Variety (October 1952)

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vy-w.lnv. October 8, 1952 onaiiiSTni-Misic 55 NEW DISKERS FOR PA’S Philharmonic ’5V52 Deficit at 165G; 150G Drive Set; Beast Gain Only 35G npsoite a couple of unexepected financial windfalls, which will help offset its increased operating costs, the NY Philharmonic-Symphony •ill open its 111th season Oct. 16 with its problem of annual defi- cits still unsolved. Svinph had an estimated deficit nf SI65.000 last season (’51-52), as gainst a loss of $110,000 the year Wore. Deficit for the ’52-’53 sea- son is expected to go higher than last vear's 165G, due to some special costs. With 1 this in mind, management is counting strongly on success of the Friends of the Philharmonic drive, which opens Nov. 13. In its second annual cam- paign. Friends hopes to raise $150,- 000 for the orch. Symph has scheduled some un- usual choral and operatic works in concert form this season, to ac- count for the extra costs antici- pated. The Beethoven “Missa So- lemnis” will cost S3,000 to $4,000 extra to do; the “Boris Godunov’’ excerpts, the same. Whe&, director Dmitri Mitropoulos originally planned the U.S. preem of Darius Milhaud’s opera, “Christopher Co- lumbus.” extra cost was figured at about $2,000 or $3,000. Since then, the orch and Ameri- can Guild of Musical Artists made a pact by which one of the three choruses used by the Philharmonic this season would be a unionized AGMA group, so that the Milhaud work will cost the orch an extra $12,000 to stage. It will be one of the most expensive things the Phil- harmonic r has ever done; the chorus alone will cost $4,000 to $5,000. j Other special works are skedded, and these, plus extra rehearsals involved, increases in printing costs, etc., will hike the sympli’s ’52-*53 budget. Oreh’s first unexpected windfall was the lifting last season of the Federal 20% amusement tax, which sum the Philharmonic has since retained. Orch, however, didn't get the benefit of the tax Fain until last Nov. 1, while some subscribers refused to let them re- . (Continued on page 76) 5 OUT OF 7 TOP TUNES ON‘PARADE’ARE BMI Broadcast Music, Inc., which has surged to the forefront of the hit lists over the past two years, cur- rently has five out of the seven top tunes making the Lucky Strike Hit Parade” radio and video edi- tions. Current standing of BMI- ucwised tunes is the strongest to date on the show, although BMI turns have been riding with three or four numbers on the “Hit Pa- rade” in recent months. \ Top BMI entries are “You Be- To ., IV ? e ” ,Rid ”eway), “Auf Wiedersoh’n" (Hill & Range), “I Went To Your Wedding” (St. Louis), "Half As Much” (Acuff- K a £ d . “Jambalaya” (Acuff- hir-m ' f 1 ?! 011 of the latter tunes, " ‘ d . entaI1 ) r - were penned by X? try c l efter Hank Williams. was . al *<> responsible for last Jears click “Cold Cold Heart” H ie seven tunes on the A . I arade” licensed by the American Society of Composers, v orp lS A? £ PublisllGrs are “Some- and the Way ” ‘United) pell) ^ ‘ 1 You Were Here” (Chap- Ph.D. Platters Columbus, Oct. 7. The wax business is getting into college yearbooks. Ohio State University’s Makio to be issued next June is being plugged as “the Talking Ma- kio,” since it will include a 7-inch 45 rpm recording of highlights of the school year. The OSU yearbook is the first in the nation to try the stunt. Record will includ'* voices of persons figuring in the year’s main events on the campus, such as Howard L. Bevis, OSU president; Wood Haves, OSU Buckeyes’ coach, and visiting VIPs. i Hartford Fete Establishes Industry AGENCY PUSH Co-op Pattern; Study Impact on Sales Disk Publicist Joins Progressive as Pro Mgr. h i a 1 iro A N - Y - disk flack, has field iq lnt ° r tho - mus * c Publishing Pm'rr(.sQivp°M Ssl . ona ! mana S er a iv l Vn, . ^V S1C> in which he’s and \hm f Herb Abramson a? ,ho 0t Krtegun - Latter two ords n 'T rs ot ‘ Atlantic Rec- bcon Mir i? clle d,sk °ry which has blues .mV 1 ? 8 *, consis tontly in the r! . V ll ythm field. • b&i- onoMt* 0 Music ,las been‘a acsis but wm uml ? r Atlantic’s Pup n«o.i" , ! 11 be activated in the Shapiro, ^ Wlth tlle addR *on of looters Union Nixes Aid As 2 Toronto Svmnh Execs Resign Over ‘Red' Ousters Toronto, Oct. 7. Though two longtime board di- rectors of the Toronto Symphony resigned because of decision of John Elton, general manager, to fire six members of the orchestra who were refused entry into the United States for a Detroit en- gagement, the Canadian Musicians Assn, have refused to come to the aid of the ousted sextet. While a vociferous minority, with the usual letter-heads and prominent advertisements in news- papers, is currently protesting the firing of the six as “American dic- tatorship of Canadian and breach of civil liberties,” the appeal to the Canadian Musicians Union has been turned down, with the union refusing any intervention. They have also appealed to v £aesar Pet- j rillo, with decision pending. Other 79 members of the Toronto Sym- phony refuse any comment or sympathetic action on their col- leagues’ dismissal. Meanwhile, the Canadian Con- gress of Labor (of which the Mu- sicians Union is an affiliate), in convention here, also has turned down a minority proposal that the six musicians be reinstated. Lester Pearson, Secretary of State for Canada, says that his “formal en- quiries,” as presented in Washing- ton to the U. S. State Department, had brought the declaration that the U. S. decision must stand; that “there has to be some way of pre- venting the admission of known Communists,” this presumably under the McCarran Act covering denied entry to America. J The disk industry, which steadily ; has been topping all other show ! biz media; in introducing new 1 names to the public, is continuing j at a clicko pace in unearthing tyro talent. Wax showcasing for the young singers is now being done predominately by the indie labels. Agency men have been alerted to 1 keep tabs on all new releases so that they can pact the artist as soon as the disk’s impact on the market can be ascertained. Music Corp. of America and Gen- eral Artists Corp., especially, have been pacting the newcomers as soon as they hit the wax market. Both MCA and GAC have been lining up small nitery bookings for these artists and bide their time until the diskings break them into the big coin class a la Johnnie Ray and Ai Martino. The agencies work closely with the artist’s disk- cry, getting latter to push the plat- ters in territories in which the singer is playing. The diskerics get the local disk jockeys to lay on the platter and the area distrib gen- erally works with the artist on a concentrated promotion drive. Some of the newcomers who are being pushed into the upper money brackets are Alan Dean, who’s cur- rently riding high with his etching of “Luna Rossa,” on the M-G-M label; Sunny Gale, who scored with “Wheel of Fortune” on BBS and is now etching for Victor, and Tommy Edwards who’s building steadily via his M-G-M releases. Among the flock of young disk artists who currently are . being developed by GAC are Buddy Costa (Pyramid), Cliff Ayres (Emerald), Sandy Solo (Abbey), Frank Stevens (Gramercy), Danny Sutton (Fed- eral), Vinni Di Campo (Coral), and Jackie Jocko (Mercury). Disk- ers. in the MCA stable are Bob Anthony (Derby), Jilla Webb (M-G-M), Joe Costa (Victor), Herb George (Top Ten), and Dick Lee (Essex). Most of the singers listed already have made some noise in the disk field and have developed a solid partisan following. Although they’re not yet in the top coin brackets, the agencies have been lining up a steady string of small nitery bookings and the cafe oper- ators are all- eager to get one of the newer disk names for one or two-week bookings. The agencies also have been able to pick up ex- tra coin for the young diskers via tele guest shots. Decca Limits Edition *0n Beethoven Sonatas Marking the second anni of its longhair Gold Label series, Decca Records has prepped a special mer- chandise plan for its release of the complete Beethoven Sonatas for Violin and Piano. Album was waxed by Joseph Fuchs, violin, and Arthur Balsam, piano. In a move to hypo the Gold Label series as well as the Beet- hoven album, Decca lias packaged the platters with copies of original edition of the text. Package also will contain photos and drawings of the composer as well as a special commentary by musicologist Don- ald W. MacArdle. The material has been bound into a 52-page brochure. Album and brochure, which has been limited to 2,500 copies, will be peddled at $25 per set, contain- ing six platters. Single platters will be put on the market at a later date. Miller's Coast Sessions Mitch Miller,- Columbia Records artists and repertoire chief, is heading for Hollywood next week- end for extensive recording s :s- sions whh Col’s Coast artists. I He’ll be 'gone two weeks. BOB WEISS JOINS CAP AS EXEC EUROPEAN REP Hollywood, Oct. 7. Bob Weiss is selling his publicity | biz here to join Capitol Records Oct. 27 as exec European rep. Weiss inked a two-year pact with Cap prexy Glenn Wallichs, one feature providing Weiss’ pay on a tax-free basis. Headquartering in Paris,* Weiss will prowl Continental capi- tals searching tunes and talent for Capitol and will also try to hypo ! Cap’s European sales via various releasing deals. He will report to Sandor Porges. director of Cap’s international de- partment, in New York. Weiss, 30, , becomes one of waxdom’s youngest | execs. He will report to Hal Cook in N. Y. before going to Paris. Sarah Vaughan Booked For 1st European Tour Sarah Vaughan will head out on her first European tour next year. She will tee off her European trek with a February date at the Lon- don Palladium and follow with a scries of bookings in the British Provinces. She also is 'slated for a flock of conec rt appearances on the Continent. Tour will run about 12 weeks. Miss Vaughan currently is co- starred with s; t (King) Co 1m rnfl the Stan Kenton O/ch in the “Big- gest Show of 1952.” Disk Crix As Index Index to the continuing growth of* interest in records is provided by the number of publications regularly running disk review columns and fea- tures. Figure for the entire coun- try is 1.542 publications of all kinds with record review col- umns. Increase is at the rate of about 10 weekly, according to requests for information re- ceived by the RCA Victor. Future aim of record indus- try: Record supplements simi- lar to present book supple- ments featured by N. Y. Times and leading metropolitan Sun- day papers. Caititol Wins Injunction Vs. Mercury on Release Of Telefunken Catalog Decision in suit brought in Fed- eral Court by Capitol Records against Mercury Records over the distribution of Telefunken disks was handed last w r eek by Judge Vincent L. Leibell in favor of Cap. Cap had asked for an injunction and an accounting of profits on the Telefunken platters peddled by Merc. According to Cap, they received j exclusive rights in the U. S. to the Telefunken platters in a pact inked with the German diskery in 1948. Merc had received its mas- ters through a state-owned firm in Czechoslovakia. The state- owned operation had taken over the platters from the now defunct Czech diskery. Ultrasong, which had pacted with Telefunken before World War II for the distribution of its platters in Czechoslovakia. According to Cap the Czech firm had no right to license its masters for distribution outside their coun- try. Judge Leibell’s decision also awards Cap the payment of legal costs. Coast Tooters to Vote On Local Unity in D sc. Hollywood, Oct. 7. Long discussed’ merger of two Coast American • Federation of Musicians’ locals comes up for a vote by the larger of the two, Local 47, on Dec.. 15. .Members will be asked to decide whether they wish to absorb Negro local 767. Latter has been negotiating for a merger, for six months but ftas^nijjcd sug- gestions that it .dissolve>bof<?re the merger ; is effected askeil.’ fee. On the latter point, 47 has of- fered to cut the regular fee of $100 lo $50, but hasn’t indicated any willingness to permit gratis entry. Bullet’s New Diskery Jim Bullet, operator of the Bul- let label several years ago, is open- ing a new diskery with a J-B label in New York. Bulleit clicked sev- eral years ago with the Francis Craig etching, of “Near.You” and recently has been working as a disk distributor in the' Nashville area. New company will operate in the blues and rhythm field with such artists as Jimmy Mathis, Vivian Verson and Jimmy Smith. Hartford, Oqt. 7. The Greater Hartford Record Festival, which last week concluded a series of four varied con- certs and several promotional en- deavors, proved one thing if nothing else. That one thing is that the members of the recording industry can work together in uni- son for the common good. Some ^3 companies are members of the Record Industry Assn, of America. It was also the first time in the history of local record sales that all seven record distribs here had ever acted in unison. Oddly enough, it was the first time they got to'know each other. Through the efforts of Joe Martin, promo- tion manager for RIAA. the seven distribs were brought together-and inirood to each other. What will happen as a result of the festival is a matter of conjec- ture. There is a lot of evaluating to be done, with a summary of the results of the Hartford experiment to be brought before the board of directors of the RIAA sometime this month. Martin is due back here within a week for a series of confabs with distribs and retailers, plus other surveying, to determine the effects of the festival on record sales. Will also seek to determine the effect of this promotional en- deavor on the public, whether it incited an interest toward future purchase of turntables and records. The future of some 20 proposed nationwide festivals hinges on the results of the evaluation. In the meantime, the records boys are re- ferring to the fete as the “Great Hartford Experiment.” The festival week Was split up into four concerts, each represent- ing a segment of the record busi- ness. They were classical, folk, popular and kiddies. Weakest one in the matter of drawing power was folk music night. This one got the greatest amount of promotion. First night, featuring classical music, and third night, featuring pops, drew the heaviest. Opening show was tabbed as “Artists Night” and featured some (Continued on page 76) JIM TONEY UPPED TO RCA DISTRIB CHIEF James M. Toney, RCA Victor’s public relations chief, has been promoted to the post of director of distribution for the consumer prod- re; s < iv’' 'on of the company, effec- tive Nov. 1. Toney’s new spot fol- lows by two years his appoint- ment as the division's publicity chief in 1950. He his been with Victor since 1943. It is understood that Julius Haber, now director of sales and advertising for tlie company’s tube department, will step into the top public relations job. Toney’s new appQinta$ht .fills a post in the VictoKcch'eton setup that has been vacant -the past year. David Rose Up Santa Anita, Oct. 7. With the racing season over here the Santa Anita track has been taken over by the David Rose orch for a series of .Friday. night pop c'» 'ccris ■’one, an M-G-M Records p"c*lee, briags in a guest conductor weekly to share the podium. N.Y. Court Dismisses Another Ed Vance Suit Edward Vance, Missouri song- writer and (he most active litigant in the music biz, was thrown for his 11th straight legal loss in N. Y. Federal Court last week when Judge Irving Kaufman dismissed a part of an antitrust suit brought by Vance against numerous pub- lishing firms and the American So- ciety of Composers, Authors- & Publishers. The court dismissed Vance’s complaint, against'ASCAP, Edwin H. Morris Music, Duchess Music and Main Street Songs. In tossing out the spit, Judge Kaufman nevertheless permitted Vance to file an amended com- pl nlnt. The new papers, the court admonished, must be “simple, con- cise and direct.” Vance had charged monopoly and conspiracy j under the antitrust laws, with par- I ticular re r e'’eiice to an alleged c'on- 1 trol of ASCAP by the motion pic- 5 M, *c ou bUshing subslds. It was the lltli Fine VanCe had filed suit in Fer'r r 1 Court against various l.segments of the music industry.