Variety (Jan 1933)

54 VARIETY MUSIC—NITE CLUBS 'Jt'uesday, Jannfitj 31, 1933 Prod^al Hostii^f of Show Folk. Slain King Solomon s Supreme Hobby Boston, Jan. 30. Slaylngr of Charlie Solomon last week not only shocked the theatre district, where Charlie was popu- lar, shocked the policy into anti- gangster activity, diverting atten- tion for the time from the censor crusade, but also revealed the mys- tery of Solomon's Cocoanut Grove night club. Charlie, known to about every- body in Alms and on stage, host at thousands of parties to them, and now dubbed 'King Solomon' in the newspapers, was ^ot down in the Cotton Club here, whither he had gone after close of the morning's show at his own club. Ounmen did the thing—some say robbery, for Charlie had |4,600 on him and it was missing after the shooting— some say a feud in one of the many rackets charged up to him. Anyway— Charlie, the most genial of enter- tainers, staged shows at his Cocoa- nut Grove which cost sometinA&s as high as $10,000 a week.. He paid entertainers far more than they got in the theatres. Tex Guinan got $10,000; Sophie Tucker, $6,500, and lesser lights In proportion. It was Charlie's way of doing things. Losses on Davis . Scale The Grove never. could, In any week he controUed.lt. pay its over- head and come out .clear. Last year, Charlie lost $9d,0D!0 on the dub .yen- : ture. His first week last fall start- ing the new season ^as. a. wow for IosseBr:-in fact, Cha^rlie's standing among night club owners is Uke that .of Edgar B. Davis, the angel of 'The .^.adder,'; on Broadway, Charlie took It on his financial Qbin, and always with a smile.. He once said he averaged losing $2,000 a week. He mjide money aJid plenty of It. Newspapers name a halt dozen rackets as bringing him in millions. But Charlie loved to meet people, loved to fningle. Loved the «lare of , cinema and stag^, loved their people. It is now reviejilea fiiat- the Cocoa- hut Grove waa hfs ' siipreme en- grossmeiit: • ' Police and gangsters were at the funeral,' but loyal friends from the Rlaltb attended, too. They knew nothing df the other Chftrlle; they only mourned the man they knew, lavish' buyer of tickets, lavish spender'on entertainment. Actually, Charlie again and again hired out his deluxe shows to theatres at far less money than he paid for them because he 'wanted to give the per- formers work.' Boston never before had an enter- tainment figure like Solomon, and probably never ^111 again. ' The irony of his life, is that a secret list of the underworld named him as one of the 'five untouchables' of the nation—and yet one of this same underworld rubbed him out. Best Sbeet Sellers Six best sheet music sellers for the week ending Jan. 27, as reported by Jobbers* and syndicate stores in the east: 'Little Street' (Morris). 'Echo of the Valley' (Rob- bins). 'Night and Pay' (Harms). 'Willow Weep for Me' (Ber- lin). 'Play, Fiddle, Play' (Marks). 'Boy and Girl Were Dancing' (D^Sylva). WEEKS-WEEHS JAMMED WITH UNHHt OVER AIR COL. REOPENS CIHCAGO; DEALERS' PRICE COT Chicago, Jan. 30. Finding it impossible to handle distribution from the factory In Bridgeport Columbia Phonograph will re-establish its local ofBce. Harry Victor returns vto the organi- zation to handle this end and four salesmen will be added starting Feb. 10. Bill Young is general manager of the Columbia branch here including radio discs, an important aspect of Columbia's biz. Action taken against the bandmen for filling radio engagements out of New York broadcast sources, with- out first obtaining permission of Local No. 802, may force Anson Weeks from the St Regis hotel and Ted Weems from the Pennsylvania Grill. The two leaders have been found guilty of violating the per- mission rule and the local has asked the international' executive board for authority^ to revoke their trans- fer oardSi 3am arose from dates played by the Wieems and Weeks bands on the Lucky Strike program. Weems. ac- cording to the-local, was permitted to come Into New "York with the tinderstanding that his commercial broadcasting. affairs would be con- flned'to the Canada .Dry session. To obtain the latter dispensation Weems, at the time,' contributed several thousands dollars to the lo- cal's relief fund. Ginger ale stanza, after Weems had been on it for 13 weeks, came off CBS last Thursday (26). Weeks combo was also rated by the union as an outside attraction, with permission .extended to broad- cast on a sustaining basis out of the hotel spot. . Weeks has taken an ap- peal from the local trial board's de- cision- to the International execu- tive board. Coast Club Goes White After 6 Years Colored Hollywood, Jan. 30. Colored fioor shows are out at Se- bastian's Cotton Club Friday (Feb. 3) after being a fixture at the night spot for the piist six years. New show will be all white, staged by Jack Lester. Marlon Wilkins heads the show. Redmond's band for the music. Harry Fox has been engaged to m.c. the first floor show. Dorothy Darling, Roscoe Ates' step-daughter, will appear with Fox. BALLROOM'S $2^00 New B'way Hoofary Going Faney for Whiteman'a Personal App. Paul Whlteman goes Into the new Broadway ballroom, the Rex, on the debut night (0), collecting $2,600 for an hour and a hair? stay. — It's 26% down with the signatur- ing of the contract and the balance an hour before he'a due'to take-the bandstand. AFM WARNS ON CHI FAIR MUSIC Chicago, Jan. 30. With Jimmy Petrlllo', head of the musicians' local here^'and directors of the World's Fair still unable to arrive at an agreement governing music at the exposition, ^the Amer- ican Federation of Musicians has advised band leaders to. make no contracts for the Fair nhless okayed by Petrlllo. • • Federation's edict declaces that no contract made by a member for services at the fair will be recog- nized by the union until the exposi- tion authorities and the Chicago local Jell on a basic working agree- ment. Order has put a complete halt to negotiations for a ^hookup with the Fair started by orchestra leaders, symphonic to dance, from all parts of the countryt ) Failure to, work outi.^ deal with the union will autcmatlcally. It Is pointed out,' bar participation of CBS and NBC In the «xpositIpn. This would Include both the ground studio exhibit and the ^general broadcasts of the event. . SPLITTING MILLION Electrics Settlement Money Plan of Divid^f nd New 'plan authored Xty Gustav Schirmer for the splitting up of the SRPI .and RCA Photophone settle- ment .money has been okayed, by the Fox Music Co; and. notice to that effect l8 being mailed out to the M. P. P. A. membership today. (31). Letter to each of the publishers In- volved also advises what share of the $860,000 from BRPI and $176,000 from. Photophone. ,t^e. particular firm Is entitled to under the Schirmer formula. Compi'omis^ acceptable to South- ern Music Co., and Belwln, Inc., have also been arrived at In connection with the picture use claims put In by these two publishing outlets. Understanding agreed upon by those who took pirt In the Fox negotia- tions was that amounts allotted Fox or any other publisher would not be divulged to any one but the In- dividual firm concerned. Disc Reviews By Abel Green One-nighter tour Is Out for Guy Lombardo. Hfe stays on at the Roosevelt hotel, New York, through May. Rudy Vallee. - Three of fiarry Woods' songs, which the American songsmith wrote with Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly in London and origi- nally published by Campbell-Con- nelly, are done on the 'A' side of as many disks by Vallee on the new Columbia 'blue label' series. Sans the announcements which by dealer demand came off because upon repetition they became tiresome, Vallee plays and vocalizes 'Just an Echo In the Valley' and 'Language of Love' (2733); 'Till Tomorrow' and ■Here It Is Monday' (2730), and 'Linger a Little Longer,' which is coupled with the Omar Khayamlsh foxtrot, 'Jug of Wine, Loaf of Bread and Thou.' Vallee's Columbia 2737 does right by 'Playing with Fire,' the new Ir- ving Berlin foxtrot song, and 'Bed- time Story,' an Enprllsh importation by Horatio Nicholls. All done In the more or less lazy foxtrot .and singing style associated with Val- lee's smooth rhythmpatlon . Mildred Bailey-Gene Austin Two pop ether songsters In char- ncterlstlc numbers. Miss Bailey's 'Georgia on My Mind' has full or- chestral backup, while Gene Aus- tin's tenoring of the Duke Ellington jazz classic, 'Mood Indigo,' is as much orchestra as vocal. Essen- tially an intricate Jazz piece, it's a novelty for straight vocalization purposes. Victor 22891. Ambrose-Waring From London, this European re- corded revival of Jerome Kern's old musical comedy hit, 'They Wouldn't Believe Me,' la done In a very mod- ern foxtrot manner by Ambrose and his orchestra, London dance music favorites. In line with the novelty, Warlng's Pennsylvanlans have a foxtrot medley of 'Missouri Waltz' and Sol P. Levy's 'That Naughty Waltz,* both, of course, orchestrated into four-four tempo. The old waltz favorites sound very fetching under the Warlngs' foxtrotlzation. Victor 24215. Madreguera-Savoy Ofpheans A continental waltz composed .ind played by one of smart New York's current favorite maestros, Enrlc Madreguera, and an English con- ception of American syncopation, played by the Savoy fHotel Orpheans of London In foxtrot tempo, is the novelty backup on Columbia 2740. The waltz which Madreguera him- self composed seems destined for wide popularity, 'May I Have This Waltz with You, Madame?' 'Sing, Brothers!' is the very good British simulation of the' American Jazz idiom. 'Brothers' has' likewise a good chance for international dance popularity. Forep Mi^ic Men Denianiliiig More Income from Music in U. & Discs' Foreign Edge Hans Gelrlnger, special dele- gate of the Austrian Society of Composers and Authors, who returns abroad tonight (1) on the Europa, following confer- ences with the American So- ciety on a new international pact, sums up the reason for the slump in mechanical sales' In America while discs, etc., are still holding up abroad. Headquartered at a New York hotel In a room equipped with outlets for the three major local broadcasting stations, Gelrlnger waa amazed at the continuance ~of Jazz at any hour, day or night. Although this was his first time In America, he quickly grasped the domestic situation from the hotel thing alone, contrasting the abundance of dance muslo to European broadcasting con- ditions. There the Govern- ments foster radio for educa- tional purposes with language coursfss, . lectures, talks and otlier educational features per- mitting pnly a modicum of jazz . which l^ves the people hungry for lighter music and, compelled to buy Jdisca to satisfy their Jazz yearning. GREAT HEARST PLU(S BUT SdNG NO SELL With the monthly nut down to under $16,000, Bobby Crawford has been compelled to chop the o.h. for DeSylva, Brown & Henderson some •more and 13 people have been let out. They are equally divided be- tween professloixal and trade de- partments, Including Danny Engel, Detroit territory man, and Sam Wigler, radio contacteer in the home oMcd VJ{oi. dep^ ' Boston and an- other out-of-town salesman also went. Joey Stool. remains as prof, manager. ' . . ' ^ , DeSylva's 'Buy American' current plug song is enjoying the most ultra tieups with the Hearst papers, but not selling. Crawford, major spokesman in music Industry affairs, has long ad- vocated a minimization of operating expense in ratio with the ASCAP income. BOOK CADILLAC (MAYFAIR ROOM) Detroit, Jan. 30. Barney Rapp Is following several orchestras here but none of which caused much of a ripple locally. Handicapping Rapp Is the rep the spot has thus accumulated, plus the cover charges, which Is all out of proportion to what is being asked In other spots here. The room's Urban decorations are slated for revision If not complete elimination. In this spot the dec- orator used white elephants as side wall ornaments and the theme Is perhaps too symbolic. Decorations Installed last fall at a cost an- nounced as around $60,000, has had the spot in the red In color scheme and bookkeeping ever since. Room has tried to cash In on the hotel's prestige with that seem- ingly meaning little in this day and age and suffering when saddled with a $1.60. cover charge. Down- ward revision on the covers, or sub- stitution of a minimum charge, might overcome the lethargy of the locals to patronize. Rapp and his orchestra are back to dance band bookings after a seven-months' tour for RKO. Combo has lost none of the ability that made it one of the Important bands in New England. It is one of the largest combinations to appear in Detroit for dancing for years with a total of 14 muBiclans and two vocalists. Rapp hag benefited by stage work. After acquiring stage presence and ability to entertain under hlyh i>res- sure dance work is pretty soft. Band carries 'Babe' Miller, .feminine singer, a nifty looker and a voles that enables her to stand out even In this day of too many woman vocalists sitting In with dance bands. In addition to Miss Miller, Eddie Ryan la also carried cxcliis- Ivply for vocals. Using plenty of special arrange- ments the band Is musically okay and offers dansapatlon of a higli order. Bond should also be ol^ay on the air with all arransements bclnp: mrtdo with that- popRlbility In mind. Lee. In making Its new International deals with the various natlonalistie Societies of Authors and Composers the American Society of Composers' Authors and Publishers la preceedl Ing on a point system, predicated on the number of radio usages. The ASCAP no longer wants to guarantee any of Its foreign afflllatea anything, but pay over a percentage of all the Ihcolne, depending on the number of foreign usages. The French, German, English, Austrian, Italian, etc. societies aren't particularly enthusiastic about the point system unless It carries a guaranty with It. In almost every instance, the foreigrn societies want that guarantee Increased. The ASCAP states it is thorough- ly amenable to paying as much as the foreign copyrights entitle the various foreign composers' societies. The ASCAP contemplates clock- ing all public performances of muslo on the air. If there are 600,000 gross usages of copyrighted music on the air. In a year, and the French So- ciety's compositions are performed, for example, 6,000 times among the '600,000, that would mean the French authors and composers would be en- titled to 1% of the gross revenue etc. The foreign music men are quite In accord with the Idea that the radio check should be accepted as -a- standard for music played all over the U.'S. and Canada, but the^ no- guaranty ' thing is not liked. Some foreigners claim any ..liumbi^r of smO'll' hotel string combinations play .foreign music In preference to American concert pieces and that .these programs are not so often picked up on the air, but even they concede the ASCAP's radio point (Continued on page 62) YOUNG CAFE OOllPLE'S MURDER AND SUtCIDE New Orleans, j;an. 30. Lester Renaudln, 21, m. c. at the Club Plantation, shot and killed Mary Lee Roberts, 19, his wife, who has been dancing at th^ Club Avalon, In a car parked dlretctly In front of the Avalon, and .then killed himself. Renaudln and his bride of a few months had been living apart recently and he waited In the parked car of one of the musicians for his wife to come to work. When she arrived he called her and she proceeded Into the auto and sat down.. After several minutes conversa- tion Renaudln whipped out a re- volver and shot his wife through the heart, a few seconds later firing a bullet through his brain. Both died on their way to the hospital. Mrs. Renaudln kept screaming, 'I don't want to die, I don't want to die,' until she expired. The tragedy Is one of the oldest In show business. The wife who <vanted a career and the husband who wanted a home. The Renaud- Ins were burled in the same vault Saturday morning. Martin Klinger, 75, Dies Easton, Pa., Jan. 30. Martin Klinger, 76, leader of the Allentown band for 40 years, drop- ped dead while rehearsing his band. He was a member of the Amer- ican Bandmasters' Association. Trianon's 35% Cut Chicago, Jan. 30. Trianon ballroom, having settled Its litigation last week when Su- perior Court continued Andrew Karzas, its founder, as operator under receivership, has cut Its ad- missions. Henceforth, Instead of 60-90 cents, the tap will be 40-60. This figures out as a 35% admission slash. Other Karzas ballroom, the Ara- ffon, on the presumably more pros- perous nortli side, continues with its present scale. DICK KENT ORCHESTRATOR Three Ycnrg with RKO SliiKlr I>?iil. riione CI-7-OO30-OO.S1 111 riM>!n 701, l(il9 IIro-.i]\v:i} , Nrw VorU t