Variety (February 1953)

46 ORCHESTRAS-MUSH Inside Stuff—Music Artie Wayne is in the middle of a hassle with the indie Kem label over his waxing of “Rachel.” The Wayne disk originally was released via the indie* Vip company but since he retained the rights to the masters, he switched over to Kem for wider distribution when the record began to make some noise in the market. Wayne kicked off the Kem rhubarb last week when he made a separate deal for the disk with Mercury Records. The etching now is being issued simultaneously by Merc and Kem. In a move to cash in on current Danny Thomas hypo via latter’s Warner Bros, pic, “The Jazz Singer,” M-G-M Records has packaged eight tunes waxed by Thomas several years ago when he was an M-G-M pactee for release at the end of the month. Set is being tagged “An Evening With Danny Thomas.” Thomas, incidentally, waxed two tunes from the pic for RCA Victor label last month. Wednesdays February 11, 1953 SHEARING CREW SET FOR EUROPEAN TOUR George Shearing Quintet heads out on its initial European trek this summer. Bookings for the combo already have been set for Sweden, Belgium, Holland, Ger- many; Switzerland and Italy. Another touring first for Shear- ing is his skedded trek through the Caribbean Islands. Tour, which tees off May 7,' will run three weeks. Group follows the Carib- bean jaunt with, a Decoration Day weekend booking at Frank Dailey’s Meadowbrook, Cedar Grove, N. J. Cleffers Howard, Erwin ft. Form Indie Disk Label With the wax field becoming in- creasingly wide open for indie labels, songwriters Mel Howard and Lee Erwin have stepped into the recording biz with the formation of Zodiac Records. The indie com- pany-kicked off its operation last week 1 with a Norman Brooks etching of “Hello Sunshine.” . Tune, incidentally, was written by Howard and Erwin, and is be- ing published by their own firm, Erwin-Howard Music.' The Brooks etching is another example of noisemaking wax pushing a virtu- ally unknown performer into in- person engagements. Brooks gets his first nitery assignment next week at the Latin Quarter, Boston. Sullivan Sets Cast For ‘Toast’ Disk Nod The Record Industry Assn, of America and Ed Sullivan have com- pleted the guest lineup for Sulli- van’s “Salute to the Record Indus- try” on his “Toast of the Town” CBS-TV show Sunday (15). Show will be an overall pitch for the wax industry and will include plugs for platters as well as machines. Lined up for the program are such wax names as Toni Arden, Gene Autry, Molly Bee, Jimmy Boyd, Teresa Brewer, Bing Crosby (on film, in a scene from the Para- mount pic, “Going My Way”), George M. Cohan, Jr., Sunny Gale, Joni James, Helen Kane, Vincent Lopez, Gisele MacKenzie, Silver Masked Tenor and Roberta Peters. Also set is a scene from Gian Carlo Menotti’s' tele-opera “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” which was re- corded by RCA Victor. Local 47 Reshuffle „ ( l Hollywood, Feb. 10.. Don Morris has ankled the exec board of musicians Local 47, Amer- ican Federation of Musicians, to take over as assistant to Ward Archer, and will be in charge of records and transcriptions. Archer recently was upped to handle live TV and AM, after elevation of Phil Fischer as AFM studio rep. Board nominated Cecil Read to fill Morris’ unexpired term, and election will be held Feb. 23. ■> 1 •X*'.* 1 ' rtkw>, n w MGM RECORDS THE ,■ E - - E $ T SA*' [- \ E \ ’ f - * ^ \ V E \ T : c r \ - RETAIL disk best sellers National Rating This Last wk. wk. 10A 13 14A 14D 14 14E 14 Survey of> retail disk best sellers based on reports ob- tained from leading stores in 9 cities and showing com- parative sales rating for this and last week. Week Ending Feb. 7 Artist, Label, Title PERRY COMO (Victor) “Don’t Let Stars in Your Eyes TERESA BREWER (Coral) “Till I Waltz Again With You GAYLORDS (Mercury) '‘Tell Me You’ re Mine’ JULIUS LAROSA (Cadence) “Anywhere I Wander” 5 b .. .. 4 PATTI PAGE (Mercury) “Do gkie in the Window” 9 .. iu . ■ 1 .. JONI JAMES (MGM) . „ _ n „ “Have You Heard” 4 4 5 • • g 7 ' JO STAFFORD (Columbia) ~ - “Keep It A Secret” * 10 4 7 •« 8 JONI JAMES (MGM) .... “Why Don’t You Believe Me” .«rv. . 8 .. 3 DON HOWARD (Essex) a “Oh Happy Pay”. 0 5 .. 4 .. PAUL-FORD (Capitol) “ My Baby’s Coming Home” , • > • • • 3 * • LAWRENCE WELK (Coral) “Oh Happy Pay” ■ * 6 • • • • - • RALPH FLANAGAN (Victor) “Hot Toddy” • • • % DORIS DAY (Columbia) ■ ‘ “Mr. T ap Toe” .> • • 8 • • »• 6 KAREN CHANDLER (Coral) ——; “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me”. 7 .. 9 .. 8 .. EDDIE FISHER (Victor) ' “ Even Now” 8 5 FRANKIE LAINE (Columbia) “I’m Just a Poor Batchelor” 6 BOB CARROLL (Derby) “Say It With Youi*Heart” 2 .. FOUR KNIGHTS (Capitol) “Oh Happy Pay” MILLS BROS. (Decca) “Glow-Worm” .-/• v • • 8 KAY STARR (Capitol) ‘ •*< •' ' “Side by Side” • * 10 .. 1 31 _5 21 4 18 9 10 7 9 8 FIVE TOP ALBUMS |‘M IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE Eddi* Fisher Victor LPM 3058 BECAUSE YOUR MINE Mario Lanza Victor LM 7015 WDM 7015 DM 7015 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN DANNY KAYE Decca DL 5433 A 919 9-364 JAZZ CONCERT BENNY GOODMAN Goodman SL 180 byIe bye blues Paul-Ford Capitol H 356 WAYNE, HEFTI UNDO CORAL MR. & MRS. ACT Frances Wayne, who’s been fea- tured thrush with the Neal Hefti (her husband) orch for the p'ast year, returns to solo warbling as a Coral Records pactee. Miss Wayne and Hefti previously had been coupled by Coral but now both will cut separately for the label. Hefti, meantime, is reforming his band and will pick up a new vocalist when he’s ready to hit the one-niter circuit. Miss Wayne and Hefti, incidentally, Were inked to a personal management pact last week by Hal Webman and New Chamber Orchestra To Make Bow in Gotham New chamber-music group, the Classic Chamber Orchestra, has being organized by Sydney Baron, who’ll conduct it in its first concert, at Town Hall, N. Y.; Feb. 25. Erna Berger and Reginald Kell will be soloists; Orch is made up of 28 musicians from major symphs in N. Y. Harry Glickman, first violinist of the WQXR String Quartet, is concert- master. / * Kramer Forms Pub Fred Kramer, veteran music man, is setting up his own music firm, Kramer Music, with a New York headquarters. Kramer, who had been Working out of Chicago for the past 20 years, was associated with Irving Berlin's firm and Bourne Music. Okeh Inks Murphy, 1st Male Singer Since Ray Crooner Frank Murphy was added to the Okeh Records roster last week.. He’s the first male vocalist to be added to the label since Johnnie Ray’s pacting about two years ago. Ray subsequently switched to Columbia, Okeh’s parent company. Murphy, who’ll be making his wax debut with the Okeh etchings, previously was an instrumentalist with various combos playing the Philadelphia area. His first sides will be out in two weeks. Bandbox, N.Y. Jazz Spot, To Book Name Singers The Bandbox, latest N.Y. entry in the jazz spots, has bought its first major singing name. Spot, which has been on a band kick, has booked Billy Eckstine starting April 3 for two weeks. It’s likely that the Bandbox will get other name singers before Eck- stine starts there. Tex. Band Spot Reopens Port Arthur, Tex., Feb. 3. The Pleasure Pier here will re- open this weekend with Ted Weems and his band featured at the spot. Weems is the first in a series of name bands lined up to play at the spot during the coming season. Other bands being lined up to play at the spot includes Henry King, Ray Anthony, Chuck Cabot, Carl Sands, Seger Ellis, Ralph Flanagan, and A1 Pliner. Sw«*ping Th« Country 1 HOLD me, thrili me, KISS ME Kirin Chandlir coral Robirti Lm - Jerry Gray decca It'i Meric by JESSE GREER Program Today Yoitorday't ON THE BEACH WITH YOU WORDS ft MUSIC. INC. nm tnmdwf. M«w To*) I HAD TOO MUCH TO DREAM LAST RIGHT For Professional Copies of This Great Song WRITS GATE MUSIC CO.. 117 W. 48th Stmt Now York City