Continued from pace 42 moth showcase, and “No Business" No credits at the Roxy, where it is concur- just a bio rently. At what? necca's albums of both super- then see J musicals are tiptop jobs. "Bust- g» Co ness” has the edge although, sans nacneu, , the variegated visual interpreta- Lawrence J ons the reprises of “Alexander’s Maybe C< Kagtime Rand” becomes a bit sur- current ti feifing. Done in the picture » , on Mbum is palatable because of the produc- f nese a tion values attendant to Mitzi Gay- yiihans g nor doing a French oolala version; } he saloon the versatile Donald O’Connor in lnt ° the ) ' oln-'cn nterpretei'oii in radio and kilts; the spectacle of the Tyrolean nave a fu version; along with the other lush Jpwed orchestral treatments. However, Ja this is a lesser detail. : j!; lnda , on , _ _ . . Cohen’s d ‘The Laugh of the Party’ up (Dick In its 10-inch LP, Decca’s af- Phil Foste filiated Coral didn’t do as right by why he’s 1 eight comics doing eight comedy the U. S., monologs. It is cornily titled “The Brooklyn 1 Laugh of the Party.” One obvi- Second ously better title could be “No troduced 1 Couvert Charge,” because these funny “C eight funsters are dominantly iden- This will tified with the niteries, and their in time, routines are in the cafe idiom. cuit alumi The very album title page looks ture with as if Coral wanted to sneak the Hollywood whole thing out of town and not Broadway onto any customer’s phonograph, and Lover No credits, no names, no nothin’— just a blonde babe yacking it up. At what? Turn over dear and you then see Joey Adams, Steve Allen, Myron Cohen, Phil Foster, Buddy Hackett, Jimmie Komack, Eddie Lawrence and Jack Miles billed. Maybe Coral was following the current trend of featuring babes on album covers. These are the latterday vaude- villians gone underground, into the saloons, with occasional airings into the wild blue yonder, i.e., radio and tv. Adams and A1 Kelly have a funny comedy routine fol- lowed by Steve Allen’s bebop fable, “Jack and the Beanstalk,” kinda on the forced side. Myron | Cohen’s dialectic comedy picks it up (Dick Jacobs directed) and Phil Foster’s pure Gowanus proves why he’s Flatbush’s ambassador to the U. S., with his monolg on a Brooklyn baseball fan. Second half Is even stronger, in- troduced by Buddy Hackett’s very funny “Chinese Waiter” routine. This will become a minor classic in time. The young borscht cir- I cuit alumnus, now even more ma- ture with the refinement of time in Hollywood and concurrently in the Broadway legit comedy, “Lunatics and Lovers,” waxed this some time Top Christmas Sellers (As Reported by MDS) 1. Home Holidays . Roncom 2. White Christmas .. Berlin 3. Silver Bells Famous 4. Winter Wonderland BVC 5. Rudolph St. Nicholas 6. Christmas Alphabet Budd 7. Mom Kissing Santa Regent 8. Santa Is Coming .. . Feist 9. Mom Doing Ma’bo Regent 10. Santo Natale Spier Jazz Upsurge Cuts Into Band Biz A$ Campuses Call for Hot Combos ♦ Upsurge of jazz has cut a hefty *v | ■ nr slice out of the danceband biz take Uecca Inks Waxm?n year. The orchs have been „ ... TT „ . losing out to the iazz combos in Fianz Waxman, Hoi ywood com- th e battle for - hookings as well as poser and conductor, has been on (i !C ^isk i eve j signed to a term pact bv Decca , . . . . . Records. Resides writing for films, . , *’? ni ’ Is hrooming interest in Waxman also has composed stand- ononed up now hooking ard concert works. v ’ |c|as lor . ,he . a f t( \ rs a " d »re ... . _ , new moving into territories that Waxman won two Oscars for Ins | belonged exclusively to C’e touring usical scores in the filrns “Son- ni . chs ; The takeover has ago. It’s been one of his standard Waxman won two Oscars for his b"on "cd ixelilwiv ■to he tourin . routines. It s easily the best Hem musical scores in the films. “Sun- ord," The in tskVnvrr h,< of the eight entries. Coral had re- set Boulevard” and A Place In 1 been especially' noticeable in col leased it singly, as has been the The Sun.” I ,“ C e n and t niversi v dates Agen- ta ttta MthX™' the 0,her item “ i • elS are flooded vvfth calTs t^f.ll anthology. . . ... these bookings with jazz combos, Jimmie Komack has a sophiti- JlMSCl JUlD NllCrV and in manv instances the groups cated pianologistic monology on r J are earning as much for a one- I “The Daily News,” more in the Ae I npolp ff|«* Alniimc * niter as the larger dance orchs. ididVn of the Blue Angel and Ruban /Id faUtalC IIM n , lllo Dave Brubeck and Gerry Mulli- Bleu set, but OK on wax. This is * Hollywood, Dec. 21. I gan, for example, have been get- followed by Eddie Lawrence's Next Mel Torme album for Coral ting as high as $1,000 a night for ®" “°J d - 0ld V ‘enn»,” a probably will be a “Torme at the a campus stand. In order to meet sharp satiric lampoon of the iios- _ , „ . _. . the crowing demand for the jazz talgic exponents. And Jackie Miles Crescendo package. Singer cut 12 j CO mbos, the percentcries are on a tops it off with “I’m A-Rollin’,” sides with the backing of a four j steady prowl for new outfits and another sharp bit of contemporane- piece band as part of his regular are laying a heavy promotion and ous humor that has durabilitly. floorshow stint. exploitation barrage on these It’s too good a package to camou- j Crescendo, Sunset Strip nitery, I Properties. “ - — » - I r- ” ” • another sharp bit of contemporane- piece band as part of his regular are laying a heavy promotion and ous humor that has durabilitly. floorshow stint. exploitation barrage on these It’s too good a package to camou- j Crescendo, Sunset Strip nitery, Properties, flage the way the Coral people did. , is owned by deejay Gene Norman In the shellac field, the jazz This is savvy show biz stuff, circa and Chuck Landis. Similar disk combos have been racking up a 1954-55, and deserves better mer- deals may be made with other ar- strong sales score, especially in chandising presentation. tists who work the room. the package line. The disk com- BETJUL DISK BEST SELLEBS u 0> O M O 2 Survey of retail disk best sellers based on reports ob- tained from leading stores in 22 cities and showing com- parative sales rating for this and last week. National Rating This Last wk. wk. 1 1 2 2 3 7 4 5 5 3 6 4 7 5 8 7 9 13 10 9 11 15 12 11 16A 25 16B 12 18 19 20 14_ 21A 23 21B 19 23 23_ 24A IQ 24B 17 Artist, Label, Title I as 1 £ I eo CHORDETTES (Cadence) “Mister Sandman” 12 6 JOAN WEBER (Columbia) “Let Me Go, Lover” 2 1 2 AM-ES BROTHERS (Victor) “Naught y Lady of Shady Lane” 3 10 .. "DeCASTRO SISTERS (Abbott) “Teach Me Tonight” 5 1 ROSEMARY CLOONEY (Col.) “This Ole House” “EDDIE FISHER (Victor) “I Need Y ou Now” 8 .. "PERRY COMO (Victor) “Papa Loves Mambo” 4 9 "EDDIE FISHER '(Victor) “Count Your Blessings” 7 SARAH VAUGHAN (Mercury) “Make Yourself Comfortable”. 6 6 8 “HALEY’S COMETS~Tbecca) “Shake, Rattle and Roll” 4 "FONTANE SISTERS (Dot) “Hearts of Stone” 4 FOUR ACES (Decea) “Mister Sandman” BILLY VAUGHN (Dot) “Melody of Love” COWBOY SCHOOL (Decea) “ Open Up You r He art” H. WINTERHALTER (Victor) “Barefoot Contessa” ROSEMARY CLOONEY (Col ) “Mambo Italiano” 7 „. .. DORIS DAY (Columbia) “If I Give My Heart to You”. .10 .. PERRY COMO (Victor) “Home for the Holidays” 9 .. 3 PAUL—FORD (Capitol) “Whither Thou Goest” HALEY’S COMETS (Decea) “Dim, Dim the Lights” DeJOHN SISTERS (Epic) “No M ore” 10 PENGUINS (Dootone) ^Earth Angel” THREE CHUCKLES (Label X) “Runaround” DON CORNELL (Coral) “Hold My Hand” 5 .. .. JAYE P. MORGAN (Victor) “That’s All I Want From You” e ’O « « £ 2 < fiu 1 1 5 2 3 3 2 7 8 8 6 10 10 6 I I 1 1 4 6.. 4 5 10 3.. 10 6 8 6 10 1 .. .. 2 8 5.. 2 3 7 7 4 5 .. 6 5 7 8 4.. 4 7 7 4 .. 2 ..-5 7 9.. 6 9 4 8 .. 5 7 9 6.. 9 8 6.. 9 .. 3 .. 2 9 8 1 .. .. t. 4 . .. 4 .. 5 3 .. 4 10 9 10 7 .. 6 8 7 7 . «. 6 •• *. %. .. 10 SIX TOP ALBUMS 1 166 2 153 3 84 . 82 6 71 5 70 8 66 . 47 . 38 . 13 7 12 2 .. .. 9 11 the package line. The disk com- panies have been issuing a steady flow of new jazz releases, but they figure the market is big enough and still growing. Many orchs are still on the disk company rosters but they’re not getting the same promotional push as they did a couple of years ago. Only sock band slice this year was Ralph Marterie’s “Skokiaan” for Mercury. Orchs also are taking it on the cjhin from the touring jazz pack- ages and “big shows.” Orchsters have been squawking that fans have been staying away from their gigs because they only offer one name, while the packages have been giving them as many as 10 stars. The touring packages also have clipped the booking opportunities for the orchs. Promoters have gone all out to nab the packages and in most cases have been brushing off band bookings to con- centrate on the concert package promotion. * DECCA UPS HURLEY TO HEAD N.Y. SALES BRANCH Edward Hurley, manager of Decea Records’ Philadelphia branch, has been upped to man- ager of the New York branch in line with the diskery’s policy of promoting from within the com- pany. Hurley, with Decca’s sales force since 1946, will work under Albert E. Simpson, vice-prexy of Decea Distribution Corp. and east- ern division manager. Leonard Salidor, who has been doing disk promotion for Decea in Philly, takes over Hurley’s spot in the city. Both will assume their new posts on Jan. 1. Hurley replaces Lou Klayman who left Decca to head up Mer- cury’s newly organized N. Y. branch. x Alan Freed to Promote ‘Rock & Roll Ball’ in N.Y. Deejay Alan Freed will head up New York's first rhythm & blues bash at the St. Nicholas Ballroom Jan. 14-15. Freed, who airs on the Gotham indie WINS, will feature the winners of his current r&b popularity poll at the shindig. The jamboree will be tagged “Bock and Roll Ball.” Freed pre- viously had promoted similar af- fairs in Cleveland and Newark un- der the “Moondog Ball” monicker but he recently lost the title to the original Moondog, Louis Hardin, blind perucssionist who works on the streets of N. Y.