Variety (May 1941)

Wednesday, May 7, 1941 MUSIC 69 15 Best Sheet Music Sellers {Week ending May 3, 1941) Amapola Marks Intermezzo , Schuberth My Sister and I BMI Number 10 Lullaby Lane Warren I'll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time Broadway Walkin' By the River BMI Do I Worry? Melody Lane Wise Old Owl BMI ♦Dolores ('Las Vegas Nights') Paramount South of North Carolina Porgie Things I Love Campbell G'bye Now ' BMI Maria Elena Southern Oh, l«ok at'Me Now Embassy Band Played On p.D. *FnmuaU:al. Meadowbrook Network Plugs, 8 AJU to 1 A.M. Following is a fotoltzation of the combined plugs of current tunes on NBC iWEAF and V/JZ) and CBS (WABC) computed for the week from Monday through Sunday (April 2B-May 4). Total represents accumulated performances on the two major nefuiorfcs from 8 a.m. to 1 a.m.- [Dropped for sonie months, persistent trade demand prompted recent resumption of the plug breofcdoion even though ASCAP tunes obvtouslv con't be logged.] TITLE GRAND PUBLISHES TOTAL My Sister and I BMI 38 Amapola Marks 32 Things I Love Campbell ..... 30 Maria Elena Southern 29 Two Hearts That Pass in the Night...: Marks 29 It All Comes Back to Me Now BMI 28 Do I Worry? Melody Lane .. 23 Perfldia Southern ...... 23 Walkin'by the River BMI 23 Oh, Look at Me Now Embassy .. 22 I . Porgie 21 .. 21 .. 21 Continued from page C6ss night (3) t)ie spot did ropes-up biz for first time in couple months. Undoubtedly the spot will And a portion of the younger element now avoiding Route 23, but on the other hand it's possible that Kaye will make up for that by pulling an older, more sedate and naturally better' heeled class, which heretofore avoided the location. That may hold true particularly for the dinner seS' sions, which always have been weak except with one or two other bands. Too, one of Kaye's strongest fan clubs spreads ov.er the northern New Jersey area. As a matter of fact, Kaye's group is able to turn on the hop rhythms that Meadowbrook crowds have shown a liking for; he surprised a hefty portion of his opening mob by beating off bounce beats which egged dancers into jitterbug routines, then turned around and kicked off a 'Blue Danube' in oroper Viennese waltz tempo. Which all makes for a variety of pace of which the Glenn Millers, et al, are incapable. In ad- dition there was - no slackening of bandstand gaping. Kaye frequently drew 'em up to the stand to listen to novelty things like his 'Daddy' ar- rangement, which uses a band chorus. Singers Tommy Ryan, Arthur Wright and Marty McKenna all do neat jobs on vocals. So do the Three Kaydets, composed of McKenna, Charlie Wilson and George Brandon. Maury Cross hops up occasionally to interpret showmanly pieces such as his parody of 'Beat Me Daddy.' Another Kaye selling piece is his 'So You Want to Lead a Band,' which is nightly and on • Saturday after- noon CBS hours. It'll be a pushover for Meadowbrook's band-crazy dancers. Wood. South of North Carolina. There'll Be Some Changes Made Marks Wise Old Owl BMI , Let's Get Away from It AH Embassy 20 Number 10 Lullaby Lane. Warren 20 Time and Time Again London 20 With a Twist of the Wrist BMI 18 Georgia on My Mind Southern 17 Song of the Islands Marks 16 G'bye Now BMI 15 High on a Windy Hill BMI 15 Intermezzo ■. ■ • • .Schuberth 15 Romantic Guy, I ...' Nationwide .... 15 Yours Marks 15 Ida Sweet as Apple Cider Marks 14 These Things You Left Mo Regent 14 Because of You, BMI 13 For Want of a Star .Marks 13 Here's My Heart BMI So You're the One BMI You Walk By BMI Blues My Naughty Sweetie Taught Me 12 12 12 Marks 11 Friendly Tavern Polka BMI In the Hush of the Night 11 Beacon 11 Keep an Eye on Your Heart BMI Until Tomorrow You Should Be Set to Music BMI 11 Republic 11 11 Everything Happens to Me. Hi Cy, What's a Cookin'? BMI Let's Cream This One Out BMI .... Oom Pah Pah Serenade „ameron . Embassy 10 10 10 10 Coffee Concert ; Continued from page and sound-absorbing walls make it milder than a Balkan diplomat and 'minus any of the resonance, needed with stage entertainment. There's no p.a. system, of course. Kirby's combo, which played a somewhat similar outpouring at Car- negie Hall the pi-evious week, topped the show. Gang had the mutes down all the way, everything being kept soft except a boogie-woogie encore and Kirby's standard surprise for the long-hairs, 'Rehearsing for a Nervous Breakdown.' Little less subduing and more racket wouldn't hurt. Sophistlchords* New Idea Sophistichords, two gals and three guys with a° piano-accompanist, com- bine humor with their pipework for strong results. It's a neat idea with a load of possibilities, but needs plenty more polishing and ingenuity. Pattern is similar for virtually every number—start it legit and then swing it. Comedy is injected, in 'Old Man River,' for instance, by having the rest of the group lean on each other and show every sign of boredom while their tenor en- deavors to'sing it straight. Fivesome eventually takes over to jive the tune. Tenor doing 'Pagliacci' also gets the razz from, his cohorts. Scheme Is swell but needs variations. Chittison is an Interesting phe- nomenon for a spell of listening but, like .spinach, a taste. must be ac- quired for a marathon session. Miss Crane wisely recognized that and held the pianist do^vn to a minimum for topnotch results. Chittison re? cently came back from 15 years ! abroad. Unlike the boogie-woogie I boys, he literally only pats the keys, I but does it in the weird rhythms of I the Art Tatum school. It takes the trained super-swing listener to fully appreciate it. 'Tea for Two" was vaguely recognizable in the Chittison interpretation, while Strauss's 'Blue Danube' might have been anything else. Bit more showmanship is needed in the presentation; Particularly lacking was a stagehand or two to set the piano and other instruments in their places. Musicians shoving their own piano around and shuffling music-stands is something better ab- sent, even from a 'Coffee Concert.' There seems no doubt, however, that Miss Crane, who acquired her taste for jive in 52d street and Har- lem pandemonium cellars, has some- thing. In' the small auditorium at the current scale, and paying her artists liberally, she expects to just ^bout break even. Herb. HARBT JAMES ORCHESTRA (18) With Dick Haymes Lincoln' Hotel, New Tork Harry James has come down off the screaming trumpet style he once featured and his band has followed suitr It's no longer the harsh, ear bending group that it was last year , and, for grown-ups, the change is very much for the better. Outfit backing James' horn at the Lincoln is a solid combination with a lot to offer. It has begun to click on Co- lumbia records and with the air time it is getting at the Lincoln the band should develop into a top seller. Last week the band doubled from the hotel into the nearby Paramount theatre, replacing Benny Goodman with 'Road to Zanzibar,' and backing the same stage show. Goodman was forced out of a fourth week at the house by one-night bookings which couldn't be cancelled. In Goodman's place James is doing able sub- stituting, though his work behind the Copacabana line is not all that it could be. It's a difficult show to play and the band hadn't completely mastered it-when caught (last show opening day, Wednesday). Fault there lies with Jamss and the house. However, during the times the band is free of acts it turns up powerfully played tunes. 'Music Makers,' a sock original, gets good reaction, ditto smart arrangements of 'Intermezzo,' and 'Flight of Bumble- bee,' which feature James' excel- lently played trumpet. Dick Haymes, one of the better male vocalists, pops up with strong versions of 'I'll CJet I By' and 'Ol' Man River.' One of the standout errors of the show viewed, ! however, was the finale number I 'Back Beat Boogie.' It's a di.stinct I letdown and more so because it's the bowoff tune. 'Intermezzo,' incident- ally, also was featured by (joodman. At the Lincoln, a small room with about 250 capacity, James' heavily staffed outfit of four sax, two Tobani Decision Seen As Factor In Dick Murray's Renewal Retreat Plnggers' $16,152 Show Bob Miller, executive director of the Professional Music Men, Inc., reported yesterday (Tuesday) that the organization has taken in from its journal, dance and raffle this year $16,152, which Is $750 more than had been derived from the same sources last year. The book Itself brought $11,000, the raffle $3,700, while the balance came from the dance which was staged at Manhattan Center, N. Y., last Sunday (4). Decca Earnings Double '40; Music Royalties Bigger Despite the limited number of new songs released by ASCAP publish- ers and the barring of them firom exploitation over the networks, early royalty returns from Decca Record Co. Indicate that this section of the publishing industry will collect from Decca for the quarter ending March 31 about as much es it did for the previous quarter. Indications also arc that the ASCAP tunes which are bringing big disc returns to their publishers are 'Dolores' (Paramount), Understand'■ (Feist), 'Apple Blos- som Time' (Broadway), 'Memory of a Rose,' and 'Star Dust' (Mills). Decca's net profit for the same pe- riod was $211,159, or double what it had been for the initial quarter of 1940. This is equivalent to 56c. on 376,657 shares of capital stock out- standing. Decca's Takeover Jack Kapp, Decca prez, will today (Wed.) announce the purchase from JVarner Bros, ot-its Brunswick Ra- dio Corp., a wholly owned WB sub- sidiary. Brunswick owns factories in Dubuque, la., and Muskegon, Mich., which Decca plans utilizing for further distribution. WB is part- nered with Decca in the disk biz. trumpets, three trombones, four rhythm and three violins never makes conversation an impossibility. Leader's full-toned horn is almost always played in low register and it only occasionally chimes in with the other two in the band. Latter pair are one of the Jiand's weaknesses. Both at the hotel and theatre their work wasn't clean. Same comment can be applied to the entire band at times, but that, at this stage, is not important. After an extensive road trip the band apparently needs a long sit-down to concentrate on play- ing. It'll get it during three months at the Lincoln. Lincoln's Blue Room has been re- done and soundproofed. It's one of the nicer dine and dance spots, much more Intimate than some of the roomy opposition name band stands. Wood Paramount Picture's two subsids, the Famous Music Corp. and th« Paramount Music Corp., have under- taken to dispose by the settlement route the assignments they hold from various writers on the renewal rights of works now being published by other firms. The move is being construed in the industry as having been largply influenced by the fact that the N. Y. federal and supreme court recently affirmed by decisions the principles enunciated in the noted Tobani case. As head of the Famous and Para- mount firms the late Lou Diamond did a wholesale business of obtain- ing renewal assignments from writ- ers whose original copyrights were held by other publishing houses. In many of these cases these renewal assignments were clouded by the circumstance that the same writers had years before given the renewal rights to the original publisher. It had been the theory of many copy- right lawyers for years that any such assignment granted before the renewal actually became due would not be enforceable in a court of law, but this theory was completely shattered several weeks ago when Federal Judge Edward A. Conger upheld Witntark's right to the re- newal rights of 'When Irish Eyes Are Smiling,' an assignment which Witmark had obtained from the writer. George Graff, Jr., 18 years before the renewal became available. In a subsequent case, G. Schirmer against Robbins Music Corp., tht N. Y. supreme court took the posi- tion that it had no choice but to accept Judge Conger's ruling. Dick Murray, who succeeded Dia- mond as boss of the Famous and Paramount firms, has now designated Harry Fox, agent and trustee, to act for him in disposing of the renewal assignments gathered by Diamond. Murray would like to transfer the assignments his firms hold to the original publishers, and all he asks in terms of money are the sums he paid in advances to the writers from whom Diamond obtained ^he'assign-.' ments. These writers include Jimmy Monaco, Al Lewis, AI Bryan and Jean Schwartz. Paramount's outlay in advances on renewals amounted to over $25,000. inside Stuff-Music Music Notes John Shelton and Billy MacDon- ald cleffed three tunes for Metro, 'Strange to Say,' 'I'm Not So Sure of You' and 'It's You I'm After.' Duke ElllDElon wrote eight new ditties for the stage musical, 'Jump for Joy,' opening on the Coast this month. I Boosey & Hawkes, the British publishers, hove an artists bureau operat- ing in New York. It originally got into.this business la.st summer when Bela Bartok, the Hungarian composer, pianist and lecturer, whom it has on its publishing list, asked its New York rep, H. W. Heinshelmer, to act as his booker. After producing some dates for Bartok, Heinshelmer ob- tained an agent's liccn.se and took over the management in this country of Sir Thomas Beecham, the conductor, and the Primrose quartet. Several months before the break between ASCAP and radio occurred, Boosey & Hawkes withdrew the grand rights of its symphony works from the British I Performing Rights Society, an affiliate of ASCAP, and turned their licens- I ing over to Associated Music Publishers, Inc. ASCAP assented to the ! move, and the B & H symphonic and chamber material has been plenti- ■ fully played by NBC, CBS and Mutual. Ice Follies' Snes ASCAP; SaysWrMg Info Cost $6,500 Ice Follies, Inc., last ^week filed suit against the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in the N. Y. Supreme Court to re- cover money that the show had to expend on music rights during its recent stand at Madison Square Gar- den. The damages asked are $7,000, or $500 more than the owners of the show, Edward and Roy Shipsted and Oscar Johnson, claim they had to pay Tams-Witmark for grand rights to .some Victor Herbert works after ASCAP, according to them, said it would be okay to use these numbers. The Garden has a .standing license with ASCAP and, according to Slade & Slade, the Ice Follies' counsel, it checked with ASCAP about making certain dramatic rl?hts i'.sps nnd after receiving approval from this .source the show's owners got a call from Tams-Witmark, asking that they take out the necessary grand rights li- cense. Howard Jackson cleffed an originzl score ' for the preparedness short, 'Here' Comes the Cavalry,' at War- ners. W. Franke' Harllnr doing the mu- sical score 'for Adventure in Wash- ington' at Columbia. Aside from the policmg maintained by the Music Publishers Protective '"Association the sharp reduction in the number of bootleg songsheets is at- I tributed to the snnall amount of new songs put out by the publishers af- I filiated with ASCAP since the break with the major part of the broad- ': casting industry. Only bootleg sheet now on the New York streets is the I 'Flash' series. Its lyrics are mostly ASCAP standards with some public domain material tossed in for padding purposes. The bootleggers have apparently found it unprofitable to go in for Broad- cast Music lyrics, since that radio-owned outfit has licensed • lyric, mag, 'Song Parade,' which sells for but a nickel, to make full use of the BMI output. 'Parade' carries none but BMI material. RCA Fire on Coast Ruins 250,000 Disks Hollywood, May 6. Fire in the warehouse of RCA Manufacturing Co. destroyed 250,000 phonograph records and did other damage totaling $100,000. No harm was done to the rest of the plant, where work continues on regular schedule. Walter Schumann as Pub Hollywood, May 6. Walter Schumann, composer, con- ductor and arranger, has. now sprouted es a music publisher, com- ing up with a tune tagged 'The Huf- Sut Song,' written by Ted Mc- Michael, Jack Owens <and Leo 'V. KiUian. It's a Swedish song with • loa4 of Swedish lingo as the lyrict.