Variety (April 1953)

Wednesday? April 29? 1953 ORCHESTRAS-MUSIC 53 BILLY BISHOP ORCH (10) With Gin! Patton Hotel Muehlebach, Kansas City This one is the swan song here for Billy Bishop, who leaves the hand biz within the next month for a career in the financial world. This time around the Bishop crew is fully as adept as any in the past. The instrumentation of three reeds two trumpets, trombone, 6 tring bass, piano, drums. and the leader’s piano-solovox, gives the dancers a full-bodied, tuneful style, with dansable rhythm always predominating. From his 22 years Of experience in the biz, Bishop has added sev- eral fillips to his music, embellish- ing them with good vocal depart- ment and other finishing touches of personableness and enthusiasm. Heading the vocals is blonde Gini Patton, who recently stepped into the niche filled formerly by Alice Mann (Mrs. Bishop). Miss Patton adds natural attractiveness to her warbling in the deeper range, han- dling ballads and more lively pops nicely. Tommy Sica steps down off the stand to lend his tenor vocals to the proceedings, and two singers get together on frequent duets. Bishop adds his pit with vocals one a novelty or and old standby, and also chimes in with some keyboard specialties on piano and solovox. A Canadian by birth, Bishop’s band career carried him to most of the key spots of this Continent and many in Europe, with stands at spots such as Chi’s Trianon and Aragon, Frank Dailey’s Meadow- brook, the Del Mar Club on the Coast and the Cafe De Paris, Lon- don, where his outfit weathered the now-historic blitz. Shortly after he married his girl singer (a New Yorker), he shifted to American citizenship. Band has a date at the Claridge, Memphis, opening there April 26, after three weeks at the Muehlebach here. Following the Memphis date, crew disbands, with the Bishops taking up residence in Los Angeles. Quvn. PAUL QUIN1CHETTE QUINTET Bandbox, N. Y. . Having started in the band busi- ness seven years ago with Benny Carter’s orch and more recently a member of Count Basie’s crew, Paul Quinichette is now fronting his own combo. A sax-man, Quim- chette's style has been linked close- ly to that of Lester Young, also a Basie alumnus, who, incidentally, is appearing on the same bill. Cur- rent Bandbox engagement marks quintet’s debut. Instrumental makeup of the group, somewhat unusual in its blending of organ, drums, electric guitar, bass and sax, produces a nice rhythmic effect. Brand of mu- sic falls into the modern vein and therefore will appeal mostly to the more progressive hepsters. How- ever, after a slight warmup period combo succeeds in luring patrons onto the dance floor, giving some of the. lindy-hoppers a chance to show their stuff. In addition to the maestro, group includes Joe Paris, organ; Les Er- skine, drums; Skeeter Best, elec- tric guitar, and Eugene Wright, bass. Jess. pops with an occasional tongue-in- cheek hillbilly (air) creeping in. Herman, one of Hub’s zaniest musicos, injects plenty of life in sets with spur of the moment (topi- cal) parodies, miming the vocalis- tics of Louis Armstrong and Phil Harris and bits of general clown- ing, all of which clicks. Liza Whitney, a cute brunette thrush, while not officially asso- ciated with the trio usually grabs a solo spot during each of the com- bo’s sets to give out with slick thrushing. Gal has a solid rhymth- mic feel for chirping melodic show- tunes of the “S’Wonderful,” “Some- one to Watch Over Me” and “Al- most Like Being in Love” category. EVte. INITIAL RED BUTTONS DISK SHAPES AS HIT Red Buttons’ initial coupling for Columbia' Records, “The Ho- Ho Song” and “Strange Things Are Happening,” is likely to be the first disk hit produced by a video comic. Buttons’ platter has already gone well over the 200,000 marker in its first two weeks in the New York-New England mar- ket alone. National reaction is expected to follow the same pat- tern. a In the last couple of years. Mil- ton Berle and Jerry Lester etched some side? for RCA Victor and Coral Records respectively with- out hitting the bestseller lists. Wally Cox, another TV comedian, also cut a disk for Victor a couple of weeks ago!* Best British Sheet Sellers (Week ending April 18) London, April 21. Doggie in Window... Connelly Wonderful Copenhagen. Morris Broken Wings Fields In Golden Coach. .Box & Cox Oh Happy Day Chappell Red Feathers Dash Little Red Monkey.. .Robbins Walking Behind You. .Maurice Outside of Heaven Wood Taik to the Trees Chappell Don’t Believe Me.. .F.D. & H. Till I Waltz Again.. F. D. & H. Second 12 Don’t Let the Stars.... Morris Now Dash Pretend Leeds Because You’re Mine Robbins Black Eyed Susie. .Cinephonic Glow Worm Lafleur I Believe Cinephonic Downhearted .... .New World Celebration Rag Wood Love of My Life Reine Love to Fall Asleep. .Feldman I Will Never Change Yale ■» Hayman Sets Pnb Contact Procedure Following along the lines estab- lished by most artists & repertoire men. Mercury Records new a&r head, Richard Hayman, has desig- nated Wednesdays and Fridays as “publishers day.” To prevent con- fusion and unnecessary delays, Hayman has notified the pubs to set their appointments in advance on these days. Hayman, who took over Merc’s eastern a.&r. chores when Joe Carlton ankled to the new RCA Victor label, is throwing a cocktail- ery for the local deejays and press tomorrow (Thurs.). Laine’s *1 Believe’ Disk Topseller in Britain London, April 28. Frankie Laine’s “I Believe” disk has shot up to the top of the best- seller list,in Britain, deposing Lita Roza’s "Doggie in the Window,” which drops to third place, Guy Mitchell’s “Red Feathers” stays in second place, and Mitchell also hold fourth place with “Black- Eyed Susie.” Diskers Urge Continued from page 49 fruit in the new Hollywood per- spective on the b.o. importance of a film score hit. It’s understood that Mitch Mil- ler, Columbia Records’ artists & repertoire chief, has proposed to Paramount an idea which will get the most out of Miss Clooney’s future picture assignments. Miller would like to pick the tunes for Miss Clooney in the pic, wax them and then put them in the can for simultaneous release with the pic. Via this tactic, the picture would get the most out of the disk jockey plugs on thousands of radio out- lets while the Clooney platter would be hypoed by the picture release. If the tune is right, this tandem plugging would maximize the chances for developing a hit. Prevalence of the platter names in Hollywood may cue this type of song-picking by a&r men of the various major labels. It’s con- tended that even in non-musical pix, the spotting of a two-or three- minute chorus of a title song with a wax name could pay off in mul- tiple air plugs with benefit to both the picture and the diskers. • With this type of setup, the, puth lishing subsids of the picture com- panies could expect an end to the brushoff of picture scores by the diskers. The lack of enthusiasm by the diskers for picture tunes has been a conspicuous fact for the last couple of jears. Holly- wood’s cooperation with the disk- ers in coming up with fresh pop material delivered by disk artists in pix is seen as the surest route to ovecome this apathy. “Doggie in Window’ Only One Specie In Tin Pan Alley’s Animal Kingdom By JIM WALSH King Solomon never held down office space in the Brill Bldg. If he had, the heppest character of his day might have revised^ one of his better known Proverbs to read: “Go to the animals, thou cleffer/J Consider their days and write a hit.” And that’s just what the frequently called “The Missouri Houn’ Dawg Song.” Tom Allen & Joe Daly prospered in 1913 with a good comic num- ber, “What Do You Mean You Lost Yer Dog?” perhaos better known as "Has Anyone Seen My Roving Rover?” The chorus consisted I partly of whistle? for the missing songsmiths have been doing this j Jj* rh*fi.it UC vr S ?* mUSt in ‘ mnrp I s P lred Charles McCarron, Thomas past century and more. In their lyrical snooping intjo the lives of our dumb chums they have ranged from the familiar ca- nines and felines to orangutans, batrachians, amphibians, marsu- pials, serpents and sea-going mam- mals. That’s the way it’s been for at least 100 years. Back in 1853, Stephen Collins Foster, king of antebellum cleffers, was riding high in popularity, even if not mak- ing much money, with two terrific hits, “My Old Kentucky Home” and “Old Dog Tray.” And now, a century later, what are the hits? On' platters, the No. 1 slot has been occupied for weeks by Patti Page’s Mercury waxing of “Doggie in the Window.” Leading the coun- try music parade is “Hound Dog, J. Gray and Ray Walker to do an equally clever one, “Fido Is a Hot Dog Now.” On first hearing, it’s a bit puzzling as to whether Fido, the poodle, has been made into a “hot dog,” or, having been a bad boy, is receiving eternal punish- ment, “down, down below, where there isn’t any snow.” (The “hot dog” supposition is correct.) Fido departed this life under tragic circumstance!. By contrast, Ivan Caryll wrote a number, intro- duced in “The Girl Behind the Gun,” which boasted “There's Life in the Old Dog Yet.” Back in 1923, A1 Bernard wowed Edison record buyers with his combination of a song and monolog in black- face dialect praising “My Dawg.” Several years before that, Billy B. with “Bear Cat ’ shaping up as its } van had recorded his own recita- Fein Joining Goday Hal Fein is exiting his general professional manager post with Sammy Kaye's music firms. Re- public and World, next month to join Happy Goday’s pubbery as an associate. successor. Coming up are Doris Day’s re- vival of “When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin’ Along” and several platterings of the 1912 Stanley Murphy-Henry I. Marshall classic, “Be My Little Baby Bum- ble Bee.” For the purpose of this survey, “animal” will be stretched to in- clude practically all life not human. No claim is made that these notes are exhaustive. They are merely intended to be representative, to touch on some of the innumerable songs that have been written about our sub-human contemporaries and to show that the same elements are working in music now as dec- ades or centuries ago. To save space, reference will be omitted to the innumerable kidisks about dogs and other creatures—the type of platter of which Decca’s Frank Luther is the high priest. And bird songs are so numerous they will also be passed over. One of the most enduring of dog songs has been “Where, Oh Where, Has My Little Dog Gone?” ren- dered by generations of German dialect yodelers. A lot of oldtimers still remember “Daddy Wouldn’t Buy Me a Bow-Wow,” written by a forgotten English tunesmith, Jo- seph Tabrar, and introduced in 1892 by Vesta Victoria. The ditty’s little girl heroine naively ex- plained: “I've got a little cat, and tion, “To My Dog,” for Victor. And many years still earlier, Len Spencer, the most ingenious and versatile of early recording come- dians, had come through with a pa- thetic sketch about “Old Dog Sport,” who was to be shot because he was “gittin’ cross and in the way,” but was reprieved in the final grooves when his farmer own- er, discovered he was "gittin’ old, too. 1 I ain't got the heart to do it! Come on, ojd Sport!” Spencer also did a sobby recita- tion, “Roger and I,” written by John T. Trowbridge, about a va- grant who roamed the world with no friend except his old dog, Roger. Len likewise came through with a serio-comic affair, "Kraus- meyer and His Dog Schneider,” in which a henpecked Gerrqan con- fides his woes to his pet. Spen- cer’s “Scene at a Dog Fight” was for many years one of the most popular recorded descriptive spe- cialties. In “A barnyard Sere- nade” and “Daybreak at Calamity Farm” he introduced almost every domestic animal. Now let's move into the opposi- tion corner and consider the use of cats, who have been less gushed over than dogs and, in pop music, are creatures strictly of comedy. After Daly & Allen clicked with their dog song they did the inevita- ble and wrote another success, “The Pussy Cat Rag.” As recorded by Ada Jones and the Peerless h ’r e ^o f ™ Ut rd rather the’cat;"Ti„y' graUfied h Twenty years later, -They Gotta i her o!dmaid owner ^ dishin 8 Quit Kickin’ my Dawg Aroun' ” was a hit in 1912, largely because of its political implications. It was sung by supporters of Champ i Clark, then Speaker of the House of Representatives, who wanted, but didn't get, the Democratic nomination for President. It was BOBBIE STEVENSON TRIO Embers, N. Y. Coming in as a replacement for Bunty Pendleton who exited the Embers recently after a run of sev- eral months, the Bobbie Stevenson T^o registers as an instrumental crew capable of dishing out pal- atable melodies for this eastside spot. Stevenson works over the ivories in a light-fingered manner that’s pleasing on the ear. Also, enhancing the rhythmic output are Bobby Mitchell on guitar and Bobby Foster on bass. Trio has been together for about 12 years, during which time they’ve headquartered mainly in Detroit, Where they've done considerable radio work. Boys also own the 'Wyoming Show Bar in that city. This is their first N.Y. date. Jess. PETE HERMAN TRIO With Liza Whitney The Saxony, Boston Originally booked into this boite, operated by ex-Latin Quarter boni- faces, Lee Fields and Will Oxman, for a couple of weeks, Pfete Herman and his trio are currently approach- ing the completion of their first year here. During their tenure, group has built a solid following. Herman on bass and sometimes <Jrums, Marvin Ruffe at *88 and Tony Sherbo strumming the guitajr, dish out a wide variety of tunes tanging from Dixidttfid Wcttrttbf, PfittlETY 44 ♦44 10 Best Sellers on Coin-Machines 1. 2 . 2 . 4 . 5. 6 . 7. 8, 9. 10 . - 44*+*4 4*4 44-4 4 DOGGIE IN THE WINDOW (12) Patti Page Mercury PRETEND^ (9) Nat (King) Cole Capitol TILL I WALTZ AGAIN WITH YOU (17) Teresa Brewer Coral TELL ME A STORY (6) F. Laine-J. Boyd Columbia I BELIEVE (2) Frankie Laine Columbia + SIDE BY SIDE (13) Kay Starr Capitol DON’T LET THE STARS GET IN YOUR EYES (19) Perry Como Victor ANNA Sylvana Mangano M-G-Af SONG FROM AIOULIN ROUGE Percy Faith Columbia TEL If ME YOU’RE MINE (14) Gaylords Mercury Second Croup M-V-M Jo Stafford Columbia SEVEN LONELY DAYS ... Georgia Gibbs .. Mercury SOMEBODY STOLE MY GAL Johnnie Ray Columbia HAVE YOU HEARD Joni James f .KEEP IT A SECRET YOUR CHEATIN' HEART Jcmi James M-G-M TWILIGHT TIME I.. * Johnny Maddox Dot HO-HO-SONG Red Buttons Columbia ^ APRIL IN PORTUGAL .. Freddy Martin YOUR CHEATIN’ HEART Frankie Laine . Victor .Columbia J J HOT TODDY t Ralph Flanagan „ Victor „„ SAY YOU’RE MINE AGAIN * Perry Como Victor ;; RIG MAMOU Pete Hanley Okeh y StUBY ...’ Richard Hayman Mercury «l SONG FROM MOULIN ROUGE Henri Rene Victor [Figures in parentheses indicate number erf consecutive weeks song has been in the Top 101 <4¥4 44 4 ? fr 4 4 >d»^ 44 W + rV* a terrific whipping to a supposedly unbeatable bulldog. • Thrashing a dog, for the sake of laughs, is one thing a cat can always do in a song or on a platter.) * ‘The Cat Came Back’ Back in' 1893, Henr> F. Miller, a protege of the still-living Chicago publisher. Will Rossiter, came through with one that’s still re- membered, “The Cat Came Back.” The lyric was crude, rhyming “longer” with “goner,” but the theme was ingenious. A “Cat Duet” (otherwise called “When the Song of Love Is Heard”) was introduced in the 1908 production of Joseph Herbert and Oscar Straus’ operet- ta, “A Waltz Dream,” and as re- corded by - Miss Jones and Billy Murray is a riot. It contains prob- ably the most realistic simulation of a cat fight ever put on a platter. In 1926 Victor issued “Bridget O’Flynn,” which was termed “the first successful whispering record ever made.” As long ago as 1901, when Eld- ridge R. Johnson was painfully building up the Victor catalog, one of the favorite platters used by traveling demonstrators of “the wonders of the marvelous talking machine,” was Steve Porter’s de- scriptive specialty, “An Armful of Kittens and a Cat” A 1924 comic song, “What Does the Pussy Cat Mean When She Says Me-Ovv?” was mildly success- ful. But perhaps the most endur- ing song of feline interest is one which combines a courtship be- tween members of the animal and bird families—that favorite of male quartets, Reginald De Koven's “The Owl and the Pussy Cat.” By extension, “Tiger Rag” might also be considered a “cat song.” tMore about Tin Pan, Alley &ni~