Variety (Nov 1948)

Wednesday, November 3, 1948 Ei^sh Decca to Market Records Of CajHtol in Britam Via New fieup Hollywood. Nov. 2. ♦ Capitol Records, as expected, announced last Thursday (25) a }iew tieup with English Decca, l.td., via which the latter will tnar- Itet Capitol in Britain and Africa. Though Capitol does not make it clear, it's said that according to the lilrrangenient the exchange of earn- ings by the label's disks in Eng- iand will be no problem. They'll le transferred here, from earnings In this country by British Decca's London label, which are pressed in England and distributed only Jn the U. S. and Canada. Set ut> last summer by Sandor Forges, Cap's foreign division head, and artists: and repertoire boss Jim Conklingi the agreement With the British firm was okayed Oct. 25 by th§ British government. It starts immediately; Capitol is . already packaging pressings for (hipment. British Decca already has a fimilar arrangement with U. S. >eccat but that. pact calls for the former to handle only recordings Imprinted with the Brunswick la- bel, to which Decca. bought the rights (not world-wide, however) and a considerable number of mas'^ ters several years ago. Decca is now launching the Coral label, which: will' be .circulated im. the (Continued oii page 42) New Co/s 1st Hit Decca Seeking Breakage Break, Asks Allowance :.: RCA-:Victor's . request of major Snd minor music publishers, that it e allowed to deduct 81^%: of qiiar:- terly royalty statements to cover "breakage," Is having the effect the pubs feared. Decca Records is In the picture on the same angle. iDecca denies that it has demanded theV same deal from music firms that have so far given it to Victor, but it fully, expects to achieve the ■ame break in royalty, payments and already has obtained okays from some of the firms that had okayed Victor's plea. Apparently, Decca Is letting RCA take the lead, and any pubs that go along with Victor will go along with Decca. So far, Victor has not had too much success with Individual majors except Warner Bros., whose head, Herman Starr, ■ Victor says, okayed the 8!^% idea .10 days ago. It has corraled the elgnatures of a group of lesser . firmst however, the outstanding total represetiting hillbilly and country music publishers. Many publishers who have not given-Vic- tor permission to make the de- ductions have told the company that they would go along if a ma- jority of rivals fell in line with Victor's request. Among those firms: are BregmanvVocco-Gonn, ivhich Victor stated last week had okayed the deal. BVC has not as yet. London, Nov. 2. One of the newer companies here. Athenaeum Music, is racking up its first big ■ hit in "Susy." Song is an Italian import with music by Ernest Nicol and English lyrics by Scott Monte. Tune is also number one in point of sales in several continental countries, including France, Sweden and Chechoslovakia. "Susy" Is slated to make its U. S. bow this month under the Mills imprint in a deal negotiated by company prez Jack Mills with the original Italian publisher, Edizlone Musica C6ra, of Milan. ' He's timing publication with a Nov. 15 release of a Grade Fields recording on, the London label. OBCHBSTRA-llflTSIf: 8S Gale Bros. Buy Out Billy Shaw Satchmo's Long String Louis Armstrong's six-piece combination is booked without a break into next April, which indi- cates ihore than anything else the success. Armstrong has encount- ered since breaking up his big band and going into a small one with Jack Teagarden, Barney Big- ard, et al. Armstrong' is currently on one-> nighters, college dates among them, and opens at the Blue Note, Chicago, Dec. 5 for four weeks. He moves into the Flamingo, Las Vegas, in February for two weeks. Judge Leibell Modifies ASCAP Stand, 'Society Can t Sell Rights as Trust' Pluggers^ Scrap WithCouncOOn PactBrushoff ASCAP Will Appeal The American Society of Com- posers, ' Authors and Publishers likely will appeal N. Y. Federal Court Judge Vincent L. Leibell's revised decision in the ITOA fee case. However;' regular; monthly, board meeting of the organization;: last Thursday (28) decided to leave it up to ex-Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson, who was brought "in on the case after the original decision, and various ASCAP house and regular attor- •neys.--- I It has been rumored that they I will ask for a stay of Leibell's most recent decision, pending appeal. . . Moe and Tim Gale have bought out Billy Shaw s one-third interest in the Gale,. Inc., agency; Buyout resolves the differences between the brothers and Shaw, which had, meliirbasic"'7ontract to"replac7''a Up a bitter internal situation five-year deal Which expires Dec. Music Publishers Contact Em- ployees membership meeting last Thursday (25) evening created quite: a .scrap between individual members of the organization and its ruling council. Certain members of the outfit insisted upon being openly advised of the terms of the new contract being formulated by the council members for presentar tion to the Music Publishers Pro- tective Assn. Latter and the MPCE heads will sit down within the month to . execute a new . employ- set up a bitter during the past few weeks. Shaw intends establishing his - own agen- cy within several weeks after va- cationing; Details of the dispute/ that split the Gales end Shaw are undis- closed, but financial angles were involved. At one time within the past 10 days there was a possi- bility Shaw might take over the band and talent agency from the Gales, who quoted a figure .of $90,- OOO for their interests. Whether this quotation was. used as the basis for buying out Shaw's one- third neither tlie brothers nor Shaw will state. . . Papers in the split were signed Monday II) with Herman <Chub- by) Goldfarb, representing: Shaw, and, Andrew Weinberger, who repped the' Gales. Shaw joined^Gale several years ago, moving over from a one-night-1 er. division post with the William I Morris agency. He had run the Gale band department as well as working with vacts. Lombardo Snag .Guy. Lombardo M pirobleni .y/hen he began his; Kais- er-Frazer commetcial :Wo^ ago. on 248 Mutual network sta- lions. r.• ; For- some tinie Lombardo's baaid- has • been : ;$pld' ■ by . trahscriptioii through Zivv iponsrorM in various fiitieis by diif^tent manufacturer^ And 18 of thenj were Kacked by^^ iodiji distribiitors of rival aiitoiino- bile m^kes. Lombardo . aijd. ;Ziv ran into the unusual in tliat iifie: piaj Ority of the 19 rCifUsed to can- cel 'the; transcription coritipact, pr^i jEerriag^' to- hold his (tadio:-draw' i)i theii- own Idtalitlesrfor. the. fllher makes of cairs."; Only " One .bad caji^ celled out up to last week-^-iand that was a Kaiser-Frazer dealer id asked before they were placed ber Cincinnati. He dropped buying the 31. :' ' Though pressed by the inquisi- tive: members to discuss what will be asked of music, publishers through the MPPA meetings, the MPCE council refused, to divulge In detail 'the terms , to be asked. This riled: those who wanted to know, and a long heated verbal disr cussion followed. Council members explained that it did not think it cricket to discuss the terms to be - New York Federal Court Justice Vincent L. Leibell changed his mind about ripping loose one of the seams in the structure of th« American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers when he delivered a modified vdecision last week in the film-exhibition fee case pressed by the Independent Thea- tre Owners Assn. While, his revised stance benefited ASCAP in that ho opined it should not be forced to divest Itself of theatre perform- ance rights, he nipped both the Society,: plus writers and: publish- , ers who are non-ASCAP, by decid- ing that ASCAP could .not sell those rights So long as it continued being "an illegal combination and a monopoly." Whereas Leibell's original de- cision directed ASCAP to discon- tinue collecting, exhibition fees from theatres because, producers of pictures had already paid synehron* ization rightjs at the source, he had said that performance rights should be returned to the copyright own- er. This meant that either the pub- Usher of a song, or its writer or writers^ could sefiarately dispose of such rights—rand collect for them. The new decision makes it Impossible under the pres^ ent setup for the- collection of (Cdntiqued on page 42) Lawrence Welk Dps Palladium, LA., B.O. To Best Take in Years Hollywood, Nov. 2. ' Lawrence Welk orchestra, which tonight (Tues.) commences its tfiird of a five-stanza stand at the Palladium ballroom, has given the terpalace quite a shot in the arm tioxoffice^Wise. Not since Woody Herman played «n engagement ' back' in February-March has any orch gone into percentage, until Welk's advent. Booked in on $3;tf00 weekly guarantee against a: 50-50 split of iiU over $8,500 in door admissions. Welk bagged $3,400 on his first Week, and beyond a doubt bettered that take on his second. Trade circles here are wonder- ing if the first black-ledger biz iPalladium has had in quite a while Isn't occasioned by fact Welk crew is dispensing simple melodies, Prior to this booking Palladium housed a succession of jump bands. Yesterday (Mon.) on its day off from ballroom, Welk outfit made a short at Universal-International studio, using Clark Dennis, Mod- ernaires and Carolyn Grey as vocalists. SELLOUT {19,000 FOR H'WOOD JAZZ CONCERT Hollywood, Nov.:2» : Mammoth Dixieland jazz concert tossed at Pan-Pacific auditorium Friday (22) by KFWB disk jockeys Gene Norman and Frank Bull was a sellout. Gross at 8,100-seat audi- torium was approximately $19,000, after taxes, at $3,60 top. Profit was not so lusty, however, since nut was very heavy. , It cost $3,000 to import Louis Armstrong combo and chirp Velma MiddletOn; $600 each for Eddie Condon and Wild Bill Davison. Nearly 50 local jazz figures, in- cluding Red NicholSi Lou McGar- rity, Eddie Miller, Nick Fatool, Kid Ory, Wingy Mannone, Matty Matr lock, Zutty Singleton, Pete Daily, Jess Stacyj Helnie Beau and Artie Shapiro got doble scale plus piece- meal cut on 50-50 split of profits wiUi promoters. AFM Blacklists Disk Label in 6G Debts Hollywood, Nov. 2. Disc Records, local odd-label^ has been slapped on American Federation of Musicians' blacklist by James C. Petrillo. Firm has been deemed unfair because it owes numerous musicians here a total of $6,000. Last December, Disc', along with other waxeries, was record- ing huge backlogs in face of disk ban starting Jan. 1. Company asked Local 47 here if it would okay giving notes to musicians for services, with understanding/ these would be paid off early in 1948. Union agreed. Lately, musicians, accordmg to Phil Fisher, Local 47 recording rep, have complained thfy cannot col- lect on the notes. Union itself tried, then bucked the matter to Petrillo, who now has ordered label blacklisted. . fore the MPPA itself .since attend' ing union members undoubtedly would spread them about. Council told members that there was no question it was working in their behalf, not for the pubs^ and not to insist. That didn't entirely placate the inquisitive ones, but: the coun- cil Insisted upon refusLig to disr cuss the new contract. Most important of the new angles tO; be: sought by the contact- men is a pension plan under which indigent members of the MPCE will draw f u n d s. Argument between the council and members, incidentally, resulted in wires be- ing dispatched .to tradcpapers pointing : out "tonight's meeting (is) proof Music Publishers Con- tact union (is) dying slowly." It was signed .simply: "union mem- ber." transcriptions fromv Ziv, since Lombardo could be secured for the same product, through the live network show, without cost to him. Lombardo, incidentally, sold himself on the Kaiser deal. While playing the Statler hotel, Wash- ington, in August, he got chummy with Henry Kaiser himself, who had entered a speedboat in Poto- mac river events which Lombardo could not drive-in himself due to the Detroit crackup which put his own Gold' Gup: racer out of action for the year and which resulted in the maestro suffering a:.broken arm. ■■■■1 Decca 55% Off lst9Mos.m'47 Decca Records, net profit for the first nine months of this year is approximately 55% lower than the comparable period of 1947. Com- pany statement cited earnings of $550,877 for the first three quar- ters, after the setting aside of $337,634 against estimated taxes.' are not high due to the long layoff. Earnings of the initial three- quar- he will have no tax problems. J.D. STARTS COLUMBUS HOTEL NAME POLICY Columbus, Nov. 2. Deschler-Wallich hotel here is going in for a name-band policy, as it Indicated' last spring when me« dium-name combos such as Ray Eberle, Ray Anthony, et al, did well. Hostelry has signed Jimmy Dorsey's orchestra for lour weeks beginning. Jan. 3, and will follow him with equally strong names. De.schler job will be Dorsey's first location of any length since he reorganized last month. Dorsey was out of action at his Coast home most of this year and expects to stay on the road almost exclusively until Jan. .1. Since his '48 earnings ters of '47 amounted to $1,116,483. Statement represents earnings of 71c a share by 776,650 shares of capital:' stock outstanding, . as against the $1.44 per earned last year for the same period. Mercury Arranging Royalty Deals With Majestic Takeovers Mercury Records Is In the proc- ess of. arranging royalty deals on artists, whose masters it took over from Majestic . Records. Included in the huge pile of material it took title to are many sides done by artists who are no longer with Majestic;: and Mercury wants to market some of them, hence the royalty discussions, Among the initial albums Mercu- ry expects to release from the Ma- jestic material Is one by Percy Faith and a large orchestra. It was originally entitled "Exciting Music of Percy Faith," but that tag will be revised. Midwest Dancery Operators Map Natl Association Hollywood, Nov. 2. The Midwest Ballroom Opera- tors' Assn. is making a pitch to extend the organization to national scope. Larry Geer, terpalace operator In Fort Dodge, la., and policy-chartsman of the midwest group, has advised ballroom ops in Far West of his Intentions. A. rep of midwesterners will be sent hero to enlist support. Simultaneously, Geer's group will reach out to embrace ops in New England, mid-Atlantic states and the south. There has never been a national organization of' ballroom owners. The first target will be ASCAl». Demands will be made for general lowering of fees now charged by the Society for use of its catalog in the terpalaces. s It appears that the Western Ballroom Operators Assn., which sprang up here two years ago, will join Up with Geer en masse. Marty Landau, secretary of the western outfit, which has become almost moribund, has asked the 21 others who belonged to his organization to Join up with Geer, as he to doing. Macy's Ads Pump Out 37,000 Varsity Disks Macy's, New York's largest de- partment store, drew unusually heavy reaction last week to half-, page ads run in one daily news- paper on EU Oberstein's new 39c •Varsit.v records. Inserted in Thursday morning's issues, the ads caused the store to dispose of over 37,000 of the disks Friday and Saturday, exclusive, of mail orders. It put a truck in almost constant operation between Macy's and Varsity's Merlden, Conn., plant. Oberstein's : disks, which have, been unusually successful since launched during the summer, due to the low retail price, have risen steadily in sales totals. In August the company sold 438,000; in Sep- tember approximately 610,000, and close to 800,000 In October. Vir-. tually all sales are through chain stores, few through other chan- nels. Cuffo TC Yoicetracks Of Celebs as Publicity • Hollywood, Nov. 2. Bob . McLaughlin, disk- Jockey who has been contracted by Rexall Drug Co., to air nationally; got clearance from AFRA for the use . of transcribed voice tracks of',: celebs on his show. Ruling that a performer guesting on a disk pro- gram Is merely reaping publicity; not working, is precedental, McLaughlin's show is built on voice tracks, previously , recorded,: which introduce the platters about .: to be played, permitting disk jock to banter with personalties involved. AFRA ruling is that guests on radio programs get their regular pay for doing stint. Scale for a trasscrip- tion is $40 but in some cases the pay would run as high as $5,000, McLaughlin contacted AFRA ask- ing for a special meeting to review:' his case. Board of Radio .'Vrtlsts, after considering the problem, de-: elded that the stunt was publicity , for celebs and not subject to coin., payment such as a straight Inter-^ view .or guest appearance would be. Another point brought out at the board meet was that artists come to. McLaughlin and reuest to cut: voice trackSi He does not solicit them. Platter pu.sher did approach. AFRA when he first started th» i show over KLAC, locally, .and was giveh the go-ahead. McLbughlin ] now has voice traqks In his library.