Variety (October 1950)

ORCnESTRAS-MUSIC P^rSET? Wednesday, October 25, 1950 Paramount, An exploitation campaign which may set a new pattern for song- plugging is currently being pre- pared by : Paramount and Famous Music, publishing subsidiaries of Paramount Pictures. Plan, calling for concentrated and sustained, disk jockey plugs of six records of the song, “Silver Bells,” in key cities, is designed to test the sell- ing power of these plugs. . Firms will send out eight men for the week beginning Nov. 6. Each will be assigned a key city, in which they must remain during the entire week. They will con- tact each disk jockey in the city, asking him to play the song as many times as possible per day over a six-day period* The cam- paign, incidentally, will deploy nearly all the firms’ manpower. Once the week is completed, Paramount and Famous execs will compare sheet and record sales in those areas with those Of others not subjected to the concentrated plugs. Test will be used as a “barometer,” and should it prove successful, the method will be used.with other songs. Ed Wolpirt, general manager of the firms, who is directing the campaign, cautioned, however, that the method cannot be used with every song, but that this was picked because it is a seasonal seller and because he feels it has the potential of breaking for a quick bit. Tune, a Christmas item which appears in the Paramount Bob Hope starrer, “Lemon Drop Kid,” was written by Jay Living- ston and Ray Evans. Cities involved are Kansas City, Ft. Worth, Dallas, Portland (O.), Pittsburgh, Nashville, Memphis, St. Louis Columbus (O.), Dayton, Minneapolis and St. Paul. Records which will be plugged are by Bing Crosby and Carol Richards on Decca; Hugo Winterhalter, Dick / Contino and the Fontane Sisters on Victor; Doris Day on Columbia; Margaret Whiting and Jimmy Wakely on Capitol; Kitty Kallen and Richard Hayes on Mercury, and Shep Fields on M-G-M. In addition to the actual plugs involved for the song, Wolpin sees other advantages in the campaign. He points out that these week-long visits will enable the contactmen to get to know the key disk jockeys on a personal, rather than formal, level and will facilitate future dee jay contact work. Latter point was one of the angles stressed by Edwin H. Morris Music in its free distribu- tion to television stations of tele- pix synchronized to recordings of its tunes. While the number of these telepix distributed to Indie video stations throughout the country was limited,. they were demonstrated by the organization's key contactmen. Feeling was that the contacts made among station managers and music directors on the teevee stations by the firm were well worth the cost of the films. FOR For Christmas C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S and THE MERRY CHRISTMAS POLKA For the Winter Season FROSTY THE SNOWMAN HILL & RANGE Songs, Inc., N. Y. In a move to expand his opera- tions, Tommy Valando last week appointed Mike Sukin professional | manager of his two firms, Laurel: and Valando Music. Since forma- ] tion of the Arms, three years ago, Valando has handled all executive | and professional duties himself. Sukin took over his new post Frb day (20). Sukin was associated with Irving • Berlin, Inc., from 1937 to 1946, remaining with the firm after the Split with Saul Bourne that changed the name to Irving Berlin Music Co. In the latter period he was assistant to professional man- ager Dave Dreyer. In 1946, he ahd Dreyer left Berlin to form Dreyer Music, and Sukin repped the firm on the Coast until last April, when the partnership was dissolved,* with Dreyer retaining the company. Sukin since then has been in a couple of Coast pub- lishing ventures. Present Laurel professional set- up has/ aside from Valando and Sulkin, a couple of contactmen in New York, Benny Miller on the Coast, and no regular man in Chi- cago. Petrillo Denies Forced AFM Political Contrib Chicago, Oct. 24. James C. Petrillo, prexy of the American Federation of Musicians, denied last week that be had tried to muscle bandleaders into making contributions to the American Federation of Labor’s political arm, Labor’s League for Political Edu- cation. He nonetheless criticized AFL’s 105 other international unions for laxity in collecting funds. Petrillo admitted he had ordered leaders of 40 orchs to his office here to explain that the maestroes had fallen $2,000 short of the $10,- 000 quota he had set for them. Name bandleaders charged last June that Petrillo had forced them to give as much as $200 each to the political fund. “Anybody who made a crack like that is a liar,” Petrillo said last week. RETAIL SHEET BEST SELLERS 14 “Patricia” (BVC). • * * •. r 10 . 4 .. 10 15 “Beloved Be Faithful” (Pickwick). .* • • , 6 9 '7 Initial break in the protracted effort of the American Federation of Radio Artists to obtain a union deal for non-musician recording talent will take place today A Wed.) when the major diskeries art final- ly slated to make a counter-offer to AFRA’s original demands. AFRA execs have been burning at the al- leged stalling by the diskeries in the sporadic negotiations that have been going on in New York for the past several months. Yielding in principle to AFRA’s demands for jurisdiction over nar- rators, vocalists and choral group members, reps of the major plat- ter companies are reportedly ask- ing for. exemption of folk and west- ern artists from any scales to be set up under a union pact. Diskery legalities, it’s understood, are also proposing that AFRA’s jurisdiction be limited to several key cities where the major artists hold their waxing sessions. These two counter-proposals to AFRA’s demands for blanket juris- diction is seen, motivated by the companies’ aim to hold costs to their present level in the subsidiary pop fields such as folk, blues and rhythm. Establishment of any AFRA minimums for soloists or choral singers would skyrocket costs to a level where profitable pressing would become hazardous. Currently, with production costs held down to a minimum, the ma- jor diskeries can break even, or better, with a sale of about 15,000 on the average folk disk. With major artist^ on the regular pop label, a sale of nearer 50,000 is needed just to cover the produc- tion nut. Diskery reps are also slated to propose hourly wage scales that will be considerably ’ess than the schedule put forward in AFRA's demands. .Union originally drew up a complicated rate schedule which covered all types of non- musician performances and estab- lished minimum rates sliding from $10 hourly rehearsal fees to $75 per side for soloists. Ken Rairie and Frank Reel are handling the union’s negotiations while Ken Raine, Columbia Rec/ ords legalite, is heading the corm pany bargaining group, Which com- prises Columbia, RCA Victor, Capi- tol and M-G-M. Decca has not yet been involved in the bargaining sessions. Singer Billy Daniels Signs With Mercury . Mercury Records last week signed singer Billy Daniels to a one-year contract with one-year op- tions. Nitery singer, years ago, re- corded for Apollo Records, but hasn’t had any recent recording activity. Deal was set by Joe Carlton, eastern sales veepee and artist and repertoire chief for Mercury, and Chauncy Olman, attorney repping the singer. Launching a purge of Commu- nists, American Federation of Mu- sicians exec board last week upi- held expulsion of a member from AFM Local 60, Pittsburgh, for al- leged Communist party affiliation* Member expelled, Max Mandel, was named as a Communist by an FBI undercover agent, Matthew Cvetic. Mandel admitted that he had been a Communist party member until late 1948 but contended that his resignation from that organi- zation later rendered him not liable for expulsion under the AFM’s 1940 bylaw outlawing Commies from the union. AFM prexy James C. Petrillo granted Mandel time to prove his claim of resignation from the party, but when he failed to dd so, the AFM board rejected his appeal. Mandel can appeal the interna- tional exec board’s action at the union’s annual convention next June. NEW REVIVALS ‘I Don’t Mind Being All Alone’ ‘ExactlyLike You’ V Standards by Jimmy McHugh It's NEW, it's DIFFERENT - and it's a SMASH CHRISTMAS KILLARNEY Already Recorded by DENNIS DAY—Victor, and PERCY FAITH —Columbia. Watch for further recordings. "An artist of heart as well as of the voice. HARRISON CARROLL