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19419 •KCHBSnAS-MrSIC 87 PIRIT OF 78 (RPM) ON WANE jack Kapp Brought New Kind Of Showmanship to Disk Biz -By ABEL GREEN- rs Coast Promoters Wave Bigger Coin Guarantees at Name Batoneers Major record companies are being very Eareful aboat Investing unnecessary coin in tlie disk busi- ness at the moment. With business rolling along at only a fair rate (off from wartime, but still better than pre-war figures), television and vari-speed platters to conr sider, very little "master inven- tory" is being stacked away on 78 r.p.m. pop platters. In the past, when an artists and repertoire division head called a band or .singer into a recording studio for a session, the- majority of times the artists involved would cut a miniiYium of four sides. Two only may have, been immediately needed: pops. The remaining two may have been standards, particu- larly valued arrangements of orig- inal songs, et al. These were stashr ed away on the shelf for future re- lease. Such , a procedure was cheaper since the musicians in a name band or the men hired to singers drew fixed three hours work, whether they worked that long or not^ So, it was economically sound iVlefjraphic communications from Decca men in the field, pledging tJmselves to keep alive "the Jack Kapp tradition," came soon as tohews broke last week about the death of the 47-year-old president If Decca HecorSs, Inc. That just about epitomizes the best monument fwecordlng execuUve would have wanted. K»PP as a latter-day Horatio Alger only this mpnth was the subject nf ttelead editorial in Life (March 7), personally written by publisher flenry R- Luce. The latter, long cognizant'of the-Kapp saga, had been «raitt«n with the idea of a big business man, directing an American rni-Boratlon which in 1947 did a gross business of $32,508,717, more ^gsS diverting his prime energies to propagate the mission of Ameriv "jjmpicas an emissary of peace and worldwide understanding, "jjjpn, in recent months, had taken his philosophy of mu.sic,' aS an international language, beyond the trade and addressed student bodies from Boston U to USC; from Rotary Clubs to radio and kindred execu- tive^ meetings. Kapp felt that his success story was but a modestj liieaire reftection of \yhat America and American music had to offer tbe world. The Monday morning (28) services at the Park Ave. Synagogue, If, Y., witnessed'a living example of the Kapp influence. Present nei?e personalities like Marlene Dietrichv Ethel Merman,.Hildegarde, Kstty Carlisle, Fred Waring and the Lonibardos; songsmiths like Irving Bttlllt and Oscar Hammerstein 11, film tycoons like N. J. Blumberg, plaprtght M^oss Hart, publisher M. Lincoln Schuster, a host of news- papermen and columnists. K«i>p had brought a new showmanship to phonograph recording thatj s„rnmniinv bellwethered the entire industry. To him a phonograph record was wore than a 35c., or a 5,0c., or a 75c. platter. He envisioned it as the ' ^ '""^ mMt practical method of communication and education. The di.sk was . MtaWre device for the most expeditious purveying of some current j l^^ao^uturrdirs'on'such dates" m«m' On the contrary, to' Kapp, records were intended to record ! ^° J?° ^^^^ ftr pOSterity.the best things from all sources of,-learning as well as' ^'""^^ the record ban was lifted, ■Mtertalnment. Phonograph wax to Kapp was merely a scientific however, none of the niajor com- tonvenience to project his imagination, his showmanship and his bound- panies is puttibg niaterial on the less thirst for new ideas. i shelves. All are cutting only Evaluated Kid Tastes : Through his two childreiir-^Myrai- 17, and Jonathan, 10—^he could •tell What would please millions of American children. He sensed that the appeal would be greater if Shakespeare, Dicken.s or the Bible, or '«IOme outstanding radio programs, were transmuted into wax by famed ^games, usually of Hollywood voltage. This-marquee technique brought to I)ecca ^platters such distinguished names as Ronald Colman, Charles Laughton, Marlene Dietrich, Chasles Boyer, Ogden Naph, Bing Crosby,: ' Edna Best, Judy Garland, Jascha Ileifetz, Judith Anderson, Irene Dunne, ' 'Mickey Booney, Ginger Rogers, Orson Welles, Fredric March; Mary ' Martin, Brian Donlevy, Herbert Marshall, Bob HopCi Walter Huston, '-John'Gielgud, Deanna Durbin, Frank Morgan, Ingrid Bergman, Fred Astaire, Al Jolson, Thomas Mitchell, Ethel Merman, Dorothy Lamour, Danny Kaye, Celeste Holm, Gracie Fields, Reginald Gardner, Donald Crisp, Gene Kelly, Irving Berlini Dan Dailey, Carmen Miranda; et al. ■ If Jack Kapp heard a great radio program he felt it deserved more ■ than one hearing; no matter how intensive that audience may have been, and so many important air shows were perpetuated by Kapp on • records.. ■., -■ . . . 'Every Home a 1st Nieht' : ' Kapp envisioned "every home a first night" and pioneered the now- 'bmillar technique of wa9<;ing complete albums, with original casts, •sol top Broadway shows.' Decca's "Oklahoma!" has passed the 900,000 • mark, «n alltime record for a $5 album. It was Kapp's dream, that this yaar he'Would celebrate a 1,000,000-copy milestone with Oscar v..llammerstein ll and: Richard Rodgers, as he had done several years uSgp wheq he' presented them with a gold-disked album symbolizing the • M0,000th "Oklahoma!" album. He albumed such distinguished plays as f Judith Anderson's "Med^a," etc. The success story o| Jack Kapp, .who peddled Columbia Records as did his father before hiih, is secondary to the imagination and show- , laanship which distinguished this industry leader. He went to work • at 25 for, the old Brunswick company (who.se assets he was, in later "years; to buy and merge into Decca). There was his association with I' Al)»JolSDn's Brunswick version of "Sonny Boyi'i-which sold the then .) unheard Of 2,000,000 platters in 1928.' He en^sioned the 35c. record, fln Which the success of his new Decca Records, Inc., was founded; His treks into the hillbilly country and the Deep South, with a portable recording machine to wax "race" records, first sparked his enthusiasm for the indigenous American music. In later years he was to give that 'liair a more plush production via his own company. These are mile- stones in the Kapp saga Petrillo Ends Contract Between Brown, Morris Hollywood, March 29. Pianist-singer Charles Brown inked a five-year contract with Federal Artists after James C. Petrillo- intervened personally 'to release Brown from his William Morris deal. Brown, fbrmerly a member of Johnny Moore's Three Blazers, had inked a pact with Morris (hat had two years to run. He . contended pact was voided when he left (he Blazers to form his own combo and refused to pay the agency commis- sions -on his: Aladdin Records deal. Hassle was stalemated until Brown appealed to Petrillo under AFM chieftain's ruling that no union musician can file a civil court action until the union takes a hand, Petrillo ordered Morris to release: Brown and latter promptly signed with Federal. Varsity Claims Tlew Market' I what they need. Waxing two sides instead of four now occurs the ma:, jority of the times a band or singer records. In the longer run, the practice saves money. There is no coin investment stashed on shelves and the pop 78 divisions are not loading themselves with material that can cut their throats in the I tb prove his Cbntention" event television makes deeper and ~' ' " ■t Hollywood, March 29. I Indicating a growing optimism on the part. of western ballroom operators, salaries for name bands ^ have started to spiral 'upward in . this area. Figures, of course, aren't ^ near those quoted during the lush war years when terrific, terpery, takes were common, but guaranr tees now exceed those paid last year at this time and are still mov- ing-upward.; : As an example; Benny Goodmfin goes into Jerry Jones' Rainbo. Randevu in Salt Lake City, April 20, for four days at a $6,000 guar- antee and 60%. It's the biggfest guarantee Jones has ever anted up for such a stand. Goodman, now^ in his final week at the Palladium here,, is drawing a: $5,500: weekly guarantee and a split of all admis- sion coin over the $13,500 mark for' the stand. ■ . ■ ■ Del Courtney, who opens -at the Cocoanut Grove of? the Ambassa- dor tonight (29) is drawing $2,750 for backing Rudy .Vallee. I-Ie sucp' ceeds Carmen Cavallaroj who drew $4,00() per stanza for a fourr- week stay. .-. ■ .. ".■ .,■;:; Victor Lombardo restores a. name band policy to the Aragon terpery tomorrow (90) at $2,500 per week. .At Casino Gardens, Harry James has been drawing that same figure, against 60%,- for a three-day weekend. Another spot shelling out top coin . is ,the Hollywood-Empire Room. Louis Armstrong. combo started a 10-day stand last Thursr day (24) at $4,000 and a slice of bar and admission business for the deeper inroads and the: Micro- groove Long-Playing and 45 . rpm disks move into favor quicker than is now .thought. Another angle is the artistic one. When: four sides per ;three hours were being attempted almost every recording.date; there usually was some rush attached to> getting them in. Performers and recording men always seem to dawdle with. th_e_ first two sides and find themselves short of time on the last two. Re-^ sultt technically poor recordings very often. Doing two disks in three- hours, it's felt, makes for better product. Milton Rackmil NewJ)eccaPrez Eli Oberstein, who's producing the Varsity label line selling at 39c.: (44c. with, tax) is adamantly certain that the people buying his disks: are not as a rule those who have been purchasers of major labels selling at 79c. and above. , ... , And he has figures that purport, f"" week with lap-over on a pro- rata basis. Charlie Ventura's nine- Firstly, Oberstein asserts that' P'^ce bebop outfit opens the same almost every recording of a hit spot April 19 /at $2,000- and a cut song that he markets sells a fairly ■ oar take. Even lesser known even amount of copies. An out-! combos are getting in op the gravy. Standing hit may sell higher, but Hoy Milton's six-piecer grabbed as a rule the average is consistent- ly in the same neighborhood in the number of copies sold. Sec- ondly, he claims that pop songs that have been out of favor since as far back as last fall are still $1,150 per week for a recent date at the Empire and on a one-niter at the Avodon, teamed with Anios Milburn, drew 2,600 payees. Each combo was in at $600 guaran- tecj but outpouring of stubr^buyers key men in organizing the new company after the trio had left Brunswick. Like Kapp, Stevens, Who was the veepee in charge of sales, was ,a victim of high blood pressure and died three years ago Dave Kapp, v.p. in charge of recording and artists; Leonard W^SchneiderV v.p. and g.m.; Louis Buchner, treasurer; Samuel Yamin, sec. Rackmil was the original treasurer of Decca, later made v.p. Kapp now assumes full charge of all .of the company's recording activities. As Raclcmil emphasized In the official company statement, all of Kapp's policies and plans , have been well ■ formulated. At a board ,meetih^ ye;^^^^^ (Tues.) afterhobh, a hew president I of Decca Records,: Inc., was named in the , person of Milton R. Rack- I mil, the executive veepee. With .Aftera parious'teeoS in 1934 Decca's profits started to roll in, from | the late Jack Kapp and the late 185,000 in 1937, $207,000 in 1938, $374,000 in 1939, and in 1943 the ' „ ^ Stevens, Jr . they were the ■ consolidated net income Was $1,036,361, after taxes. In 1947 the com-"^- • PMiy's gross of $32,508,717 drew a net of $l,6r8,548. was not his know-how, aS much as his living example of the axiom ■ to thine own self be true," that distinguished him in his personal artistic and business relations. Bing Crosby started with Kapjp in 1934 •nd has been with DeeCa ever since. The galaxy of names associated Wh Kapp reads like a who's who of show business embracing Al,., Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Sophie Tucker, Hildegarde, the Andrews Sisters, at the age oi «*. Ben Bernie, Ted Lewis, Belle Baker, Mills Bros,. Ethel Waters, Guy All other officers remain: Lombardo, both Tommy and Jimmy Dbrsey; Glen Gray's Casa Loma or- ; *hestra, Jan Garber, Van & Schenck, Marilyn Miller, Paul WhUemani Johnny Mercer, Dick Haymes, Dick Powell, et al. ; Kapp was a victim of high blood pressure, which caused the fatal cerebral hemorrhago Friday night (25) at 7:30. He had left the Decca .office in New York for his town house in the East 60's. (That house , was a mecca for many Kapp-hosted parties that attracted distinguished names from all walks of life, besides the Seven Lively Arts.] He had lunched with his son, and was particularly elated because only that Mternoon his brother, Dave Kapp. Decca veepee and recording direc- tor, and executive veepee Miiton R. Rackmil, had signed Crosby to a hew longterm contract. V . Worked Out Lombardo Deal j„„r „,ifu I The company's strong cash busi- , Kapp had only recently worked out another good business deal with , ^ just-closed Bing Crosby ' Lombardo who, like Crosby, was being offered more attractive j ^^^y Guy Lom capital-gains terms. Rackmil a couple of weeks ago had also returned .wojn a flying tHp to London, and American Decca's relations with ontish Decca looked likely for a more cordial entente than had existed, In fact, everything pointed to a most placid accord within the com-, ^ ^ j 9"rbed by contractual restrictions from the foreign market^U. S. i "Jj^o^omic position. After a mild selloff of 50c. on being ordered by his dealers, it | at $1.25 sent both orchs home with indicates to him thBt'"people are ' ■ - . -.f . ,..: . :.;.-:..-"r ... being drawn by price: who nor-| '- mally might not even buy any records at all at the 79c. tap. Thirdly, Oberstein points out that Macy's, .New York, which handles his line, disposes of a good 70% of its sale via mail and phone orders. Of course, this could and most likely is accounted for by the fact that Macy's is the only N. Y. outlet for Varsity. At any rate* Oberstein claims that the, majority of the people who purchase Varsity, disks are not normal record buyers- -they're price buyers. He has sold more Ci^is]^ Lyric Irks Marks E. B. Marks; publisher of the standard "Glow Worm,'' has vmrit- ten Capitol Records foi:: an explan- ation of its jQlihny iRIerCer riecord-- ing of-.the tune, With „';;spe.d|ai" lyrics by,.- the songwriter-singer. Capitol apparently never applied than 6,OOC,000 of his low-price hit-j for a license to record the tun* disks since the company went into operation last July, bardo to continue; the ironing-out of an awkward business situation with the British Decca company— '*8 'gecca had formed""CorairRedord.s a means to get into England. . Jjritish Decca, of course, had invaded America thj last two yearp with jw London- label (being estopped from using the Decc* brand name In we Western Hemisphere). ' - (Continue^ on page 89) ,. j_ with the added wordage,- which is not exactly a parody, but along , siiiiiiar lines, and Mairks asserts it has never been asked to is$ue one.' It Wants to ktiow, by: wtiat aiiiytioi^iiy,. Capitol took such :llbeftiesi Letter, sighed by Ilerb Mark^ threatens ho action of any'sort^; It simply wants to know how come Cap moved as it did without isecur- ing penhissio*n for fdmpering With the tune. Most publishers ,of stand- ard material frown on anyohe tak- , ihg liberties With valuftbie ma- terial;; "Glow Worm" i^eCdrdiftg by Mercer, for example, is done:lh a • rhythm style, ' diilerent than; the ■: . i usual interpretation. Pubs have al- of the lyrica^^similarity to Ches- | ways felt that if such an. approach "' ^" " '" to a tune were to make a hit, then : the tune in its original f6rm would be harmed for years to.come. This was the basis of the objections several vvceks ago to Charlie Bar- net's jazz version of George Gersh- win's "Rhapsody in Blue," one of the most valuable of all copy- rights. :■ v.'.,,: ■':-^ Music Pubs Miffed By Ciggie Siiow's Nix of 'Adorable'Due to ABC's Music men look upon the latest discrimination by radio sponsors against a pop song as one of the most ridiculous of all such occur- rences.' Because its first three lines start with "A," "B," "C," the tune, "A You're Adorable" is being kept off some.cigaret programs because lerfield's "ABC" approach to its commercial. Actually, "Adorable" is an al- phabet tune, in that it progresses all the way down the 26 letters. But the highlighting of the first three is what bothers Chesterfield's rivals, published by Laurel Music, a new firm operated by Tommy Valando, the song is moving into the hit class and pubs are -waiting to see what will happen when and if it reaches "Hit Parade" propor- tions. "Hit Pjirade," of course, is sponsored by Lucicy Strike. ; "Parade" has caused many a squawk of similar nature by pubs, Sslttirday, when the Kapp news! because it kept hit songs oft the broke, the slock firmed upwards,program, for various reasons on Monday and yesterday (Tues.). 'deemed equally silly. REVENUE BOYS TAP BASBON Chicago, March 29. John Jarecki, Northern Illinois collector of internal revenue last week filed a lien against Blue Bar- ron, orch leader for $358 in Fed- eral employment taxes and $680 In social security payments. : ■ ° Lien covers the last half of 1948.