Variety (April 1950)

A few more newly ‘developed hands are needed to trim percenter expenses, according to talent agency reos The;.20% increase in one- niehter business over last year St contributed materially in lowering selling costs. Agencies fAel that a few more growing maestri are needed if they-re to SSlf costs to any degree. , , ; Alternative to the grooming of hew crews,* according to agency men, is the dropping of guarantees to the point where neither the maestro nor the promoter can be hurt badily if there^S a flopppla. There’s a greater tendency among some offices, Associated Booking Cbrpi particularly, to trim guaran- ! tees and uPped percentages so that both promoter and bandleader will gamble on the ultimate return. A new band ban provide the agencies With a setling point Which will heip unload less-desirable properties. This is a return to the type of selling whereby a ballrooin operator had to buy several out- fits in order to get a band that can up the gross. The bhe-hlghter departments are how Using bands with currently hot records as wedges to move bands which have been static. Any dperator calling for a particular orch is told that the agency’s reg- ' ular customers have first call. If the orch, is sufficiently desirable, promoter buys a few other crews to get a crack at the orch most likely to bring in a healthy return. Thus a few hot bands will lower overhead for the percenters. tTn- fortunately for them, there aren’t enough hew bands or outfits in der mand because of best-selling disks to put the agencies in the driver’s ■ seat. Consequently, selling ex- : penses reinain almost as high this year as: they were last season. Framcit Is Soyry Bobert Music’s “If I Knew You Were Cornin’ Fd Have Baked a Cake’’ is getting a cujffo publicity ride via Fran- cis, the '“talkiiig’’ mule in the Universal filmj “Francis.” ~ In view of the tune’s current pppiilarity,, piq draWs one of ita biggest yocks When the lo- quacious mule, unexpectedly visited by s o m e notables, brays, ;“If I’d have known you were coinihg T^d have baked a ;Cake.” Releases on B RCA Victor is stepping up its 83 rpm releases, with 25 more numbers slated to be added to its present catalog within two weeks. New numbers wiU include hew pressings as well as several trans- fers froni the old 78 catalog. In addition, Victor is preparing a spcr- clal repertory of long-playing disks which will be released simulta- neously with the start of Arturo Toscanihi’s concert tour st the end of this month. Victor distribs, at the same time, have completed stocking retailers with the initial slate of 25 long- play disks. Unexpectedly heavy de- mand caused shortages ;^in many , areas and delayed the start of Vic- tor’s promotional campaign. Last Week, however, Victor began plug- ging its 33’s via radio, video and daily newspaper ads. COMPETITION ON DISKS Decca’s recent release of ah al- bum of tunes from the current Broadway musical, “Arms and the Girl,” has put Pearl Bailey into almost direct competition with her- self. Songstress Who as a member of show’s cast recorded two sides for the Decca albuin, has also put out the saime two numbers for Cp- lurnbia. She’s contracted to latter. Tunes are ‘‘Nothin’ For Nothin^” and “There Miist Be .Something Better Than Love.” Latter num- ber in the Decca album is included in a medley of songs. Siiira 2 Bandleaders For Lifts from Levenson Tonie Citadel Press, publishers of a book written by comedian Sain Levenson, filed an infringement suit in N. y. Federal court last week against bandleaders Jack Ramon and Bert Wayiie. According to the complaint,^ the defendants infringed by publishing a pamphlet which contained ma- tefial allegedly lifted from Leven- soh’s “Meet the Folks.” An in- junction and a c c o u n 11 n g are Sought. In its second major push since its introduction of the long-playing disks over two years ago, Columbia Records is slated to launch a large- scale promotiohal drive at the end of this month. Scojpe of the cam- paign and the budget outlay for it are likely to par the offensive staged by RCA Victor oh behalf of its 45 rpnni platters, estimated at over $2,000,000. Largest; single chunk of Coluni- bia coin, around $500,000, will be used to ba nkroll the GB S yideb show, “The Show'Goes On,” on a nine-station hookup. While the rec- ord cbmpany is a subsidiary of CBB, payment for the video show, especially : to the affiliate stations, will be piade in hard cash which will show up in the record com- pany’s anitual profit-and4oss state- ment. Disk company was inked to bankroll the show starting April 20, and will again pick up the tab next fall after the summer hiatus. Uhderstood, however, that if CBS can line up another sponsor, the record subsid will bow out. Campaign will alsO: cover the na- tional magSt hewspapers, radio, display and point-of-sale proiho- tional materiaL Almost $100,000 will be, shelled out for doubleTpage spreads In three mags, Life, Look and the Saturday Evening Post, to be run during May. Full-page ads in the same mags will be run subsequently. Co-bp ads with deal- ers will be run in local dailies throughout* the countryi Target of the drive, which was putlined to the company's district managers at a special meeting in Bridgeport last Friday (28), will be to give added impetus to the sales of the company 33^/^ disks, in both the pop and longhair fields. Special attention will be given to the seven-inch disks, Which have lagged behind sales in the 12-inch pop and Masterworks division. It’s also hoped that the campaign’s momentum will help counter the onset of the summer slump felt generally by the disk industry since the end of the war. in 1st Sister Rosetta Tharpp, gospel singer inked to a hew four-year recording pact by Decca last week, has been booked for the Golden Gate Ballrpbm in Harlem May 14 for her first date in New York in over five years. “'She will get 60% of the gate. Dickers are also on for the singer to appear at Bop City on Broadway. . Sister Tharpe, who has been pilr ing Up heavy grosses in churches, auditoriums and ball fields through the South, will appear at the Phil- harmonic hall, Hollywood, July 17 on a flat $2,000 guarantee. Joe Glaser made the booking. Tony Martin’s kCA Waxings Pre-London Tony Martin, who is booked for a Lohdon Palladium date starting April 24, will stop in ISFew York en route from Hollywood for two RCA Victor recording sessions April 19-20. Martin has. been scheduled for eight sides in addition to several numbers ducted with Fran Warren. British music, publisher Reg Connelly and his wife are en route from Loiidbn aboard the Caroriia. His Ainericari visit is in connec- tion With his Campbell Connelly company. Pub arrives A^il 10, Minheapolis, April 4. As far as Spike Jones was con- cerned at aiiy fate, Minneapolis proved a great two-week stand, his “Depreciation Revue” pulling a hefty $43,pop for the fortnight and an additional Sunday with two more perfbrmahces at $3 top in the l,9P()-Seat Lyceum. Attraction started slowly, but built, and the second" week, hitting $21,000, was better than the first. Total per^ forihahees were 18. Two-Week bobking had been look- ed upon With astonishment in local theatrical circles with wiseacres predicting theatre and show would take a big beating. The results not only dembhstrated Jones’ pull- ing power, but also what big league exploitation can accomplish. A record sum for the theatre^ $3,000, was spent :on advertising, and Jones himself, appearing bh every disk jockey show at all hours of the day and night and pulling all sorts of other stunts, garnered an amazing amount of newspaper and other publicity; Following ' his Lyceum bate, Jones racked up $4,200 in a one- nite stand in Duluth March 27 despite the worst blizzard in 40 years, with streetcars and taxis at a virtual standstill. In Rochester, Minn., the night after, Jones played to a capacity house in the local auditorium with a gross of $7,200. In Eau Claire and Racine, both 111 Wisconsin, Jones grossed $4,500 and $4,100 over the week- end (29-3Q). CARLE TO KEEP DATES Chicago, April 4. Frankie Carle will definitely fulfill all commitments for his bne-rtight- er tour in the midwest during April and May, General Artists Gorp. spokesmen announced here lasjt week. Tour starts April 8 at Club 36, Marysvillei Kans. Reports that Carle would be out seven or eight months loosed a flood of calls from midWestern op- eratbrs to GAC here. Polly Bergen’s RCA Pact Hinges on No. of Sides Polly Bergen, Coast singer un- der contract to Columbia Pictures, may close a disking pact with RCA, Victor following her cut of “Honky-Tonkin’” for the Kern label. Inking of the pact has been stalled by insistence of Miss Ber- gen’s agents, Marty Melcher and Dick Dorso, for 12 sides. RGA Victor’s Manle Sacks wants to give the singer four sides initially. ASGAP Decr^ While they last, Variety will distribute gratis a digest re- print of salient ASCAP stories, attendant to the recent Con-, sent Decree, including the full text of the Decree itself, with interbretiye paragraph by par- agraph analysis of same. Send^ self-addressed envelope — Ibhg size preferably.:. There will be ho other charge. Amerioan Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers board of directors met yesterday (Tues.) afternoon to prelimiharly discuss Some of the Society’s new problems, as posed by the recent consent de- cree. Prominent among the ques- tions mulled was the iriterrial re- constructioh of ASCAP, with par- ticular reference tp the, decree's atipulation that an ehtire board be elected for a two-year; term, in place of the present system of an- nual elections of eight members of the 24-hian board for a three-year period. Also under discussion at yester- day's confab were ways and moans for working out a new writers’ classificatioh system, plus neces- sary changes in the Society’s by- laws to conform with the provisions of the . consent decree. These changes; will be an important part of the agenda at the annual ASCAP membership meeting, to be held in New York the end of this month, with each change calling for ratlft- catioh by ballot vote. . Board meet yesterday also cov- ered the subject of; the continua- tion as Society prexy of Fred E. Ahlert, now ending his second one- year term in office. If Ahlert is elected for a third year, it would hecessifate the rescinding of a rule established four years ago to the effect that a president cannot suc- ceed himself more than once. Rule was set up during Deems Taylor’s tenure as headmari, and was hot jput to any test when Ahlert suc- ceeded, him after his second term. ^. After slugglhg it but last year in theV“battle of the speeds,’* RCA Victor and Cbltimbia are intensi- fying their taleiit war. . Gross-bid- ding for artists haa already pro- duced an unprecedented number of shifts between the two. labels,' with additional switches expected in the near future. ; Columbia scored the latest coup with the snarliig of Met opera star Dorothy Kirsten from Victor’s liheup this week along with pop: singer Bill Lawrence/ Previously,, Sir Thomas BeeGham; Pablo Casals and Leohard Bernsteiii went in the same directipn. In the same period, however* yietpr pulled from: Columbia siich liames as Frankie Carle, Gene Krupa, Helen Traubel and Gregor Piatigofsky. A major tiff over talent between the two leading diskeries is slated to take place in about five months when. Dinah Shore’s pact with Co- lumbia runs out; The top 'name in the latter’s pop. diyisipn,. Miss Shore is reportedly divided in al- legiance between the two com- panies. While Columbia has done right by her in giying her first crack at hit material, the singer. has , clpse friendship tm^ With Manie $acks, Victor director of artists : relations, who helped de- velop MisS Shore when he served in the same post-bt Columbia. Current outbreak of talent rivalry in the disk field is gen- erally ascribed as the reflection of : the jpckeying for top names by CBS and NBC in radio and tele- vision. Disk company; execs, how- eyer, declare that the talent bid- ding is an outgrowth of the highly competitive state of the industry and the ; need for an aggressive talent and repertory policy J.D.’sN.Y. Residence to Riifine vs. M-G- Broadcast Music« inc., executives this week are putting the finishing touches to preparations for the cel- ebratipn on. BMI’s lOth anniversary at the 28th ariiiuSi'National Assn, of Broadcasters convention which starts April 12 in (Chicago. Whereas in past years BMI has brought to NAB conventions a va- riety of exhibits calling attention to the programmihg services of- fered its. broadcast. licensees, the emphasis at next week’s coUfab will be pn the BMI product Itself. Or- ganization will accent the music ! repertoire, which started in 1940 with very few items and has grown y. -r* • -j 1 . -1 in the past decade to a catalog cbv- Jimmy Dorsey is a resident of . ering several hundred thousand New York state, Supreme Court eopyrights, representing the com- Justme ,„WorHs Eder ^agreed last | bined publishing efforts of BMI it- week. The jurist s ruling automa-: . self and 1,362 affiliated publishing tically freed the bandleader from a warrant of attachment by which Lbew’s, iric., as parent company firms* A number of BMI publishers are R^c(^s' tied trek to Chicago for the ot MUM itecpras. naa tied up Ws ^ which will cover a full week. Among BMI’s plans for its Holler Gufe 4 Markets ’Em Himself Pittsburgh, April 4. Eager to cash in on his local popularity with town’s m jocks and jukebox operatprs arid unwill- ing to wait for an offer from an established firm, Jackie Heller, lo- cal cafe entertainer and owner, climbed pri the bandwagon himself last week and cut four sides which he’ll put pri the market with his own colri. Platters were waxed in KDKA studios under supervision of Bill Brant* station’s platter spin- ner. Heller was backed by Iferman Middleman’s band, which plays at singer's downtown nitery, the Car- ousel, as well as three Kinder Sis- ters and Buzz Aston; all Pittsburgh radio personalities. . Abart Music Inc. chartered to conduct a music publishing busi- ness In New York. Capital stock is 100 shares, no par value. salary at the Hotel Statler, N. Y. In vacating the Warrant, Justice Eder held that “it is clear from the cases on the subject that the test of residence is whether the defend- ant had a place of abode in this state, temporary or permanent, at the time of the issuance of the at^ tachmerit.” The record, the court added, shows that Dorsey had met that requirement. * Loew’s Unayailingly argued that, mere temporary physical presence in the state Is npt of itself suffi- cierit ground for denial of the at- tacliment. Legal skirrriishing grew out of M-CJ-M: Records*. claim that Dorsey 6wes it $15,000 under agree- merits inked in 1946 and H7. own celebration is the ho.sting pf these pubs at a special luncheon on April 18. CAR FINDS IT TOUGH Wallerstcin to Europe Ted WallCrstein, C p I u m bia Records prexy, leaves for Europe Apfil 7 on a combined business- : vacation trip. I r lie’ll 6.0. company’s talent ac- tivities; in .England and op the i Continent. OLSEN SET FOR CAR^ N.Y. I Bandleader -George Olsen and orche.Stra will play their first N. Y. th'eatre date in many years, in May, • at the Capitol thcatrev i Charlie . Yates of Associated i Booking Corp. set the deal. Capitol Records is having a ! tough job finding buyers for its. kiddie sheilac album.s. Outfit is currently offering record dealers twp juve 78 rprrt sets for the price of one. Situation, however, does riot reflect a slide in the kiddie niarketj biit rather a shying -away I on the part of the cpnsumer from the breakable shellac. (Company, which has all its ciiild- reri albums available on npn-break- able 45 rpm, is finding sales in this categpry still favorabie. Dealers note that parent.s: don’t particularly care to shell oilt* dough for the 78’s i.n view Qf the short life it could have in the hapds of the kids. Though the standard speed albums arc cheaper, the difference is so comparatiyeiy .slight, that the buy- ers would rather pay a little more for the npmbreakable sets. . Before the introduction of the slower speed, Capitol did phenom- enal business with a number of .the albums currently included in the ; list of poor shellac sellers.