Variety (Apr 1948)

4S BAND BOOKINGS SIKONG TeklbidllaMlesWil^Wn^ Bdkooni favresskms. Says Geer Cliicaso, April 6. > Battroom ops' hejf© for thei Miff- vest BaUroom Opwators Asan. Iioarct m«»t last yreek expreSBed ^ belief that, television will bting the biggest Hypo to. dahceries since th^ iatroductioa of., juke boxes. Reasoning is that t^Te' will for the first time.introduce many average citizens to, the interior of a ball- roam vis remote broadcasts. Sasicy Gee*", MBOA prexy sad, operator of the Geer ballrooms of Iowa, ssAA too numy people still have the .quaint idea tliat danceries are dens of iniquity, IMlevision. he predicted, wilL break down this prejudice by showing bdllrooms as ttey really are. Himbes'ift Kemote Idem First dtmceband reniote on tele- ^tdaion. nuy^ item £mm the Tavem- On-tiie. Green^ fentrai Pari. Bich> ard Himber's orchestra has been booked into th& spot for tiie i^ng potiod: and he** eddiOivaiTinf^ to ar- range 4 tele pickup so that he can iis« tar advantage- the magi and other sight gimmicks he's beetf em- ploying for years in conjunction wUb hifi. music. Himber opens April 14 in a room that has. been refurbisAed and whieb now mntSF around' SOO. Tav- emfs. idea i& to use names such as- Himber's in the spring and fall, .bat to- rewrt to non-name material during th» summer. Its huge ant- door pavillion doesn't need name sftengdi dUriiag the summer; it draws capacity anyway. Americau Federaiaon o£ Mu- ^ianlt SO! £ar hax made no pcorvi- sion for f&e pos^Me picl^ of remote band tele broadcasts^, It has not- given pemiissian. for any of tfaidi type of video work and so far is aai€ to be sidesteppiag 49ucfa ar- ransemoits; Onl^r channels for tiie uae oi music oa. tele abseady opened ai« ctodto- diovnv pius pub- lic functions at which music may be incid^Bta}» sndb as parades, rallies, etc . < Ifcw Torfe Ecank Dailey expects to resume bi» Saturday afixmoon "Matinee at Meadowbrook" shows on NBC; Louis Prima current at his spot, wbieh has decidedly impconred its h4t.. in tbe past twa weeks with Kcankie Carle; ptak two weekends Carle plajwd to S,900 and 3,S00 i-e^ speetivetsF, Friday to Sunday eve ning.. .Palisades Park, Fort Lee; N. J.,. resumes using, bands April ' IT; spot is; confined to weekends until. May 29; Henry Jerome, George Paxton,^ Tommy Beynoldai Gltcis CrossT are set.. .Mus.^Art ageney magged most of Jantzen Beafa, PorOand, Ore., season, buy- ing otiier agency bands to fill in. . Louis Prima into CUck Club, Philadelphia, May 3 for three weete.. .Mary Kas'e Trio into Jai Lai Club, Columbus, for three weeks.. .Columbia Records Dooated counter cost of albums^ to We, making four-disk package *3a0.. .Tommjf Dorsey and Guy Lombardo music offices in New York rifled of typewriters, a trom- hone, etc. , Frank White, Colum- hia Record president, will chair- man Music Division of N. Y. Can- cer Committee drive... Alan Courtney will open his Restaurette, from which he'll do disk jockey *™ws over WGBB, Rreeport; early nest month.. .Joe Deiise, organiz' ing his own orchestra.. .Buddy "8sch starting disk jockey show ..Charlie Parker and Freddy alack orchestras to work dates, to go out together on "battle of jazz" dates. Hollywood Charlie Bamet band playing weekends at Trianon ballroom... iTank DeVbl, using 23-piece Capi- 101 recording crew, will play series ot one-niters.. Dick Peterson crow re-optioned. at Zamboanga . . . ^mimy Dorsey has reorganized his (Continued on page: 4S) Osear Strang ant Wife Kow Amevkseoi €3tiz«is Bminent Viennese' composer Os> car Straus and bia wl&, Clara, be- came Ameeicaa eitizena oa Mon- day (5). He's in his late 70s, Straus, originally Ajislrian, be- came a French citizen before Hit- lerism. After the Nazis seized his castle and belongings in Austria and then occupied France, he mi grated to America. Like many other non-"Aryans," Mrs. Straus- was succot-ed by the townsfolk whom' she- had befiriended in years past, although she could onljir be permitted to leave the couqtey at the priee of all' then: -worlcE^ pbs- Although honored tiy the French government, and many of his works published by (the late) FVanicis Salabert in Paris, the composer for many years has be- longed to the British Per^rming Rights Society, instead .of to the AKM (Austrian) or SACEM (Fraichir societies. lEli tliBS 'fnuisai^ Outfits Meet it N. T. Band agency executives, one- night and location salesmen are viewing the coming summer sea- son with some jubilance. From where th^ sit at this date, book- ings for the various standard one- nighters, locations, etc., which con- fine themselves to Decoration Day to Labor Day seasons, are being JiUed out better than last year. They can only sit back and hope that enough customers show weekly at thie various spots to justify their feeling that the band busimss will begin to move up this summer out of the slump that gripped It all winter. And that possibility take» heart from the statement of Julian North, opera- tor of Lake-. Compounce, Bristol, Conn., and pnesident of the New England Park Menr» Assa. He's of the opinioa tlie dance biz will be better this season. While many standard buyers are set with commitments filling more than 50% of their needs, there's still a great deal of resistance evi- denced toward high prices. This has produced, according to some (Continued on page 49)' Ta Weisfi Tactb VS. AFM Disk Ban Davis to Lead 75-Piecer At OOP Coiixv«sit£oife Washington, April 6; Meyer Davis will conduct a 75- brass band at the Republican National convention, in Philadel- phia, In June. Davis is known as the "White House maestro" because he has conducted at presidential parties^ since Warren G. Harding held ofQce. 'emu Set Q^n Mew Turk Patmar Music, owned by Dennis Day and Jack Perrin, is expanding its activities. Firm openedl New York headquarters this- week; beaded by Mac Cooper, TEormerly with Santly-Jby. Day and Perrin, in N. Y. last week, made the arrangements: Patmar; unable to. find office space as yet, will temporarily be at Tbmmy Valando's new Laurel Music. mm mm mi smm t Lewis Teegarden, attorney for Standard Transcriptions* Coast re- cording; outfit battling to upset leg- ally the American Federation of Musicians.'' di^ ban as it applies to them, met in New Tfork last week with reps' of other transcription outfits; Teegardien asked various transcribers to meet with him for the purpose of urging other com- panies to join Standard in the AFM argument and determine which would go along with Standard. So far he has had no definite answers. Reps of Langworth, CapitoU NBC and Associated, all N. y: firms, met with Teeg^deh. He had witli him National Labor Relations Board blanks for anyone who wished to join, in the fight against the. AFM. Wliile Teegarden didn't admit it, it's said the National Assn. of Broadcasters is financially backing ttie'maneuver. Teegarden assertedly has not yet decided which angle of the case wUl be the foundation o£ his attack . on the disk ban. Top approach is understood to be the fact that the union has never labelled' its disk ban as a strike, heoee' bainEfi^'* ers still under contca^ts Stan^d were bound to veHcasistBctbe csm.- pany. TaftsStilfti Eugene Tracey, head of Majestic Records,, is In New York currently fbr discussians ccmaemingrthe pas- sible sale of the cecsvr^g dl\risibn of Majestic Radia- St Television Corp. ■ He has had several offers for various portions of the firm's assets and has been talking with Jock Kapp, president of Deeca Records. Decca deal is still vety much' alive. ' i Meanwhile Majestic's Newark presstng-plant remains closed and it's burning: its artilsts, notattly £;ddy Howard, the firm's top name. "Biggie" Levitt, Hbwardfs manager, had discussions with Trdcey in Chi- cago last week but what came of iSma. is nndisclos^. It's unlikely, however, that Howard will be aWo to wrest himself loose from Ma- jjt^c until andl' i£ bis contract is reassigned^ to> a buyer of the firm's assets. He's tied fairly tightly, jt's claimed. Majestic Files Figures Chicago, April fii Majestic Records last week fiHed- a summary of labilities totalftig .$1,264,628, and assets totaling^ $989,760 in Chi federal district court before Judge Phillip Sul- livan. This' does not include amount due artists and publishers, which iB still: being determined. U; &. government is Majestic'* largest secured creditor, with duik- ery owing $115,074 in fed taaeib $6,890 in state taxes, and $2,198 county taxes. Parent corajjamy,- Majestic Radio and Televis&n Corp. has an unsecured claim' of $787,013, and the Walter E. HeHer investment compans<. Chi, which holds securities- MliiecE at $84,238, is listecE for $^,9&L Ameriean Federation of Mosleians, lifeW York, is on booka^ fta: unsecured $30,417.13. Only two major artists listed ore Rose Murphy, for $371, and Ray Dorey, $750. Eddy Howard, label's biggest name and believed to b« company's top cr'editor, is not listed, but will probably be in- cluded in summary now being com- piled, "which is expected to total over $1,000,000. Other major creditors includo Bart Laboratories, $20,832; John Horn Printing Company, $24,795{ Montrose Corp., $24,256; Elizabeth- town Corp., $19,629; Tatham-Laird ad agency, $13,010, and Universal Recording: Corp., $1,937. Stock in the company is com* pletely controlled by Majestio Radio and Tele Corp. Parent eom- pany also listed Utilities totalhtg .$3,360,649 and assets totaling *7,48fi,515.