Variety (June 1952)

4, 1^52 ^Witm^STWiA^M^SIC 4S Scoreboard OF TOP TALENT 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 MAY 31 . . - a NQTEi yXhe current comparative sale* strength of the Artists and Tunes listed hereunder is arrived at under a statistical tysteni comprising each of the three major sales outlets enu- merated above. These findings are correlated jbith data from wider sources, which are exclusive with Variety. TKe positions resulting from 'these findings denote the OVERALL IMPACT de- veloped Ifom ‘ the:.ratio-of"points scored : two ways in the ,case of talent idlsles, coin machines), and three ways in the case' of .tunes (disks, coin machines, sheet music). « • 4 TALENT ARTIST AND LABEL TONE EDDIE FISHER (Victor) DON CORNELL (Coral) ... j£m YoL^ 0 * 8 LEROY ANDERSON (Decca) Blue Tango PERCY FAITH (Columbia) Delicado GEORGIA GIBBS (Mercury) Kiss of Fire AL -MARTINO (BBS) Here in My Heart (Anytime Forgive Me I’m Yours ■ • : That’s Chance You Take KAY STARR (Capitol) Wheel of Fortune DORIS DAY, (Columbia) ... A Guy Is a Guy ■ s JOHNNIE. RAY (Columbia)..... .. Walkin’My Baby Home GUY MITCHELL-M. MILLER (Columbia).... Pittsburgh Penn • TUNES ■ . » TUNE PUBLISHER KISS OF FIRE. .Duchess BLUE TANGO ^ Mills/ I’M YOURS Algonquin ' HERE IN MY HEART :MeIlin DELICADO Remick I’LL WALK ALONE ^ Mayfair WHEEL. OF FORTUNE ■ Laurel A GUY IS A GUY- Ludlow* BE ANYTHING Shapiro-B BLACKSMITH BLUES Hill-R BETAB SHEET BEST SELLEBS SeilsDavis Music firm Joe ijavjs, vet Australian,, J?uV Usher currently in the tl.' S., dis- closed that he has sold his Arm, Davis Music, to Alien' Music while retaining his directorship in his old company... Ope of the four.biggest firms in Australia, Davis handled the catalogs -of Irving Berlin, Mills Music, Leeds and Other firms in that country. ^ Davis has how gone' into the book publishing game as distributor of the- Simon t Schuster catalog down under, Hollywood, June 3. For the .first time 1 since organiz- ing hi» ,own crew, Harry James will do an eight-week: concert tour of eastern* States,. starting this fall. His last theatre date was in 1943 and since then he has appeared only in .ballrooms, hotels and TV. ( Bandleader, who just finished 20 shows on KNBH. says video con- vlnced him public ayartts .concerts in local.. au^ltoria. He ‘ plans one- nigh teirs without; dancing; for'Sep- tember-and-’October, returning to the- air lite^ fall. Band will tour the Pacific northwest and Canada in June' and July, and Texas in Au- gust. *’ * Bostoi Orch Back From Sock Europe Tour; Bike Race Sows .Up Concert v v _ Boston, Jupe 3. ■ Boston‘Symphony Orchestra re- turns today CRms.) frpmlts first European tour, having completed one of the most boff tours in or- chestraannal*. Alternating under its regular conductor; Charles Munch, and guest Pierre Mpnteux, the BSQ played 1$ European, dates, including five European - capitals, Paris, the Hague, Brussels,--Berlin and London, Tour sponsored by the American Committee of the Congress for Culturgl Freedom, brought rave notices/everywhere, President Auriol of .France at- tended the* opening concert at the Paris Opera House, % which* was climaxed with g 20-minute..stand- ing ovation for Munch and . the.or- chestra. Queen Juliana attended in Holland and King' Baudaiiin in Belgium. The orchestra • made three appearances in Germany ' under ihe auspices of HICOG, v and * Was trained in and out,-of Berlin' in scaled- Army’ ,train / < shipment|‘• when a gas striker-grounded Arthy planes, which were to hnVe/.flowil the- orchestra to Berlin, ijWf’ * Expected’tTmible f^om' the* Bus? 5-iaha? didi<<ridt ’* mateciaiiz^,evifepc though the German -side trip was specially deigned by the] IT. Statepeptto impress Russians and Germans with American Culture, and 1,000 East Zone Berliners were given tickets to attend an open re- hearsal. Two 'concerts were given in Frankfort, one solely for the U. S. Armed Forces. Personnel ‘and baggage moved without incident until the move from Bordeaux -to London. Vails carrying music and double basses were caught behind a French bi- cycle race and therefore missed the boat train. Concert in London had to be delayed one hour as a result Total capacity at concerts and five open rehearsals figured nea'r 50,000 for the trip; All Concerts were broadcast by Eu r ope.*>n rr'U'i networks and Radio Free Europe Of the 15 concerts. Munch con ducted eight and Monteux sfeven. BSQ now returns to Symphony Hall hgfe to take over*the Peps season from a sub orchestra, and' wifi continue under the. baton of Arthur Fiedlcfr. On July'5, orches- tra moves to the’Tanglewood Fesr tival in Lenox, Mass. If attendance there Jiolds up to* previous levels^ aris expected from advance season biz, total attendance fdr tUl'BSO concerts (224) during the 1951-52 season will reach over l,000 t Q(>0. 4- Summer danceband season kicked off with a bang during the Decora- ion Day weekend* according to re- ports coming.iii to the Hew York band agencies,. In: almost all terp situations around the country the orch$ played 1 to capacity crowds and even in the east, which was hurt by bad. weather, the bands racked up fair b.o. Agencies are pointing to the Decoration Day re- urns as an indication that the band, biz is headed for its onost ucra'tive summer in years, ’ Nationwide terp spurt, which has' been rolling since the first of the year, now encompasses the name orchs as well as the lesser-known combos. Agencies claim that fpr he most part their properties are booked solid ; for, the next two months. Name orchs, of course, are still sparking the, back-tq-dancing drive, and- have, a solid line of dates set until November,. However, the overall picture is reminisesrit of the band , biz heyday- Of the 1930s, with everyone coming in for a cut of the big b.o. melon. Agencies v point to the' growing number of ballrooms that have opened during the year as well as the renewed Interest in orchs on the part of .amusement park oper- ators as the reason for the solid hot weather bookings. In the past few years, the agencies haye ^ad to scramble'for location dates and one-niter bookings^ but there are enough spots around, now fo keep most of the orchs busy. Recent upbeat in orch waxings is also credited with ’having a strong impact on this summer’s expected' high grosses. And- in di- rect contrast to past dlskeryvafid agency procedure, both are trying to dig up new orchs for etchings as well as road assignments'; In a move to keep the band- wagon rolling in high gear the ballroom, dps - are going all out in their promotion and exploitation efforts. The plug-dancing • hypo, which was spearheaded by General Artists Corp.’s- one-niter head, Howard Sihnott,' several mohths ago, is being-picked up by an in- creasing nUfnber^of ops around the country to spark their suipmelF terp biz. RCA Victor, Which is priming another, big danceband push this /ummer, last week* pacted the newly formed Alex. Alston© orch. Although the orch has 1 not yet had any commercial dates, Victor nabbed it after hearing the'orch .at M a special audition for diskettes, agencies and bookers held at tfie Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, N. Y., sev- eral weeks ago. ; ^Alstone, who is the composer pf the French hit,,] ’‘Symphony/’ exe pedts fo-'preem:|his orchin’ Ne\t -York this summer at the,Biltmor* Hdtel or the Waldorf. Qfchfti book irigs Will be handled byjpeneral Artists ..Corp. Victor also is* prepping a sum- mer push on an .orch which is cur- rently' being formed by Eddie SaU- ter and Bill Finnegan. Diskery expects to launch a similar buildup drive for these orchs as the one given Ralph Flanagan and Buddy Morrow. Symphony Sid Promotes New Jazz Concert P’kge With jazz units continuing to clean up on the load, Symphony Sid (Sid Torin), former WJZ, N. Y., disk jockey, has formed a jazz package for a six-month cross- country trek of niteries and con- cert h*Us; troupe, includes Miles Davis, trumpet; J. J. Johnson, trombone; Zdot Sims, sax; Milt ’ Jackson, piano; Percy Heath, bass; and Kenny Clark, drums. Symphony Sid is emceeing the <Sh0w. Pack- age was^produced ,by Monte Kay, Who produces the layouts at Bird- land, N. Y., and is being booked through Shaw Artists.