Variety (Jan 1940)

Wednesday, January 3, 1940 Thirly.fourlh VARIETY Anniversary MUSIC 123 PLATTERS HELPED POP MUSIC IN 1939 It's been a eood music year, and continues to loolc good. There was verve, vigor and personality, both in music styles jincl in manpower. New Arms and new blood revitalized Tin Prn Alley. DCKpiie trie war, England gave America (notably via Shapii'O-Born.stoiii, easily the No. I firm of the year) its lo'rcmost hit.":, namely, 'Penny Serenade,' 'South of the Bor- der' "My ri:iycr,' 'Beer Barrel Polka," 'Cinderella Stay in My'Arms.' etc. A sliigfiish Hollywood produced a lively Broadway. .'The fllmupical well has run dry for a spell, so the tunesmith.<;,' renewing their interest in legit musicals, brought in 'South American Way,' 'Comes Love,' 'Are You Having Any Fun?' •Gel Out of Town,'. 'I Didn't Know What Time It Was,' 'Do I I;ove You—Do I?' and the like. Pop song quality improved also. Refugees coming over, observed, 'My, what a wonderfully musical nation America is! They even whi.sllc Mozart, Tschaikowsky, Debussy and Chopin in the street.' This mythical observation referred to Raymond Scott's jazzique, 'In an 18th Century Drawing Room' (Mozart theme); 'Our Love' and 'My Reverie' (De- bussy via Larry. Clinton); 'Moon Love' (Tschaikowsky, via Andre Ko.stelanctz's arrangement): "How Strange'. (Metro- GoUlwyn-Maycr, via B. A. Prozorovslcy's 'Kak Stranno,' from the Russian), et al. Anno Domini U)39 also produced 'Three Little Fishies in the Uly Bitty Poo,' Taint What You Do, It's the Way. Thatcha Do It,' 'Well. All Right,' 'I Want the Waiter with Water,' '.Hold Tight,' 'Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree.' "Boomps-a-Daisy (latter two from England), 'Little Man Who Wasn't There,' and the like. The year's trade evolutions were many. Fred. Waring and his business aide, Johnny O'Connor, who have been cam- paigning for the 'interpretive' artist's rights on recording machine.s, got ex-mayor Jimmy Walker to front the National Assn. of Performing Artists in a drive to collect from the coin-mychines. Th«y Hoofed at <he Crossroads To tlie Very Best Dance. Bands . The boom of. the phonographs in turn created a host of 'juke joints' at the crossroads and .in the sticks, where the kids hoofed to the cream of the nation's dansapators by dropping a nickel-in-the-slot. Even ASCAP couldn't .cope with this, realizing that its proprietary rights were limited to the licensing of the copyright for musical reproduction, but with the NAPA, (recording artists) claiming a vital right, it is hoped lo collect from the 450,000 (very roughly esti- mated) coin machines scattered all over the country in pubs, taverns, danceries and the like. C;oin-machine thing has been dramatized in the past in sundry manners. This season .it forced "Beer Barrel Polka' into a national craze, being originally a Czechoslovakiah piece that was being widely performed around the. Buffalo- Detroit sector by the Bohemian and Czech auto workers in their local beerstubes. It was thus called to Shapiro-Bern- stein's attention, and it has sold 600,000 sheet c6pic.<! and as many platters Ip flale. « The coin machines have also created such pop hits as 'The One- Rose That's Left in My Heart,' 'Sunrise Serenade,' "El Rancho Grande,' etc. But more important in recent months has been the manner in which (he di.sks catapulted certain recording artists into big .league popularity. 'This form of nickel-in-the-slot popu- larity wore out so many recordings of certain fave bands and artists (Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Andrews Sisters, Orrin Tucker-Bonnie Baker) that new favorites were born strictly off the wax. Leaders Want to Be Publishers And Many Are Finding Out In turn, this manifestation of the disk vogue gave a number of bandleaders the music publishing bee. They realized they may not rate in ASCAP, via the traditional methods, compet- ing with the old-established veteran firms and catalogs, biit they might be able to collect from disk performing rights. Veritable rash of maestro-publishers broke out. Fred Waring, of course, has been staggering along with his Words & Music company for some years now—an(l losing money—his other maestro-partners, like Whiteman, Lyman, Lombardo, having dropped out. Guy and Carmen Lombardo have been concen- trating on Olman Music Corp. Meantime a flock of new entrants are finding out. Benny Goodman's brother, Harry, is handling the old Maurice Abrahams, Inc., catalog, acquired from the latler's widow. Belle Baker. Teddy Powell is in on Harry Tenney, .Inc. Nathaniel Shilkret incorporated a firm bearing his name. Tommy Dorsey, after being almost set to pay $40,000 for a 50% interest in Larry Spier's firm, dickered with another widow, Maybelle Weil, for the Milton Weil catalog (Chicago), she also joining company. Isham Jones, whose Jones, Inc., was long since sold to Max Mayer, the music jobber, bought Gem Music. Freddie Rich, also with a brother as operator, has Melo-Art. Horace Heidt formed Pilgrim Music, and one of the more .successful indie catalogs Is Circle:Music, owned by Mark Warnow, which publishes all ot Raymond Scott's stuff. (Scott, nee Harry Warnow, is Mark's brother.) Lincoln Music, in which Larry Clinton was supposed to have a stake, is now headed by Sam Wigler, with backing of Andrew Weinberiser, attorney and personal rep Artie Shaw and Richard Himber, which inspired the trade both have interests in Lincoln, although both deny it. Likewise Glen Gray (Ca.sa Loma) denies a trade suspicion he has a piece of Jewel Music, the firm which caine to atten- Jjon with one of the aforen^ntioned disk-made hit songs, ^unrise Serenade.' On the matter of lawyers in the band z^/"*"* Gluskin, Dorsey's attorney, is sec-treasurer of Weil. Of the new firms the most vivid thus far has been the Jack ore^man-Rocco Vocco-Chester Conn combination, which, mating from 'And the Angels Sing,' right through Little Sir fcho and 'Day In, Day Out,' and the still currently succcss- Scatlerbrain,' has made its mark. When Joe Morris sold out the firm bearing his ^lame lo By ABEL GREEN Archie Fletcher, the latter early this year refused a $75,000 bid from Lou Diamond (Famous Music)-to sell out to the Paramount Pictures subsid, but subsequently took a $30,000 icss offer when his (Fletcher's) heart necessitated retirement. Johnny Merccr-Edwin H, (Buddy) Morris have made the Joe Morris catalog the nucleus of their new firm. (No relation betw^een Joe and Buddy Morris), the latter deciding to go into business for . himself when resigning as' head of the "Warner Bros, mwiic publishing subsidiaries, Herman Starr succeeding in charge thereof.) Last week Mercer & Morris ?dded the Millrose Music catalog for $75,000 and took in George Simon as part of the deal as general manager. Joe Davis was another sellout to Willie Horowitz, vet pro- fessional man, and Abner Silver, songwriter, both becoming publishers with this deal. . Davis continues independently under ario'ihcr name. Other new indie publishers are songwriters Sam Coslciw (in Hollywood), and Eugene West (in New Orleans). Personality highlights of the year saw Kate Smith cele- brating her ninth anniversary in the business; Rudy Vallee his 10th; Paul Whiteman his 20lh; Jack Mills ditto, and Jack Robbins his quarter-of-a-century. The Smith-,-Whiteman and Robbins events were signalized publicly with special sections in Varihty. Isidore Witmark, who with his brother Jay are the sole surviving msmbcrs oC the original Wilmark & Sons (now a WB subsid) authored his breezy memoirs, 'From Ragtime to Swingtimc' Jimmy Walker, back as an exec of NAPA, wrote 'In Our Little Part of the Town' as a tolerance message for the Night of Stars at the Madison Sq. Garden, this being his .second song in 25 yeai'S. A quarter of century ago he authored 'Will You Love Me in December as You Did in May?' Artie Shaw, who figured as the Cinderella Man of the Bounce Bands in 1939, and who is vivid to the miisic biz because.of his swingology, did all right for himself on pub- licity. Started with his quick rise, then lambasting jitterbugs as morons, then scran^ming his band into retirement, and finally his Satevepost blast at the band bookers and music publishers for trade practices. The pubs chose to give it the lifted eyebrow brushoff. Shaw also made himself vivid by swinging 'Begin the Beguine' on a Victor recording that made that dormant yesteryear Cole Porter tune a smash. Shaw's 'Indian Love Call' was iii the same idiom, but the resuscitation wasn't as successful. Benny Goodman, equally vivid as the king of swing, pub- lished his autobiography, did a Carnegie Hall concert that was a stampede, appeared in a legit CSwingih' the Dream') lhat lasted 13 performances. John Philip Sousa 3d sought to carry on the illustrious name with a band; Mack Gordon and Harry Revel split, bat are due to reunite; another long-established writing team sev- ered when Al Dubin teamed with Jimmy McHugh. and Harry Warren with Mort Dixon; and songsmith Johnny Mercer be- came a radio personality. Personality items of a tragic sort saw the death of Joe Young at 50: Chick Webb at 30, just as he was hitting his peak; Mike Morris at 76, and his brother Louis (Cully) Morris in December at 71, both being of the five brothers who formed Joe Morris Music Co.: Joe Green, at 43; Dr. Wilhelm Grosz at 45, and Edgar F. Bitner. former head of Leo Feist, Inc., but latterly an executive of Musical Courier, at 62. 34 Legislative Broadsides Fired at ASCAP in 1939 ASCAP was be.set by legal antagonism on all fronts, no less than 34 anti-ASCAP bills, all charging the same monopoly and restraint of trade allegations, being filed. It's cost ASCAP staggering legal bills. Finally made the board members wonderwhy the Society hadn't long, since gone in for some judicious public relations work. Hating ASCAP had become an emotional matter, not just a business dispute. In 1938, the final reports early this year showed. ASCAP collected $6.000.0QO from all sources, or $200,000 above '37. Of this, $4,100,000 was distributed, 10% put aside for foreign, and the rest retained for administrative, legal and reserve. The legal war chest is important always to ASCAP, due to the constant legal harrassment, but meantime the Society members are vexed at the heavy financial outlay it entails. •Estimates for 1939 indicate $6,950,000 to ASCAP, its record ' high take, of which radio contributed $4,300,000. T'he disks also provided music biz its best take in 12 years with $750,000 in royalties, plus an additional $270,000 from transcriptions. Meantime Broadcast Music, Inc., has come into existence, in name only at present, as a prospective means to combat ASCAP. It was rumored CBS was going into the music pub- lishing business, but it wound up acquiring the American Record Corp. (Yates) as an affiliate akin to NBC's affinity with RCA Victor. - ASCAP is always a battleground for ratings, revi.sed ac- countings, etc., and this year was no exception. Several progressive firms got a better shake. Meantime the Songwriters Protective Assn. was doing its own battling and finally won a new uniform contract. Jack Robbins formed the Big Three Music Corp. to embrace Robbin.s, Feist and Miller, all three Metro subsids. akin to the Warner Bro.s. group, which operates under the Music Publishers Holding Corp., but so far Robbins Music alone has flourished. Harry Link was brought in from Berlin's to operate Feist and act as contact with the Metro studio, but not until 'Over the Rainbow' (from 'Wizard of Oz') did that catalog have anything outstanding. Miller Music is still in the red, and ultimately Willie Horowitz left (now co-owner of Joe Davis). Of the Robbins group, Mitchell Parish set some' .sort of a record for a songsmith, with perhaps 1,000.000 copies in gross royalties accruing to him as lyricist of 'Stairway to the Stars,' 'The Lamp Is Low,' 'Moonlight Serenade' and 'Deep' Purple.' There were sundry pop song manifestations of note. The ballads and the novelties were the extremes. In between, a song like Marks' 'El Rancho Grande,' after being dormant for years, stepped out in a big way. 'That inspired a rhythmic version of 'Ciribiribin' and latterly ditto with 'Marcheta' and Victor Herbert's 'Indian Summer.' Bing Crosby has figured importantly in lending them impetus through his .interpre- tations on radio and disk. The 'Oh Johnny Oh' revival is one of those freaks, still current, credited to Bonnie Baker, vocalist with Orrin Tucker. Miller Music tried a revival with 'I Cried for Yoii,' but not as successfully, and sporadically swing version or modernized arrangements of other oldies have cropped up, such as 'Missouri Waltz,' 'Naughty Waltz,' 'Billy,' etc. As result of 'Oh Johnny,' Tucker got a radio and film contract, and all other bandleaders and publishers started dusting off the oldies, hoping for a similar windfall. For a time, on the heels of 'Little Sir Echo.' there was an attempt at a cycle of kid songs such as 'Little Mischief Maker,' 'Little Skipper.' 'Liltle Genius' and 'Little Lad,' but more recently the 'cute' .songs are having their sway. That takes in 'Oh Johnny,' IChatterbox/ 'Scalterbrain,' 'Baby Me," 'Goody (Joodbye,' and the like. Getting back to Crosby, his songs for the Santly-Joy-Select catalog and his interpretations of the following songs did much to catapult them into hits: 'Man and His Dream,' 'An Apple for the Teacher,' Penny Serenade,' 'Man With the Mandoli ,' 'Sing a Song of Sunbeams," 'Wishiu!;,' 'El Rr^ncho. Grande,' 'To You Sweetheart, Aloha.' Crosby, Kate Smith and Vallee are .still the scngplugger's delifiht as the ideal interpreters. The 4 Ink Spots' recording of 'If I Didn't Ciare' did for them and the song what 'Bei Mir Bist Du Sehoen' first did for the Andrews Sisters, bo'th, incidentally, Decca recordings: On: the matter of disks, the. country's continued vogue for dansapation boomed the waxworks. Ditto those pop-priced phono-radio combinations. Some 650,000 of these were sold in 1939. Upon leaving Victor, Eli Oberstein formed his own U. S. Record Corp. (Varsity and Royale brands). Decca has-become a potent factor in the trade, due to Jack Kapp's platter showmanship. Latter embracing unique albums, unusual recordings, and the Hollywood technique applied to a 35c disk product. A reprise of the year's bestsellers indicates the wide range of ttines. 'Deep'^Purple,' 'Beer Barrel Polka' (called the 'Barrel Polka' on the radio becouse of a taboo on the first word), 'South of fhe Border,' 'Penny Serenade,' 'Cinderella,' 'My Prayer,'. ■'Rancho Grande,' 'Wishing,' 'Sir Echo,' 'God Bless America' (a quiet seller, and restricted after Kate Smith's,first intro), 'Lilacs in the Rain,' '10th Century Draw- ing Room,' 'Good Morning,' 'Lady's in Love With You.' 'Stair- way to Stars,' 'Comes Love,' 'Sunrise Serenade,' 'What's New?' 'Sailboat of Dreams,' 'An Apple for the Teacher,' 'Crazy Moon, 'New Moon and Old Serenade arc among the-outr slanders. The World's Fair inspired no big song hit. There were several abortive attempts, and while Eleanor Holm ahd Billy Rose's Aquacade were the Big Shov/'s personality and draw, the song, 'Yours for a Sang,' from the water spec, was only fairish. Incidentally, this proved that perhaps the 'Blue Danube Waltz,' long a f.'.ve Ihem.-lic for Tin Pan Alley switeheroo, is about v.ashcd up. On the other hand, the Mexican folksong. 'La Golondrina,' has done nobly for 'South of the Border.' World War II similarly has produced no 'Long, Long Trail? or 'Tipperary.' Strict technical neutrality on our part is one factor, so the two 'Siegfried Line' ditties current in England never got started. Ahd as a matter of fact, the Tjmmies are more partial to 'South of the Border' over there. An abortive comedy novelty, "Save Me, Governor Dickin- son, I'm on the Road to Ruin,' just about proved the country was in no mood for that soi't of frivolity, this despite 'Three Little Fishies.' and the like. "Wany Songs Plugged for The Amusement of Bandleaders 'That didn't deter some of the maestros from cutting up whimsically. Jan Savitt's '720 in the Books' refers to an intra-band favd that finally saw daylight, and Benny Good- man waxed facetious with instrumentals carrying such cap- tions as 'Sonata to ASCAP,' 'Opus Local 802,' 'AC-DC Cur- yrenf; Johnny Messner's 'Messing Aroimd'; Woody Herman's 'Woodchoppers Ball'; 'Neurotic Goldfish,'. 'Baclt to Bach' (Alec Templeton's excellent swingeroo), 'Fry My Eggs in Butter,' 'A Deb's Diary,' 'Weekend of a Private Secretary,' latter alone attaining any sort of a vogue. On the subject of pluggers, the Music Publishers Contact Employees are finally making headway against the sundry proselyting evils, as regards plugs, via this new MPCE union, Rocco Vocco and attorney Samuel Jesse Buzzell were promi- nent in its formation, and while it's anomalous that employ- er publishers must also be members of a trade union, the business is such that the most succes.sful music executives are also those who solicit plug.s. And that goes for the best of 'em. However, already it's manifesting a curtailment of s"me of the rackets which, even in the days of the NRA, couldn't be controlled. George Mario is prez, Johnny While v.p and Bcb Miller secrtreas. The opening night pressure on the publishers was so ter- rific that they all turned out with junior conventions not only at premieres, but closings, and in between. Leaders' requests for 'special' nights, turnouts at Sundays and Mon- days or when biz wasn't so fancy, drained the patience and the cxchequer.s. Further on the trade end. from a merchandizing vie'wpoint, a tieup with a Hearst news distributing channel created some 500 heretofore untapped channels for sheet music (on kiosks, newsstands, etc.), which has further interpreted itself in pros- perity for the business. WALDORF ON PARK AVE. GIVES JIVEJIM'S RUSH Waldorf-Astoria hotel, N. Y., is n6t ^'kely to go in for any more swing Mnds on location in its Empire "oom. Exit of Benny Goodman Monday ,]) his replacement '■nil Everett Hoagland's sweet group anrt • ^ closed out the swing era, Ori.- 'm^^'" Pi'obably remain out. „„ 1" Tucker, who has risen lately ""the strength of his 'Oh, Johnny, "^n reccKling, may replace Hoag- I land in the spring. Tucker takes ' ! over from Tommy Dor.sey at the ' Palmer House. Chicago, this week. ■ Though Goodman is at the head of, I Ihe best outfit he's had under him I I for a year or more, the business at! \ the Empire was disappointing. His stand there last season was a differ- ent story and was the basis for him being brought . back. Casa Loma , (liitfit followed Goodman's previous i <latc ill the Waldorf. Phil Kornhclser has become a ' partner in Harry Tenney, Inc. He . takes up his'new connection Jan. 2. ' Sweet Dividends Analysis of the best-sellers evi- dences that the sweet .songs eclip.sed the rhythmic number.s in sales turnover. Year-end radio programs, which (ionsulted Vahictv for ad- advance info on the top songs of the year, all observed that thoy had to arbitrarily switch things-a bit in order to cstabli.sh a better balance by inclusion of memorable, if not big-.selling. rhythm tunes. TaithfuF to Block Leeds Music Co. has given up the .selling rights lo the Martin Block tune, 'Faithful lb You," and has re- \ turned the number to Block and his two collaborators. It will be pub- lished by the Martin Block Mu.sic : Co. j -. Title of the tune eonfiicted with Famous Music's 'Faithful Forever," from Paiamount's' 'Gulliver's Trav- : el.s,' and the Music ..'ublishcrs Pio- I Icctivc A-Ssn., bccau.se of the .simi- larity in tag.s, ordered Leeds to cca.sc distribution of Block's nui.ibcr. RALPH HITZ ON MEND FROM SERIOUS COLD I Ralph Hitz, president of the Hotel ■ New York and the National Man- I a;;cment Co., was reported at press I time as improving from a serious I cold condition at the Post Graduate ho.-pital, N. Y. He has been in the hospital for Ihrce v.'CLks taking treatment for a cold, which developed into acute in- , llammaiion of the liver.