Variety (Apr 1937)

VARIETY Disc Reviews By Abel Green Fred Aslaire and Johnny Green have collabed on a corking set of Brunswick waxings of the 'Shall We Dance' (RKO) tunes by George and Ira Gershwin. Considering the' Astaire dominance of the disks, either vocally or in taps, Green a^lso has done a highly creditable job in the arrarigements thereof and the ooportunities, no matter how lirriited, to display his band's dexterity plus some of his pianologistic prominence ; in solo snatches. 'Slap That Bass' is perhaps the highlight on Bruns- wick 7856 in 'conversation' between Astaire's taps and the strihg-bass I.Whose.tempos he echoes and emu- lates. It's a clever and highly effec- ^4ive arrangement, Astaire doing the MUSIC Music Notes Wednesday* April 7, 1937 The liove Son* ' Tliat-Bst Betome m CUulo'' SERENADE IN THE NIGHT rr ^^^^^^^^^^ 3 M«w Cotton CInb GlaBslcS Where It the Sun? Old Plantation I'LL NEVPR T^LL'YQU I L OVE Y OU THE TROUBLE WITH M E IS YO U SUPPOSING IS The Natton'i New Seng Favorite SEVENTH HEAVEN^ ■''inm tUe 20th "Centnry-Fvx PIctare "Seventh Heaven" I'ram "One Ja A MIIIIod" ' WHO'S AFRAID OF LOVE' 'dNEIIIAMILLIOII' HQllYWQQb SONGS' tCA •WUNNC-RAMOCITY-NEWIOIW.NY. : PMLKlOWHagER. Ctn.Mgf. Thr Heimiitlonnl llaliad When My bream Boat Comes Home rroMi "MS XIXTIiE nUCKAROO" SUrrlni DICK FORAN THE GREATESt WESTERN BALLAD IN YEARS MY LITTLE BUCKAROO M. WITMARK A SONS 1250 Sixth Ave.. RCA Bide N. V. CHARiJE IVABIIBN. Prof. Usr. vocals as well as the taps. Its backed with 'They All Laughed.' The. title sonft with 'Let's Gall the Whole Thing Off' (No. 7857) iS: the only other coublet in which Astaire does taps, i. * in 'Dande,' whereas it's solely vocal-in 'Dance.' What Will be the, 'bommercial' hit of the score, ♦They Can't Take That Away Fron\ Me,' is paired with 'Beginner's Liick,' Astaire. doing vocals , only in both, and the Green technique letting itr, self go. Pianist-maestfos like Johnny Green, Eddy Duchiri,' et al. must have long sincie discovered the sales appeal of playing the melody straight, with not too much fol-de- rbl and distortion. ^ When Green wants to get fancy he has a forth- right, brass section that's plenty good; his woodwinds moderate the 'Luck' number; his saxes , and brasses hold ihtieresting musical double-talk in . novelties., like the potatoeis-potahtoes number ('Call Whole Thing Off'), but throughout )oth Astaire and Green recojEtnize that the Gershwins have given them very fertile score and they take; fuUiest advantage of .the clever word age and the engaging melodic, ap- peal. For ah ultra-modern- tune smith like George Gershwin this is perhaps his most commercially ap pealing set bf melodies, • written right into, the picture audience's, lap, and a wise move it. is too. Oh the subject of song excerpts from the screen, Nelson Eddy ' and Jcannette MacDonald with Nathaniel Shilkret's expert orchestral backer upperihg have a very nice Sigitiurtd I^omberg couplet in 'Will You Re member?' from 'Maytime'. and 'Fare- well to Dreams.' Victor 4329 (red seal). Irving Mills debuts his Master and, Variety record labels. (Aiherican Record Corp. affiliations) Avith an impressive ' roster, .ptike Ellington proves hiriiself a rug-cutter for hoof- music with 'I've Got to Be a. Rug Cutter' and the 'New East St. Louis Toodle-O,' both original composi- tions^ and done in the distinguished Ellingtonian style. Mills' other ace. Cab Callowa'^ debuts for the new b'rand with "owing, Swing, Swing' (Harry White) and 'That Man is Here Again,' Siamson-CoUihs' tin piah alley salute to the Ken Murray- Oswald show with its 'oh yea-h-h-h' catchphrase. Calloway is less hi-de- ho in this couplet but nonetheless effective. Truly distinguished is Raymond Sedtt's Quintet on Master 108 with 'Minuet in Jazz,' arranged by the maestro, backed, by."Twilight ih Turkey^- another colorful jazz work. Scott is. at the ivories, Dave Harris, sax: Pete Pimiglio, clarinet; Dave Wade, trumpet; Louis Shoubel, bass, and Johnny Williams, drums (which makies it a sextet, despite the Quin- tet billing). They cut lots of fancy caners on this disk.' Red Nichols and his crack swing sters.. plus the Three Songies for the vocals, cull two from 'Shall We Dance'—'Call the Whole Thing Off' and 'They AH Lau?hed.: Variety 502. Midffe Williams has been given a novelty dance backup called the Jact 'Jesters oh Variety 519 with 'Walkin' the Doc,' the old Shelton Brooks tune, and a swing version of 'Shade of the Old Anple Tree.' an- other vet tune by Williams and Van, Al<?t.vne. The 5 Jones Boys are a vocal novelty with instrumental accomp so thf»t it's almost a dance disk, doing 'Mr. Ghost Goes to Town' and 'Doin' Mills Music, Inc., will publish. Leon Belasco and his orchestra with Wes Vaughn and the Andrews Sisters (3), from the Hotel Ne\y Yorker, recording for Brunswick, as is Emery Deutsch from thie Rainbow Grill. Ruby Newman at the Rain- bow Robni waxes, for Victor. (Continued from page 49) Jack Stern and Harry Tobias have completed two tune. for %, F. Zeld- man's G r a h d National . picture, Sweetheart of the Navy.' Numbers are theme song and *I Want You to Want Me;' Ted White, songwriter, how on KYW, Philadelphia, placed hew sOng with Bobbins, 'Moonlight on the Water.' White and Jack Meskill .have been writing together, on Coast last summer. Oscar Straus has set 'Make a Wish' and 'Old Man Rip' as .titles, of melo- dies he'll dp for the Principal Pic tures production, 'Make a Wish,' for Sol Lessei". Lew Alter and P'aul Webster will do the lyrics. mgr. of the Warner ros. music pub lishing interests, will meet with Royal today, (Wednesday) or tombrr row. to discuss the situation. Max Steiner is preparing the mu- sical score for David O. Selznick's •A Star is ' Jack Mills has bought the Ameri- can rights to 'She Couldnlt Say Boo to a Goose' from Cecil Lennox, Britr ish publisher. Connie Lee has completed a tune, •Smile for a Lady,' which Maurice Conn will use in 'Whistling Bullets,' starring Kerrhit Maynard. Oppenheim-Tobias Floor Show- Dave Oppenheim and' Henry To- bias have turhed but: the ^corei of the new 'Hollywood Revels of 1937' for the Hollywood Restaurant, N. Y. Marion Chase cutting pair of new sbngs, 'Kept' and 'Irons in the'Fire,' for Liberty Music Stores. Edwin Gilbert and. Alex Fogarty wrote 'em Hoai:y CarmichaeV writing lor 'Artists and Models' at mount. score; Para the Suzi-Q/ on Variety 522, While another vocal novelty, called the 3. Peppers, (with piano, bass -and guitar accomp) scat 'Alexander Rag time's Band' and 'Get the Gold' on Variety 523. The Joneses outshine the Peppers. Thesis are among the Mills highlights of his new crop and augurs well for his unit. That Mills' recordings, are partial to Mills Music, Inc. tunes is pardonable, especially since the songs happen to be there, basically. Bndolph Friml, Jr; and his. orches tra are more , melodic on Master 107 with 'Begin the Be^uine' and John Redmond-Lee David's 'S o r b r i t y Waltz.' Oz^ie Nelson also recourses to the Astaire filmusical for *You Can't Take That Away from Me,' paired with 'They All Laughed,' on Blue bird 6873, while 6875 is more heated with 'Whoa Babe,' Larry Clinton's novelty foxtrot, backed by 'Poor Robinson Crusoe,' another in the 'Christopher Columbus' cycle by Al Stillman-Alex Hyde-Basrl Adlam, quite an bddity in rhythm tune ideas, and: expertly rhythmed by the Nel sbnites; Inside Stuff-Music While all phonograph record business has hopped considerably in the past year and continues on the upjg^rade in zobm fashion, the Ainerican Record Co. finds that the surprising and hopeful aspect is the fact that its dealer business has jumped so fast that it has almost overtaken the me chanical business. Which means that the sale of records for home con sumption is on the march in a big way, and it is hoped will shortly again be this big volume item on the books. Taking 100% aV the,total sales bf records, split-up between mechani. cal and dealer business has changed a total.bi i20% in the past year. For merly the rating was 70% of gross sales for mechanicals, against 30% in . dealer sales. This ratio has noW :been established as 60% mechanicals and 40% for dealers, the home consumption jumping 10% and the me chanical biz dropping a like amount. And the trend is cbhtihuing along the same line week after, week. Royal's Motives While prompted, by, an entirely different motive,. Royal's action has forcefully brought to the surface something that has. been agitating shiall indi pubs for the past sey- er'ai years.. It is.'.the queistipn of how to break through the handicaps of exploitation Whith this pienchant among band leaders has created. Along with this plaint has - come the warning that unless •explbitation fa* cilities are more equcilized* 'de* velopment of new writing talent Would seriously • thwarted-• and that in a few years-a «tTiall coterie of film coihposerg- will -be . holding- the publication roost- all to •them* selves, ■ John G. Paine, MPPA" chairman, last week'tobfc further cbgnizance of Joe Davia' wire of' prbtest to the FTC regarding theV iiropbsed caiisc. l^avis charged that 'the code as now drafted would serve 16'enhance, if not intensify, the advantages noW held by the producer controlled pub- lishiiig houses, ' Paine said that Dayis^ in espousing the cause of the small indie pub- lisher, wasn't giving much Consid- eration to the fact that hi^ argu- ments are in strong conflict with complaints jinade -to the FTC several months ago, .These complaints con- tended that the producer controlled iarms were, receiving substantial sums of money frorn mptibn picture prbducers for use in exploiting their scores. This money, the complainants stated, went toward paying for special arrangements and plugs, with the result that the small indie pub- lisher^ whb did have such surns to play with, found himself in a weak competitive position, and choked off from various .media of. exploitatibn It was these complaints which started the F'TC's investigation of the music industry last July and cul minated, said Paine, in the.adoption bf .an anti-bribery pledge the fol lowing, month and the subsequent plea, to the commission for a general trade conference. Davis now corhplains, said Paine, that the proposed code, Which wbuld suppress these Very practices, has all the . earmarks of a serious threat to the small indie publisher. About the best the commission can hop0 to gather frbm' this, added Paine, is that the ,small indie publisher, which Davis theoretically espouses, doesn't know what he is talking about, for he certainly can't be right' both ways. ' Chatitres Whole Pattern If the publishing firms which spe cialiZe in filmusicals find- that they can do nothing but abide by NBC's ban pn restricted .tunes for sustain- ing programs, the business of picture tune exploitation will, the trade realizes, have to' undergo a radical change. There will be, an entir^y neW niethod of setting score release dates, so that the latter Will come closer to the general release dates of thei pictures, concerned. Under the hew ihethod of plug operations the restrictions would.be imposed only. Ipng enough to give NBC co.mroercial programs f\i*$t crack at the hew score and also make it available to the top rung of band leaders with hotel or cafe cbnnec tibhs. Only rub in this pattierh would be the circumstance that there arfe a number bf major com mercials which won't play a tune unless it had beien brought into broadcast prominence. Big problem would be to keep the tunes from get- ting too frequent performance from the minor contingent of dance maes- tros, It'5 a realignment of control which the picture pubs expect give them iplenty headaches. As things now operate, the pub- lisher with a restricted filrii tune can so adjust matters that the ba^d of his bwh preference gets the permis-' slon in the event there is a conflict of use on , a network's pr og ram schedule.. A-HUNTIN(} I WILL 60 WHAT A HEAVENLY TWO SOCKING GHAIBS Francois Salabert; rench publisher, during his latest visit to this side bought the rights to the 'Oh the Avenue Score' from Irving Berlin, Inc., and also three pop tunes from Shapiro, Bernstein & Co. : Latter consists of 'Boo Hop,' 'Chapel in the Moonlight* and:'Timber.' is returning to Paris April 14. Salabert figures to make more frequent trips to America from now on with a view to getting more intensive exploitation': for the French writers connected ith the shows produced on this side by the^ rench Casino syndicate. Warner Bros.' publishing group is collecting a royalty on 'Little Id Lady,' although thenftombei* carries the. Chappell Co.'s stamp. Both writers of the tune, Hoagy Carrhichae) and Stanley Adams, are under contract to WB( and the royalty divvy was made part pf the contract which r>er- mitted the ^york to go into the Broadway musical, 'The Show Is On.' Chappell is handling the show's entire score. Vincent Lopiez. taking a musical cue from Claude Lapham, chief Yankee whooper-upper for Japanese music; and a publicity cue from Joe Glaston, will do a little of the'former for the sake of the latter. Nipponese music rendered, into American dance arrangements will be tossed oil by Lopez over CBS Sunday (ll). FROM'RONKONKOMA' TOLOVE-450,OOOSU1T Twentieth Cehtury-FPx, Fox Film Corp., Mack Gordpn, iand Harry Revel, the songwriters, and Robbins Music Corp. were named Thursday (1) as defendants in an infringement action brought by Charles McCord, songwriter, in Ni Y. Federal Court. McCbrd seeks an injunction, account- ing and. $50,000 damages. According to the plai , the de- fendants lifted the. music of a piece entitled, 'I'll Always Rernember Ron- konkoma,' which he wrote in. 1936, in the comppsition of the Gordon- Revel song, 'Goodnight My Love,' featured in the motion picture 'Stow- away/ STAHDUST ON Ti^ MOON IF WE HAVE A E AINY SUND AY HAVANA'S CALLINO HE (Rumba) OrehMtratioha 50c oach' RADIO CITY • N.Y JUST OUT ! GURLY TOP'S BIRtilMY" Dedicated to^BMMelr Tempi* At KAI<MAR-RVBY HOVO HIT "THE MOON IS IN THE SKY" r MOVIETONE MUSIC CORPORATION liSO S IXTH AVENUE NEW Y O k K WARREN AND DUBI At Tbelr Best la TheM eptemberintheraih melodyIor two now could you? summer ni6ht •. A TEBRIFIC HIT! SEE! But You're Swell WATCH FOB WARREN and' OUBIN'S nitlSAT SCORE FROM THE "SINGING MARINE" • REMICK MUSIC CORP. tXM Blztli Av«.. BCA Bids., M. I. CHftBUB WARIIBM. Wnt, Ugi. X FLASHES THE BALLAD SENSATION THE WORLD IS MINE (TONIGHT) NOW THRILLING THE WORLD SAM FOX PUBLISHING COMPANY IJiO SIXTH /kVlNUE