Variety (April 1950)

Wedne6fla]r9 April 12^ 1950 • By HERM SClIOENFEtb Eddie Cantor-Lisa Kirk^Sajnmy Kaye: Box Annie’-“The Old Piano Roll Blues” (Yictor). There should be a helty payoff on this parlay 6£ names with which Victor is riding these numbers, “Ahnie” is a frank sequel to “Music, Musie, Music” and it looks equally Uh- Stoppable. It has: those prime in- gredients fdr a novelty click: a happy rhythm, a cute lyric and n catchy ddodle-Oodle-oo repeater phrase. Kirk, Cantor and the Sammy Kaye orch handle it gayly enough to push this side high in Jock ahd Juke preferences. Vir- lually every other diskeiy is also climbing aboard this number, which was launched on the Rain- bow label with a solid slice by the Sunshine Gal ajid the Eddie *Tiano” Miller oreih. Mercury has a neat version by Kitty Kallen* with “Chdp'n Gum” On the reverse for anpth er likely back-to-back hit. Victor's “Piano Roll'’ is; strong but " a-bit late.^-, ’ . Eileen Wilsoii: “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was”-“Never Have j Ever Felt Like This Before” (Dec- ca). Miss Wilson does one of her best Jobs on “W*hat Time It Was,” another Rodgers and Hart tune her ing revived. A fine ballad, it’s given a warm treatment by Miss Wilson with some background em- broidery supplied by Sy Oliver's orch and chorus. Reverse is an- other ballad item with a great po- tential; “Hever” has a lirstrate lyric and Miss Wilson hews simply to the lilting melodic line, Charlie Spivak Orch: “Moria Lisa”-?‘Loveless Love” (London). A top coupling thatll give Spivak a strong chance, to. crack the hit lists. '‘Mona Lisa” is a standout number with an Unusual idea and a haunting beat that Spivak car-^ ries With a fine ihstrumental ar- rangement against Tommy Lynn's swell vocal. Harry James’ cut of this tune for Columbia is marred by his trademarked, overlong and over-sweet trumpet solo passages although Dick Williams' singing is okay. W, C, Handy's “Loveless Love” is a smooth bounce item for jocks and jukes that Spivak rides solidly with some, neat choral work by the Stardreamers. Johnnie Johnston: “Melancholy Rhapsody ”-“As We Are Today* (M-G-M). Johnston takes firm .command of “Rhapsody,” an im- pressive number from the pic, ^‘Young Man With a Horn/' It’s an elaborately devised tune and lyric . that Johnston works over With a solid commercim attack for highly salable results. Flipover, from the “Rosie O’Grady” film; is In the sweet ballad vein, and John- ston’s rendition has a good chance for lots of spins.- Russ Case orch backs up with full-bodied arrange- ments, the latter number getting an assist frOm the .Chansonettes vocal group. Mel Torme; “Bewitched''-“The Piccolino” (Capitol). While most * of the other sides on “Bewitched” have followed the original instru- rnental version on the.Tower label, Capitol is putting the accent on the Vocal with this Torme disk, Torme handles this oldie effectively, in his familiar crooning style, and inay take the play away from the rest of the field because of the lyric spotlight. Bottom deck is a cute change-of-pace item that Torme handles smartly- Pete Rugolo's orch and vocal group supply good backgrounds on both sides, Rosemary Glooneyi “I Found My Mama”-“Me and My Teddy Bear” (Columbia). Miss Clooney is slated for a big buildup under Mitch Mil- ler’s tutelage at Columbia and she has enough style to coriie through on this pairing of insipid, but po,s* sibly click times, . “Mama” doesn’t give her much of a chance since it’s built mainly around Eddy Man- son's talking harmonica; There isn’t much choice between this and other versions of this Salty Holmes' number now on the market. “Ted- dy Bear” follows the animal tracks of “Peter Cottontair’ as a simple juve item with an obvious lyric and equally obvious beat. Miss Clooney treats it with suitable lightness,: Meryin Shiner also made a pleasant slice of “Teddy Bear” for Decca,” hacking it with another; kiddie number* “Francis, the Talking Mule” which might please some cradle tastes. Milton Bcrie; “I'll Kiwi You A Miwl-yiin Times”-“| Found My Mama” (Victor), Berle’s initial sides for Victor should test video’s power as a platter-jpuSher, “Mil- hOn Times,” written by Berio and Buddy Arnold and based on onie of the comic's frequent TV lines, is a cute, romantic number that Berle pOrsonality stuff* That title tag line, which the comic punches across with varied inflec- It. Backside Is that tal^g harmonica again, this time^ abutted by a talking kazoo talking trombone growl piece. At least, Borio puts a Safi twist on this version. Allen Roth orch ac- .cqmpSf Stafford - .Gordon MacRae: ^ You Are My LGVe”-“DQWn the Lane” (Capitol). Miss Stafford and MacRae pair nicely :on a couple of a chahge-o£-pace rides. ;^Love” Is a lilting romantic ballad- ► delivered with s m o o t h har- mony. and a light beat. Backing has-an oldfashiohed cheery flavor .of the. 189Q’s and is . punched across with an appropriate barber- shop rhythm.^' JuiJ Gpnloh Singers give pleasing backgrounds on both sides..- - Hay Kyser Orch: “Chug-A-Lug”- “Willya Won’tcha” (Columbia). Two neat sides. “Chug^A-Lug’' is catchy drinking song with a tricky beat and lyric. Kyser sends it for. a fast ride via snappy orchestra- tion and choral backing. Flipover i^B a cute/item with. lots of posri^ bilities. Sue Bennett and Michael Douglas handle the duet routine: in good form, Kay Starrr “Hoop-De-Doo”-“A Woman Likes To Be Told” (Capi- tol). A polka number, “Hoop-De^ Doo” is getting attention bn other labels but Miss Starr’s side Is among the best. It’s a fast and rhythmic cut that sells. “Woman'? is niore im Miss Starr’s ballad vein and Could, be^ pushed far. It’s a worthwhile number with a stand- out lyric arid good beat. Frank De . Yol's orch gives top support. ■ Lonnie Johnson: “Troubles Ain’t Nothing But the BlueriVl’m So Afraid” (King). Johnson . rates special attention as one of the great names in jazz* a blues singer and guitarist Who has, been among the chief shapers of the hot style for more than three decades. These sides reveal Johnson as good as ever,, vocally and instru- mentaily. He gives out with his moving, guitty attack on a couple of fine blues items which Jocks could spin on their own merits and as a contrast to a type of iri- sipid novelty and ballad currently flooding the pop music mart. Platter Pointers Fran Warren has a couple of fine sides in "Ho Hum, It’s Spring” and "“Pon’t Say Goodbye” (Victor) . . Another driving item by Lionel Hampton’s • orch in the two-sided “Turkey Hop” (Decca) . . TWo good versions of the “National Emblem March” have been sliced by Guy Loriibardo (Decca) and Ray Arithohy (Capitol) . . . Herb Jef- fries' version of “Swamp Girr? for Cblumbla is practically a carbon of Frankie Laine’s Mercury cut . . . “Scottish Sainba” is getting plenty of play With additional good sides by Dinah Shore (Coluiribia) and Irving Fields Trio (Victor) . . . Richard Hayes has good time oil “The Guy With the Voodoo” (Mer- cury) but the number lacks lyric content » . . Lorry Raine comes up With another good item in “Harbor Lights’’ (Uriiversal) . . . Liza Pier- son's handling of “I’ve Got, Rings On My Fingers” (London) is first- rate . . . Buddy Andrews and Sam Donahue orch have a good side in ‘'Roman Holiday” (Dana) . . . Eddy Duchin's piano album ' of George Gershwin’s turies for Columbia is tastefully executed . . . “Where Is the Chicken” is a fair novelty riiced brightly by Toni Arden and Al Trace (National) . . Andrews Sisters give elite Workovers of “Walk With a Wiggle” and “Musk- rat Ramble’^ (Decca) ... Victor has two fine disks for late everiing jock play in Hugo Winterhalter's “Symi- phoriy of Spring?’ and the Mcla- chririo Strings’ “Fascination” . . Rose Murphy’s initial sliclrigs for Decca are a couple of standards, “Me and My Shadow” and “A Precious Little Thing Galled Love,” both handled in heiT chi-chi style , . . Evelyn Kriight’s cut of “On An Ordinary Morning” rates attention. Standout western, blues, hill- billy, religious, polka, etc.: Oscar petersoii, “Debut” (Mercury) . ; . Metronome All Stars, “No Figs” and “Double Date” (Columbia) . . ; Sunshine Boys Quartet,“jesus Hits Like Ari Atom Bomb” (Decca) . . . Ivory Joe Hunter,“Please Don’t Cry Anymore” (King) • • * Billy Cotton Band, “French Can- Can Polka” (London) , . . Gomulka Polka Band, “The Boorti Ta-Ra-Ra Polka” (Columbia). r- 41 ; Clearly, the story of Broadcast Music, Inc., is a story of free enter- prise. Yet 4t is a story more easily mulled; over apd marveled at than written. There is that feeling of “history in the making” which In- dicates some chronicler of the fu-. ture, in setting! dov/n the annals of present-day broadcasting, will h® better able to sit^^hack arid in retV rospect present a true picture of What ;has happened in radio and music the^e past 10 years; and just as important, perhaps a most cru- cial, time, .what win have happened a decade hence. . One gets this feeling looking baok not ; iO years ; but just a little longer than that, a time when no one could possibly. com- prelierid that an entirely new foree in broadcasting and music was to j become, a permanerit part of the combined. industries, a dree: for the« better and one in keepingwith the American Way of life^free en- lerprise, 1'/ Assuniirig that posterity. will in its usual way truly evaluate this tremendous undertaking and its un- precedented success, let us go back to the little more than 10 years of BMI’s existence: arid exjimiric the circumstances under which it was born, arid its, .rdi$on d'etre^ The J problem of performing rights fees had been with the broadcasters for nearly 20 .years over a wide series of diteussioris, , arguments; litiga- tions, complaints to'' Cpngress and J What riot. But the Copyright Act. set forth that copyrighted rriusic- “perfprmed for profit?’ had to be paid ter and there Was no recourse :but to pay or'. change the law. 1 “Changing” the Copyright Act has more dr less been in progress fdr many years, but at no tirne could the diverrified interests agree on enough points to present a bill ac- ceptable to all concerned, much less to the Congress, At no tinie, however, did the rank and file of broadcasters believe they should use copyrighted ihusic at no cost to themselves. It merely rimiriered down to hpw much was an equita- ble price. The prifee ill question mounted at every contract reiiewal, 100% arid soriiefimes. 300%. NAB Irt a Spot . • The brdadcasting industry felt it was in a yisei Many effdrts to break the hold took place, many stortriy NAB conyehtions centered entire' sessions to such Ways and means. Somehow thp fdrmula and the right man or group were lacking, mdr were there the foresight and know- how. As far baek as the early 1920’s a; group of broadcasters set up a loft filled with orchestratidris arid other muric, all stamped “tax free.” Like^ wise; the motion picture exhibitors sought to issue their own music similarly stamped—all ddomed to | failure as money and organizatioh ran out i , So it went until the summer of, 1939 When the NAB held its an- nual convention in Atlantic City, July 10-13, and it was there that the NAB Music Committee, appointed by the trade association to nego- tiate a new contract with the Amer- ican Bociety of Composers, Au- thors and Publishers/ reported that it had been unsuccessful in obtain- ing a proposal from that organiza- tion. Proposal was sought on the terms, to be mot when the current pact betweeri ASCAP and the broadcasters ran out on Dec. 31, j 1939. Nearly 40^ statidns irepro- i sented at the Convention (there i weren't as many stations nor NAB | members then) a 11 went on record ; as .endorsing the position of an! equitable, payment for the' use of r music by radio and. at the same j time authorized its negotiating: committee to continue its e(forts : td set a new. agreement. Also* the ! broadcasters sdught a dause per- mitting siich stations as wanting it, a per-piece or per-program license, i should they not desire a costly i blanket license based on all their : revenue arid programs, whether or riot it. Was all musve. At the same time the Convention aiithorized its. Committee to take ; steps to provide music other thari [ ASCAP.in the event further ellorts at a new pact failed and a spocial convention was to be called in Chi-j cago riot later than Sept. 15, 1939, | to vote such fiirid.s ns were needed; for such measures. Meanwhile the NAB Cdmmittee was to meet with an ASCAP coriamittee on Aug. 3i On that date a lone ASCAP of- ficial, the late John G. Paine, gen- eral manager/stated that the presiv dent (Gene Buck) had gone off on an extended vacation and that he him'- self (Paine) had no authority to discuss; - a proposal, since.. there Wasn’t one to discuss. This w’as an affront that the NAB gropp could not afford to laugh off. They did not want a repetitioir of the 1932 contract sighing which came off at the very last minute and there was no alternative but to sign ;up or play no popqlar music pri'; the .;air* o;,. ' ' ^ Okay te Kaye ; ; Without ado;the committee set the pfoppted special convention in Chi- cagp for Sept. 15, and there .the machinery was^tet in mbtiori to set up “an independent Source of supr ply of music.” . At the same titrie, a young New York attorney and copyright "expert, Sydney : M. Kaye, was appointed as Special counsel, and he quickly propeeded to crys^ talize what the broadcasters had in mind. He came to the Sept. 15 meeting arid presented a plari for setting up a iriusic licensing organ- ization that would be the property of the broadcasters, all prepared withiri the month. In Chicago some 250 broadcast- ers who meant business were iii .at- tendance at the NAB special meet- ing, and they put the bite upon themselves for 50% of their 1937 ASCAP fees, pledgirig themselves, to a minimum of $1,500,060 to get the proposed new iriusie organiza- tion under way. One inbrith later, bet. 14, 1939, the state of New York granted a corporate charter to Broadcast Music, Inc. Almost : coincidentally ASCAP set up a new comiiiittee to draft a radio con- tract. The. riewlyborn BMI, under the leadership of Kaye, was now closing ranks in its drive to organ- ize, and on Feb. 15, 1940, bMI was declared Operative. Exactly 246 stations pledged $1,140,375 as a starter. Ten years ago, April 1, 1940, BMI began licensing radio station^ For the. first time all broadeaste ers prCserited a uhited front on a specific issue, without exception. Five weeks previous* on March 21, ASCAP had suddenly called to its offices b special group of harid- pickqd broadcasters, network arid statibri men, and presented to them its new terms for use of its music bn and after Jan. 1,, 1941, It was ^ 100% increase in ASCAP rev- enue from radio, particularly from networks arid large stations. Som® small outlets, with little inebme anywayj, were going to be let off ■lightly. Objective of BMl and the broad- casters was to build up a bilge stack of non-ASCAP music to keep statioris and networks on the air after Dec. 31,1940. BMI went about ebbrdinatirig an ample body of good music of every classification. hot controlled by ASCAP. This npri- ASCAP musie was. bbtained from three prificipal sources: (1) Popular .songs by independr ent authors arid composers; (2) music of non-AS;CAP publishers and performing rights societies, and (3) hew copyrighted arrangements of music in the public domain. 80% Dollar Yolume by Atig., ’40 In August of 1940, at thb NAB Convention in San Francisco, BMI was able to report it had pledges from 336 stations cbmprisirig about 80% of the industry’s dollar vol- ume. During the same month, BMI had its first song on the Lucky Strike Hit Parade, “Practice Makes Perfect,” Activity at BMI contiritted at a feverish pace, for the broad- casters knew that ASCAP’s pro- po.sal for 3l^% fbr srnall statioris to 7V^i% for the major networks, payable at the source of clear- ance, would “save” spine stations money but add millions to the total cost to the industry, It was held that the new rates would mean economic destruction to an Impor- tant sectibri of the industry; and the proposed new ASCAP contracts were rejected by the majority Of stations, including the networks. By now, as 1940 rolled, along, BMI found itself the world’s largest music publisher; and as the new center of this Industry, was ship- pipg 100,000 units per WeelL It was occupying 25,000 square feet of office space and bad a payroll of 275 fulltime employees. The .Pror ductiori and Arranging Dept, em- ployed more than 100 arrangers, copyists,' propfreaders and auto- graphers, incltiding all the metri- bex-s of the New York Autpgraphers Union . BMI was functioning as a perfoririing i’ights; organization and riot as a music publishing firni, paying its composers at the rate of Ic for each radio pei'formance. To account for the total number of performarieds of BMI music, an elaborate Ipggirig formula w^as de- vised by Dr. Paul F, Lazarsfeld, Di- rector of Columbia, University’s office: of Radio ;Researchi It was estimated that composers of out- standing hits vWOuld receive royal- ties of $1,000 to $,i,500 per. quarter from . BMI: radio perfoi'raances alone. ‘ In December of 1940 BMI made a deal with, the E, B. Marks MUsiC' Coi'p.,, for the rights to its catalog, built up oyer a period, of a half-century. This took in iriany 1 standards, Latin-American and pop^ ' Uiar' music. It was the first break in; the solid ranks of ASCAP pub- lishers and broadcasters took heart anew. This was : December, .1940, ; and at the end of the. month the. I broadcasters through BMI would i be 100% ori their own as to music* It was deemed in many quarters that a last-minute settlement would take place and third parties sought to bring both sides together. It was probably a question whether one side" or both were in the. posi-, tipn of whistling in the graveyard. Broadcasters had already practiced rion-ASCAP runs, rietworks had ad- vised sponsors and others, to get a riew thOrrie song; wherever neces- sary. The publicity battle grew apace; The big blowoff of the year, any year, when people are apt tb be lis- tening to music or singirig it, is. New Year’s Eve; and New Year’s .! Eye of 1940 was the last minute of f the contract running out. Radio I no longer had the right to perform ASCAP music* This was tense drama and anxiety for the 600 sta- tions and radio executives along with BMI, particularly one Sydney Kaye, and pf course the NAB. It was anticipated that there would be inadvertent infringements; by the wholesale, but along that line careful preparation paid off and noteing happeried. No suit was filed by ASCAP for infringement; no greM 1‘ush of mall to protest certain music being off the air, in fact virtually no letters at all. Preparatioris had been made to have boys pick up the pi‘ote.sts and aiTangements made for large scale I'eplies. There were none to be made. ‘Advertising agencies and their Clients on the air agreed to play I ball; with the broadcasters in the name of doing anything that would contribute to lower costs. Lower music cost was of interest to them; The big rush in music prodiictiori I at BMI went along industriously, I culled from E. B. Marks, M. M; I Cole, AMP catalogs and others i a.long with p, d. arrangements and BMI’s own newly produced songs. . Recording and transcription com- panies cooperated since this was the only means of .having their product bought and played on the air. The Hit Parade managed to find ample material to keep its pro- gram going full blast; likevvise all other commercials and sustainings; '41 Battle for Stations In October of 1941, after nine months of being off the air almost 100%, ASCAP signed the networks and stations to new nirie-year pacts with a proviso for a renewal for an additional nine years at the same fate; The new rate agreed upon was 2%% for network programs and 2l4% for local shows under blanket license. This compared with a former 5% that was paid on the terminated pact and the 7V^% that was demarided for the, re- newal, BMI had already paid for Itself and justified its existence. Although there were approxi- mately 600 stations, who as stoek- holders had underwritten BMI, some were loath to continue or on the! fence, others „who had been given a free ride were also pprider- ihg. the situation. ASCAP wai CContiriUed oa page 50)