Variety (May 1952)

Wedu«W(«y, M*y 2B, 1952 RETAIL DISK BEST stunts National Katin* This Last wk. wk. Survey of retail disk beat sellers, based on reports ob- tained from leading stores in 12 cities and showing com- parative sales rating for this and last week, I HU B ■ iii x umum !■» i i nn ii winriBM i -Bittf i i ! ■7i i rrmn i T ^> * Week Ending May 24 Artist, Label, Titl« LER6Y ANDERSON (Decca) “Blue Tan*o”^-40220........... 10 GEORGIA GIBBS (Mercury) ^ “Kiss' of Fire”—5823 AL MARTINO (BBS) “Here In My Heart”—101! 4 KAY STARR (Capitol) “Wheel of Fortune”—1964 7 PERCY .FAITH (Columbia) o O © C I .2 L-> ~ 3 w 3 % I 7 1 J I | i « on ho 1 3 12 1.. 39 2 .. 3 5. 1 7 4 .. 1 FAITH lo”—397 15B 16 “Delicado”—39708 6 DON CORNELL (Coral) ‘Til Walk Alone”—60659 8 DON CORNELL (Coral) “I'm Yours”—60659 2 ELLA MAE MORSE (Capitol) “Blacksmith Bines”—1922 0 G. MITCHELL-M. MILLER (Col) “Pittsburrh, Penn.”—39663 3 JOHNNIE RAY (Columbia) “Walking: My Baby Home”—39750 .. DORIS DAY (Columbia) “A Guy Is a Guy”—39673 ’5 EDDIE FISHER (Victor) “I'm Yours”—20-4680 .. BILLY ECKSTINE (M-G-M) “Kiss of Fire”—11225 1 TONY MARTIN (Victor) “Kiss of Fire”—20-4671 HUGO WINTERHALTER (Victor) “Blue Tango”—20-4518 EDDY HOWARD (Mercury) “Be Anything:”—5813 JANE FROMAN (Capitol) ‘Tit Walk Alone”—2044 ROSEMARY CLOONEY (Col) “Half as Much”—39710 FOUR ACES (Decca) “Perftdia”—27987 .. EDDIE FISHER (Victor) “Forgive Me”—20-4574 1 2 SINGIN' IN THE WITH A SONG 8 4 6 .. 5 8 2 7 2 .. .. 5 4 2 9 ., 3 .. 69.... 5 1 .. .. 10 6 4 4 7 8 4.. 7 .. 9 .. 6 3 10 8 5 3 1 8 8 .. 8 4 7 .. 6 7 10 .. .. 8 FIVE TOP •>* ALBUMS RAIN Hollywood Cast M-G-M M-G-M-113 K-113 E-113 MY HEART Jan* Fro man Capitol BDN-309 KDF-309 L-309 JOHNNIE RAY ALBUM Columbia CO-6199 C2-88 B-2-88 AMERICAN IN GUYS AND DOLLS PARIS Hollywood Cat! M-G-M E-93 K-93 M-93 Broadway Coot Decca DA-825 9-203 . DLP-8036 Arty Boothmen Issue sire to spread employment among as many men as possible. Union’s ruling ups the Fine Arts’ weekly expense by about $250, which includes a 5% contribution to the union's welfare fund. Union’s position is that it can’t afford a practice where the 10-man booths on Broadway will be jeopardized by booths with smaller manpower. The union has no set policy for TOPPING ALL LISTS o MILLS MUSIC, Ine. A Sensational Record ELLA MAE MORSE Scores Again With Her Capitol 'Recording of “LOVE YA LIKE MAD” BULL'S-EYE MUSIC, INC. 4524 Selma Ave., Hollywood 28 Continued from page 7 -- - —* :nt among the sureseaters, but an attempt is • t being made to bring about a con- Fine Arts’ sistent and unified scale. Main'dif- out $250, ficulty, according to the union, is ntribution the uncertainty in the type of d. Union’s product these theatres are booking. afford a Originally a policy had been estab- an booths lished for foreign and offbeiat films, jopardized With arties booking top American manpower, product on occasion, the union said policy for it was difficult to arrive' at an - “everlasting” policy. Other Factors lo 1 ^ a number of factors are involved 0 0 in the union’s determination on a / policy for a specified theatre. 0 Among th%se are type of house, «*joe** location, seating capacity, product pi and run. Even in the large Broad- « * way houses there is a variance in the number of men required to yr, man a booth. Broadway policy ap- ** plies to the Bijou and Golden The- atres, legit houses occasionally Y used for the showing of pix. They are re( l u i re d under the union rules to employ seven projectionists for Yne a co n tinuous-run pic, “eight and a * half” for a roadshow attraction, i —; and pay the Broadway rate al- . though their seating capacities are tepra considerably below those of the iQAr larger Stem theatres. Beef of exhibs is that the union i Her lias no uniform, clear-cut policy. According to* the uqion, it has g of I asked the art house ops on several occasions to sit down for joint IlfF 1 talks, but has been turned down, ■ 111Ei resulting in negotiations on an in- dividual basis. As an example of ’ the degree of conformity being es- tablished, a union official pointed out that the Paris and Park Ave. rood 28 Theatres were operating under similar union rules as were the Little Carnegie, Normandie, Sut- ton, Trans-Lux 57th St. and 60th St. Union says it is cognizant of biz conditions and frequently gives an exhib a break to get started. 9 r >ON 51 Disk Gross I Continued from pas* 43 " indie companies who deal ex- clusively in foreign longhair pro- ductions and therefore are not licensed by the AFM. Comparison between the 1950 and ’51 figures reveals that the conventional 78 rpm shellac rec- ords are due to play an important factor for some years to come and counters the belief of some trade execs that they are slated for an early disappearance. In both years, the shellacs topped the $102,000,- 000 mark, representing more than two-thirds of the total market. Al- though the growth of the slow- speed systems has been spectacu- lar since they were introduced four years ago, their advance from now on is expected to be steady but slow.. One important. factor in the stability of the 78 rpm market is the type of phonograph machines in circulation. It’s estimated that nearly 75% of the 20,000,000 ma- chines in use are equipped only for the old speed. All new ma- chines, however, are rigged for the slower speeds as well but that is slated to have only a longterm im- pact on the business from now on. In the 45 rpm field, the advance of this system is explained in large measure by the conversion of many jukebox operators to the 45’s. Breakdown of unit sales during 1951 reveals that theTe were 127,- 970.000 shellacs sold as against 34.590.000 for the 45’s and 6,570,- 1 000 for the 33’s. oicnsTMMnjHC DECCA da& A SENSATIONAL SMASH HIT! TWO GREAT ARTISTS! America's Fastest “ Selling Records! £> 1