Variety (Jan 1935)

M « S ■ C VARIETY W ... ■•v'. Highlighting 1934 in l:"!!! Pari Alley-•were a number of • marked Intra-trade angles' arid niany Influences on the . yrbrld's popular muBlc teBteB. . . As regards the boys who riiake the^^^^^^p of this ■ oouritry and othet: nations hum, whistle ..arid ;f^ant!e^ .the "highlights-.were:; . ;.-^ji_i^umba:Craze,'.v..:; ^. A-' 2—FUmuslcals. , ^ ^. .^'V;; s'-.. ;-- 'I;.- - Sr^Att 4—^dd-rhythriied dance tunes/('Carloca,' 'Continental/ B—Better grade ot popular ba^ads. On the trade angle: , ■ ' 1 ^The goyeirnment's dlsBOluMon,: antitrust and antlr inbnDpoly, suit agalnet the American Society . o;f Cbm- posers, Authors arid Publishers,. the Music . Publisher Protective ABSoClatlon, the Mrislc Dealers' Service, Inc., and Its respective members arid offlcers. ; No secret that the T^atlonal Association of Broadcasters, had 'insplried' this' action, which Is still peridlrig,. but not worrying the miieic nien particularly, v;; 2- -The Music .Dealers' Service dlssblutlon (prior to the U. S. vs. A^CAP* MPPA, MDS, eit al. litigation), with * slgrial victory for Max Mayer va. .MDS organlzatlb^^^ . which his former jobbing-partner^ Maurice Rlchrnond (In, . ''the Blchmond-Mayet cqmipany), headed as general inan- fager. While the court ruled that this central sliipplng : iplarit waig 'riot in restraint of tralde, Mayer won a sweep* Ing victory when during trial of the action rilrie nikjor publishers made settlement agreements with him. Itlcti* mond subsequently took over MDS as ari individual arid private enterprise. ^-^.-r';: 3— Third trade Highlight was thie continued fruitless effort by the industry to; self-purgiB itself of Its great- est Intra-exploltatiori evll^that: of paying for plugf^, or- chestrations and gerieral subsidizations and bribes to. Ihstire choicb popiularlzatlon. spots on the riiajor radio broadcasts, hotel pro^^rams, and the like. The Song Piug-Angle«v-' 'v : The song pluggers themselvies took the Iriiost drastic means for seif-govemlrig, realizing, that If the piibllshera .ban send down an orchestration and a - check for $60 :for any given plug their jobs ard basically tt^rbatened and the need for songpluggers no longer riecessary. So the :MPPA ordialned a $1,000 penalty ^f the flirst .offense, $;2j000 for .tlie second arid every ylpiation tiiere- after,' with' a power of attorney' to John (J. Palrie, head ot the MPPA, to levy these sums oh-the ihcomea due the publishers frbm AS(jAP. That left no Jokers. For orice there was real teeth in the law. Hence, the piibs iire ■till squawking that (1) it's allegedly ah NBA Vlqlatiori In restraint oiC trade; (2) that the. Code-makes no prbvl-; Blbn for ariy of this/as a trade practice; and (8). not all had signed arid .were willing to live up to thdse penalties . In letter or spirit. : Paramount.-through Xou Dlariiond, head of its Famous iMuslc BUbsld, everi wentisp far as to threaten a $100,000 subsidization canipaign to put-brlbei any other competl- . 'tor. Perhaps that would Bca^re 'em away from trying to. : -HiH'»ffl447ft plue«F, A"'^ *>''i I wry'g still out. ■ : There were otrier sporadic little things cropping up to. worry the muslb men. The swank hotels, for instance, don't welcome pliiggers as pseudo-guests, no matter how often they cbmo and how niany checks they.grab; the anboty Hotel . Pierre even hinted bodily harm to an '. orchestratlonTtoter,; wiio came to visit Jacic Denny. Blng Crosby was thei No. 1 song hit maker. Dick Powell runner-up with his Warner Bros, series of fllmu- ■Icals. BUdy Vallee tops on the air. The Bay Nphld craze. The Alley nerts about Noble'a arrarigemerits; records, tunes; etc., But the A.F.M. didn't •Want Noble ripr . Jack Hyiton nbr any of the othpr Lpri-" . dori rianie maestros invading Amerlcai Ed Marks' autoblbg. They All Sang,', perhaps; the best authority on' Tin Pan Alley. Covers 40 years. ''-.C6rnpahy^'-Chanoet^'.'' kelt-Ehgel iipllt. Harry Engel, inc., continues. Jioe Kbit tries it and folds. - Harry Link, profeselonal main-; ■tay of the combo, shifts to DonaldsPnrDouglas-Oiimble. putting that iflrrii on tlie map for a chunk of biz. Walter borialdson, out of the; D-D-O combo (Mpse By'Abesl Green;. Grumble: and Walter Dptigias coniprlse the 11m, with liink) has been writing fllmusicais, bhliefly for Bobbins publications arid Metro-Urilted Artists. . ■ - , Jerry Vogel leaves Plaza J^ueio. (Jobbers) after 25 years when P'laza folds. Starts Prank Crumit Songs, Inc.;- drops (jrumit .riamb and takes over the F. B. Havlland biz as well under own name, Sooop. for Vbgel Is hi^ good friend, George M. Cohan,. ceding his catalog to '. Vpgel. above many/more prominent bidders. , ■ Bbb^'Mlllef lost his case, against Wltriiark.. In blz fpr 'himself. Ira Schuster; another; ex-.Witiriark-expiolter, ialso sued, but ailso in biz with' Kornhelser-Schuster arid doing fairly Well. Like Korriheiser, Fdit alumnus Solly Cphn eased put after many years and now prof. mgr. for .Ishani;Jones'indie, pub butflty■;^ . ^ Rpcbo VPccp; Joins the Felet exodus to be y.p. and g.rtii; of DeSyiva, now Cravi'ford Music, johnny Whit© now heid .man at . Feist's. Local Yonkers boy makes gpod—Johnny .White '*'^as prchestratibrif-toter and chauf-' feur fbr Phli ;Kornhelser! no^w ■ subceeded both JKorn-' helser, ybccp .and veteran Solly Gohn. ' Bobby Crawford, dropped peSylva, Brown & .Hender-. Bon^ Inc., as a flrni name in favor of Crawford Musl^^ ; -Cprp,,, to entibrace .everything, in, that Buddy DeSylva^ Lew Brown arid Bay Hendersori had.gbne their separate; ■ ways after having feuded amorigst themselves.: > ' ^X.':v;:■ ■^■^;"VVrlter•>^/^;.^■.; v'^-:■?■-'=;'■. Other notable songwriters spllt-ups were Ted Koehler find Harold Arlen Vrlth Arleri going production In^collab- oration with E.. T. (Yip) Harburg and Jra Gershwin , - ('Life Begins at 8:40') and Kbehler teaming'with Ray /Henderson . (?Say 'When'). ; Lew Brown writing with Harry Akst ('(jailing Ail StorsV arid the M Music! ■ Hall revues). peSylya conterit to fllrii-prbducei Sarii"Mi.; . Lewis arid" Jpe, Ypung, lbng since ap;^t, doing well with ; freelance tunesmlthsi V' " Flimuslcais crisated an Imiproybd general standard in songs. 'Love .iri Bloom,* 'Beat of My Heart,' 'C^bcktalls for Two,' 'Thousarid Goodnlghtis;' /Dream Walking,' 'Love Thy Neighbor,' "Eyes WWe Open,' "Very, Thbiight of Ybu,' 'Never Had':a, Charice.'^ It was .a big:, yeiar- for Gprdbn and Bevel; But Dubln arid Warren, CoslPw arid johnsoii, Riainger arid Bpbl'ri didn't dp badly, either,: with flimuslcais. : Necessity fpr productiori valuea in cellulpld ' placed a new valuation pri. the 'idea' spngwriter whp yrris, capable pr writing slt- ' uatlpn numbers. ■.;.•.'-.•.•. ' ■ : ■Hillbillies ■;: : ' .. ■ The hilibiliy. mania pf last year spilled over into '34. ^ "Last Roundup,';'(jld Spinning 'Wheel,' 'Night on ihe Desert,' 'Wagon Wheels'—Sliaplro-Berristein's'.coriieback. ;BlUy Hliris 1934 hillbilly, 'Spinning WheeV feiyen a |i,200 extra; prize by the. spe.cIall ASCAP fund. . Pubs still battling for pld Hill numbers, which he sold for $26 apiece before he clicked with the :seriBatlbnal Xast ° Rbuhdup' last year. ^The special $12,600 splltup by ASCAP among writers meant $1|250 as [pne bPnus tp Glordon arid Bevel fpr 'Dreana; Walking'; $M60 : tP Arlen and Koehler for 'Iiet'8 Fall in Love.' Maestrp Meyer Davis into Aim shorts' production; Croyi IL. L^adine hie o wii b « md at hbt o l o ; drops that ; Rating Gquabbleo: Usual rating squabbles by ASCAP members. Old stuff about the perpetual board, etc., but Marks, Fox, Robblris, Morris suing for reclassification. and claiming higher ratings. : ' ASCAP created the AA classification, then AAA; then decided on a point pay-off system. This had all pubs ; scrambling for multiplicity of air plugs, regardless pf the old bugabpp it was hurting sheet music sales. It then renewed the lesser pub's squawks that It was worth .'■ •ubsidlzing some' star plugs jiist for the value, it yields on the ASCAP ratings. Topnotch pub Income growing Into around $60,000 per year from ASCAP, The mil- lerinium is $100,000 to $200,000 from the performing rights which,, say the top bracket pubs, •will underwrite their biz and the rest would be gravy. . ASCAP's $4,000,000 annual revenue tilt excited the theatre ■ exhib^; who threatened the usual; music trust charges. The late Ivy Lee was trying to do a propaganda Job fpr ASCAP; and while nbt particularly distinguished it was the first, time the Society essayed fighting fire with fire, This came, after thb tlieatre ownei's, circuits, radio Interests, et al., had been bombarding their local and national legislators to legislate ASCAP out pf busi- ■ liess. ' ■■ XI. S. Postal-Dept. was Joined by the society and MPPA in a war on the song sharks who reap $2,000,000 annually from guils who aspired to writing song hits. MPPA allied ,with another bflidal body, the NRA.Jn the hope of ending the song plugging graft evil. Song folios, The gyp 6o song-sheet swindlers baVe been such an elusive bane thiat Engel-'V'an Wiseman and the MPPA make a deal for 'authorized' lyric sheets; Now everybody's squawking. : ■ :' \ ^ Some pubs slow on the draw as to royalty payoffs. Songwriters'^ Protective Ass'n threatens boycotting these firms and ^ that speeds 'em up. SPA promised fiill co- operation ; suitable song material, for pnce; bringing the wrlter.^ntb his own. - ,: ■„■: .''V : Last spring the biggest ASCAP royalty melon, $650,000, split up. Due to: theatres (cinemas) reopening; the re- . peal prosperity for the hotels, nlteries, etc., creating more ' music.license fees. ' " 'r'"- Japan finds Beethoven symphs best sellers; next, tho geisha girls! doggerels bri. the platters; Jap Jazz t^^^ . Disks ■';::■■.■•:, ^■.■;''\:': ■■:;." Jack Kapp left Brunswick as general recording facto- tum to become prez of Decca Record, Inc., American branch of that British brarid. Brunswick absorbed Co- lumbia, but releasing bn separate labels. Decca's 86o. disk with top names (Crosby, Lombardo, Ted Lewis, Casa Loma, Isham Jones, Mills Bros., Kate Smith, et al.) hypoing the disk biz. Opening new outlets for disk sale*, and reviving interest in wrix. . ; ! Some radlb commercial artists still opposed to. any and all recording claiming the one-lurig stations ruin 'em by playing marathon programs of 'you will now hear Ben Bernle,' etc., while Bernle may either be playing In person, on the air for Blue Blbbon Malt or in a film In ■ direct competlsh. ■ Air plug value hitting London. Maestros there realize that hotels with BBC outlets are worth plenty for futurer yalue and taking cut-rate salaries tc get the BBC wire. Greprge Gershwin now on air; concert-toured with 40 men 28 days and ^grbssed $66,600 in 28 stands at $2.7B -top. Janies Meltpn, soloist>, received. $1,000 a. week; nut for the 40. miusikers was $6,000. Gershwin goes com- mercial bn the air. -'^ Wally Downpy, vet music man, believes South America song market ,uhpluriibed. Goes down to jazz up Argen- tina with contracts tp rep a flock of U. S. pubs. Bobbins, nori-MPPPA member, violates 15-year-ol4 embargo on demonstrations and goes to spngplugging be- hind the counters in the McCrory jjtore In Atlantic' City. Threatens more. ' ; Some firms take on aspect of stooging: for Hollywood, 100%. Famous Music, as Par's subsid, concerns Itself chiefly with plugging the Par fllmusicais to the degreo. that it dropped cold 'Champagrie Waltz,' a likely rori- plr.tiirpi unriff, <n ord<»r to tftckla n. new Par screen musl» cal. V.;'^-' ■■.;.■. 'Merry Widow* on screeri; .'(Sreat Waltz,' at one Radio City theatre, hoped to bring the waltz back positively. • Still hoping.. Radio City lets down Its hair. Music pubs permitted to move in for ofilce space. Marty Bloom was the first one In, but: with the unique. distinction of being tiie only music pub in the business without a plano; because tho Rockefellers wanted no tinkling within their sacrosanct confines; Now Beriiick and Witmarks are in there with a flock of pianos. Bloom stated he didn't ml^s the key- boards—as the liliigs; are all around the radio stations anyway. v\ ' . .; • Biz pretty good all year^ everything considered. MDS ; uncertainty of Jobbers* outlets skunked biz one month; but during another mpnth it was so bullish that even pianos sold well. - That's the t.p.a. Ideal—if the j>ublic stops buying. radio«- and automatic machines, and families acquire new pianos, they'll start buying more sheet music. CODE BECOMES . p. A. Muckland, NBA deputy ad- ministrator, advised John O. Paine, chairman of the Music Publishers Protective association, last week that the music code will be ap- proved by the NRA executive com- mittee and become the law of the Industry by the end of the current Veek. Fact that .the publishing In dustry employs less than 60,000 per- ■oris makes it unnecessary for the music code to receive President Roosevelt's signature. : Machinery for electing a code committee is already set up. The ballots will go out Immediately after word has been received from Wash- ington that the coveriant has been ' passed on by the NBA executive committee.. Of the 10 code author- ities elected from the popular and •tandard factions of • the industry twp each may come frbm the NPPA and, the Muslb Publishers' Associa- tion' of the United States. . Diana Ward closed II weeks at Mori Paris, N. T, and galled Deo. n for the new Dorchester House r«- ; Tue^ London. GOIWGrSOCIAL Casino de Pares Bringing In Elsa Maxwell to Write Termie Stern's Casino de Paree will mate LeW Brown's ahowmant ship with Elsa Maxwell's social flair in the next revue at the spot, .. .^Iss Maxwell, who stages society shindigs, also . writes spngs and sketches and she'll create most of the original material In collabora- tion with Brown for the new frolic. In the nitery social line, another deb, Virginia Uppercu of tho Upr 4wrfiii-rnrt111ac. family; Is doing pop songs at the Hotel Weylln's Caprice room (N. Y.), where she has opened along with the Enric Madriguera orchestra, , Raoul and Eve Beyes, Vivien Faye, Grace and. Charlie Herbert, Milton Douglas and Herr nandcz Bros. S. P. A. to R. C. Songwriters' Protective Associa- tion is following the Amerlcari So- ciety of Composers, Authors and Publishers into Badlo City. SPA will move its effects from the Para- mount building to the RCA building the. middle of January. . Association's new landlord la aisumlng the remaining obligation I under the present leaf*. Royalty distribution for the flnal quarter of 1934, which the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers made to its members lalst week was practically the same , as for the previous three • months: Divvy •was also about equal to what the writers, and publishers got for the last period of 1933. : Plum sliced up last week was itot- based on what the society has col- lected for the October-December stretch, but what the directors in meeting two weeks ago estimated the takings would be. It was de- cided to make the sum designated for distribution i at least large enough to give the members about What they received the first week in October, Officers arid emi»loyces of ASCAP have been returne4 to a full salary basis. E, (7, Mills, gen. mgr., who was cut to $40,000 a year, Is now back to $60,000, while President Gene Buck has been nudged from $26,000 to $36,000. . .. Carl Britton will do 16 numbers next year In an «plualva tleup wHb Bruriiwlek. In Rose Tournament — L cs-ABgeleSr-PecUSlJi-: Failure pf the Pasadena city council to appropriate funds with which to pay for bands participating In the a n n u al Tournament of Roses, parade and fbstivitles to- morrow (New- Year's Day), and de- pending almost entirely on amateur org.anlzatloris whose services are donated gratis, has Musicians Local 47 doing a burnup. Contention is that the Rpse tour-, ney, with 'Its attendant football tfanio in the Rosi?: "Rnwl , 1h . morn or less commercial, and that Pasadena and Its business Interests draw the heavy profits, so that organized bands, affiliated with the American Federation of Musicians, should be given some recognition. Only unionized outfit participating is the Long Bbach: Municipal band, which, union execs point out, could be ordered out of tlie parade for playing . with non-union organiza- tions. Local, however, will take no action.' ■■ ~ ■ ■■ ' '" ' •. • ; 'DETJNKARD'IN N. 0. New Orleans, Dec. 31, Dauphlne theatre, former bur- lesque and legit house. Is being transformed Into the Eagle Music Hall, ■ pperilng New Year's . day ;(Tuesday) with 'The Drunkard.' '■■, More calls .for dancb bands this month than WOR artists' bureau could handle due to the holiday hys* terla. . Over 20 bands bobked for parties and hotels qui t e . early, a o the department had to say thumbs down on any more requests in this line. . However, the Inquiries kept com- ing in,: BO activities were shifted to soloists and dancers. Last-ndnuto rush for New Year's Eve talent also zooriied biz. at Macy's new . enter- tainment department on the fifth, floor. Fbr a while bookings -wero signed up at the rate of one an hour. : - Nat Abramson left on the: Aqul* tanla to watch over his. large talent outlay which Is on board fpr tho New Year festivities. Sally Arnold left in charge and busy on the tele- phone.