Variety (Sep 1933)

44 VARIETY hi U S I c Tuesday, September 26, 1933 BRIGHTER TONE, OPEN NEW August's onQ bright, sien , for. the sheet music trade, was. the sharp increase iri new and reopened coun- ters. .From the anijle of actual merchandise turnover. pace wasn't-much better tHstri july's, biit in light of the fact that the July' level had booming air about it the August - results were anything but disappbintine: to the industry. As far as the; .Music Dealers,.^ervr ice,- Ino^ is Concerned, the .garner-, ihgs -here- through;'the first-■ thre<f ' weeks of September an^ the taUy of reopened-counters shown on tlie MDS list.presaged'a sturdy upward trend for the fall and winter.. MDS sales the iirst week of September were arbuiid. 10%. over the take fbr- the. sime stanza in 1932. Outside Of 'Xia,zy Bones' (Souths. ern) there were no skyrocketing examples in the best - seller dlass. In the top seller sextet-for August the. flrst. foui* w.^fe holdovers, frpni the previous month's Hst. Both:-*In the Vstiley 6f the MoOrt' (Morris) aiid •Shadow Waltz' had held on nicely, .With; the latter moving up . a notch oyer 'Sweetheart Darlln' (Robins). Foir. the. first time in. sevi- erail months .^obblns -waisn't repref sented by two songs in the .blue- ribbon-gFoupi Runners-up_ for August took in •Hold Toqr Mkn' (RobWns)^'Blue Prelude' (Keit-Engel), 'Love Song of the Nile' (Robblns) and 'Ador- able* (Fox). Quartet with the ex- ception' of 'Blue. P^lude' give in- dication ot ha,vlngt shot their bolt. 'Prelude's' .progress has been nip and tuck. A-Il three of the leading disk mak.^ ers were busy during August tiding up. attraptions and layinjg out busi- ness pushing plans for the fall, even though the sales through the Same month showed scarcely a jnfiargin over July. Attitude in the mechani- cal field is that its Worst handicap has been a spirit of lassitude when it came to stepping out and doing something about'boosting the busi- ness. Don Redmond's interpretation of 'Lazy Bonos' set him up at the hea,d of Brunswick's list, while the same number helped give Casa Loma second spotting with Victor. Ted Lewis for the second consecutive month I\eld lirst position in the Columbia library. iscs Hot Chicago* Sept. 25. Business in the sheet music field remains at status ^ quo though there's more optimisM around due particularly . to the surge of trade- irj.' the record field.. Increase in discs in' the past month figured,at more than with all three c'Om- panies joining in the upswing, They're oil the inoney side noW and co(ln|llnuation. of the' present pace will see them" singing hey-hey shortly. In Chilcago, at least, the Fair is counting for much of the Increase, though there are other reasons noted for the Improyement In the sheet music business there was really one song only that counted, 'Lazyboiies.' "Took first place .by a terrific lead over the rUnner-U]>. The rest of' the mob were bunched. 'Lazyboiies' looks like one of the three best scliers. .of the entire year, outpacing, any lead- er in the. past few months. Brunswick as usual comes through .with, the yocal; istrierigt.h in discs with iBIhg Crosby, though Co- lumbia did well with its. 'Last Roundr.Up' on the appearance of a joe Morrison vobal with the GeOi'ge Olsen band.. THI8 TABLE SHOWS THE LEADItlQ SIX SELLERS IN SHEET MUSIC AND PHONOGRAPH RECORDS GATHERED FROM THE REP0RT9 OF SALES MADE DURING AUGUST BY THE LEADINIG MUSIC JOBBERS AND DISC DISTRIBUTORS IN THE TERRITORIES 6 Bttt Sellers in Sheet Music Reported bj leading Jojbiberi 3 Leaiimg Phon6grAt>h Companies Rep6rt 6: Best Sellers Side rMponsiklo for thcf major sale? only are reporte Where it it impossible to determine the side responsible for the sales, both sides are mentiobed : NIGHT CLUB REVIEWS A. Cheerful,. Too.. Los Angeles, Soiit. 2!5. Sheet music sales contihvied on the ,up and coming during August with the end of the -month eveii more promising fop; September. • . In addition to the first sIjc, 'Valley ot ..sy Fiddles,' 'Sweetheart' Darlin'.- 'Love's the Sweetpst . Thing,' and •Isn't Thls^ a Night for Love' wore strong, with the last two oh the way up.. 'Clue Prelude' ratos No.. 5 spot after months of quiet build- ing. •Disc couriters wore hampered by the meag^emess. of new releases of worth. Brunswick and Victor re- mained the b^st sellers. CLUB ROYALE Chicago, Sept. 22. What the Club Durante was to New York the Club Royale is to Chicago and Joe Lewis is Chicago's Jimmy Durante without trying to make any comparisons. Club Royale is for the strictly smart mob. for the genuine loop hounds. Club gets its big play after midnight when the wise gals and wise boys foregather. It even draws from the nlte clubs themselves with the musicians and every cafe worker in town drifting into this spot along about 2:30 and three O'clock; < Royale is the only cafe in town that puts on a four o'clock show and for that wise mOb what a show It is. The earlier 2 s 30 show is also okay, while the 1:30 and 11:30 perform- ancbs are strictly for the cafe-goerS. Shows themselves are run llkei re- vues.;. A line of girls, a specialty number; a si>ecialty' girl and a big flash dance; then another speOlal number aiid 10 mihtueS with Joe iiOwLs and «Jnsenible. : But it's more, than JUst that. It's Joe Lewis.(through the entire' show doing 45 minutes of song and dieince and gags. Lewis is running the works and being the workj, all the way from grotesque dancing to blackouts, gagging, and- pratt-falls. It's Joe Lewis himself: in person; still the prime favorite-among Chi- cago cafes, Who knows his town and his people. This is one of those Cafes where waiters will.not serve you while the .show is oh. Downstairs seats about 150 while upstairs can. take care of about half that amount. Food is ex- cgllen j,_ no . coyer^and a t\\^o- tl61kir^ .ininTmum \vrtlT^S^erytliThg rolison- "ablo, Ralph Oallet and Jakie Adler are the. major dorrtos here, wherei they have reigned for the past 10 years In nito olub biz locaily with, the 22nd street Frolics cafo. Two oroheslra.s for the spot, Sid Lang playing for thft show and dance niusl^ while Nino Rinaldo and his Spt^nifi..! jjand give the crowd more of thi Chi temno. Nolle long a favorite, at the Frolips is up here with the same personality 'songs. Pauline Beleaii is leading the line with Dave White and Ruth Stanley ducting. There's a fan dancer here but this Joan Warner can really dance and one of the few girls who uses a fan and doesn't need.lt. She wears a net but to the suckers she looks stripped. And last but not least Joan dances with but one fan. Mich. Democratic League Detroit, Sept. i?his Is a black and tan night spot, the first to set a play for several years and making plenty of frostiiig for the owner. Bill Owens. The title while unusual is no handicap as the whites expect, the colored race - to dO: the unusual even in nam.es. Housed in an old tiolitical club house with the name still sticking. Proposition most likely became a money maker accidentally with the white flood not looked for. As is the .spot Offers a nice show. Usually imported iri the main Chi- cago. Success, of the; plabe Is no doubt due to large pjirt to an old trouper. WiHiani. Walker, who is manager and master of cereiqionies. Walker who; has . been In plenty of Broadway shows including Harlem, 1st Edition of 'Black Birds' and back as far as 'Chu Chin Chow' aiid 'Big. Boy.' Walker's contribution is mferety to play straight for the acts and ^introduce them but he does" it With ft cei tr.ln amoutit of restraint aric} dignity that keeps, proceedings In hand arid going. This is hot so easy in a spot that doesn't pi't on it's first show until 1:30 a.m., and rUhs from then on. ;i=:»AGts=^uSed^aro^thOi=usUaWty-po.=of= coJorQd lierformers with much, em- phasis, on dancing. Band used is exceptional and "with grooming and coaching might easily develop j^to another name colored Orchestra.. Lee. pzzie .Nelsori replaces Bert Lbwn at the Park Central's Cocoanut Grove Sept. 29. Lown goes on a tour of one-nlghters. Worcester Nlte Glub Living Down Bad Start Worcester, Sept. 25. Nlte club devotees herie appar- ently can take It and like. It. City's newest spot. Club Mayfalr, is now two weeks old and, despite an open- ing thai drew • plenty of adverse criticism, the customers continue to flock. i Opening night squawks were heard- on all sides after management had advertised floor show from New York and a |1 minimum food charge. Show hardly lived up to advance billing, while patrons were Informed by the Waiters that they'd have to take the dinner which was labeled $2. But all appears tb have been for- gotten and the spot is drawing many of the town^s elite. Looks like a ^pod winter for; the Mayfair as the Club Atlas and Hollywood Club; the only opposition,: are located a bit too far from, the. center when the snow fliesi. Mayfair .,13 in the old Bay State hotel, .long deifUnci, but at one time the favorite .with the the- atrical profession. ■ ; Bal a I'Alr, most eiaborate dance spot in this section, appears to have weathered its financial, troubles. After a couijle of sessions with John Law, during one of which a door was battered down to get at the receipts to satisfy an attachment, all parties involved have reached an amicable agreement. Dancers are now doing their str-uttlng^on^an=fericlosed=rfloor-wliiile= the, outdoor floor will be converted into an artlflcial skating rink as soon as the weather warrants. The latter wlll .be new to Worcester* Olive Borden did a personal witii Jack Brown's bahd; there Friday night. She was a last minute choice as Iflllian. boiid w^^s scheduled for an apipearance but latter was held by rehearsal for show she wouldn't name. lazy Bones'SeOs 210,000 Charles Miller, head of the Mil« lers Music Co., is collecting a cent on all copies of 'Lazy Bones' soldi by Southern Music, because of the. exclusive contract he holds on the services of Johnny Mercer, w**<* wrote" the 'Bones' lyrics. Mercer has also placed several songs with Harms, Inc., with the stipulation that under his name or each of the title pages there be a credit' line reading,^ 'By Arrangement with Miller Music Co.' 'Lazy Bones' to date, has sold around 210,000 copies, which means that Miller, has netted $2,100 as hia firm's share. Secretary, of. the Treasury . wilHa-Tk Woodin is . inter- ested in the Miller firm. Embassy's $$»OdO Show Embassy, N^w York, will have a $6,600 floor show, payroll when it reopens Thursday- (28) with Ethel Merman topping. . ilest of show comprises :the Yacht Club Boys,, the deMarcps, Bob (grant's orcheistra and Gpdby's Ar- gentine .band. Lou Irwin booked it In. COI.'S DISC PLAINS Chicago, Sept. 25^ Ben Selvlh of Columbia In town last week setting some Ben Bernie recordings and looking the ground oyer foe the installation of a sales head for the Columbia ridio disc oflUc^. Has had no man on the sales ■end;,.for^Columbia^..fithei;^^RMte^ since Bill You.-g moved out to go to the rievirly opened RCA Victor quar- ters. Selvin also .planning for the cn- large.ment of- Columbia's radio plat- ter dlvlsip-l in New York. Buddy:. Morris, Remick and Wit- mark headman, now inot likely to leave for the Warner Bros. , studios in Hollywood .before Oct. 15.