Variety (Dec 1944)

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Wednesday,'December 18, 1944 ORCHESTRAS-MUSIC 87 802 Vote Sweeps Rosenberg, All But One of Blue Ticket Back Into Office Jack Rosenberg, incumbent presi---^ ^deiit of N. Y. local 802 of the Ameii- 'can Federation of Musicians, rode back into office. for another two years last week on the orest of a vote that carried every onk of hts present ticket with one exception along with. him. His victor/, by a plurality of approximately "JW voles, while it ■ wasn't stunning, certainly was a distinct surprise to the oppo- lllion parties, wliich figured they had him beaten. Rosenberg drew approximately 2,900 ot the 7,500 voles cast; (jalnien Flei.sig, heading the Unity Parly, which. has been the Blue's most ■active enemy for several elections, ooi raled approximately 2,200 ballots, while Max Arojis, \yhose differences with Rosenberg while a member of tlie BUic.s led him to bolt that igroup and set up his own Square Deal party, came in a poor third, getting some 1.400 voles. Harry Suber, incumbent trea.surer, who was running on both the Blue and Victory tickets, exacted the highest vote of all candidates. Well liked, he drew more than half the total vole, or approximately 4.000. William Felnberg, secretary, also returned to office without much question. Ro.senberg's strength at the polls handed his opposition ah unexpected jolt. It's agreed now that the 'split- ting of the vote by the'Unity and Square Deal groups was of immeas- urable aid to Rosenberg and the fact is said to have convinced them that next time the parties!will com- bine to present one candidate against the Blues. Of all the present parly members ill office, only two will be turned out Jan. 1 nt the expiratioii of the cur- rent term. One is Arons, Chairman oC the trial board, whose future at .the moment is vuicertain, and Ai Raedernian, who was replaced on the governing board by Al Manuti. Both are Unity party members. Irving Bloom i.s Ihe only other official in office i\ot a member of the Blue ticket. He's an incumbent oh the trial board and was reelected. He's also Unity. This election, held Thur<!day (7) with Ihe polls opeii frorn 10 a.m. to iCoiitinued on page 36) Coke Outfit Nixes Air Trips for Bands; Delays, Near Mishaps Cue Decish Hollywood, Dec. 12, ■ Ban has been, placed by Coca-Cola on the /lying of bands to points of ' origination of broadcasts. This move was taken recently as a means of preventing recurrences of delays, near accidents, etc., that put tHe D'Arqy agency , and Music Corp,.ot America, which books the bands, in a dither several limes seeking last- minute replacements. Now, .all ap- preaches to coke originations must be made on the ground, preferably by train.- ■~ There have been a number ot close shaves by bands using planes for transportation in recfent montlis, both those headed for coke shows and others. Ted Fio-Rito's combo had one a week or so ago that'has the outfit still quaking. Flying in •n Army bomber, at 1,000 feet, the motors suddenly quit and before anyone could think about parachutes the ahip yras too low to jump. Just When the pilot was frantically trying to glide to reach a highway to land, , the glogged gas lines cleared, the motors picked up and up they went. Many other bands can tell equally narrowing stories, Dismissal Asked in Suit Over 'Come Out' 8ong- Claiming that, the music of the song, "Come 6«t, dome 6ut, Wher- ever You Are," Is Ip the public do- main, RKO. Radio Piptures, one of the defendants in the t2BO,000 darh- age action brought by Myroii Pal- lant, amateur songwi-iter, asks for dismissal of the corhplaiiit In an- swers filed Friday (8) in N. Y. fed- eral court. At the same time two other defendants. Harms, Inc., and De'cca Records, also ask for dismis- sal, on the same grounds. Other defendants are Frank Sir natra, Tommy Dorsey, Sammy Cahn and Jule Styiie, writers of the song; Robbins Music Corp., CBS and NBC. Defendants are alleged to haye con- spired and appropriated the soiig for their own benefit. ' Fallant alleges he submitted "Come Out" to bandleader fiorSey In 1940, while T. D. was. conducting a rad^o program, which invited ama- teur songwriters to subrnlt their works, ^yith assurance material would be protected. Song was used in the RKO film, "Step Lively,'- starring Sinatra. ProbleDi for Army, Too ■ Washington, Dec. 12. Shortage of musical iustrunients |» ■ problem, of the various service Mnds, too, and to .keep more than W,000,000 worth of Iristrurtcnts in piajrable condition, the Army has be- 8Un establishing repair depots. Al- ready, maintenance meh ate sta- tioned at PhUadelphia. Chiciago, Sah • Antonio, Atlanta and Ogden. They •re equipped to process any instru- ment except pianos and even have woboscopes, which are said to record axiy variations in tone to within one'-hundredth of a-semi- tone, ^ .^i^heve are more than 80d )>Ahd« in .«* varioitt brwwhw of tii* Atrtiy. Musk Firm With Osfeid As Mgr. Jack Osfeid has resigned from the Edwin H. (Buddy) Morris Music Co. (o take over the general manager post of a new, as yet untitled, music firni being set up by bandleader Charlie Spivak via a deal with Broadcast Music, Inc. There are no details re the latter organization be- cause the contracts between BMI and the leader have not finally been completed. But it is known that it will be an active firm, with a staff in N.;Y, and men In Chicago and California, one ot the few active bandleader-owned outfits financed by BMI. • And there are many lead- er.s who have taken advantage of BMI's advance against performance royalties whose music firms are filed at Albany and that's all. Spivak's deal is said to be for two years and is reported to involve be- tween $40,000 and $50,000 a year. ASCAPLESS NEBRASKA UNLESS LAW KILLED Nebraska will either have- to re- vise or kill ils "anti-ASCAP" law, placed On the books in 1937, or in the future do without music composed by the Society's members. Judge John W. Delehant, in district court here Monday (11), returned a ver diet in favor of five N. Y. music firms and one writer, who ha^ fll£d infringement actions against local establishments for publicly perform' ing . music copyrighted by them without permission or remuneration Judge Delehant's decision is one of the most important in ASCAP's favor in some time. Nebraska statute, which prohibits.Collection of royal- ties ph iniisic more than once 'no matter how .often the composition is used, was described by him as "de- signed to strike down and nullify in the Stale of Nebraska the -right of public, performance for profit." Trial of the actions was Conducted last April. Plaintiffs in the case were Shapiro' Bernstein, Jferome Kern, M. Wit- mark tt Sons', Remick Music Corp., 'Chappell & Co., and T. B. Harms. Each was awarded $250 damages from, among others, the Paxtoh ho- tel and Fontanelle hotel. MXHntock Out of Waring Orch; Last of Origiiiak Poley McClintock, drummer with. Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians ever since the band was organized at the Ui of Pennsylvania (27 _years ago), has left the outfit because of illness. He did his last broadcast with Waring last \veek and must rest in the future. . .He .\y'aa the .sole sucvtvlnx member.; of the oriiinal orchestra tbait rturted wJ{b Waring. . , • Pop Music Brightens England's Dimouts" By REO CONNELLY In a Clei«Hj» ef TIa Pea Alley Under the lllti Aa Iptereitiii^ "Special" for '8 It9th Arinunl Edilion Berlin to Appeal iOOO-Point Rating Awarded His New Catalog By ASCAP Discing Till Jan.1 Columbia Records has hailed all recording until after Jan. 1. Slocked aplenty with material cut since'the- lifting of the recording Ijan, and faced with the prpblem of getting as much of Ihis-out as possible, plus normal Xmps item's,' the crush of production demanded a halt, on fur- ther i-ecording whi6h couldn't im- mediately be' processed for market. On the other hand, RCJA-Victor, which has cut perhaps more ma- terial and marketed more than Co- lumbia, expects to continiie record- ing unabated; From the beginning, Victor was laying in at least four sides by every artist against two sides each by (Columbia. And so far "Victor has piit put six discs of fresh material as against Columbia's two or three. Five more Victor sides are due the end of this week. With 11 sides out or scheduled, re- cording and music men can't under- stand how Victor -can give each in- dividual disc much pro(iuction. CSet- ting discs pressed and available to the public is still a niajor problem with all disc companies, what with the shortage of manpower and the government pressing each has un- dertaken. Columbia, with fewer re- leases,, claims It. Is prepared to go to at least 3OD,b00 copies of each release. Victor gives no figures, but states it Is dropping everything sxt cept governmental work to concen- trate on current artists. Since Columbia and RCA-Viclor settled with the American Federa- tion of Musicians and went back to work, people In the trade-have been wondering how their resumption will affect the numerous small disc companies ' that were set up during the ban. Tliey won't be disturbed. Public ^lemand for discs and . the inability of the major outfits to sat- isfy it at the moment, leaves plenty of; room for every ■ disc any firm can manufacture. It won't be until after the war thai the smaller firms will feel the squeeze'. Blind Pianist's Original Song a S. F. Coin Box Hit , San Francisco, Hec. 12. Jukebox sen.sation locally is "Dream Christmas," product of blind night club pianiisl, "Happy" Lane, of International Settlenient.' Cane in hand. Lane tapped his way into a small personal studio, along with Adele Burian, singer from Turk street cocktaiiery, and cut acetate di.sc of his time. ^ It was demonslr.nled in tiiis way to Bob Spencer, .secretary of city's Automatic Music Merchanl.s A.'^sn. Spencer ordered 2,000 prc.ssing.-! for city -jukebo.xes. Demands on music .stores for di.'<es and sheet music-began almcst. im- mediately after juke release. Hoping for national network tumble, blind pianist airmailed disc and score to Kate Sinith . . .. got it back, unopened,, collect. Snafued on Instruments, Johnny Long Ore Forced Into Memory Routine Johnny Long's band went through the first day of its three-day date at the State theatre, Hartford, last week (8) playing its music from memory and with an incomplete band. Seems about half the instru- ments were put on a train at Phil- adelphia, and next morning, when they should have been at Hartford, were at Hudson,. N. Y.; One of the .acts with Long, the Three Sailors, had worked with the band two \yeeks ago at the Adams theatre, Newark, sp their music and the outfit's - own specialties . were done from memory. Other act, Max &■ His Dogs, had its own music. CROSBrS DISCING OF mS'OVER 2,000,000 Hollywood, Dec. 12. Dcccn Re(:ord8 claims that Irving Berlin's "White Christmas,"- as recorded by Bing Crosby, is tlie top record seller -of all time, with a total - of more than 2,000,000 discs. First waxed in 1942, the tune will sell more than 500,000 records this year. Gene Austin's recording of "My. Blue Heaven," for Victor, is gener- ally accepted as the top seller-of all ttusfl bythe trad(B., with a total ot well over 3.009,000. - No 'Gestapo'Says MPCEs O'Connor To Spy Rumors Rumors in the mu.sic buslnes.? that the Music Publishers' Contact Em- ployees had spies in circulation at- tempting to ascertain violatPrs of the MPCE rule.s against paidTfor plugs and oilier abuses, was em- phatically denied by Johnny O'Con- nor, president of the org, at a Coun- cil meeliiig. O'Conppr proved _ to Council members that no siich underhanded method of nabbing: vio- lators of rules was in operation or contemplated. Rumors apparently started via the manner of approach a coaple of new contact people were using on band- leaders and other artists re perform- ing songs. Probably Jumpy a.s a re- sult. of last sumrner'.s investigation into the payola racket, . and the resultaiit beginning of. a secret plan to net violators fnone of which have yet been nabbed), the ''spy" reports spread through the business quickly the past week or two. TOP LEADERS EYE GI TALENT MINE POSTWAR Bandleaders in and out,of uniform are already preparing postwar bands cornposed of the best musicians to be found in the various services. In recent months, as the war in Europe looks more promising, an increasing number of crack musicians in service bands of all kinds have been signed to postwar contracts, by maestros in service and others who are not. Of course, it's hardly likely that the men so tied, up will be discharged coincidentallyi but Ihe leaders in- volved are not bothered by thit, fig- uring that, within six months after the Army starts releasing men, all will beLavailable. Leaders in service and civilian maestros who have been in contact with service. outfits via trips into training camps, have long been aware of the topnotch instrumental- ists being developed and polished by piaying in service Combos.. Vittually all these outfits include some forrher professional musicians froml whom the youngsters have learned a lot in addition to. the experience gathered in just playing in what might be termed an "organized orchestra." There are scores of unknowns in uni- form, according to the maestros in- terested, who cdn outplay many of the belter -known pre-war instru- mentalists. It's these who are being tied up. Penna. Ho^ N. Sets Bands Into Next Spring Ponn.sylvanla hotel, N. Y., is. set with musical talent wet], into next spring. Glen ''Gray's Casa Lomans haying bieen set last week for the eight-week period following Jimmy Dorsey. Latter opens ckriy irt Fcb- rvary^fOr ^ghi^ we.eks. He. fpltovvs Xjig-Vn^.Of .WiM* -tfpeped Monday Irving Berlin intends to appeal the availability classifications his new mu.sic Arm was awarded last week (7) by the publisher'is classification coiiimittee of the- American Society of Composers, Authors and Publish- ers. His catalog, coinposed entirety of tunes he wrote during a 25-yeiir partnership with Saul Borhstein, was (evaluated at 4,000, while the catalog that Bornstein retained after the split, and now operating under the Bourne, Inc., litle, \va.s awarded a 2,750-point rating. At the same time, the board.''"dropped Bernstein's ABC catalog from 1,250 points to ,250 be- cause of the songs Berlin took with him out of that firm when he moved, out. Berlin feels that the power nias.sed under the roof of the new Irving Berlin, Inc., i.s entitled to at lea.st 5,000 points, which would be 5Q0 be- low .'juch firms as Shapiro-Beriislein, Remick, Robbins, etc. He fecIS thai the 1,000 points deducted from ABC should accrueyto him as a .starting point, for clas.silicalion since the re- duction was due to"the removal of his song.s, and it's his contention thai the material shifted from the "old Irving Berlin (now Bourne) firm to the'new are certainly worth more than 3,000 additioial points. His at- torneys, Francis Gilbert, of Gilbert & Gilbert, and T. Newman Lawler, of O'Brien, Driscoll & Haftery, are preparing an appeal to ASCAP's ap- peals board. , At present, the 4,000-point rating awarded Berlin at a stormy meeting la-st week, which was attended by Bornstein since he's on the board (hut he didn't vote in the final sum- up) puts him. on a piar with, for ex- ample, T.B. Harms. Bourne's new rating make that firm eqiial with Famous and Crawford. Harms, Inc., holds the ;highest ASCAP point jrating—over 5,500. AH told, in deciding the newer worth of Bourne and Berlin, ASCAP dispensed 250 points more than the former combination of the two cata- logs held. Old Irving Berlin, Inc., was rated at 5,500 points, plus 1,250 for ABC. Now, with Berlin at 4.000, Bourne at 2,750 and ABC at 250, a total of 7.000 points, is held. Same Old Squawk Of Disc Artists Favoring Own Publishing Firms Some music publishers have, since the resumption of recording by Co- lumbia Records and RCA-Victor, re- vived Ihe old squawk about artists cutting songs their own music firms arc publishing. Objcclipiis are ba.sed on the fact that the disc companies had been heard to assert during the ban that when things -were straight- ened out artists would record what the companies wanted them to make, not what they themselves were in- terested in, as publishers. It has been pointed put that Frank Sinatra made "Saturday Night," by Sammy Cahn and Julie Styite, and published by Barton Music, with which the singer is connected. Also Harry James made "I'm Beginning to See the Light," published by Grand Music, in which he is inter- ested; Tommy Dorsey . made "I Dream of You," published by his Embassy firm. Disc company execs shrug aside the iabjections' by the music piibs, with the commient that a good song will be recorded no matter who is interested in the publisher of it, and the: tunes in questioii --are of that caliber. ■ Name Band Policy Too Steep for N.O. Ballroom Southland Ballroom, New Orleans, which went into a name band policy this prit summer, paying good prices, dropped the idea last week. Business insufficient to sustain the cost , of underwriting^ better names caused' the change in policy. Ac- cordingly, bookings including tilen Gray's Casa Lomans and other out- fits were- cancelled. Tommy Rey- nolds started Sunday. £10) following Freddie Slack, who was drawing $4,000 a week, f ' Ca$a' Loma's cancelled time was filled by that band being assigned to th^ Frolics, MJ^mi^ to flU a. pe- 'riod left. 4«ea-by tb9 br^^^p ot Abe Lyntan's Drchestrei