Variety (May 1952)

We&n<*&»y> M*y ^ lyst 41 ■ K -ijTaiTjyi Tokyo, April 20. 4 Japanese record biz, on a steady j for the past couple of years! largely because of‘western imports, w iH be hypoed the next fewmonths by a new influx of 11. S. masters for local pressing. „ Optimism stems from recent word .from* the U, S, that copper masters are. no longer subject to export licensing, a pro- cedure that has kept the flow of masters to Japan! at a-trickle for the past several months. Western music, mostly from the U. S., accounts for a good slice of platter sales for the nation's lead- ing diskeries. It’* reported .that about 50% v of .Japan Victor's gross sales are imports, while Nippon Columbia claims 30 to- 40% of its output are western recordings. Ma- jority of local pressings of imports are pop tunes," but longhair disks also are in steady demand. Japan Victor, former, subsid of American Victor, handles that com- pany’s product in Japan, Nippon Columbia, also a one-time subsid, has a deal with Columbia Records in the U. S. and recently made a pact with M-G-M Records. Other native diskeries which have joined the import bandwagon. ,are King, which .markets Capitol label, Teichiku (Decca) and Taihel (Mer- cury). Royalty rates are under- stood to be abqut 3% of retail price, currently 280 yen’ (75c) for 10-inch platters and 420 yen ($1.15) for 12-inchers. ■U. fiLFop Leaders Among the American recording artists currently enjoying a popu- larity boom in Nippon, via locally pressed disks axe ‘ Doris Day, Jo Stafford, Rosemary Clooney, Frank Sinatra, Frankie Laine, and Les Brown orch on the Columbia label; Perry Como, < Tex Beneke and Ralph Flanagan on Victor; Bing Crosby, Gordon Jenkins, Jerry Gray, Andrews Sisters and Ella Fitzgerald on Decca? Stan Kenton, Les Paul, Ray Anthony orch and Kay Starr and Tennessee Ernie on Capitol; and . Vic. Damone, Patti Page, Georgia Gibbs and Johnny Long orch on Mercury. Only local M-G-M release so far is the “Show Boat” album. . Latest production figure for the Nipponese disk industry, for month of February, shows more than 1,500,000 platters, turned out. Breakdown showed Nippon Colum- bia with 652,544," Japan Victor 355,433, Teichikh 227,837, King 186,384 and T*ihel 80,000. BritishU ATooters Ban 1 ' Dbndon, May 6. A public protest meeting'against the policy of the'Musicians Union, in barring- American musicians from working in Britain,, is to be held in London; next Monday (12). Meeting‘ has been organized, by band agent James. Godbolt, .who’ll preside. He says this- isn’t an anti-union meeting, but a demonstration agAinst the MU’$ ''shortsighted and destructive policy in regard to im- portation of foreign musicians.” Froman’s Comeback Saga; . RCA Issuing 2 New Sides In a show./hlz saga paralleling Jane Frohman’s comeback- after an airplane crash, pianist - Barclay Allen, who was severely injured in jn auto accident severed years ago, is reentering jthe music meld via the forthcoming RCA Victor re- lease of two of his recent etchings. The two sides, "Cherokee” and After You’ve Gone,” will hit the market May 23.- ' * Allen, whose spins was severed m two places and who suffered a broken neck when his car ran over * cliff near Reno, independently vaxed the masters while working from a wheelchair.. With.. Victor Picking up the masters, for general release, it will be Allen’s first show biz effort since the accident two- and-a-half years ago. Sides, which were cut via the multiple sound technique, have four different Piano soundtracks superimposed. »ass and drums y/eve dubbed in. Allen, a member of the Lutheran J? 1 ?? 1 in North Hollywood, Jjni bis belief in religion for Un £, him through. When he was picked up at the bottom of "the jiff almost five’ hours after the ac- he had no will to live, but > . rou j>h the efforts of his wife, his + a nd his church, he was able the ~ come h*ck road. ’ During years of his. recovery Freddy rinw 1 V n w hose orch Allen played, tn r °yalties on several disks m , anc * l* 5 * year • Capitol Rec- Aiif release d a platter of an old . ? a ster, "Jazz Pizzicato,” Kin»» ? y of the Mountain S We n ek. Celebrati0n ° £ BarClay With the music biz currently on a revival kick, record company execs are digging into their vaults for old pressings that., could click on the comeback trail, That the vocalist or instrumentalist may no longer be pacted to the diskery has not deterred it from reissuing‘the platter. . In recent weeks. Mercury‘Rec- ords has released a flock of disks and albums by Frankie Laine , and Erroll Garner, both of whom are currently pacted to. Columbia. Garner, incidentally, has been waxed by about .30. other labels and they too have been reissuing some of his top keyboard workers of fave oldies. .Although Louis Armstrong is now etching on the Decca label, Col recently brought out a successful long, play album series of Armstrong’s, earlier clas- sics. , M-G-M has reissued some of Sarah Vaughan’s y old Musicraft slices despite her current affilia- tion with Columbia. Jimmy Dor- sey is now clicking on three labels via the Col etching of “Wimoweh ” the Coral waxing of “I Hear a Rhapsody” and the M-G-M reissue of ‘‘Moon Over Miami." Disk execs aren’t. .squawking about the mix-up in Artists’ label identity since they .figure if the oldie can break through it’ll spark sales of their artist’s new releases. On the retail level situation hasn’t caused any confusion yet since the buyer is interested in the‘number and artist not the label. New TJ). Vocalist i Houston, May 0. Marietta Cox will join Tommy Dorsey orch as featured vocalist, replacing Frances Erwin, who leaves the band to join Don McNeill’s “Breakfast Club” show on ABC. Mis Cox was appearing her* on KPRC-TV in "Matinee7 and “Star Room.” She was also formerly with the Art Mooney band. ^ —f— Cols Top Click Tony Bennett, Columbia Records vocalist who rode with several si- multaneous clicks last year, has come up with the digkery’s current bestseller in “Here In My’Heart,” a tune recently launched on a small indie label, BBS, by A1 Martino; Col pressed 80,000 platters bn the first run of the Bennett version but upped the figure to 140,000 late last week"on the basis of distribu- tors’ and retailers’ reaction. s Martino, meantime, has been, inked by Capitol Records as. a- re- sult of his indie waxing. The tune is getting wide . coverage with Decca releasing an Alan Dale ver- sion. Sid Lippman and Sylvia Dee, co-cleffers of last year’s hit ballad, “Too Young,” are repped on the Columbia reverse^ 3 side with an- other ballad, “I’m Lost Again.” Howie Richmond Opens . Fifth Firm Under BMI Howie Richmond added another firm to his string of pubberies last week with the formation of Melody Trails, Inc, New firm's catalog, whlch’ll be licensed by Broadcast Music, Ihc., will include country songs and~folk_tunes only. - Capital stock is 100 shares, no par valufcT. Richmond’s other sub- si ds are Cromwell, Ludlow* Dart- mouth and Folkways, Omaha’s Peony Park - 1 ' Lines Up Big . Band Roster for Summer Biz Omaha, May 6. Continuing his announced- policy of. name bands for the summer, Joe Malec, operator of Peony Park, has gone out for still more names. Added to Joy Cayler, Vaughn Mon- roe and others, he has signed Ray Pearl, Lawrence Duchow, Tiny Hill, Russ Morgan, Jimmy Palmer; Dick Jurgens r Les Brbwn, Paul Neighbors, Frankie Carle, Henry: i)usse, Ray Anthony, Jan Garber; Tex Beneke, Blue Barron, Chuck Foster, Clyde McCgy, Shep Fields, Ralph Marterie and Ralph Flana- gan. These will play mostly one and two nights on week-ends In the park’s Royal Grove’if the weather is good or in the Royal Terrace in the event of rain. Roster repre- sents the biggest mass signing of name bands in the history of Omaha’s ballroom business.. Malec believes that it takes names to get business during the summer. Starlight Songs chartered to con- duct a music’ publishing business in New York. Capital stock is 208 shares, no par value. Just a Siesta; No With the annual convention of the American Federation of Mu- sicians set for June 0 in Santa Bar- bara, Calif., the conclave is shap- ing up as one of the quietest in years. Opposition to the leader- ship ot presy James C. Petrillo is nowhere to. be seen and although, the uniofi ls agaln facing its chronic problem of unemployment, no Im- portant issue- which can split the membership is on the horizon. . This convention is only distin- guished from ones held in the last couple of years in that there are no rumors of Petrillo’* stepping down as. proxy. Up to now, that has been an annual report circu- lating among the delegates as a teaser until Petrillo tossed his hat in the ring. » At last year’s convention In New York City lack of opposition among J the delegates resulted In such bore- dom that Petrillo’had to stir up the conclave with a slashing attack against a so-called. “elite class” among musician* who resisted his settlement with the radio net- works. That “elite,” which was held to be mostly a figment of Petrillo’s Imagination by some delegates,, is nowhere to be seen in the current situation and It’s ex- pected that th*; ARM prexy will have a tougher time this year in. arousing the delegates’(interest. With the continuing price war in th* long-play platter market cut- ting profit margpis to the bone, an increasing number of retail outlets and department stbte* are switch* ing. to the promotion of the lower- priced LP disk label*. Reason be- hind the move is that the full 40% markup can be made on the low- priced disks, on which nobody^ as yet, has' been giving discounts'. Net take on Hie low-priced disks, such as Remington (Royale and th* Plymouth label, Ras been so good in some spots that department and furniture stores, which ^previously carried only small disk depart- ments, have been accenting .thes* platters in‘ .their advertisements; Not only have the disks been solid profit-makers, but they have been effective in getting customers into the stores for other merchandise, , One Of the most lucrative opera** tlons in this field has been devel- oped by Ludwig Baumann ’$ stdres in the New York area; Via ekttn* live spreads hi , national.: Sunday [supplements, the stoSre has created a big turnover for the low-priced, disks, at the list price.’ Sam Goody, one of the prime movers; in the Current disk price v war. ^s\ also pushing the low-priced labels, In- cluding the recently-formed Plym- outh Records. Other furniture stores, spurred by the Ludwig Baumann click, have been making inquiries about sotting up record departments along the. same lines, -All of the low-priced firms have developed classical catalogs containing most. 6f. tho standard longhair and show- tun* repertories which have been In great demand since the advent of DP* Sidemen to Sab For Frankie Carle has signed a five- year deal with Music Corp. of America, effective July 1. shifting from Associated BOoking. ” * MCA also 1 signed Henry Jerome Orch. - .. . PSHiety 10 Best Sellers on Wook of May 3 1 1. WHEEL' OF FORTUNE (12) (Laurel). + 2. BLUE TANGO (11 (Mills)...... 3. I’LL WALK ALONE (2) (Mayfair) ........ 4. :PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA (4) (Oxford) ...... 5. A GUY IS A GUY (5) (Ludlow). 6 . 7. *. 9. 10 . Kay Siarr ,............Capitol J Leroy Anderson 4 »•>•*» • Deccd - * (Les Baxter .........Capitol'’ , Don Cornell .;..V*.,..„,.Coral r. , Guy Mitchell-M. Miller. * Columbia 4 Doris Day ~ :Columbia KISS OF FIRE (1) (Duchess) Georgia Gibbs ,4 .».Mercury f BLACKSMITH BLUES (7) (Hill-R) FORGIVE ME (2) (Advanced) Ella Mae Morse ..... ...Capitol Eddie Fisher .......... vVictor PERFIDIA (5) (Peer) ... / Four Aces i *-4 # • * sDcccat T 'THAT’S THE CHANCE YOU TAKE (1) (Paxton). Eddie - JFxthcj* <*• e• tVictor t Second Group :: ANYTIME (14) (Hill-R) Eddie Fisher Victor - - AT LAST (6) (Feist) Ray Anthony Capitol < * - BE• ANYTHING (2) (Shapiro-B) * Eddy Howard Mercury *’ t GANDY DANCERS BALL (Disney) Frankie Laine ... r.nlnmhin. 4» I HEAR A RHAPSODY (Broadcast) Frank Sinatra .. t CRY (15) (Mellow) Johnnie Ray TELL ME WHY (16) (Signet) AY-ROUND THE CORNER (Frank) TENDERLY'(E. H. I i,.., .Columbia .. .. Columbia .........Columbia Four. Aces Decca Eddie Fisher Victor Jo Stafford ..........Columbia T Rosemary Clooney ...Columbia f COME WHAT MAY (7) (Shapiro-B) - Patti Page Mercury J BE MY LIFE’S COMPANION (1) (Morris) j Mills Bros Decca £ BROKENHEARTED (5) (DcSylva-B&H) Johnnie Ray .........Columbia X I I’M YOURS (Algonquin), | Don Cornell ............ L Coral £ .^.Victor .Coral ........Capitol v * w e w Eddie Fisher _ , l Ames Bros. - I WANNA LOVE YOU -j Kay Starr ** LITTLE WHITE CLOUD G3) (Spier) Johnnie Rap * Okeh *▼* UPigures in parentheses indicate number of weeks song has been in the Top 103 t,. Boston, May 6. Although the Boston Symphony Orchestra is currently oh concert tour of Europe, - Hub’s Pop Con- cert season got under way last week with maestro Arthur Fiedlejf batoning a competent group of subs. While majority of member* were recruited from ranks of Hub’s Local 9, AFM, four or five first-chair men were brought in from outside locals^and eight for- mer BSO musicians that had either retired or transferred to other symphs rallied to the call for thp month’s engagement,' Among the newcomers are 10 femme musicians—during the war, bassoonist Anne DeGulchard filled in. 'but .this is the first time th* orchestra has had’ more than on* distaff musician. Also on the rosr* ter are two husband-wife team*, and a Chinese, Ma Si Hon, who was concert master at the Berk- shire Music Center last summer, currently holding down a first vio- lin chair. 7 . Ordinarily, Pops concerts ar# presented nightly with a change of program ’each nighty but during .the interim schedule concerts will be giyen from, Thursday through Sunday, with the Same program of- fered weekly. Another switch is billing the concerts as “Symphony Hall Pops,” with title reverting to familiar “Boston Pops” when th* first stringers return from their European junket.’ Pluggers Set Pension Talks With BMI Firms Music Publisher* Contact Em- ployees’ pension plan activities will begin rolling after May 16 when- the union launches a series of huddles'with the Broadcast Music, Inc., execs. The BMI clinics will keep the execs busy until then. BMI execs, , representing th* member firms, will discuss terms of the plan, which calls for a 3% assessment of a $100 weekly yya ge from both pub and plugger, with the MPCE pension cbmmitte*. Meantime, Bob Miller, MPCE prez, is huddling with American,, Society of Composer, Author and Publisher firms individually. Film Mn*lc, firm whlch’U 'syn- chronize music and sound effect* to pic and video fllms. li** be*n formed by Alfonso Cofolli and Fred Jacob*. Company** catalog of 1 background music .1* penned British composer*. I