Variety (August 1950)

Wednesday, August 9, 1950 ORCUESTEAjS-MIJSIC 41 SHORTAGE of gal band singers Columbia’s decision to “experiment” with the 45 rpm record is the beginning of the end of a costly intra-trade battle that, jvere it not for the stimulating end result, could have been disastrous. For a time it bordered on that. The public was whirling fast and slow, and so were sales, in the hassles of 78 vs. 45 vs. 33^ rpm. RCA Victor seems to. have prevailed, certainly so far as the pops are. concerned. Columbia’s. 33 rpm method for the musicbmedy scores and longhair works seems to have established that niche. No question that the days of the 78s are numbered. There still remains to be resolved the likelihood of--one universal apeed although, for the time being at least, it looks like the disk busi- ness will settle down into a two-speed industry. There are many, of course* who can’t understand why, if music is OK on one speed, another type of music is NSG bn another speed. The 33 proponents, of course, accent that the slower revolution permits more uninterrupted platter- ing, and as Such this technique is best for the full scores or symphonic works. •r ■ It is true, despite all the confusion, that the battle of the speeds achieved one major impact on the public—it put an extraordinary mer- chandising spotlight on the record business. What it lost, through con- fusion and diffusion was more than recouped by the accent on some- thing new within the record business. As the new players were sold they averaged around $10 worth of new assorted records. As the public recognized, the space-saving and technological, improvements, engen- dered by the smaller, unbreakable platters, they converted from the old 78s to the slower speeds as regards the standard favorites, symphonies, and the like. It was inevitable that the giants—CBS Vs. RCA—with their interlock- ing broadcasting, telecasting and recording interests would meet on some common ground. It was getting ridiculously out of hand and, had it continued, both might well have priced themselves Out of a market that spelled real profit. Th^e independents wisely stood on the side- lines until deciding to latch onto this or that technique. Most of them seem to have guessed right. Anyway, in an unstable world it is reassuring to note that something so universally appealing as music has achieved more of an even keel. Abel, The two-way talent traffic be- tween Columbia and RCA Victor, after slowing down for the past few weeks, has picked up again with the switch of two major art- ists in the companies’ pop and longhair division. In pop depart- ment, Sammy Kaye, after a long association With Victor, packed his bags for Columbia, while in the longhair division, conductor Fritz Reiner moved from Columbia to Victor. Meantime, Tommy Dorsey has also cut loose from Victor. One of Victor’s top grossers, Kaye pulled out of the company last week after it refused to grant him the terms he wanted. It's understood Kaye asked for a 10- year pact with a $100,000 annual guarantee plus an NBC television program. Although Kaye has been riding high on Victor’s best-sellers, with three click records going at once currently; Victor refused to commit itself for such a long period. Columbia gave Kaye fa- vorable terms and clinched the deal by assuring the bandleader a commercial video show some time in the fall on CBS. Lee Eastman, attorney-manager for Kaye and Dorsey, at- (Continued on page 42) Eddjr Howard to Disband Orch for Fall TV Sti«t Chicago, Aug. 8. In order to devote full time to an upcoming TV show, Eddy How- ard will disband his orchestra, he disclosed here. Howard, who was scheduled for a roost at the Pal- ladium ip Hollywood, has had to ink out bookings as far advanced as October. Fall video spot, which is pack- aged by the . W. Biggie Levin agency, will either feature the war- bler in solo Spot of with band back- ing, In latter case Howard will re- assemble the unit. Fla. Operator Had ’Em in But 3 Suns Lose 13G Suit American Federation of Musi- cians’ exec board has turned down a $13,000 claim of the' Three Suns, instrumental trio, against Jack Valentine’s Bar of Music, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Dispute arose after Three Suns refused to play aboard the spot’s revolving stage on grounds that they would be- come “seasick,” Valentine con- tended that the one rotation per every 10 minutes couldn’t harm anybody. Valentine fired the Three Suns for not climbing aboard and latter put in a breach-of-contract claim to the union. HOSPITAL IN N. Y. Bandleader Eddy Duchin has re- entered Memorial hospital, N. Y., after a recurrence of the infection that has been bothering him in past months. Duchin had no bookings sched- uled for the summer, but Music Corp. of America had scheduled him for a series of appearances starting in September. MG A exec veepee Charlie Miller , said that as of now the bookings will hold. Duchin, he said, will play all con- tracted dates. Unless his condition becomes serious. Griffin’s Disk Click Prompts 2-for-l Split Chicago, Aug. 8. Columbia Record’s success with Ken Griffin organ lacquering of “Harbor Lights” and “Jealousy” are prompting the major to a split Of “Harbor” from Its coupling making both tunes “A” sides. Record sales on the disk have soared to 150,000, with Griffin slated for a recording of two flips I to round out the fitting. The rise in stature of the female vocalist, as a single during the past couple of years is making it in- creasingly difficult for bandleaders to acquire. good band vocalists. Bandleaders who are seeking to expand their units to include a femme vocalist and others who have formed new units can’t meet the price demanded by the better singers and are finding a shortage when they turn to look for new talent. When the band business started to sour a couple of years ago, chirps were let go in economy moves. f | Many of them entered private life. Others decided to try as singles, with good results. The public ac- cepted them, and many made their previous band earnings look insig- nificant alongside their recording incomes. Doris Day* Fran Warren; Connie Haines, Dinah Shore, Peg- gy Lee, Mindy Carson, Kitty Kal- len—to name a few—achieved wide success on their own. The bands, practicing their econ- omy moves, would refuse to hire girl vocalists, thereby encouraging the chirps to try their luck alone. Also,mew talent, which would, have normally come Up the ranks through * band vocalizing, were turned away* Duke Ellington has been keeping a consistent schedule since his re- turn from Europe June 30. After a short rest the bandleader and his orch took to the road and have played an almost complete string of dates from July 14 until now. Band continues in this vein with a one-week engagement at the Circle theatre, Indianapolis, beginning Thursday (10). It’s the first stage show theatre’s had since May. Following the Indianapolis date, orch goes to Chicago for a week beginning Aug. 18. Then a three- day stint at the Paramount, Buf- falo, starting Aug. 26, followed by three days in Detroit beginning Sept. 1. Crew then follows Guy Lombardo’s orch into the Toronto National Exposition Sept. 4, leav- ing two days later to make way for Tommy Dorsey’s aggregation. Band goes into the Apollo, N. Y., for one week starting Sept. 14, to be fol- lowed by a week's stand at the Howard, Washington, beginning Sept. 22. A Paramount, N. Y., date is slated for Oct. 4. A four-day stand in Albany will be filled some time before the Paramount en- gagement. Appearing with the Ellington crew on the theatre dates are The Co-Ops, dance trio, composed of two guys and a gal; Bobby “Tables” Davis and Chubby Kent, who has replaced Kay Davis in the song department. Vocalist A1 Hibbler has rejoined the orch. 78’s Out of Picture? On heels of Columbia Rec- ords going 45, a top exec in a major diskery offered to take bets that the 78 rpm disks would be completely out of the picture within 12 months. Reasoning was that Columbia’s entry has now completely cleared the “battle of the Speeds” confusion and would furnish a big impetus for con- sumers to buy the. 45 rpm speed attachments and disks. RCA, meantime, . has been selling its 45 rpm players at the rate of 3,000 weekly. Ad- ditional 45 rpm players are being distributed via the three-speed changers now be- ing used for combination ra- dio and video sets. Despite large inroads, however, the 78 rpm market still repre- sents about 75% of the total disk market. Winding up in the' black both quarters of this year, Decca Rec- ords racked up a net profit of $360,- 500, after taxes, for the first sl?c months of 1950, according to the company’s latest financial state- ment. During first period, diskery net- ted a big $311,000, with its profit falling to under $50,000 in the second quarter under the general slump which hit the industry. While first quarter take was slight- ly highef than for same period last year, consolidated half-year profit fell under the $390,600 profit for the first'six months of 1949. This year’s first-half earnings equals 46c. per share on the 776,650 shares of outstanding stock, com- pared 1 to 50c, per share in cor- responding period of 1949. to Pop Version of ’Samson’ Paramount Music will publish a popular version of the background theme to the Par pic, “Samson and Deli lair” Victor Young, who wrote the film score and recorded it for Decca, will write the pop version; to be called “The Song of Delilah.” Lyrics will be written by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston. Release of the song will be timed for pic’s general release this fall. Film thus far has been shown on a pre-release basis. ECKSTiNE-SHEARING TEAMED FORl-NITERS An almost solid lineup of 37 one- niters is expected to be played by the Billy Eckstine-George Shear- ing Quintet concert package, which takes to the road Sept. 15. Shear- ing and Eckstine were braced to- gether for a tour by Shaw Artists Corp. through a deal with the Wil- liam Morris agency. Latter out- fit handles the singer, while SAC helms the 88er. Joe Glazer’s As- sociated Booking Office had a hand in the deal as Coast rep for SAC. So far 32 dates have been lined up beginning at the Shrine Audi- torium, Los Angeles, Sept. 15 and ending at Symphony Hall, Boston, Oct. 22. • It’s expected that at least five of seven open dates will be filled before the tour starts. Most of the dates are going at $3,000 to $3,700 against 50-60% privileges. Eckstine will collect the full coin and pay off Shearing at a gurantee plus bonus - The Morris office is collecting commissions on Eck- stine’s take only. 4- Hitting the road taken by all other major diskeries Since RCA Victor introduced the 45 rpm disks early last year, Columbia Records is. now going 45 also. Entry of Columbia as the last holdout into manufacture of that type platter now gives complete uniformity to the platter industry and virtually insures the development of a fu- ture two-speed setup in which the 45’s will be used for pops and 33’fl for longhairs. Standard 78 rpm shellacs, while still a major portion of the market, are slowly shrink- ing in importance. Columbia's switch to 45’s, after conducting a single-handed fight against the RCA system, is being handled on a piece-meal basis. In order to cushion effect on its 33 rpm commitments, diskery has an- nounced its entry on a test basis in a few selected markets. Com- pany is immediately issuing only two disks, Frank Sinatra’s cut of “Goodnight, Irene” and The Mariners’ slice of “Sometime,” with which to test the market. Trade execs, however, expect Columbia will be compelled to follow up the two Initial releases with additional 45 rpm numbers in order to get some play In the market at all. Col execs, oh other hand, are insisting that the 45*s will be distributed on a “test” basis, with the response determin- ing whether they take a fullscale plunge into that field. Capitulation of Columbia to the 45 rpm banner comes as a bitter pill after the diskery’s fight to build the seven-inch 33 rpm disfy as a standard for the pop field. Columbia has been bucking the 45 rpm psychology with an ad cam- paign slogan reading: “One speed is all you need for a complete mu- sical system.” Weight of Victor’s (Continued on page *46) Liquor Laws Snag ’Band of Tomorrow’ At H’wood Palladium Hollywood, Aug. 8, State liquor laws have snarled plans to have Freddy Martin’s “band of tomorrow,” composed of audition winners on his teleshow, play a two-week date at the Palla- dium starting Aug. 18. Two of the audition winners are under 18 years of age—and the State Board of Equalization prohibits minors from working in places where liq- uor is sold, as it is In the terpery* Martin and Palladium manager Earle Vollmer are trying to get Boardof Equalization permission to let 16 year-old saxophonist Frank Morgan and 17 year-old guitarist" Tony Edwards work if their par- ents accompany them nightly. Ed- wards, incidentally, won the audi- tion on the basis of his harmonica work but proved himself a zirigy! string plucker as well and joined the band on that basis. Coral Sets Dri The Drifters, male vocal quin- tet, have been inked by Coral Rec- ords, Decca subsld, to an exclusive pact. Combo will operate in the disk- iery’s blues and rhythm department. Lion’s Share to Winner Of Metro Mpls. Contest In an unusual promotion for the “Annie Get Your Gun” album, M-G-M Records offered a lion cub as a prize in Minneapolis last week. Contestants, who were to name the cub from clues supplied in the songs themselves, had their choice of the lion or $150 in cash. The lion is Metro’s trademark. Idea was conceived by M-G-M distributor Harold Lane. Promo- tion was also tied in with showing of the pic at Radio City theatre. The winner, incidentally, chose the cash;' - *•» Merc’s N.Y. Parley For Dishrib Briefing Mercury Records* brass flew into New York over the weekend to brief a meeting of 12 eastern distributors on fall sales and mer- chandising plans. Addressing the distribs . were prez Irving Green, ad-pub veepee Art Talmadge, sales veepee Morry Price, treasurer Irwin Steinberg and eastern sales vfeepee Joe Carieton. Session discussed prospects for the fall, giving special attention to the classical catalog, 45 rpm sales and LPs. All Mercury execs but Carieton, who headquarters in New York, returned to Chicago homeoffice after the meeting. Deal Jack Robbins was set last wee! as selling agent for Tex Ritter’i song, “Fiery Bear.” Tune is published by Ritter’i John Tom Music Co., and was rec- lorded by Ritter for Capitol,