Variety (Jan 1933)

Tuesday, Jannuy 24, 1933 MVSIC VARJOETr 49 ASCAP ADMITS RADIO ROP Admish Scale More Important Than Bands in Ohio Ballrooms Canton, Jan. 23. Unless eastern Ohio ballroom managers agree to standardization of admission prices, the dance busi- ness has little chance to survive in this terrltoi'y, according to H. W. Ferry, managing director of Land- O-Dance, one of the best known of eastern Ohio ballrooms, and for the past 16 years identified with lead- ing ballrooms of the middle west. For several months eastern Ohio ballroom operators have been com- pelled, they say, to lower admission prices because of unfair competition in their respective centers. Pro- vailing price a year ago in most of the better known ballrooms was 50 cents. Today, few ballrooms in this territory are asking in excess of 26 cents top. Conferring recently with several ballroom operators in Cleveland, Perry found that most of the boys are giving more consideration to admission price than band bookings. They claim that the dancers have b.ecome more Interested in the entry fee than the band attraction. Since last fall most ballrooms in this area have been offering medi- ocre bands for the 26q a person charge. In many instances the mid- week sessions drop to a 16c. top and in Akron one leading ballroom Is back to its.usual lOo nights, split- ting gross receipts 60-60 with the band and no guarantee. Few dance operators have cared to gamble with big name bands this winter. Bookers have found this poor territory for their ace attrac- tions other than at Land-O-Dance where Perry has been offering one or two names each month. While there Is little moneiy to be made with the big bands, he believes their presence adds prestige. Those ballroom operators who also axe identified with parks in the summer are seriously worried over '33 prospects because of admission prices having been lowered to a new level. Some of the ballroom men claim they are unable to meet op- erating costs and that unless higher admission prices are charged In the future they will have to close. Idle Musicians Press For a Ban on Aliens The Hague, Jan. 12. Agitation of idle Dutch musicians against alien competitors has reached a climax. Street demon- strations and petitions to govern- ment were responsible for a meet- ing called by interests of hotels, restaurants and cabarets where most of tho foreigners are em- ployed. Dutch mus^ans' association was asked to stat4 their case and also Dutch Tourist Association, which sees In this aahon a danger to tour- ing Interests^ of Holland. Besides the hotels warned against too dras- tic government veto of alien musi- cians, as quite a contingent of Dutch musicians is earning a living In England and Germany. The meeting appointed a committee to study the question. In Husband's Place Boston, Jan. 23. Mme. Agide Jacchia, formerly Ester Ferrabini, operatic soprano, and widow of the late Boston Sym- phony maestro, Is back from Italy, where her husband died. She an- nounces she will take up his work at the Boston Conservatory of Music. Mme. Jacchia has already taken her husband's desk at the conserva- tory. Lincoln's Bands Lincoln, Jan. 23. Ted Cooper, recently coming into the management of the Marigold ballroom here, booked Jean Callo- way's gang and reaction was favor- able in spite of the cut-in of the free college parties. Some bands dated now are the Dixie Ramblers, Phil Spitalny, Call- Drnla Ramblers and Husk CHare. Using Both Hands With money getting tighter than ever'around the New Tork dance spots, and the air plug now playing an ace part in de- termining a publisher's cut on ASCAP money, orchestra lead- ers are showing less and less compunction about putting out the palm to the sheet men. Baton men who previously wouldn't touch anything less than $60 per song are now will- ing to take anything the traffic will bear, some giving a num- ber a release on their sustain- ing programs for as little as $6. Most of the nanie bands who take, however, still prefer to collect via the special arrange- ments route, the publishers concerned gottlng their bills at the end of each month: NBC's Repeat Rule On Times Keeping Plenty Idle Nitely NBC's enforcement of the rule against broadcasting the same pop song twice in one night has, de- clare orchestra leaders, developed from an annoyance into a gag. ,In trying to get around the rule band- men, it is pointed out, have un- wittingly been keeping current hit numbers from getting a single air- ing over the chain on certain eve- nings. Regulation, as put into effect for NBC by John Royal, assigns the right to do a pop number to the band first submitting it for okay to the program department. Hence, In anticipation of a substantial number of blue-pencillngs on his submitted list the average leader has got Into the habit of naming, say, 16 num- bers, even though be doesn't pro- pose to do more than 10. It frequently happens that the program department cuts fewer numbers than the bandman has ex- pected, leaving him with a surplus. But every number okayed on the list Is his for exclusive broadcasting that night, and all subsequent re- quests for permission to use them are turned down. In pruning his overcrowded program the bandman may toss out current publications which therefore haven't a chance of an airing on the network that eve- ning because they've already been assigned despite that he may not have had time to play them. And the publishers weep. Morris Keeps 'Nother Tune Off the Ether To find* out what can be done with -a new song by confining its plug to the music counter, the Joe Morris Music Co., has decided to keep 'Till the Journey's End' oft the air for 30 days. Firm did the same thing with 'You Must Believe Mc,' recently and in 10 days sold 5,000 copies in counter demonstration. Union O.K.'s Weeks Anson Weeks, having adjusted his union difficulties in New York, %vill do several Lucky Strike broad- casts. San Franci.scan bandman, cur- rently at the Hotel St. Regis, New York, has been held up from radio commercial and phonograph work because of his not being a New York local member. Special dis- pensations have been arranged. Propose Dropping Present 3% Tax Which Has Not Been Overly Productive and Has indie Stations Bitter—Society Expected Two Millions as Revenue, Now Only Sees One Mil- lion TAX TO ADVERTISER KATZ EEPLACING LYMAN Al Katz replaces Abe Lyman at the Paradise, New York nitery, next Monday (30). Although the floor show spot is doing business, operators figure that a band for less money can fill the bill now. Convinced that the present three year agreement with radio stations already shows signs of flopping as a big revenue collector for its mem- bers, the American Society of Com- posers, Authors and Publishers has offered to tear up this contract and devise ■ new one. Communication to this effect has been sent to the National Association of Broadcast ers and to every A8CAP<licensed station in the country.. Decision to propose an abrogation of that contract which went into effect last September, occurred at a meeting of .the ASCAP board of directors last week. Line of action was agreed upon after several of the directors had voiced the admission thiat the tenqs of the document had proved a stumbling block from the beginning and that the Society's ex- chequer had certainly not been im- proved by tbd inclusion into the contract of a 3% tax on commercial programs, levied directly and ex- clusively upon the local station. It was less than two months before this that E. C. Mills, ASCAP gen- eral manager and chief author of the three-year agreement, assured the same board of directors that the SocIet]r*8 Income from radio for the first year of the contract would reach around 12,000,000. Opinion prevailing among the directors now Is that Judging from the rate that the station money has been coming in the past two months the Society will do well if it nets 11,000,000. Indie Stations Burn With Oswald F. Schuette as their spokesman and propagandist the broadcasters, since the signaturing of the contracts, have been demand- ing that the programs not using ASCAP music be exempt from the tax. Another thing that has been burning the indie station operators. In particular, is the fact that this tax completely paused up the net- work revenue from time sales at Its source and placed the burden ex- clusively upon local station grosses. Under the provisions of the 3% tax as now applied, of the 139,000,- 000 taken In Jointly by NBC and CBS last year from facilities sales only 16%^ can be tapped by the So- ciety and that consists of a tap on the |26 per half hour and $60 per hour standing fees which the local stations derive from each chain commercial. The network may col- lect anything from $250 to $900 for an hour's use of an allied sta- tion but that outlet's cut is limited to $60 of this money. Resentment among the indie broadcasters over the provisions of the 3% tax, plus the agitation against the Society carried on by Schuette, has had Its unfavorable effect upon the ASCAP exchequer. Many of the stations have been lax in relaying either the regular sus- taining fee or the commercial tax money, while others have advised the ASCAP that they are in no po- sition to pay both and that if the Society Insists upon the commercial program royalties It will have to wait for the sustaining fee. Also frequent have been letters informing the Society that the sta- tion's advertisers are delinquent about paying their bills and there- fore the comparatively insignificant amount of the enclosed check. To investigate these stations' claims the Society r^ealizes it would require a staff of traveling auditors whose maintenance would eat beavlly into French Demand $100,000 from ASCAP, Hold Back $200j)00 Due for Verdict Student's *Baby Waker' Scares Beacon Hill Boston, Jan. 23. Beacon Hill Bohemian quarter, centering about the Barn theatre in Joy street, was thrown into panic by explosion of what was believed a bomb that shattered windows, etc. Happened near the Saracen's Head, night club, and Prescott Townsend, owner, and leader In the colony of actors and painters, thought It might have been Intended for his place of business. Police squads, rushed to the scene in motor vans, found a whoopeelsh Harvard student In the environs. When grilled, he confessed to set- ting off a giant 'baby waker' fire- cracker. Said it was because he had been ejected from the club. They put him in the hoosegow as a drunk. AIR LINK MAY MOVE CRAWFORDS TO R. C Jesse Crawford find his wife may be on their way to the organ berths at the Radio City theatres. The R.C. theatres squawked at the idea of the Crawfords being ballyhooed over NBC from a rlyal theatre, the New York Paramount. The Crawfords are currently sus-- talning. for NBC and have played at the Paramount for six or seven years. The rival CBS chain picks up Ann Leaf and Fred Felbel from the Para- mount theatre,. a CBS-Par accord still existing, although Par's 60% interest in the Columbia chain was bought back by CBS over a year ago. the money collected from these sources. New Proposition Proposition that the Society now has in mind for the broadcasters would wipe out the 3% completely. It would, however, provde that the stations continue to pay the Sus- taining fee, which last year brought the ASCAP a total of $960,000, and no controversy. On the other band the broadcasters are being asked by the Society to agree to let the mu- sic men pass the commercial tax direct to the advertiser. This would be done through the advertiser's agency rep, negotiations for such a tax being carried on with the American Association of Advertis- ing Agencies. Latter organization has recently been petitioning the music men to combine the Society's tax and the MPPA royalties on re- corded programs so that the agen- cies could reduce the music fee billings to a single item for their clients. Advertisers, so the Four A's advised the MPPA, have been making it embarrassing for their agencies by questioning the where- fore of the dual billing. By getting ou.t of the present agreement the Society hopes to be in a position of drawing up a con- tract that will take Into direct con- sideration the millions of program money collected at network sources. ASCAP boardmen them.selves, how- ever, doubt whether the broad- casters will be amenable to let- ting the Society do business direct with the advertisers. It is also sug- gested that if the broadcasters can- not be persuaded to tear up the present document, the Society will agree to exempt from taxation those programs not using ASCAP music on condition that the tax be raised from 3 to 6% for the first year and a graduating scale for the I succeeding two years. It will also likely be proposed that this con tract be extended for several moro years. The Society is now in a position to negotiate for any number of years up to 1945 because of the 10- ycar extension of contracts ob- tained in recent months from the writer and publisher members. French Society of Authors and Composers Is now demanding $100,- 000 a year'from America for the use of its musical copyrights, and is withholding some $200,000 due the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers until this matter is adjusted. The French So- ciety heretofore sent to the ASCAP about $200,000 annually and only received $22,000, or so, from Amer- ica for the use of French copyrights. Now the French think that their tunes are being used more and more, and are demanding more. In almost every instance, the American Society takes more out of a foreign natioii than it returns. Germany sends over some $20,000 annually to America but receives back only $12,000. Austrian Society of Composers Is an exception be- cause it takes back more than It sends due to the wealth of Viennese music utilized in America. Thus, some $10,000 per annum has been exported to the Austrian Society whereas the ASCAP has only rea- lized around $3,000 from that ^un- try for the use of Its musical copy- rights. England likewise uses so much American Jazz and other copyrights that it pays more to the ASCAP than the American Society exports to the British Performing Rights Society. New International performing rights treaties are in progress of negotiation. M-R Says Effington Can Boat Ride for HOOO Duke Ellington's band will prob- ably be the first of the attractions sent abroad by Mills-Rockwell nn- der the new international booking alliance negotiated by Irving Mills wtb Jack Hylton on the former's recent European survey. MlUs has placed a $4,000 price on Ellington and is willing to have the band double from a theatre into a cafe, plus broadcasting fees, so long, as the weekly gross is $4,000—but dol- lars. • Parnell & Black are amenable to some Palladium, London, dates for Ellington plus doubing into the Cafe de Paris, the cafe Job to be as an act and not for dance purposes. The displacement of English musicians by visiting bandmen isn't counten- anced. The Rex, in Paris, and the Scala, Berlin, are . also dickering for El- lington, along with Cab Calloway and the Mills Bros., all of whose phonograph fame has preceded them. Sax Player Toots His Way Into Family Jam Boston, Jan. 23. Larry Jones, sax player and fea- tured In a local cafe, is named as the gay Lothario in the domestic troubles of Jacob Zellman, down- town perfume shop manager. Zell- man accuses his wife of infidelity. Wife, in a cross suit, denied being lured by Jones' playing. Zellman countered by testifying Jones con- fessed he had been 'friendly' with the wife. « wcotts or W"" I and broaacas and ^^^^^ f <'^'"*Kx\v ^^ features