Variety (December 1950)

Weclneeday, December 6, 1950 Peace, It Wonderful?; Local 802 Election Nest Explodes As expected, the unnatural quiet of the current New York Local 802 election battle exploded into a round-robin of name-calling, de- nunciations and manifestos on the eve of the local American Federa- tion of Musicians balloting tomor- row (Thurs.). All factions, inbre- over, are confidently claiming oveUP whelming victories /for their can- didates. Main focal point for the height- ened activity this week is the charge by the opposition Unity ticket, headed by William Fein- berg, that the administration’s rental of certain voting machines represented wasted money. Unity supporters played up this charge in a last-ditch effort to split the ranks of the administratioh’s Blue ticket. Unity specifically charged the lo- cal’s leadei*ship with paying $275 rental per yotirig machine which, allegedly. Was far from being the lowest rental price the union was able to obtain. With the alleged increase rentals spread over 80 machines, Unity charged the ad- ministration with wasting several thousand dollars of the union’s ex- ehequer.. Blue ticket leaders wasted little time in denying the charges and h urling some charges of its own against Felnbcrg, who resigned as the local’s exec secretary in 1946. Be the voting machines, Blue tick- et execs stated that the rental iContinued on page 44) Gamer Boff at Piano But Town Hall B.O. NG In One-Night Concert ■ Frroir Garner, young Negro pianist who has gained a consider- able rep on the cafe circuit as a stylist, hit the concert trail in New York’s Town Hall Saturday night 12) with a jazz recital that was a success artistically, but a flop financially. At a $3/60 top, the .1 500‘seater auditorium was slightly more than half-filled, the disap- pointing boxbffice resulting from a snafu in the arrangements of sev- eral Negro organizations that were slated to attend. Garner, however, was in liis best form, intimidated by neither the empty seats nor the formal atmo- sphere of the* longhair auditorium. Backed by the superlative rhythm team of Shadow Wilson on drums and John Simmons on bass. Gai- ner delivered a 90-minute program ofstandards and originals with a flawless technique and his natu- rally inventive style. Garner played with- a two-sided attack. On the rhythm numbers, in which he excels, the tunes were hammered out - with -.a powerful beat over which Garner elaborated the melody while playing rhythmic tag in racing ahead and lagging behind the beat. On the ballads, however. Garner played with an atmospheric impressionism thaf stemmed from Debussyi although Ciarner’s conditioning by the clas- sics is limited by his inability to road music. Garner was standout on such numbers as “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again,’’ “Frankie and Johnnie,’’ “This Can’t Be Love” arid “Spring Is Here.” lie played three sets, one of which was (tone witliout accompaniment. After several encores, he still had: to bog off. Her in. KATE SIOTH SIGN0 BY MIX RECORDS Kate Smith, who has been in- active on disks for several years, returns to singing on wax via an exclusive pac^ with National Rec- j ords. Re-entry of Miss Smith in the record fieW follows her com'^ mercial video show on NBC which bowed in last September. Miss Smith’,'! initial releases will be ’‘Little Bitty Baby,” backed, by “The Same Lord,’’ and two hj'mns, “Aye Maria’ and “The Lord’s Prayer.” Package Album Of Dorothy Parker Works Hollywood, Dec. 5. Album of readings of Dorothy Parker short stories and pooins is being packaged by indie publicist Stan Musgrove, who is lining up six stage and screen actresses to share the reading chore with Miss Parker. Deal is being negotiated with RCA Victor for waxing and distribution; Stories selected are “The Waltz,” ’‘A Telephone Call,’’ “You Were Perfectly Fine,’’ “The Last Tea,’’ “Just a Little One,’’ “The Little Hours/’ “From the Diary of a New York Lady.V,“Cousin Lariy’’ and “Sentiments.” MANIE SACKS NAMED . RCA V.P. BY BOARD Philadelphia, Dec. 5. Manic Sacks has been named ' V.p. of Radio Oorp. of America, following a meeting of the board / of directors. Sacks joined RCA Feb, 1, 1950, : as director of artists relations for ! RCA-Victor. Before taking that . post he was assoeiated for 10 years With the recording industry, han- ' dling artists and repertoire for Cp- iuinbia Records. Prior to that lie served for seven years with M^*sic Corp. of America. Local 802, American Federation of Musicians, is hitting video sta^ tiohs with a demand for extra, toot- er pay on remote pickups even where the music is incidental to the program. Demand raises a cru-^ cial economic problem that may affect all future programming out- side the studios. Dispute between the musicians’ local and two video stations, WPIX and WABD in N.Y., arose over the pickup of the horse show in Madi- son Square Garden recently. While the union claimed that music Was broadcast from the Garden, the stations said it was “accidental” and “incidental.” DuMont execs, operators of WABD, also claimed that they had a blanket contract with the Garden to broadcast all Saturday night events irrespective of any musicians who appeared in these events. Local 802, however, has rejected the stations’ explanations and has demanded that WPIX pay $15,000 for musicians’ sendees, with an ad- ditional $3,900 rap against DuMont, Both stations have been instructed to pay these sums by this week or face being put on the “unfair list.” Beneke Quits RCA Over Flanagan Upbeat Hollywood, Dec. 5. After 14 months of trying, Tex , Beneke finally secured his release ! from RCA-Victor. He’s currently ' without a platter commitment. Band manager Don Hiaynes Tias been working on the i*elease ever since RCA started to build up Ralph Flanagan, who, like Meneke, follows the old Glenh Miller style. Miller joined RCA on the Blue- bird label in 1930. Beneke, who was a* member of the band at that time and stayed with the maestro* .until his wartime death, slipped I into the RCA- spot after the war [when Beneke picked up the Miller baton. Associated Booking Corp. snared the Frankie Carle orch from Gen- eral Artists Corp. last week on a three-year booking deal. Joe Glaser, ABC chief, got Carle after outbidding GAC. Music Corp. of America, and Willard Alexander, all of whom had been making over- tures to the bandleader for the past few months. Carle, who had beCn with GAC for seven years prior to this switch, had been inked to an unusual deal by GAC) in'1943 under which he was guaranteed $250,000 annually. It’s estimated, however, that Carle ha$ been consistently grossing about $500,000 per year on one- niter and location dates. Carle’s moveover to Glaser’s fold follows his switch earlier this year from Columbia Records to RCA Victor, where the bandleader re- joined RCA’s artists relations chief Manie Sacks, who originally launched the Carle orch. One of the top piano album sellers. Carle has sold over 50,000,000 disks un- der the Columbia mid Victor la- bels. Carle cashed in on his disk acceptance by launching his band on the road afterwards. Composer-bandleader returns for his eighth annual stand at the Ho- tel Statler’s Cafe Rouge, N, Y„ Dec. 28; he set the house’s standing rec- ord there seven, j^ears ago. KIRBY IN COMEBACK WITH SM AU. ORCH J()hh Kirby Jormer sinall-combp m aest ro, is readying a compback 'uth Original band in New York 'vi lb a concert at Carnegie Hall Dec. 22. Juanita Hall, Who handles the “Bloody Mary” role in the Broadway , legit musical, “South Pacific,” will co-headline. The Oi’iole.s, in their first N, Y. date ;Since the recent car accident which killed a member of the group, will also appeai\ Kirby’s outfit, currently playing a tliree-week date at the Colonial. Lhi, Montrekh includes Charlie Shavers on trumpet/ Buster Bailey, ojarihet; Billy Kyle, piano; Sid t at lott, > drums; Ru.ssell Procope, alto sax, and Kiiby, bass. Storin Cancels Week Of Sanimy Kaye in Pa. Sammy Kaye's orch was cah- celled out of a week-long engage- ment at the Vogue Terrace, Mc- Kce.sport, Pa;, as a result of the Thanksgiving weekend storm. It was originally thought that date, which was scheduled to start the Monday following the storm (Nov. 27) . would begin the following day. But. poor .conditions made. fulfill- ment of the stand impossible. Band was also cancelled out of a date in Johnstown, Pa., Monday (4) as a direct result of the storm. RCA STRIKERS RETURN IN 5% COMPROMISE Philadelphia, Dec. 5. Technical Ayorkers at RCA Vic- tor Division of RCA who have been on strike since Thursday (30) voted Sunday (3) to accept the company’s compromise offer and re- turn to their jobs. Walter L. Holt, president of Lo- cal 241, Federation of Technical Engineers, Architects and Drafts- men, said the 450 striking em- ployees w o ii 1 d receive a 5 % in- crease, retroactive to Noy. 27. The original demand was for 10”o. Holt also said that an additional 3 % woula be added to the maxi- mum of rate ranges; and on Aug. 1, 1951, an-additional 4% would be added to the maximum of all rate ranges. The average increase, Holt said, was more than 10 cents an hour, effective immediately, and more thJn 18 cents an hour when the maximum of rate range has been achieved. In additioh the worker and his family will receive hospitalization and .surgical\expcnscs under the new contract,'which runs *to June, 1953, with a wage reopening clause effective June, 1952. The company also agreed to pay a flat $3 an hour overtime l,o men mak- ing more lhaii $6,000 a year. The Department of Justice has given an ofl'icia) greenlight to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in the so- ciety’s attempt to formulate a modi- fication of the new writer distribu- tion plan. Go-ahead signal came in a letter from William Amory Underhill, acting assistant attorney general, in reply to a telegram by Bene Russell, a writer ,menlber of ASCAP. Underhiil wrote: “The distr'bution of revenues to the writer members of ASCAP has taken place pursuant to a formula adopied by the society it- self, which this department has neither appn yed nor disapproved. Our interest in the operation of the distribution plan is in seeing to it that minimum standards of objectivity and faiirness in the dis- tribution of ASCAP revenues laid down in Section 11 of the Final Judgment agaimst ASCAP are com- plied with- “Therefore, any program adopted by ASCAP for the distribution of revenues which is in conformity with the standards set out in the judgment is not. within our offi- cial jurisdiction. It is our suggest tion that the problem is one which should in (he first instance be re- solved by procedures adopted by the organization itself.” While it had . been more or less understood the D of J would okay some modification of the new plah, this was the first official public word on the ma tter. ASCAP offi- cials had informally broached the matter to the department, and had received off-the-record assurances that they could go ahead with a modified plan. Underhill’s leiier, however, puts the matter on a legal basis. Dc.scribing the impact of the new American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers writer di.s- tribution plan upon older writers as “unfortunate,” Sigmund Rom- berg said last week he favoi’s the imposition of a ceiling on the in- come of the top writers, and dis- tribution of the coin resulting from this Ceiling to the more hard-hit writers in ASCAP, The composer emphasized that he spoke as a “rank-and-file” mehiber of ASCAP, not as an officer of the Songwrit-. ers Protective Assh., of Which he is president. Romberg said some adjustment of the present situation is neces- sary', but frankly admitted be had no exact solution to the problem, He pointed out that. something must be done fOr those whose “great contributions” to ASCAP are not frequently played today. Plan for a celing has been sug- gested by other writers. Romberg, like them, points out that most of the increased income they get will be taken away in taxes, so why not have it put back into ASCAP for those writers who really need it? As to the exact disposition of any monies returned from the top writ- ers to ASCAP,; Romberg feels that a Careful plan should be worked out so that distribution is not strictly on a charity basis. Other plans call for return of the coin to the general distribution fund. Rom-: berg, however,, feels better use might be made of It in direcit dis- tribution to needy writers. Seek to Balk lOegal Dttbbingin Philippines And Label Switches Music publisher agent and trus- tee Harry Fo.x has appealed to the Philippine consulate in New York to secure action in stopping an^' American who is allegedly dubbing American di.sks and shipping them here from the Philippines on his own label. Fox said this week the consulate has offered its com- plete cooperation to stop the prac- tice. According to Fox, War Perkins, an American, operated his dub- bing business on the Coast, then fled to the Philippines after legal authorities started to close in. He allegedly dubs hit records onto his Milstone label, which he -then dis- tributes in thi.s country. Fox says his latest dubhing is that of Patti Page’s etching of “All My Love,** complete to Mercury’s record in-^f dex number. tawfencC Cancels Pittsburgh, Dec, 5. A one-niter scheduled to be played, at Pittsburgh U. Friday d) by Elliot Lawrence’s or(jh was postponed because of difficulties brought on by the storm that hit the easterii .seaboard the weekend before last Engagement has been put back to Monday (11) A date in Gallitzin, Pa., Saturday (2) was also cancelled because of poor com ditions resulting from the storm. Garber Set Solidly Through Sept., l&iii Folly wood, Dec. 5. Jan Garber orch has been bookccl solidly for the first nine months of , 1951, tebing off his activity with a two-week dale at -the Steak ! House, jackson. Miss.* Jan. 22, at : $3,000 per week. He follows this With four weeks at the Hotel ; Roosevelt, New Orleans, at $4,250 ! per frame. Shortest money of the period comes during an eight-week stay at the Statlci, New York, starting i March 22. with the band snaring $2,500 per w^‘ek. After the Slatlor date, Garber opens the season at 'Virginia Beach for an indefinite istand at $5 500 per stanza. ' Opera, Disk Bicycle Sked I Set by Dorothy Kirsten 1 Dorothy Kirsten has been on a bicycle since her return from the ' Gbast several weeks ago. The singer had the lead in two “Tra^ Viatas” and two “Manpn Lescauts” at .the Met Opera, for four perr formanoes Within eight days, in aid- ! dition to daily rehearsals. She I sang the lead In “Madame But-; terfly” vith an opera group in Hartford last week, arid will do the first “Faust” with the Met Dec. 12, as well as several Decem- ber perfornianees in the new Mel l“Fledermaus.” , ’ Soprano is skedded for an ap- , pearanee on the Danny Th(6nras TV show tonight *6). She’s also re- cording an album of Jerome Kern .songs with Percy Faith and orch , for Columbia, this month, to . bo followed soon after by an ; album of Puccini arias. She'll also sing opera in .New Orleans and appear in several recitals be- fore reluming to the Coast in February, Singer finished a Stint this fail as eo-star with Mario : Lanza in Metro’s “'The Great Ca- ru.so,” and may do another pic this 1 winter. PAXTON, SHRIBMAN, TROTTA SPLIT FIRM George Paxton, Joe Shribman and Charles Trotta last week broke up their partnership in Pax- ton* Music, N. Y., with Shribman and Trotta deciding to form their own Roger Music company (ASCAP). Copyrights in Paxton. Music, which was formed a couple of years ago, have been split, with Shribman and Trotta taking “There’s No Tomorrow,” “She’s a Lady,” “Mr. Touchdown,” and others, a.nd Paxton ret.'uning “Count Evbry Star,” “Punky Pumpkin,” “I Wanna Go Home” and olher.s. Splilup was described as ami- cable and. due to a policy disagree- ment. Paxtori, who is said to have owned 50*^0 of the firm, will re- tain the present .staff; offices and the firm name. Janssen Pacted By Columbia Records Werner Janssen, maestro of the Los Angeles symphony orch.. lia.s been Inked to an C.xelusive pact by Coluinbia Ib'cprds. With Janssem’s addition to the longhair divi«’on, Columl)ia has three niaior U. S. sympi^s under coniract. Others are tile Now York Philharmbriic and the Pbiiadelphia Orchestra. Jan.'’S''’n formej'ly wbrkc:d for, RCA Vi»*lor and. more recently. Capitol Telefunken. Joe Iic*aney. London Records sales chier. n’med to Bo.ston over last weekend for huddles with hi.s Ne w Eng I a n d d i .si ri bs. •