Variety (April 1952)

4€ 01CIESTIAS.HCSIC I Jocks, Jokes and Disks By MIKE GROSS I iiyhI Perry Como: “Why Did You opposition. Melodic line is pleasant Leave Me” - “Lonesome—That’s enough and so is the lyric, hut the AU” (.Victor). Como has a breaka- blending isnt strong^ enough to wav notentlal in his cut of “Why olickr Ink Spots handle it in their You Leave Me.” It’s ,4 big familiar- harmonising style. Bottom ballad which he belts o\it for Solid deck, another “Song For Sale impact. The style in which he entry, is a fair ballad item which gets across the dramatic mood of they belt out for good results* the number makes this one. of his Sohlm Orch:. “Whistle My top ranking dlsta. Duo for a good ^ V^eUs Kt “f deejay ride. 2?£ > (Victor). With the pitch towards supplies the - strong backing, not , disks steadily gaining mo- tom slice, however, fails to create orch disks steaauv gaming much excitement despite a com- leye ^ Ray Coble's coupling stands petent Como workover. ou ^ as a good bet to hit the jack- Jo Stafford: “Raminay”-“Within pot. On “Whistle My I^ve,“ Jrom Your Arms” (Columbia). Jo Staf** the score of the Walt Disney pic, fOrdfcontinues on the Bayou binge “Robin which she launched last winter livers with taste jmd imagination, 'via “Shrimp Boats:” Current Bayou *It’s a bright tune with a cute lyric backgrounded entry, “Raminay,” and should move easily into the lacks the drive of its predecessor top brackets via thi% slice. On the but its captivating melody and in- Victor reverse, Noble belts nut an teresting lyric, which Miss Staf- excellent swing adaptation of The ford deUvers 'hi excellent style Bluebells of Scotland.” Arrange- give it clicko possibilities. Paul, ment and zestful handling of the Wrston nrch and the Norman number is reminiscent of the top Luboft choir back up nicely. Re- orch disks of the 1930s and could verse is a pleasant romantic item be a potent factor in reshaping which Miss Stafford works over in current market trend, an effective dreamy manner. Rates The Four KnUJita: “It’if a Sin to spins. Tell a Lie”-‘Tm the World's Big- Yma Sumac: “Wimeweh” - “Ba- gest Fool” (Capitol). . Relaxed balu” (Capitol). Yma Sumac’s harmonizing technique of the Four initial pop release, “Wimoweh,” is Knights gets * topdrawer show- a top money platter. Although Miss casing on the oldlo, ^ It s a Sin to Sumac is following the etchings of Tell a Lie. Tune s sentimental The Weavers (Decca) and Jimmy mood fits neatly into their vocal Dorsey (Columbia) by a couple of patterning making it a. highly ap- months, she breathes enough new pealing cut. Rate* plays in all life into it to send it into the hit situations. “Biggest Fool” also re- class. The tune has the kind of .ceives a slick workover hut it s a beat that demands replays. Orch so-so ballad that isnt worth their and vocal group, under the direc- effort*. tion of Molses Vivance (Miss Fran W arren: “Heavenly Fath- Sumac’s husband) supply a brilliant er "_<« LeaV e Them Alone” (M-G-M). background,for her exciting piping. Fran w arren has her biggest disk ”Babalu offers greater^ play for in some time in “Heavenly Fath- her wide octave range but has less er » Tune’s a religioso-flavored commercial potential. item which she shouts out in a Louis Armstrong Orch: “Kiss of style culled from the Johnnie Kay Fire”-*T’ll Walk Alone” (Decca). technique. Both material rendi- Decca hasn’t quite killed two birds tion are pegged for current jock with one platter in its Louis Arm- and juke tastes and will probably strong covering of the current nab plenty of spins. Ralph Burns’ highriding tunes, “Kiss of Fire” orch and chorus assist with an*ef* and “I’ll Walk Alone,’’ but it can fective backing. Miss Warren be credited with a near miss. The jnoves back into her familiar Armstrong vocal styling shines piping groove on “Lfeaye Them through both numbers but’ it’s Alone,” an okay ballad entry, but doubtful if it’ll -take the play aWay it’ll have a tough time bucking its from Georgia Gibbs’ Mercury mate for spins. etching of “Fire” or Don Cornell’s click Coral waxing of “Alone.” For the Armstrong advocates, however, it’s a standout coupling that shows him off in his best form. Rates plenty of spins for this alone. Bobby Wayne:- “Saturday Rag”- “I’m Sorry” (Mercury). “Saturday keyboard Rag” has, an old fashioned honky- clicko side Platter Pointers M-G-M Records has packaged a tasteful potpourri of standard melodies in its second “Piano Playhouse” album. Margaret & Forrest Perrin handle the duo- Don Cherry’s got a in “Wonder” {Decca) ttfnk beat and an appropriate lyric . . . Tommy Tucker orch should which should make it a coinbox Score with its topflight rendition natural but in its overproduced showcasing here number loses a lot of its appeal. Bobby Wayne pro- jects with an ingratiating vocal but the choral backing, which seems a little pretentious for this type of number, dissipates overall effect. On “I’m Sorry,” a • solid ballad entry, Wayne sells in a captivating manner. of “Jack and the • Beanstalk” (M-G-M) . . . Jeannie Gayle gets a lot of spirit into “The Boom Song” (Capitol) , * , Eddy Howard has an okay religioso entry in “A Family That • Prays Together” (Mercury) . . . Three Suns get across a fine version of “Delicado” on the Victor label . . . Django Reinhardt score* on “Double Victor Marchese: “You’ll Never V^?if2 a 7\+* Walk Alone”-”Jeanine” (M-G-M). 5 a f„ ^ SlSSL Victor Marchese again shows up as Sy Sriii? of Sunshine a young vocalist who knows how J?*^ no3QS ■, to handle a big dramatic number ^ in his etching of “You’ll Never. V etc °+ Could Make Walk Alone,” Rodgers and Ham- J ou Care (Victor) . . . The An- merstein tune from the legit musi- £* cws Sisters and Russ Morgan cal, “Carousel,” of 1945, Current- £ av ® an workoVer. of “Wa- ly on a comeback kick. He’s an kfs? 1 Blues J^fR ca L\ • • Cn the effective singer who delivers with ® ax l le label, Martha Lou Harp and impact. Hymn-like quality of the ® a *7 les score with Fare- melody and poignant -lyric . aptly weu suit his styling. Sure , bet to get a jock ride. FHpover is a | ^ JJjj With 100G Legal Action Louisville, April 29. Pee Wee King, Redd Stewart and Chilton Price, collaborators on “Slow Poke” and Louisville resi- dents, are named as defendants, to with this platter. Her workover of gether with the publisher, Ridge- the oldie, “Would You Care,” is way Music, in a suit instituted by Sylvia Green, Los Angeles, for “wilfully converting her song to their use.” Chris Puvall, attorney for the defendants, left Monday (28) to defend his clients. In the suit filed in Los Angeles, Miss Green asked for' $100,000 damages, recovery of all money made on sales of records and sheet oldie which he gives a rich, ro mantic quality that makes it a good commercial bet. Lorry Raine: “Would You Care”' “The Web Of Sorrow” (Universal). The indie Universal label has a sock back-to-back parlay in this Lorry Raine coupling. Thrush has a good chance to break through tailor-made for her intimate pipes. It’s given a tasteful backing by the Everett Ralston orch: “Sorrow, a fine ballad that fits into current market tastes, gets a strong push toward the top brackets via Miss Raine’s topdrawer thrushing. Jocks’ll probably lay on this one although “Care” rates equal spin ning time. Herman Clcbanoff orch. . . , supplies an excellent backing on nmsic, and $100,000 In punitive “Sorrow.” Ink Spots: “Under The Honey- suckle Vine”-“You May Be The Sweetheart of Somebody Else" (Decca). CBS-TV’s “Songs For Sale’ winner, “Honeysuckle Vine,” is given a standout showcasing via the Ink Spots’ Decca slice but it re- mains just a fAir entry that’ll have n tough time outracing the bigtime damages from each defendant. At- torney for the songwriters said none of the defendants had ever heard of Miss Green. She in- cluded in her petition a photostatic copy of her song, represented as written in 4948. Defendants’ attor- ney said there were 13 songs reg- istered under the “Slow Poke” title. April io, 1952 ~ OF TOP TALENT AND TUNES Compiled from Statistical Reports of Distribution Encompassing the TJhree Major Outlets Coin Machines Retail Disks Retail Sheet Music » * as Published in the Current Issue P — WEEK ENDING APRIL 26 NOTE: The current comparative sales strength of the Artists and Tunes’listed hereunder is arrived at under a statistical system comprising each of the three major sales outlets enu- merated above. These findings are correlated with data from wider sources, which are exclusive s 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 (disks, corn machines), and three ways in the case of tunes (disks, coin machines, sheet music). POSITIONS This Last week, week* 1 1 2 5 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 2 4 3 9 7 6 TALENT ARTIST AND LABEL Kay Starr (Capitol) Eddie Fisher (Victor) Leroy Anderson (Decca) Ella Mae Morse (Capitol) Doris Day (Columbia) Don Cornell (Coral) »Guy Mitchell-M. Miller (Columbia) Four Aces (Decca) — v Eddie Howard (Mercury) Georgia Gibbs (Mercury) TUNE Wheel of Fortune (Anytime J Forgive Me TFm Yours ' (That's Chance.you Take Blue Tango , Blacksmith Blues A Guy Is a Guy fill Walk Alone jFm Yours Pittsburgh Penn. (Tell Me Why / Perfidia , Be Anything Kiss of Fire TUNES POSITIONS This Last week. week. TUNE PUBLISHER 1 '1 Wheel of Fortune Laurel 2 2 Blue Tango • Mills 3 3' Blacksmith Blues Hill-R '4 4 A Guy Is a Guy Ludlow 5 6 Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Oxford 6 5 Anytime . ? Hill-R 7 .. Forgive Me Advanced ■ 8 .. I’ll Walk Alone Mayfair 9 10 Be Anything.. . J .... Shapiro-B 10 .. Kiss of Fire Duchess pmmrr 10 Best Sellers on Coin-Machines week of April 26 (Hi M « 4 4 4 4 4 4-4 4 ? 1. WHEEL OF FORTUNE (11) (Laurel). * • / 2. BLUE TANGO (10) (Mills) -■ 3. A GUY IS A GUY (4) (Ludlow) :: 4. I’LL WALK ALONE (1) (Mayfair) ;; 5. ‘ PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA (3) (Oxford) - 6. FORGIVE ME (1) (Advanced) “ 7. BLACKSMITH BLUES (6) (Hill-R) 7 :: 8. PERFIDIA (4) (Peer) . ;; 9. BE ANYTHING (2) (Shapiro-B) ; 77 10. AT LAST (6) (Feist) *7 - * :: Second Group - ANYTIME (14) (Hill-R) :: CRY (15) (Mellow) ;; THAT’S THE CHANCE YOU TAKE (Paxton) ........ - * KISS OF FIRE (Duchess) !. 7! 7 ^ GANDY DANCERS BALL (Disney) 7777”' Kay Starr Capitol \ Leroy Anderson Decca ) Les Baxter Capitol Doris Day Columbia Don Cornell Coral Guy Mitchell-M. Millep. Columbia Eddie Fisher Victor Ella Mae Morse Capitol Four Aces Decca Eddy Howard Mercury Ray Anthony Capitol Eddie Fisher -Victor Johnnie Ray Columbia Eddie Fisher Victor Georgia Gibbs Mercury Frankie Laine Columbia - TELL ME WHY (16) (Signet) * K :: AY-ROUND THE CORNER (Frank) ;; I HEAR A RHAPSODY (Broadcast) - >■ TENDERLY (E, H. Morris) * * * “ BE MY LIFE’S COMPANION (1) (Morris) “ COME WHAT MAY (7) (Shapiro-B): BERMUDA (3) (Gbday) H BROKENHEARTED (5) (DeSylva-B&H)... I WANNA LOVE YOU (Finburgh) LITTLE WHITE CLOUD (13) (Spier) ... [Figures 'in parentheses indicate I Four Aces Decca } Eddie Fisher Victor Jo Stafford Columbia Frank Sinatra Columbia Rosemary Clooney ... Columbia { Rosemary Clooney .... Columbia } Mills Bros Decca’ Patti Page Mercury Bell Sis.-H. Rene Victor Johnnie Ray Columbia \ Ames Bros Coral l Kay Starr Capitol Johnnie Ray Okeh number of iceeks song has been in the Top 101 + 0-4 4 4 44 H 4 4HH H > 44 44 4 44 44 4 4 4 444-44 4 4 44444444 M 4+4 M 4 M + »4»