Variety (Sep 1946)

We«Inc6(1ay« Se^leinlxr 11, 1946 ORCHESTRAS-!»fUSIC 49 250,000,000 DISK SALES IN 1946 Harms Wins ASCAP Boost to 4,750 After Dreyfus Beef on Berlin Hike Availability raise granted Irving fievliii by the board of appeals of the American Society of Gomposers, Authors and Publishers created unite a lo-do last week , during a meeting of the Society's Publishers Classification Committee. Group faced a number of beefs by pub- lishers seeking increases in stand- ing, among Ihcm Tempo Music and Piuill-Pioneei', but the major bid, a , vvinni.iig one, X'aine from Max Drey- liis, head the ChappeJl music com- binc. ■,. Dreyfus, a member of the ASCAP • biiarcl, therefore a member of the ■ tiassification committeei had been a^Kerti^g;; :evel• : since: Berlin . drew 750 ndcliuonal points to his original 4.000, that if Berlin's catalog was -worth 4,750, his own T. B. Harms catalog 'was worth that much and Die Williamson catalog likewise i-ivled a raise. Harm.s, compo.scd o£ Jerome Kern copyrights, bad been pegged at 4,000 pomts. Dreyfus in no uncertain terms demanded 4,750, and got It. And Williamson was jumped from. 100 to 200 points. Tnblcd lor the second half of the meet this week (first meeting ran so long that it adjourned) is another ,sc|ViHsvk ba.«ed on the boost given ' Bci'lin. Saul Born.siein, who split will) Berlhi la.st year after a part- i!<-r.<liip of 25 years, thinks his resi- (lu<-" of tlie original Irving Berlin C.'o.. which had been pegged at 2;750 imer the split, is worth more if Ber- . hn's new :catalogi composed of all hi.'! .wlf-wrilten tunes, is rated at 4,750. Most pul3S agreed with Drcy- fusV ; oomplaiht ov#r Harms, but ilie.y*re riot' .=b sure about Born- stein's beef. His campaign probably will produce a hectic .second half of ths Committee's confab. Beefs over . availability, ratings se«m to be commonplace these days. Tomorrow (.Tliursday), another group of pubs goes before th« So- ciety's Appeals Board on bids for a better point standing which had previously been turned down by the classification committee. ■ ORIGINALLY SEEN IIT Paramount Again Eyes Disk Firm , . Hollywood, Sept. 10. Parampunt . Pictures,, frequently, rumored going into the recording businesSj is currentl.y discussing such a possibility anew. Par has been liavmg talks with at least one of the sliialler disk outfits put into pperatioit during the .war, and a deal may be consummated this week or next. ■ Par executives it's asserted, have the d e t a i 1 s of the talks with the company mentioned above and are .sleepiiig on it. Whether or not the deal goes through will depend on them. ■ . Film firm's new attitude toward, a disk aftiliation is said to. be based on the imminence of the first Metro recordings, due toward the end of this year; 'I Overall dr.sk sale for the .Current year will not approach the original estimates of recording company executives, who foresaw the public consuming up to 400,00.0,000 platters during 1946. The total is now: ex- pected to reach between 250,000;000 and 275,000,000. That estimate is based on the first eight months plus a guess at the annual Xmas rash. Gohsideririg the manpower prob- lems '.the miajors have had to face, plus the. failure of radio set builders to turn but but few new combination sets, thousainds of xvhioh .would have helped create a new market tor disks,, the latter figure is still sur- prising. All companies, too, have found it very, idifificult td expand siiice they caiinot easily secure equiprnent. to produce disks. .Right How, for example; Decca would like to find factories capable of increas- ing its output. . They would lease them. Decca's own .Coast plaint is producing: no more than a dribble;, of disks in comparison, to what it will do eventually. Its Chicago plant; isn't ready. Cdlurhbta is in a similar boat. It: too would like to. boost its output but cannot. As it stand.?, disk production by the major companies will amount to about 90,000,000 for RCA-Victor (in- cluding Red Seal, etc.), possibly 70,000,000 to 80,000,000 for DecCa; (Continued on page 50) Joe Glaser Recovers MCA s 50% (tf Associated Booking Corp. for lOOG Metro'* lOG for 'Love' iWetro has paid Mills Music $10,000 for, synchronization rights, to the Dorothy Fields-Jimmy McHugh standard, "I Can't Give You Anything But Lovei" Tune is to be inserted in the film, "My Secret Heart." Price is far from a record, but it. is unusually high for. even an unlimited use. Broadcast ' Music is publishing "Same Sweet You," composed by Forest Willis, of WOKO and WABY, Albany. It's WiULs' first publication after years of writing and warbling his own songs on I ho air.- OfiESSTEIN'S COAST TRIP Eli Oberstein, director. of artists and repertoire for . RCA-'Victor, leaves New Yorlc for the Coast around Sept. 25. Ti'ip will involve some recording of RCA talent in that area, but includes other business. He'll be west 10 days to two weeks. Ramm-GAC Deal Falls Through Harry Romm and Gieneral ,.Artists Corp. have failed to arrive at an, agreement wliereby Romm would have rejoined the agency.; Romm and Tom Rockwell, GAC chief, had been dickering for weel?s,; but. late last'week Romm rtjected Rock well's ideas, and. the entire deal has been dropped. ; Rorrim intends going into per.sonal management, handling acts, ;stich ;as the Three Stooges, that he has man- aged for years. He still claims plans for him to produce a film based on the life of the late Glenn Miller are not completely out.; Had Romm rejoined GAG, he would have become associated with the night club and act department rather than with his former theatre department spot. Frere Leonard Romm now occupies that slot. Hollywood, Sept. 10. ■ Joe Glaser, head of Associated Booking Corp., and Jules v Stein, president of Music Corp. of America, concluded arrangements here un- der which Glaser regained full con-, trol of ABC. He bought out Stein's 50 percent interest in the agency for a reported $100,000, which is what Stein originally paid Glaser for the piece a little over two years, ago. According to information here, Glaser's recovery of full ownership of ABO is connected with Larry Finley's recent monopoly suit vs. MCA. When Glaser sold Stein a half-interest in ABC, Stein had an option to buy put the remaining 50% within two years. If lie did not ex- ercise the right within- the pre- scribed time, .Glaser had the right to buy h;im out. It's said , tliat Stein's f ailure to pick Up his option was . due to the monopbly. suit by Finley, which was . filed; shortly prior to the; expiration of the two-year period. Stein feared to acquire Glaser's interest under the circumstances, according to lo- cal reports, because it- would have furtlier enmeshed MCA as a band "trust," basis of Finley's suit, Glaser's firm has a number of top bands. "> Now that Glaser again owns ABC outright, it's probable that he'll re- cover booking rights on ABC bands MCA has been selling, among them Les Brown. Glaser probably will proceed with plans to open his own Coast office, which he has been wanting , to do for some time. He has an ABC branch in operation in Chicago. After that, Glaser may headquarter on the Coast, 4^' i i#«»^ THE ANDREWS SISTERS Personal Managemtnf LOU LK¥Y RKO Building • Radio City • N«w York < Soolced by HARRY A. ROMM Suit* 302 • RKO Building • Radio aty • New York