Variety (Oct 1941)

58 ORCHESTRAS Wednesday, October 1, 1941 THE HOLLYWOOD IDEA Must Be First Established On Waxworks—Great Trailer for Pix—Break for Unknowns Bv JACK HELLMAN Hollywood, Sept. 30. GREENER fields that lie beyond the "Lost Horizon'—which is the Coast—have pastuied many a band, but the munch- ing hasn't been too good for outfits without a record rep. The barometer of a band's pull is those little, black whirling disks and unless their names have been pressed on the label, the chances of dipping into the gravy at the better grottoes and the picture studios are not very promising. Impresarios of the town's hooferies and taverns readily admit that a band that hasn't had at least a couple of hit tunes on the tunrtables or juke circuit doesn't rate much of a tumble. Bookings are predicated on how the band's records are selling and that method of reckoning also applies to the studio call sheets. Although Hollywood has incubated its share of name bands, the current requisite demands that they be 'made' before the better bookings are thrown open to them. Tlie element o£ gamble, the long chance is no longer part of the game out here. In this connection it brings Into focus the case of Alvmo Rey and the King Sisters. Playing. many of the secondary spots around town and admittedly a coming band, none of the better sites or studios took them seriously. Going east they soon caught on and now they're in the chips. Helped no little to their position of, eminence was the brisk sales of King Sisters' recordings. A* film deal also has been set for the combo. They are currently at RKO working on 'Synco- pation.' West coast popularity of the platters turned out by Freddy Martin contributed mightily to his long and successful stand at the town's class night spot, Cocoanut Grove. He was sailing along to moderate returns when of a sudden he hopped on the novelty, 'Hut-Sut Song;' beating the others to the wax by six weeks. Grosses began to cUmb at the Grove and it required no keen mind to put the finger on the cause. Hit Recordings the Gaase Name bands that have played the Palladium have pros- pered in accordance with the number of their records that are spinning on radio stations, in cafes, in college dorniitories and on t^ie combo sets at home. Coming into the hoofery •with a whale of a record rep is Jimmy Dorsey. Predictions . are already being made that he'll top Glenn Miller, still headman with the patrons of the dance.ry with Woody Her- man a close second. It is pointed out that Miller had two big hits to his gredit when he opened. Of the bands that have graced the Palladium's stand, the booking provied that the lowest grosser was the band which lacked even one out- standing recording. Nor does that mean, however, that bands without record reps are in ill favor with the nitery bookers. They have an appealing angle that can't be overlooked. Solid crews with reps generated by other means have a pull of their own— the commercial aspect. While the recording bands bring them up to the window, the others lure the spending trade. There's more margin in hard drinks than Coca-Colas^ It's the younger set that piles in for the record bands and the state law for- bids their Imbibing of alcoholic thirst-slake. Names like Abe Lyman and Paul Whiteman figure prominently among the bands that keep the waiters«moving with their trays of kitchen fodder and bottled cheer. While the Coast is a heart-breaker for bands intent on pick- ing up a little stray coin due to long jumps, there's solace enough in the rich lure of the picture studios. It's gotten so that a name band won't even consider a Coast engagement luiless there's a picture deal tied up in it. Those who have made the long jump, however, have done veiV all right. Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Kay Kyser, Glen Gray's Casa Lomans, Glenn Miller, Russ Morgan, Jimmy Dorsey, Richard \ Hlmber have doubled into the flickers while on nitery duty. Only Eddy Duchint Al Donahue, Abe Lyman, Woody Her- man and a few others have either passed up or have been passed up by the cinema plants. The Coast hasn't been over-productive in the past year on the assembly of bands that have cut a swath for themselves once oft the. home stamping grounds Qf.couTse, there'§ Al- vino Rey, and to supplement him the fast-coming Claude Thornhill. Stan Kenton is still in his Coast grooming, but this winter will be taken east. Among the score of ether home products there may be one or two to rise above medi- acrity and pull up to the forefront of the bigtimers but to date the horizon fails to disclose such a crew. Bad Side of Success Flatterers Deliberately Kid Young Lead- ers, Warp, Their Commou Sense By BEN BODEC Several booking managers were gathered about a lunch- eon table recently discussing the headaches encountered In the business when one of their number remarked that the cause for most of these headaches could be traced to a single phenomenon, the curious facets in the ego of the youthful namia bandleader. He went on to state that there was a time that the byplay of these facets used to produce in him a deep sense of frustration and futility, but that now it was differ- ent. He had merely reconciled himself to what he consid- ered to be a fact, namely, that because of what happens to a yoiing man who tastes heady success wine 'the last thing that can be expected of this type, once he has emerged from the also-rans, is gratitude, or big-hearted appreciation of past services. As this booking manager saw it, the reasons for name leaders' unique ego are many. Most of the leaders 'arrive' at an age which is still limited in mental maturity and social outlook. The rewards arc, in many cases, fabulous. Hence, there is that constant—and quite natural—fear of losing out and being toppled from their niches. The adulation is in-. tense, coming not only from the dancing mpb but from song- pluggers. The latter, perforce sycophantic, are lavish with praise for the leader present, and poisonous with comment for some other mncslro who, they aver, is usually trying to ape their pal's style, or commit something equally heinous. Other sources of corroding flattery are the leader's personal managers and booking managers who keep assuring the pros- pect that he's 'sensational' or that he's being terribly mis- handled and neglected by his present booking office. Just a Popular Kid The established or up'-.ind-coming leader is the cynosure of advice from all sides. If he ever expresses an opinion or idea it's leapt upon as being 'terrific' and 'sensational.' Living in what may be described as anything but a realistic world, the target of all this fawning becomes an easy victim. He believes it all. What he's got makes all that came before him, including Paul Whiteman, rate as puddlers and ama- teurs. He decides his booking manager has been taking him for a sap all the time. He'll now show even these songplug- gers what an important guy he is. From now on he'll cut out bothering about talking to them about new numbers and refer them to his arrangers or his librarian. (The songplug- gers thereby become the victims of their own devices.) Wh6n the head-swelling one levels his new conception of himself upon his booking manager, the results become an Interesting psychological item for the books. What's this I hear, he wants to know, about using me in such-and-such a spot to sell one of your other bands? The booking manager admits that He did proposition a promoter to the effect that the ace name in question might be had, if the prospective buyer agreed to accept also a band that the booking office believed to be up-and-coming. But the protesting leader can't see why another band should be tagged on to his kite, and he won't have it. It Happened to Him Too The booking manager tries to point out that this sort of thing is an accepted procedure of the business ai^, when the protesting leader fails to subside, the b.m. reminds him that ' it was because the office did the same thing with him that he was able to get a hearing in the choicer spots in the not- so-dim days as a cub bandleader. Such reminders only serve to bait the leader's wrath. The office never did anything to further his interests. He's where he is because he had what it takes, and whatever selling or exploitation there' has taken place in connection with him- self it's been because .of the resourcefulness and enterprise that he himself has been able to exercise. Another interesting manifestation of this ego is the rarity of sincere praise for. another bandleader's talent or achieve- ment or of extending a counseling or helping hand to new- comer maestros of promise. As far as the personalities at the top are concerned, Whitentan still remains an exception of much distinction. One of the things tliat has always marked his unique position in the business was his readiness to say a kindly word for pthers in the same field. As that observing booking manager at the luncheon table concluded his impressions, one of his fellow diners remarked, 'So you think the band business is made up of a bunch of 'Sammy Glicks'?' 'No,' he rejoined, 'I wouldn't say that. Most of them have worked hard and have real talent. They're a Jot of human fellows .but they just weren't prepared mentally fof the money, the success, the praise and the rest.' THEY AREN'T ALL FROM DIXIE City Oicks Can Be Flops in Sticks —Kyser Tops in South By T. D. KEMP, Jr. (Southern Band Booker) Charlotte, N. C, Sept. 30. OUR neighboring state of 'Virginia claims to have turned out more Presidents than any state in the Union. Here in North Carolina we don't go in for Presidents but we do lay claim to more big-time bandleaders than any other state. My brother, Hal JKemp, who still lives as far as we are concerned, started the vogue. And hard-working North Caro- lina boys, devoted to popular music at its best, like Kay -Kyser and Johnny Long, Skinnay Ennis and Les Brown and John Scott Trotter, all of whom Hal encouraged, carry it on. ■'^^ But, as the editor of 'Variett pointed . out in suggesting the title for this :^^H little piece, 'They aren't all from Dixie »iwx::2^^B thesc days.* As employer of stage talent: for nearly all the important theatres in the South, I have used, at one time or another during recent years, nearly all the 'big name' bands. Watch- ing their returns at the boxoffice has been an interesting ex- perience: some have done remarkably well, others have been flops, and a few 'dark horses' have made money. We have learned that because a band becomes a big hit overnight in New York City and other metropolitan centers is no indication that it will get by 'in the sticks,' at least as far as theatres are concerned. The youngsters listen to the radio and decide their favorites for the moment, but there are not enough youngsters in our towns to fill theatres. And when they do come to hear their passing favorite, they sit through two or three performances preventing the turnover we need to get a satisfactory gross. Dixie's 10 Best Favcs At the present time, as near as I can judge from popular opinion, the Soulh's favorite 10 bands are, in the order named: Kay Kyser, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Guy Lom- bardo, Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey, Fred Waring, Horace Heldt, Tony Pastor and Jan Garber. The best band bet lor the South is one that has been on Siberia 15 Feet Away It's a Long Road to the Mike for Am« bitious but Repressed Maestros By ROBERT J. LANDRY OF all the hardships and hazards to which the flesh of orchestra leaders is heir, perhaps nothing in recent years is so frustrating, so vexiiig and so galling as the slogan an- nounced by various radio advertising agency scoutmasters: 'Music, not musicians, should he heard.' And when they say that they smile, meaning not too much music, either. This is the slap direct. This is exile to the background—Siberia 15 feet away. Many a leader who has everything musically is sad be- cause he has nothing to say. He's got a 39-week contract but no laughs. Nobody's making anything out of his curly ))eir« or his stinginess, or his conceit, or his love-life, or his uncle. He could be a radio character it those radio magnates would only order the radio gag-writers to create him a radio per- sonality. Devious and ingenious are the ways in which orchestra leaders have striven through the radio years to escape from the background, to grab hold of the microphone if only to say, 'Hello, mom! Hello, pop!' Back around 1930—which is antediluvian in radio history—Huske O'Hare was personally whispering into Chicago microphones with a voice athrob with personality, 'softly and quietly and romantically Huske O'Hare and his -genial gentlemen of jazz steal into your h'omes and hearts and wrap you in a mantle of reverie.' The corn stalks were tall enough to hide an ordinary-sized man, but this was true while It lasted—O'Hare was in the foreground. Bemie's Lingo Not long' after, Ben Bernie began to spiel in that strange lingo of his. 'Youse guys and.-youse gals' was his quaint greeting. It was worth $4,000 a week. 'Ladies and gentle- men' from an orchestra leader rated then, and now, straight union settle. Then there was Dave RubinofT, who used to conduct film theatre pit orchestras with acrobatic gestures and catgut schmalz, neither of which projected as dynamically over the air as across the footlights. But Rubinoff had Eddie Cantor to insult him Coast to Coast and Rubinoff was happy and prosperous. The great struggle to get out front Into the main spotlight when the broadcasts begin is carried on musically as well as verbally—like the famous Hollywood conductor who used to bring his whole brass section in and up for a inere pause In ' a singer's solo so that the listener would, if possible, forget the singer and ask who the orchestra leader was, This not too subtle tug o' war went on regularly in Hollywood, pro- ducing some of the classic music battles of the generation. Maestro Plays Second Fiddle Many a radio orchestra leader has evidenced firsthand that he is also-ran in the advertising agency and sponsor affections to the announcer. With so liiuch time and effort an^ worry devoted to making the announcer into a house- hold character, a national by-word, the scope narrows for the leader who would like to be a comic stooge for the publicity. Especially on those programs that do everything in twps, having two announcers, two emcees, two comics, two singers, the orchestra leader is lucky if he Isn't cut down to his last fanfare. But they keep trying—sustaining or commercial. That Is, some do. Because no generalization sticks all the way. Orchestra leaders that are fighting for the front and center spot on the air often hear contemporaries blow golden op- portunities, muff the chance to Impress their individualities. Take a lot of those late evening dance remotes, for Example. Take most of the orchestras that didn't take advantage of the ASCAP availabilities on Mutual. The plain fact is that the qualities of musicianship nec- essary to successful creation of an ensemble with imique characteristics does not always imply that nature has pre- sented the reader with the attributes of a glad-hander, or ad lib wit, a knockout character foil. It Is hardly a trade secret, for example, that Andre Kostelanetz, a pioneer In many kinds of radio music, is hopelessly handicapped by tlie wrong~itind of dialect when he attempts to materialize In the foreground as a speaking person. The fact is that when many a manager lainents 'if you could only talk!', he is stating the limitations of his man. One pathway to possible radio attention is blocked. It's a long, long road to the number one microphone. Siberia is 15 feet away, but it takes years and effort and ideas to cover the distance. In short, the orchestra leader who is using his head for something more than pomade realizes that he is. constantly fighting a defensive-offensive against those who conspire to keep him down. He must employ every trick of public and trade publiclty^to supplement and fortify his musicianship. the air long enough, or has been playing long enough, for people, in their 30's a'nd 40's to be familiar with it. I mean, for example, a band like Little Jack Little or Jan Garber or Clyde McCoy, none of whom would rate an extended en- gagement at New York's Paramount, for instance. There are, pi course, some exceptions. Tony Pastor, for example, surprised us all when he played a few weeks for us early this summer to very big business. Cofored bands are practically taboo In the theatres of this territory. Many of them will do business but we have few 'balconies for colored customers and we get criticism, both from the colored folks who, naturally, want to get in to see members of their own race perform, and from some news- papers and local intolerants. I would hate to think of what might break loose in some towns if we ever dared present a 'mixed' band on any of our stages as some northern theatres do. Test engagements down here on other bands, who had best be left unnamed, proved they didn't bring in any business. I don't know what new bands like Woody Herman, Harry James, "Vaughn Monroe, Alvino Rey, et al., would do. I'm afraid only the younger crowd knows them. Still, Frankie Masters just finished a week of one-nighters for us and did fine. At best, It's a funny business!