Variety (Dec 1942)

VrcJhcflJay, December 30. 1942 SStRAS 35 Band Biz Pu^s Move for Petrillo Aid In Getting Back Independent Status The beginning o/ an agitation Is being heard among bandleaders and agency executives to convince James C. Petrillo, head of the American Iteration of Musicians, that It would be wise to return leaders to the status of 'independent contrac- tors.' Briefly, that would Involve dis- carding the Form B contract, under which all bands have been working for six months and which makes all employers of banda liable for Social Security payments. It was reported that Morris Schrier, attorney for Music Corp. of America, has been having conversa- tions with Petrillo re the subject, al- though he denies such reports. Pe- trillo himself was out of town yes- terday (Tues.) and couldn't be reached for comment. If the AFM junks the Form B con- tract, and it's said by sources close to the union's executive board that it would like to and may do so dur- ing its next meeting, the most im- portant result would b« that It would, remove the nation's higher bracket bands from the confines of the $25,000 net earnings law, but at the same time make all bands. Including lower level outfits, which undoubtedly would feel it, pay their own Social Security levies. Insofar as theatres are concerned they would welcome the ditching of Form B because (1) they would not be liable and responsible for these taxes; (2) leaders would have to deduct their own 5% Victory tax which theatres begin taking out after Friday (1) thus freeing the houses of much bookkeeping. The most important benefit to theatres, however, would be t.iat since the top leaders would be out from under the $25,000 net law they wouldn't have to stop work upon reaching a per- sonal gross of $87,200 thereby keep- ing them always available for the- atre work. From a booking agency's point of view the sidetracking of Form B would be all in their favor. Without a limit to leaders' earnings there would be no limit to their commis- sions. As it stands now such com- missions are allowed to be paid over and above a leader's $67,'200 gross earnings limit. To personally gross lhal much a maestro's band has to gro.<^ approximately $300,000. But since many of the top bracket or- che.stras go considerably beyond that, it can readily be understood how much would be lost to the agencies in commissions. MCA is particularly vulnerable from this angle since il manages a majority of the high- earning bands. Lee Allen Loses 4 of 6 Musicians to War Plants Cleveland, Dec. 29. Lee Allen lost four of the six men in his orchestra, current at Southern Tavern, in one swoop, forcing mae- stro to reorganize his whole outfit. Majority of his m^icifns who went over the hill have taken jobs in de- fense factories here. Additions to the Allen crew are Johnny Himtington, sax who for- merly had a band of his own; Al Phillip, trumpet; 'Babe' Baylor, trombone, and Howard Brush, drums and xylophone, who switched from Sammy Watkins' unit. Only original men left are Lee himself, clarinet and sax, and Henry George, who doubles as singer. Both also have jobs on the side in war plants. Phil Spitalny s TownHaUNX Concert a Click When show business talks In terms of versatility, put down the name of Phil SplUlny. From radio and the film presenta- tion houses came Spitalny and his all-girl orchestra last week to achieve what may well have been their epitome performance. They played New York's staid' Town Hall. And made Town Hall like it. Of course,' the sort of thing has been done before, notably by Paul Whiteman in the early '20s, when "The King of Jazz' gave a pioneer concert at the old Aeolian Hall in New York. This was when Gersh- win's 'Rhapsody in Blue' first was performed. There have been a couple of others who have ventured from the popular sphere into the concert hall, and the trial is a hazardous one for even the most popular of jazz, or awing, bands. But not for Spitalny. For these girls, most of them graduates of (Continued on page 45) Kay Kyser On the ActorV Part In the War Effort nn %ilclrd Fcttture Id 'Show Business At War' theme of the 37lh Aiiiuveraary Number of Astor Hotel dosing Roof for Winter; Name Bands Losing 2 Other N Y. Spots COLLEGE KIDS HYPO HOTELS INN.Y. New York hotel rooms using name bands are doing an imusually hefty business over the current holiday period. All spots, without exception, have found a decided Increase In patronage, due largely to the ab- normal number of college youngsters in town between semesters. Perhaps the outstanding attend- ance of all is being drawn to the Pennsylvania hotel's Cafe Rouge by Charlie Spivak, who played to 3,243 covers in six days last week and be- gan what looks like a record-break- ing stanza Monday (28) night by playing to 758 dancers. That figure surpasses by several hundred the best Monday the Penn has ever had. Fenune Pincb-Hitters Cleveland, Dec. 29. Jack Horwitz Is solving the scar- city of musical manpower by hiring 10 girl musicians as pinch-hltters In his string of local jobbing orches- tras. Four of the femmes who formerly had outfits of their own are Margo Crockett, accordionist; Helen Lenz, bass fiddle; Tina VOiegle, violin, and Helen Lott, French horn. Quartet is replacing four of Horwitz'i baton- wavers who were either conscripted into army or defense work. Herman Continning WMC Programs From Theatres Woody Herman's orchestra will continue its Wednesday evening broadcasts on the Blue net for the War Manpower Commission, from the stages of theatres it will play. Herman has been doing the broad- casts from N. Y. studios since open- ing at the Paramount theatre, N. Y., seven weeks ago. These broadcasts are broken up by remote interviews with defense workers in various parts of the country. Herman plays Adams theatre, Newark; RKO, Boston; Chicago, Chicago; Michigan, Detroit, and Palace, Cleveland. He opens at Meadowbrook, Cedar Grove, N. J., Feb. 5. Rash of Missed Shows Caused By Train Travel There has been an epidemic lately of bands showing up hours late for opening shows at theatres, and starting time on one-nlghters and locations. Whll« train travel has been bad for months, and is steadily growing worse, it wasn't until lately that orchestras began missing sched- uled openings. Frequently, of course, it Is not the fault of the band. Travellers state that few trains are operating on schedule currently (one bandleader almost passed out recently in Flor- ida when told his train was 13 hours late) but often, state bookers, it Is the fault of the band. Too many leaders are still mentally operating on pre-war timetables and don't allow themselves enough leeway for delays. Formerly band managers were in the habit of booking passage to get the orchs to their destination just In time to go to work. Such methods cannot be practicable under the current confusion. Log Cabin, Armonk, Will Try to Continue With Smaller Bands Joe Marsala's orchestra clo.scs al the Log Cabin, Armonk._ N. Y., to- morrow nicht (Thursday) and the spot will drop large bands, prob- ably tor the duration. Augie Hussar, i owner of the roadside dnncery, in- j tends using a small combination in j an effort to keep the place open. i Marsala's closing is claimed to be a move of hi.s own choice; he's man- ' BRed by Sy Shribman. However. Hussar's decision to employ only small bands in the future is definite- ly based on the recent further cur- tailment of gasoline. His spot has been hit badly by transportation difficulties. It did 90'; of its busi- ness on weekends. This is the second Westchester spot to bow to a lack of patronage du to distance from centers of popu- Inlion. Glen Island Casino, N. Y., folds Jan. 6. possibly only until summer. ^Spike' Wallace Again Heads Coast Musikers Hollywood. Dec. 29. ' J. K. 'Spike' Wallace was re- elected, president of Musicians Local ^' by a four-to-one vote over Stale Senator Jack Tenney. Others returned to office were •jniin de Groen, viccrprcsldenl. Frank ''«n<lleton, recording secretary, * Al C. Meyer, financial .•••ecrelary "Show Business At War" THEME OF THE 37th ANNIVERSARY NUMBER of OUT NEXT WEEK-JAN. 6 USUAL ADVERTISING RATES PREVAIL Special Exploitation Advantages Reservations and Copy May Be Wired to Any Variety Office NEW YORK HOLLYWOOD CHICAGO LONDON 154 W. 46th St. 1708 No. Vine St. 54 W. Randoli* St 6 St Martin's PL Aator hotel, N. Y., will shutter itf Roof for the remainder of the win- ter Sunday (3) evening. Jan Sav- itt's band, which has beE.i there for about eight weeks, moves out and the Ralph Rotgers Latin rombo, which spelled Savitt, will open the Columbia Room, downstairs. Astor's decisiot. to clo.sc the Ruof is based mainly on Its size. While Savitt has t>een playing to between 2,000 and 2,500 covers weekly, the room has double the capacity 11.000) of most opposition rooms and when teenagers are in school it's impos- sible to draw enough people to war- rant ' keeping open. Miijority of customers jam in Friday and Satur- day, the rest of the week being light. This is the first season the Root has remained open t>eyond Labor Day. In addition to the Astor's fold, two other name bund spots in N. Y. will drop to small bands next week. Essex House, which now has Sammy Kaye, cannot find a band to follow and will continue after Sunday (3) with • Mven-plece combination. Tommy Tucker was to have fol- lowed Kaye^ but prefers to play theatres (hotel let him out of ■ contnct). Dixie hotel, which installed Teddy PoweU'i big band in Its new Plan- tation Room with broadcast wirc^ is now dropping to a small t>and, too, Ifa «ald that the spot brought in Powell and the wires as a means of publloizlng the room, after which it meant to use only small combina- tlona. OBEilSFEIN-802 MEX STANDOFF New York local 802 of the Amcrl- can Federation of Musicians and EU Oberstein, head of Classic Records, arrived at the same mexican stand- off last week as they did a couple months ago. Oberstein appeared on schedule before 802's trial board Thursday (24) morning and.^ in an- swer to questions concerning the origin of recordings his Arm has been issuing lately, explained that he had simply bought the masters, which were made in Mexico, for pressing and release in the U. S. Several months ajo a02 and Oberstein parried almost identical questions and answers when Classic released versions of 'Der Fuehrers Face' and 'I Had the Craziest Dream.* which 802 suspected were cut sub- sequent to the Aug. .31 deadline on AFM members making record.'.- and transcriptions. There have been numerous rumors of bootlegging of discs of both types, and just .is many rumors that 802 wa.<: aoniR to in- vestigate them. So far nothing has been brought to light. Oberstein assertedly told iniion officials that he had no alternative but to buy up as many mn.Mers made outside of this country as he could. He pointed out th.-it the major manufacturers — Columbia, Victor and Decca — had extensive catalogs which could be re-pressed if they ran out of fresh releases be- fore the recording controversy was settled, but that his outfit, a new one, had nothing to fall .back on and its existence depended on a con- tinuance of fresh matcrinl. CONDITIONS TOO TOUGH, CASTLE FOLDS BAND Buffeted by 'high prices asked by musicians, -lonscription, and all the other ills a young band faces cur- rently, Lee Castle folded his new band last week to take a sideman job with Benny Goodman. Castle, former trumpet star with numerous top bands, formed his own crew about six months ago and received a short buildup at Pelham Heath Inn, Pelham, N. Y. His band was signed recently to record for Bluebird Records, after the AFM ban was lifted. At the same time Goodman hired pianist Jess Sta'-y, who has Iwen with Bob Crosby's orchc.^lia. Stacy was a member of the oricinal Good- man outfit, which helped .>.lart the current name band voiiue.