Variety (Jul 1948)

Weilneeday, July 28. 1948 oiiciiiL«imAs.i»iii$ic n RETAIL SHEET BEST SELLERS Survey of retail sheet music sales, based on reports obtained from leaditig stores in 12 cities, and shotoind comparative saje^t rating for this andjast week. National . Ratine . This Last wk. wk. Week Ending July 24 Title and Pnblisher 1 o T A L P O I N T S "You Can't Be True" (Biltmore). 2 "Woody Woodpecker" (Leeds) .. .. 1 109 "My Happiness" (Blasco)...... 3 1 2 . 2 2 10 "Tree in the Meadow" (Shapiro).; 6 5 2_10l "4 100 8 6 "TooUe Oolie Doolie" (C.K. Harris) 5 "Little White Lies'V (BVC).. . JO 6 9 8~rTo 45 I** 37 7A .. "It's Magic" (Witmark)....^.... 4 6 10 7B 13 "Yon Call Everybody DarUne" (M) 70 6 "Nature Boy" (Burke-VH) 7 8 "Put 'Em in a Bos" (Remick) 9 9 28 28 23 8 "Haunted Heart" (Williamson). 10 5 10 9 5 10 10 14 "love Somebody" (Kramer-W) 10 3 11 12. "Maybe Yon'U Be There" (BVC) 3 17 15 12 11 "Tea Leaves" (Morris) . 12 13 "C^koo Waltz" (C. Fisher). Bands at Hotel B.O.'s , t.'overi' I'etal ' IVcDlcn Part' C«T»r« Kuml llnlrl l>lli.vad - On nat* GuyLombardo Waldoi'f (400; $2) 7 2,935 21,700 Skitch Henderson., Pennss^lvania (500; $1-$1.50),,, ^ 3 ...1,205 3,950 Ray Eberle* New Yorker (400; $1-$1.50> ... 11 1,020 14,70? Dick Jurgens Astor (700; $1-$1.50) 2 2,475 5,990 " New Vorker, ice show. Sterling Answers $15,000 Suit Vs. Jinuny Wakeley sterling Records last week an- swered a $15,000 damage suit brought against it in N. Y. federal court by film cowboy Jimmy Wakeley witli a general denial that it had wrongfully reproduced four of.his masters whicl* he had cut for the defunct American Record- ing Corp. Waxery claimed thqt it had pur- chased the quartet of platters from ARC'S trustee in bankruptcy. Com- pany also asserted that a Los An- geles court had authorized the trustee on ,Tuly 10, 1947, to coun- t(;n;«i(;t! the deal. Inside Orchestras-Music Recent reissue by London Records (the U. S. counterpart of the British Decca firm) of two 16-yearmold George Formby disks recalls Jack Hylton's battle with E. R. (Ted) Lewis, board chairman of the English recording company, about utilizing Formby on' wax. Lewis balked that "Formby may be OK as a visual comedian but never on wax," and refused; so Hylton, to prove his point,- waxed "Chinese Laundry Blues" and "Vododeo" as being by the Hylton orchestra, "Vocal chorus by George Formby". This was a technicality Lewis couldn't regulate, in view of-Hylton's contract with Decca of London. Eventually, of course, Formby clicked to the degree he was given the stellar billing he deserved and the label changed to "with the Jack Hylton orchestra." Thereafter he made many more platters, under his own recognizance and featuring his own specialties. Chicago George Olson (Beachwalk, Edgewaier Beach; $1.50-$2.50 min.), Rain three nights cut grosses to 8.500. Benny Strong (Boulevard Room, Stevens, 650; $3.50 niln.-$l cover). Warm weather melted ice revue take to 3,300. Florian ZaBaoh (Empire Room, Palmer House, 550; $3,50 mjn.$l cover). Holding up well ogain^t heat spell. Neat 3,600< Los Angeies , Frankie Lfline, Shelp Fields (Ambassador, 900; $1.50-$2). Very strong 2,980 tabs. Jan Gather (Biltmore; 800; $1'$1.50). Good 2,700 covers. . Location Jobs, Not in Hotels iCliicaijo) Marts Gould (Chez Paree, 500; $3.50 rain.). Danny Thomas sock 6,000. Henry King (Trianon; $1-$1,15 adm.). King's final W6ek here; closed with light 7,000. George Winslow switches back.' Al Tr^ce (Blackhawk, 500; .¥2.50 min.). Railroad Fair outrOf-towners making this a headquarters; fond 3,000. Georse Winslow (Aragdrn; .$1-$1,15 adm.>. Closed fairly strong .with 10,000. „ ■ • (Los Angeles) • ' Buddy Rich, Helen Forrest (Palladium B., Hollywood, 3rd wH.). Sickly *? 100 CAUGI'S " " • ' ' ' Frankie Masters (Aragon B., Santa Mpnica, 2hd Wk.). Gpnd 7,000 tab&. RAMBLING ROSE By JOE BURKE and JOE McCarthy, jr. LAUREL MUSIC CO. liH IrvfHtwoy, Naw York TOMMY VALANDO Manie SacHs. director of artists and repertoire for Columbia^ Rec- ords, played host to some 60 music and band agency men on a day's outing last week. Gang left N.Y. at 8 a.m. in a chartered bus and drove to the Green Valley Country Club, outside Philadelphia, where Sachs staged a golf tournament, then to Frank Palumbo's C & R Club, Philadelphia, for dinner, and thence to the Ike Williams-Beau Jack fight at Shibe Park. After the fight the group went back to Palumbo's Click Club, then home. There were golf tourney prizes of a television set (won by Paul Barry, Morns Music), golf clubs, etc. Green Valley clubhouse, incidentally, was formerly Sachs' home. His father owned it and the land which the course occupies. It Was the second straight year Sachs staged such a junket. LWD BESI6NS IS CLEVE. Cleveland, July 27. Howie .Lund, key disk jockey at WJMO, has resigned from the staff for an indefinite period. Bud Weddell has replaced him on the lush-sponsored six-after- n6on stanza from 3:30 to 5 and on the hour-long evening stanza from 7:05 to 8. Weddell also takes over the Sunday hour-long :Top lO Tunes show,. Gene Carroll adds a half-hour of the Ltmd show to his trick, taking on' the 3 'to 3:30 stanza. Details of the Lund resignation have not been disclosed. Midwest Ballroomers In Sept Chi Confab Chicago, July SH, Midwestera Ballroom Operators' Assn. will hold its annual eOnven' tion in Chicago Sept. 21-22. . For the first time, the operators are in- viting executives of baAd-Uookitog. agencies to speak at the gathering, which will .take up econbntic probr lems of the field. Howard Sinnbtt, denieral Artists Corp, one-night hooker, is among Ihose.invitedto taHc Fentareil !■ M-fi-ITs "Bl© CITY" DONT BLAME ME Music by. . . JIMMY UeHVGU ROillNS . The Nafien's t'lggest Request SoMf I'd Give A MUlion Tomorrows (For 'Just Om Y«sf«rri«y} OXPORB music CORrORAIiON RCA-Victor has already begun to make modifications in the applica- tion of its plan to have a committ-e of eight executives listen to and decide the merits of new sqpgs submitted for recording by publishers. According to pubs who took new material to Victor's New York office Monday (19), the day of the week reserved for them, tfiey were told by Victor's .lack Hallstrom that from now on pubs can drop tunes at the disker's office on any day they choose and do not necessarily have to appear personally on Monday to demonstrate them or explain their exploitation aims on a particular melody. It seems that in confining contacts with pubs to Monday, Victor's men haven't enough Ume to give all song men the correct attention. "Tenement Symphony," dormant since 1941 when it was .lust another tune in Metro's "The Big Store" (Marx Brothers) is due for a plug ride. Tune, written by Hal Borne and Sid Keller, is being done nightly at Slapsy Maxie's by Tony Martin. Splm'ge will come on a soon-to-be- released' disking by Martin. Singer, who introduced it in picture, relearned the tune in England during his recent Palladium date, m answer to many requests. Number caught quickly and Martm'etched it for HMV RCA-Victor British label, with the backing, pf a 30-piece band "Symphony" covers both sides of a 12-incher, which will be released shortly and is due for heavy exploitation. Feist publishes. Ohio Automatic Phonograph Owners Assn..has tagged the Connie Haines-Alan Dale version of "Darktown Strutters Ball" as its "hit tune" for Augu.st, which puts the platter in 3.000 jukes. Dale's "Tea Leaves," also Signature, got the same group's designation for June. ^ ^ ViS Cuts June Loss To $1,000; Avoids Chapter 10 Chicago, July 27. Vitacoustic Recordsv C5hi indie, last week filed a financial report with referee in Chi federal district court, which disclosed that com- pany has cut loss in operation to $1,000 for the last month. Over prior three months outfit lost $10,000. Creditors committee also gave the statement the double-d arid referee, who previously stated that if company could not operate at a profit he would ask for a bank- ruptcy action, indicated that im- proved position of the diskery would not make such action neces- sary. . • ., , Vita is negotiating with several artists and record companies to sell" maiSters. Among those Inter- "ested in' getting back pressings are Ifnaa, E^wardA and 1^ pijtmond. . Fox Sued by Jordan On ^eat the Ban Tune Harry Fox, agent and trustee for the Music Publishers Protective A.ssn., v/as named defendant in a novel suit filed in N. Y. federal court last week by songwriter Thomas Jordan. Plaintiff claims that in November, 1947, he and Jimmy Franklin wrote a song, "They All Recorded to Beat the Ban." , Subisequently, Jordan charged Franklin obtained control of the tune through Royal Music Publish- ing Co. of Hollywood which is al- leged to have no corporate entity, Meanwhile, Jordan asks the court for a temporary rejstraining order preventing'Fox from paying royal- ties to Royal or Franklin until i declaration of his rights are made as half ovmer in the piece. The LOGGING SYSTEM That is why ROBBINS, FEIST, MILLER, Etc., have ALL SUBSCRIBED !