Variety (December 1951)

•MUSTRAS-MVSIC After a six-month lull, « new in- terest In religioso tunes has been stirred by the currfent click of “Mother, At- Your Feet Is : Kneel- ing ” a Catholic hymn adapted for pbp consumption. Number' broke out of leftfield a couple of weeks ago after being brushed off for a year since it was first recorded by London Records. Since :its launching, Hobby Wayne’s cut for London has sold over 200,000 copies for the, disk- ery’s biggest hit in oyer a year. Other diskettes are currently rush- ing to cover the number*-with the Ames Bros, for Coral and A1 "Mor- gan for Decca already hitting the counters. Some confusion over the number was evident , ainong the publishers last week, when several big firms began bidding for rights to. the tune. It was soon found out* how?- over, that* the hnie was in public domain. Currently five or six publishers are propping their own copyrighted arrangements for sheet music sale. Important sidelight On “Mother” is that it’s the first Catholic hymn, to make the grade as a pop - hit. Heretofore* both publishers and diskers shied away from taking oh sectarian religious numbers, but with the unexpected click : of “Mother,” publishers are now searching for additional suitable Catholic material. The sectarian pitch in “Mother” is not pro- nounced. V Another religioso tune .that has begun to step out in recent weeks is “These Things Shall Pa$s,” defied by Stuart Hamblen, cowboy evangelist and presidential candi- date on the Prohibition Party tick- et. Hamblen also defied “It Is No Secret,” probably the biggest re- ligioso click in recent years. “Se- cret,” although launched late in 1950, is still selling strongly in the hinterlands. 4 Martin A. Ragaway hot Ms own bright Idea of A Hollywood Dictionary an OMHstng byline piece In the upcoming 46th Anniversary Number of next Week .Carl Fischer Co. Buys >9 Cincinnati, Dec. 25. Ownership of Fillmore Music has been transferred to the Carl Fischer Music Co., New York, but the 77-year-old local firm will con- tinue under its original name. Henry Fillmore; president, said that Herman Ritter, vice president and general manager of the Fill- more. firm) .was retiring after .45 years with the publishing and in- strument company. Best British Sheet Sellers (Week Ending Dec. 15 ) Longing for You,. . Sterling L Love Sunshine.,New World Because of You..., Dash Rosaline ... ....,. .Reine LoveUest Night Year.F.D.&H. Tulips and Heather Fields To° Young Sun My Liberty Belle...... Dash Allentown Jail .Bourne If You do Maurice Love’s Roundabout • Cinephonic Enchanted Eve..Williamson Second 12 I Wish J Wuz ,. .. . Maurice At End of Day..,... .Chappell Be My Love F.D.&H. Beggar In Love. Sweet Violets ,... Kentucky Waltz. Rudolph Reindeer Shrimp Boats Cinephonic Morris ... . Southern ... Sterling . Disney Black and White Rag . F.D.&H. My Truly Truly Fair Dash God Bless You...;... Carol! Sw’th’ts Y’st’rd’y.. Cinephonic M-G-M Increases Roster M-G-M Records augmented its pop fold last week pacting tenor Alan Deane, and thrush Barbara Ruick. Deane* who previously re- corded in His Master’s Voice label, a RCA-Victor affiliate in England, debuted in this country last month at the Old New Orleans nitery, Washington, D. C. x Miss Ruick, who was recently inked to a Metro screen pact, has been spotted in the studio’s filmi- zation. of “Scaramouche.” She’ll cut her first sides for the diskery on the Coast this week.. N,Y, HtraM hibuno'i Columnint i Hy Gardner bos wbjpptd m»__ ‘Humor History of 195V an amusing bylint place In the 46lh Anniversary Number of OUT NEXt WEEK Name Sokoloff Asst. Mgr. For N. Y. Philharmonic Boris Sokoloff has been appoint-, ed assistant manager of the N. Y. Philharmonic-Symphony, as aide to co-managers Arthur Judson and Bruno Zirato. Sokoloff has quit his post with the Judsori, O’Neill. & Judd division of Columbia Artists Mgt., where he’s! been‘since 1946, for his new duties* Sokoloff is sop of the late Nico- lai Sokoloff, founder-conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra. Users; Cites Higher Costs Ottawa, Deo. 25. Copyright Appeal Board is cur- rently mulling request of Com- posers, Authors and Publishers Assn, of Canada for upped charges to Canadian^ Broadcasting Cori>. and privately-owned - stations fpr use of its music. H. R. Manning, CAPAC counsel* claims hikfe needed to meet higher costs of liv- ing and operating costs. CBC, opposing the . bequest, claims CAPAC request, if granted* would mean private stations would pay $427,000 in 1052, compared to the 1951 figure of $152,421, and CBC would pay almost $180,000 compared to $152,421. CBC will make no “major objection.” Board okayed, CAPAC fees for theatres, cabarets, cafes, clubs, hotels, dance halls, etc., which ’ arp unchanged from 1951. Manning assured ’that CAPAC will hot attempt to collect fees from service clubs for music used at weekly luncheons. Before listening to CAPAC argu- ments, the Board okayed Broadcast Music Incorporated fees. BMI, owned by CBC and CAB, will S?? r i^ pri Vate stations, as a group, h* 1952 (195) charge was $43,548), computed on a basis of 2c lor each licensed receiving ' set. adjourned indefinitely CAPAC request: for monthly $500 fee to television stations. For Longhair Diskeries Latching on to the indie disk- eries in the longhhir field* new company is being organized to han- oie taping of major musical, works ki ro 5?* Beb Loewy, former Colunt- P*a Records production manager, has set up Audiograph Studios, .to service these indies With tapes/ of cotnpiete operas and symphonic performances. - Audiograph has lined up affil? lates in Europe and South America to tape the opera or symph .concert On order,, from, indie diskers. Com* Pany estimates that* it’ll -be able to package a. complete, opera i for •bout $5,000. OF TOP AND TUNES Compiled from Statistical Reports of Distribution Encompassing the Three Major Outlets Coin Machines Retail Disks Retail Sheet Music as Published in the Current Issue for WEEK ENDING DEC. 22 % ' ■ ~~ NOTE : The current comparative sales strength of thq : Artists and Tunes listed hereunder is arrived at under a statistical system'- comprising each of the three major Hales outlets enu- merated above. These findings are correlated with data from wider sources, which are exclusive with Variety. The positions resulting from these findings denote\the OVERALL IMPACT de- veloped from the ratio of points scored: two ways in the case of talent Cdisks, coin machines), and three ways in the case of tunes (disks, coin machines, sheet music). TALENT POSITIONS This week* 9 3 ' 4 5 6 7 . 8 9 10 Last week. ARTIST AND LApEL a 4 ■\5 10 7 9 6 TUNE | Cry Johnnie Ray (Okeh) |Little”White Cloud m ^ , u . v (Cold, Cold Heart Tony Bennett (Columbia) ‘ j Because of You Eddy Howard (Mercury) Sin Ames Bros.-Les Brown (Coral).... ... ......... Undecided Frankie Laine (Columbia) Jealousy Four Aces (Victbria-Decca) .................... Jo Stafford (Columbia)............. ....... Shrimp Boats Pee Wee King (Victor)..............., ..... i Slowpoke Mantovani (London)..... • •. ... .... . *.... * •...»• Charmaine (I Get Ideas ......r.....* . ‘j Domino Tony Martin (Victor)........ TUNES POSITIONS This week. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Last week. . * \ 1 6 3 2 9 4 1 8 PUBLISHER . . Algonquin TUNE: Sin Little White Cloud That Undecided Cold, Cold; Heart....................... • • • • • • ••••. * • • • • * * • • * • • • * -Aeufi-R, Shrimp Boats ... . Disney Cry ... .................................... r ......... * ^.M^low Slow Poke. *...... * • • • * • ••• •. .. .Ridgeway Down Yonder,>.*.*..........•• •«•••• • • • • ‘Southern Jealousy • ......... • • •...• »•• • • • • • • • • • • • ? ♦ * • • • • • • Harms Hollywood, Dec. 25. American Federation of Musi- cians proxy James C. Petrillo and union execs from coast to coast ar considerably , worried over flood of +old pix Into television, feeling. it’a losing tremendous, potential reve- nue from pix being released with- out any union pact for reseoring. Under terms of pacts now being inked between AFM and producers, union gets 5% of gross for the Music ; Performance Trust Fund, and studio or producer must, hire same amount of tuhesters fbr re- scoring as were used in original scoring. What action Petrillo will eventu- ally take in the matter Will be closely watched by the industry, particularly since pix-to-TV has be- come jhcreasingly; big business; in the meantime footers and execs are watching TV for pix which it’s felt might be in violation of union agreements, and alleged violations are turned over to union toppers for study and possible action. Union policy does not apply to foreign pix, only those made in U. S, " ' Motion picture companies and distributors have agreed in pact with Union that any oldies tossed into TV Would be rescored under Union, terms; However, because some of the pix have been sold years ago, and passed beyond, con- trol of original producer and dis- tributor, it‘s a difficult pix policing chore for the union. Detailing the situation, musi- cians Local 47 veepee Phil Fischer points to. United Artists. Eagle ; Lion and; Film Classics as examples: Of headaches confronting union. While UA has agreement with AFM on rcscodng of oldies going to TV, it lias no control over old product sold many years ago, and just who is responsible is a moot question in many instances. David O, Selznick began nego- tiating several months with the AFM for a TV. pact, but at the same time sonic of his vintagers, such as “A Star Is Born,” and “Nothing Sacred” . were being shown on TV screens, sold by bro- kers who apparently bought, rights to the product years ago. Banks Eyed Also Union, toppers are keeping an. eye on banks which have fore- closed pix, and it’s understood strong representation will be made to institutions to honor agreements of original producers and distribu- tors if the pix go to TV. Bank of America, Which has foreclosed on . 20 pix, is known to be considering TV as possible market for the oldies, and Security-First National*; with eight pix, is also eyeing video. Fischer feels banks have a defi- nite responsibility; to adhere to reseoring agreement with union if they peddle the pix to TV. He concedes this is .a legal ppint yet to be settled, but opines it’s a direct obligation on the part of a bank which plunges pix into TV. Fischer says locally the picture is a bright one for tooters in TV, with,revenue, being derived chiefly from live TV, particularly network shows on the microwave; reseoring old old pix, and telepix. Members of musicians Local 47 will earn about; $1,500,000 in tele- vision in 1951, enough coin to make up for the slump in employment through radio’s doWnbeat and less work in. motion picture studios. Fischer said the pictyre is in- creasingly optimistic for the tune- sters insofar as television is con- cerned, and reported several new pacts which producers have or are being finalized. Sol Lesser is sign- ing with the AFM for reseoring of his old pix, which he’s selling to video; and will rescore two tomor- row. Hunt Stromberg is under- stood to be negotiating with the AFM for a similar pact. Pacts call for the union to get 5% of the gross for its trust fund* hnd studio or producer must hire the same number of tunesters for reseoring as Were used in original scoring* Other new union; pacts include -one with Jack Webb of the “Drag- net” show on NBC-'MK; “Danger- ous Assignment;’’ starring . Brian Donlevy, for NBC-TV, «nd the Roy Rogers show, also NBC-lY*- The latter two . come under the net’s pact, with the unioh.