Variety (Jul 1945)

Wednesaay, July 25, 194S ORCHESTRAS-^MIISIC 41 AFM REGRETTING FORM B? ASCAP Plans Probe of Music Firms With 5iOiPoint Availability Ratings publiiheis' Classification Commit- tee of the Amei ican Society ol Com- posers, Authors and Publishers is said to be preparing to make a study of all ini\<ic firms holding avail- ability latinfts of 5,500 poiats. This is supposed to have come about due to the consistent battle put up by living Bciliu for the same latiiig for his new living Beilin firm, com- po«W of all tunes written by him Slid transferred at the time of his bicik with ex-p»itner Saul Boui- fteiii Latter renamed the remainder of the old Berlin, Inc., into Bourne, Inc ■ Berlin was awarded 4,000 avail- ability points bv the Publisher's Classification Committee last year when he split with Bornatein and the latter drew 2,700 points from the same group- Berlin has appealed the case and his arguments in his own behalf are said to have brought about the look-see into the cuirenl 5,500 point holders. This group rep- lesents the top flims in the business, includrng Shapiro^Bernstein, ■ Chap- pell, etc. Only Harms, Inc., is high- ei that! 5.500. Ut Castle Seeks GAC Release to Go With Glaser Agcy. I.oe Caslle is ciii'rcntly arranging alianing: with the expanding As.so- ■cialed Booking Corp.,- operated by Jtje Qlaser in partnership with Mu-: SIC Corp. of America. Return of liis contract from GAC is for an undis- clo.scd sum. , Castle' is currently at Palisades Piiik. Foit Lee, N. J. He recently eiTtercd into a deal with .John Glusr kin for personal management (Glus- kin, also handles Gene Krupa). He formerly was • managed by .Hm Pep- pe, an a.ssociation ended several months ago. :. In Calv on Dope Charge Holly wood, ■ July . 24. ' ' , Pat Buggies, ; $9. manager ■ of Georgie Auld's band was arrestfed by Federal narcotic agents in South* gate, Califorriia, on July 18. Claytori Hellinger, Assi-staht U, S. Attorney, wired Sutborilies that the band man- ager |was Avaiited iii New York aS one of the ring of alleged marijuana sellers, V^vh6, ■ he;; 'elainiSj had ~bech sellingi' ti^aTsticiks to; .irtusi and entetlsiinerS i N.' y Auld bisind is ptayihg date- it tJie Trianon. Coniplaint- aild order for riemttval of Ruggles. i whose real naitie , is Prtsqgale r.Ruggipro, to ■ I^ek Tprk for«'ai-ded .to atithpri.ties in Cali- fornia; ■'. , , .Hellingfer stated Ruggles made the tni.stiik^ ' of selling "reefers" to a Government agent. ■ ; \ V irwther Sl^ Periodic squawk that TOusic sales are far oft is up again. Music job- bers and pubs stale pop sales have dropped recently a-smuch i»s 25-30.''i. In ordei' of their importance, the reasons for the slump are suppo.sed to be 11 > no strong lop seller to pull a relca.se from his General Aniu.s. | others along. (21 recording saleSi and Corp. contract, atter which he intends I (j) slack time of year. Most publishers and jobbers agree with the fir.st' and last, but there Ls considerable controversy; over whether the sale of recordings^ which naturally' has. increased since' Isst fall's settlement of the disc manufacturers^.\meriean' Federation of Musicians di.spute. has affected' music sales. Most pubs feel that the Coi'hpanies which haven't- . yet reached full production stride, aren't putting out enough discs to hurt sheet .sale.s. Dejipile the ciirretit slump, how- ever, it's ■ gerteral ly -agreed amdng ; publishers that the business is still ■ quite'va -few percentage pohits above . I pre-war ftgin es: Experienced men FOR I i PYPAN^IAN'a'^'''eit that tho mu-ic busine'^s since '. , ., 1 Un UA. liiU^nHaiUWi ^^a,.t of ,h„ , big, battle . has Los Angeles, .luly 24. i jumpcd ."iO'i. Dancers In this acea will get two breaks^with ■■ the forthcoming build- ing of a new bdllioom in East Los Angeles and the expansion of an- other in Souihgatc. SherriU Corwin Hollvwood. July 24 Svili convirt a 2b-Uine bowling alley Tommy Boi-.-^ey's situation Svith., into a d,.ncciy. and lloi<ice" Hcidl | RC^-Vlcl..l lem.iins status quo owner of the Trianon, has bought j Leader is .still flatly, refusing to adi.H'ent Idnd foi enlaigement. leco.d foi the disc manufactui ei Coiwin's pioiecled balhoom will until tcitain obicctions he has hnve about 20000 square feet of nurtured for the past few weeks are d.incing .space, five bais and a paik- [eliminated Among them is Doisey's inx lot with a capacity of 500 cais |<-l<um that the company hasn t been Improvements on Heidt'S hootery 1 SivniK him .suliicient; producuon, an (rttitude ,.apparently biisied'.'oti his last I'o.yaKy check, Doi'Kcy.;. I.s cui'i'Siilly in San Diego, plH,'i':inn .. 'Lai'V.v Finlcy's Mi.ssiOH I Beach Balli'ijom iFinlCv: is: a third: ■jjiu'tner in 'Ihe^-D.brsey •Bros,': Casino' ! Gardens. Bsiilroom,', at Ocean Beavh. i Cisi'). ' Me ■ Koiids ■eii.sl 'Tate in "Augijst Kio; pltiy'thi^v+OO Glut)., 3Sv T,. sliirting J Sept. ft v- v:.' ' ,;^:.v^:',::.v■ J,';:;:':.'v -:V- NEW TERPALACES SET .1; Tommy Dorsey S At Odds With Victor costing about $5n;000, will inclucfe;, ii dliving room.;: cocktail, lounge and space foi about 4,.')00 danceis Both ballrppnis will- have name baud pol- Mills, Harms, Berlin File 2 Infringement Actions Mills Music Inc. H.iinis, Tnc , and livins,' Btiliii Music Co tiled two ■.«y)ai:ate,:' sidts v .SgsiinstN Mur'raiiVs Cabaiet, 2237 Seventh avenue, .nut The, SiipiliglYt Cliib... 56 West' 52iKl :Sti'eet^ for alleged in'fringemeiit of' its . '^'^pyriglited tunes last week in ist. Y, ff-dcial cpuil._ . In. a: coiribir^i-d. lielion .by Mills and Hin-nis. the Harlem :sp<jt is. charged * ith .yiving public pertorinance for. Prpnt -Df the,-Mills CQpyright, ." ^usbclirfMi, ' and Harms' "Tet He'll Get an Argument H.utloid July 24 C.iiiiiJ'iaivt, to : the title,. of Having :ijlay'e(l inpi'e eontiiijipusly in one lo- cal i*>n thai) fin^' olhf i: Ne\v Fngland, tiand., tb,e',iLaiidt'i<nian:.Bi:olh.erS: or- Lhcslia IS now in its seventh yeai at '.iio Unto: Bond here. '-[y Band sluppeied by Morris Lan- deim.in has nine pieces and still SEEN ANXIQUS M Oberstein Returns to RCA-Victor As Head of Artists and Repertoire American Federation of Musicians is said to be very desirous of dis- carding its Form B contract form which makes all buyers of bands liable for the payment of Social Se- em ity and 'Unemployment taxes. This leaning by the union has been consistently pointed out during the past year or so, particularly since its defeat in several midwestern and far western court actions and, ac- cording to sources close to the AFM, the problem was supposed to have received, some action at the recent executive board meeting. For some season, it didnt, at least as far as is known, . Since' the inception of' Form- B there has been nothing but agitation and squabbles among leaders and buyers and the Treasury and In-> ternal Revenue Departments; Trea.s- ury, for example, has always main- tained that the bandleader is the employer of his men, not the buyer of tlie band,while the Internal Rev- enue heads, have always backed Form Hi In the middle is the name bandleader. In some cases buyers deduct the taxes and rightfully ship them to the proper government bu- reaus. In other ca.ses the sums are taken out of .salaries and never forwarded, or not deducted and left to the bandleader to do wiih as he chooses. If not enough taxes have been paid by him or m his or bis men's behalf bv the end- of.: the year.j he s dunned by government men. It he's overpaid <$300 is top.s annuallym S. S. taxes) he has a fight to get it back and too often he can use the coin. And a leader can be overpaid since deductions are supposed to be made by edch em- ployer.. . There are so many facet.s to the problem that half the time the band- leader.s,. their accountants, booking agencies and probably even the un- ion itself don t know where they stand. At any rate, it s a fact the AFM would like to dump the whole thing, but apparentW can t find a safe way to do it. Its feared that It: the form IS suddenly withdrawn- then many bandleaders frpm top names to localsrwill find them-Selves in the position of owing the Gov- ernment sums of money healthv enou.s:h to keep them in. hPck tor years. As far back as two years ago, it IS now claimed, the AFM ottered the Government some .sort of an ar- rangement involving the payment of .,$2,000,000 to ' settle all claiins against .individual leaders. Where^ this money was suppo.sed to have come from, whether out of the un- ion treasury or subscribed in some : way by union members., is not made clear. But. its made emphatic that, the offer was made and rejected::by Government tax olticials. Ellington Scholarship For JuUiard School, N.Y. Duke : Ellington, has establishnd a membership at the Julliard School of Music, N. Y., whereby he will foot the tuition bills of three youngsters each year. Kids wilt be selected via eliminations in.:, ]Sr. Y. high .schools and handed a three-year course ot study ill any Held, vocal or instru- mental, classical oc pop. Initial three youngsters were se- lected last week. Use Addenda To Song Hits Racks? Song- Hits; Distributors. Inc., new rack outfit put into operation earlier this month by Moe Gale and Saul Immerman, apparently is mulling, the idea of installing popular rec- ords. in its racks as an adjunct to sheet music sales. During the pa.st weekj Immerman has discussed the proposition with recording execu- tives, a fact that he denies along with, denying any ideas relative to recordings for his racks. . Immerman^ who had considerable trouble getting his rack string started due to opposition from the rival International, Circulation Co:, last week was able to quote hgures on his first week's business. Start- ing with 10 songs totalhng 475.000 copies (he . took . only 25,000 of "Laura"), he- asserts his initial week .s business disposed> of' 25.6%, of them/ Period cited is- the first week of July. Music publi.shers who served-Im- merman's firm with initial order.s, have been wondering the past week or two about the lack of reorders from the firm, which, they feel, .should have been forthcoming. In answer to this, Immerman states he IS being ultra-conservative in his buying in order to avoid the pos- .sibility of return.S; , Gls Want Home Town Dance Band Pickups ♦ Ell Ober-stein has concluded a deal with Radio Corp. of America under which h6 will returri to the com- pany's Victor Recording Divi.sioii un- der Jim Murray, its head. Negotiar. tions between Oberst^io and RCA. executives were completed .last week and he: moves into Victor's N. Y. headquarters either Aug. 1 or 15. He^ replaces. Herb Hendler, who has:' been running the arti.sts and reper- toire division for the past couple years.' Hendler stays with the com- " pany m N. Y., presumably as chief of Its: publicity division, Hendler had' displaced Leonard Joy, now head . of Decca recording on the Coa.st, who in turn had pi er viously replaced Oberstein. Latter only a couple months ago disposed of his Hit and Clas.sic Recording- companies td^^ajestic Radio. The.se two disc outfits bad been built up. by : Oberstein from scratch after a; pi'e--.': vious recording organization,- the: United States RecQrdipg Co., had pa.'fjied out of existence. Oberstein was with Victor years ago, leaving it in February: 1939. He was then under Frank Walker, who recently severed connections with Victor himself to take over, the fop spot in the recordinK:i;omt>any plan* • of Metro films: WAUccr ]oins' Metro :' next week tl). Whilfe with Victor,' Oberstein, as; recording director, 'was instrumental' in thfe development of Larry Clin-: ton. who became the top band ot the. country in that period, and Artie Shaw, whoiie recording of "Begin i he Bcguine" skyrocketed him p^st Ben- ; ny: Goodman into-the top slot. He ; was instrumental, too, in providing Victor with such top per.sonalitics as , Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller , and others.;:. ■ ■' Oberstein pulled out of Maieslic: about a monih ago after severing, by mutual consent, a contract that would have held him there two I years beyond the date he sold the company to Majestic Radio interests. I He .started the company literally on ' a shoestring, and in the cour.se -ot its oevelopment came up with Louis Prima; who Is now in great demand because of his Hit recordings. Oberstein and his two partners: 1 drew approximately $135,000 apiece •' out ol the sale of the firm: after all ; taxes. One of hSs cooperatorg,. Al : M idd leman, announced last >week f'he ' inception of a disc company of his own on the Coast, titled Sterljng Records. Radio industry ha.s ai»ain been called upon by the War and Navy Depts, for a group of programs to be recorded directly for servicemen from separate communities through. out the U. S. Current need is for a , , , . series of cuttings of dance band pick- I'any Jam''^ rralued a tctji of lips, based upon lemotes from local *20««0 ^""'^ one-nighteis and HARRY JAMES' $26,000 1-NIGHTER, RADIO TAKE' I danceries featuring a name-band or i . - , ^ ,. „. , , ■ 1 a liavclmg orch plaving a one-ni?ht New England. Starting Wednesday ' 01 peimanent eng^igemcnt in a «rll- ' "«> Rhodes-on-the-Pawtucket knov^n local spot Providence, he played to just under Maik.s the second nationNMdc local , ^000 people at $2 40 per on each of outlet mass emergencv lequestfiom four ""/-J^'f/*''' , ,^«>>«-'«^^^^^^^^^ the .service depts Fust if ^^,II be ' ^anobie l.ake N H, and Lake Coni- lecalled, Was Geiie.al E.;,enhowei s P»""" ^""'^ • request for 30-minute hometown ' progrsims, titled ''Let's do: to Town.". I ill .which descriptions: were given of, local points oMntccl and tommu-, scheduled between hi, close last - week .at the Astor' hotel, N. y... and his .return to the Coast in. mi(l- Auiiusl. He di-aws;$2'7,000 alone for. his radio commercial la.st week in. Ai.u'l'rbOa.sts'. tour J)X . the men .who : .started Two,"-on . Jiine/. U :and i8 last, iind, lyears: var,ipi).-i, ofliei-: tirvies; without proper -DSve, license liom the owneis of the tunes Berlin's suit filed against The Spol- uyn Club chaiges unlawful uso of «Uie Skie.s" on June 15. Both actions ask for an iniimc- iion and dan,iages of not less than »^oO each for the .illegcd unlawful actti. - >. ■"■..;.'^'^'.~•^^-"^^*^••'^»;■W».».>.V-.*C..^^ '■.''!,■■■..' a'{d;- ' They aie i Dukci >Iai'liij. Jack Keency. Gy 'Kui'land DAILEY'SMEADOWBROOK HIT HARD BY STORM frank , Dailey almo.st:. Ip.'il: his- Meadpvvbrcfok .spQl: in. Cedar 'Groye',. N. ' j..;' e:ai'ly-. Monday i 2S i. irtorn ing, three ;\veel(!S frpfn, the. :lime. it's: due to reopen ..'(All.?. .14) . with- Harry Jairies,.. Vi'i'tuaI. cHhidbu hi :;-i,n thiil; area 'did IKeveral tliolisand • dollars' worth of damage'tP the .spot a.hd to the grounds, \S'a.shing away. a good slice .of the parking .kit, the entrance and.', e.xit; roads and 'depositing water ill Ihe. biiildlng itself. R:eiai.rii,nit:wall in front 'of: the: -buildingi' 1 which' i.s' built upon'a .^ilLside, ;.al.s'o wa.s w'a.sh.ed' out. :■ - .,'-.' •, ,■ ■ ■ ■:" '■ Storrn that did the .dam'age.',-a!mo.^;f :rained' ihe '. tovvn of',, Ci'dar ;GI'O'vc, breakin.g a dam: in the hill.s above it. I Water ca'scaded throti'^h 'the towii: and took house.*. .Ra.=. .slaliQii.s, auto- nrobile.s along with, it, iind^evpli dii.^ 1 und'ei'ground-^a;!. slalioti'.ta'ii)^ their 'beds. ■ ■ . ,■■■ -','■'■■■ " were .the total ol $100,000 out of one-nifihteis, location dates and his radio prp- rtity activities, I ■ Armed Forces . Radio Service, whicii will broadcast Vhe.di.scK, has .ieciue.sted that opening announce- ments read, "Now nine days at the Steel Pier, Atlantic )"'"f CiU, eaily next month, thiough the coopel.ition of station X, J •' name of -the band plus'the spot it is ■playing, and any other descTiptive copy:";: Each . statiofi h'a.s: bee'ir 'a'skcd to- eorne through vvi.ih t'wp-lS-.'niti.uit'e .jiirograrrii; per. rnplith, , ' ,:.: ■':', and' Laiidci'tiiii.h. - Raul, a brother to MoiiK lornidly piloted the band :He ji ■uOft'^iti-the-Ai:my;'- ■ ;' : .' Joiiniiv ' l,uni;' orch returns to V6.elJe Terrace. Pittsijti.rgh, fpr tlirce weeks ,;pn .i^ui'). , O'tifit reeent iy 'Vioko spot^s'iecoid on loi tnight btaj. SY SHRIBMAN ON MEND '. Syv.Sh'i'iiitMH.: ?^:tw' Eny[;uvd''. da^^^ -lirpmotct,: .is,'rtH^:)vcring/jVieiIy ::.i Bcth-Isi,icl hosptt.il Boston linni i heiirt attack sufl-ered 'seycii'al: ago.' He 1!; now .sittinj; up, and rC- Palisades Goes Oater ' ■ Hollywopd. Jiily,'24.;'- ■ : With Bobbie- Bennett as . general inaiibgcr,', the Ralisade's Ballromn. .Santa ivionica,, is. .VGppeni.ng-, iiext month'. with a new liame, SVe.stern. Palisades and a new policy cilling for' '.\ye.stcr'ri .' dance , band.s.., S-'rltlii.y thi'pugh Sunday' nights.y,:' - '. ', :, ,;\ : ■ First . nuisicrew wiU lie Dene's. SpriggiiLs and his. We.st.erii .Bund: I Cciying. vi.s'r.ipi'.s, I '■ : Attaclc:. was tlie.;p:i'pniplc.i''s', st;CC(hd'. fidely Musicraft's 10,000,000 Discs Per Year on Tap Miisici.ift Records, disc firm which eame into e.xi.stence since the start, of .the war. claims that two new nI'e.s',-1 iig plants being constructed for it m V. and Los Angeles will be I'eacly lay the first of the year. Coa.st outfit will begin turning out discs m ..\'().\ t-iribei- ,and the- N. V:. prie sPiiie : time in December, Together, it;.s as- sfited, they will give the cpmpany !.n .iiimi.il pioduction total ot 10,000,- 000 discs. ■^^■■-'V ■:',■■;" !' :,.Ntu.sici'aft'. currently gets all pif' its' pressings from the ScrantPfi JVlanii-, . taetViring Co., With which .CapilPl flficord.s 1.S affiliated via a stock deal. r.t. Col. lidilie Diiiist«:(ltcr, nnnn Airpy o.indlc,<djrf;*vjf*,; K'."i<. '.S^^^^T i^^KSO^h'^^^f^-'^fJiS^!!^ di-ehfl'i'feed after Z-^ mu