Variety (February 1954)

tr..,lne»<Uy, February 17 ,. 1954 RETAIL DISK BEST SELLERS Survey of retail disk best tellers based on reports ob tained from leading stores in 12 cities and showing com- parative sales rating for this National Ratio, This Last *k. wk. 1 .1 ✓ 2 2 3 3 _ 4 . 4 .5 5 _ 6 16 7 6 8 12 9 9 10 19 _ 11 7 Artist, Label, Title EDDIE FISHER (Victor) “Oh, My Paph"..,. . DEAN MARTIN (Capitol) “That's Amore”., .. . PATTI PAGE (Mercury) “Changing Partners”........ DORIS DAY (Columbia) “Secret Love".. TONY BENNETT (Columbia) “Stranger in Paradise" , f .. . . JO STAFFORD (Columbia) “Make Love to Me".. FOUR KNIGHTS (Capitol)) “I Get So Lonely"... GEORGIE SHAW (Decea) “Till We Two Are One" TONY MARTIN (Victor) “Stranger in Paradise".. LOU MONTE (Victor) “Darktown Strutters Ball”... TERESA BREWER (Coral) “Ricochet" 8 10 21 FIVE TOP ALBUMS D C. Symph Seeks 260G Washington, Feb. 10. Washington’s National Symphony Orcli has launched a drive for $260,000 as a sustaining fund for the coming year. Orchestra, now Inside Stuff—Mnac News-Scope, a newsletter for jukebox operators, reports in a recent Issue that George Miller, president of the Music Operators Of America, virtually concedes that the jukebox ops will have to pay a music per- formance fee sooner Or later. The MOA head, according to News- Scope, “admitted, that it was only a matter of time before we will lose this fight." A bill to amend the Copyright Act to remove the licensing exemption from coin machines has been introduced by Sen. Pat Mc- Carran and is currently being considered by a sub-committee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Meantime, Stanley Adams; ASCAP prexy and head of one of several music groups supporting the McCarran bill, has asked Miller to discuss a possible solution to the licensing problem. Although Dccca’s “Oklahoma" album was the first Broadway cast set to top the 1.000,000 sales marker, other albums have also entered the golden circle of bestsellers. A1 Jolson’s set; of Songs from the Columbia picture, “TheJolson Story," issued by Decea under that title, reached the 1,000,000 mark before “Oklahoma." Bing Crosby’s "Merry Christmas" set, also on the Decea label, topped that figure several years ago. Several Jolson albums, following “The Jolson Story," also have come near the 1,000,000 level. For the first time in almost 20 years. Bing Crosby, and Guy Lom- bardo have teamed up on a Decca coupling of “Young-At-:Heart” and “I Get So Lonely." Both Crosby and Lombardo have been with Decoa since the company’s inception back in the early 1930s but never re- corded together.: They did, however, cut a couple of sides together for the old Brunswick label which eventually was absorbed by Decca Those numbers were "Young And Healthy" and “You’re Getting To Be A Habit With Me;" ’ The ■Cdpacabana. New York nitery, has come to the fore again as the launching point for pop market product. Current show is featuring “Somebody Bad Stole De Wedding Bell," which has. been : cut by Georgia Gibbs (Mercury), Eartha Kitt (Victor) and Ella Fitzgerald (Decca). Tune was penned for the Copa production by Bob Hilliard and Dave Mann. Past hits originating in Copa shows have been “Dearie” and “There’s An Awful Lot Of Coffee In Brazil." E. B. Marks, Music will celebrate its 60th anni next Friday (26) with a coektailery and luncheon for close friends at Toots Shor's N.Y, eatery. The anni observance will run two weeks during which time Marks will run an exhibit at its homeoffiee of memorabilia covering the firm’s 60 years of operation. Festivities will be headed up by Herbert E. Marks, son of firm’s founder, “ ‘ . -Coca Cola, which has been picking up the lab for the NBC-TV Eddie Fisher show, is tying in with RCA Victor on Fisher's next release via a special multi-colored disk sleeve with the singer’s picture and a plug for the soft drink. Disk will be distributed to Coca Cola’s bottlers as well as the disk jockeys. - t ■ ■ Ever since Arthur Tracy (The Street Singer) has been dcejay-whirled around, as part of the' RCA Victor “Show Biz" Album, he has been getting so much word-of-mouth that it threatens “to pull me out of retirement." Tracy is a successful realtor in Washington, D. C. over 25 years old, played to a total of over 200,000 persons in the past year. It has been experimenting - with pep music and offered a concert recently of the music of Rodgers & Hammerstein. Coral Pacts Premice Nitery thrush Josephine Premice has been inked to a longterm pact by Coral Records. Miss Premice will cut her first eight sides for the label March 7 when she winds an engagement at the Town Casino, Buffalo. ASCAP Execs Go West FoirMembership Meet ASCAP’s Coast membership will convene for its semi-annual meet- ing in Hollywood hext Tuesday (23) at the Ambassador Hotel where the Society’s execs wiirpre- sent a financial and operational report. Stanley Adams, ASCAP prexy, is training out to the Coast today (Wed.) together with L. Wolfe Gilbert, board member who is returning home, and controller George Hoffman. ASCAP, incidentally, is now ro- tating its membership meetings on the Coast among the various hotels in Los Angeles. Formerly, the meetings were regularly held at the Beverly Hills Hotel. ■■ Names With C.H. Concert Frank Amaru, RCA Victor exec in the International Division, is tying in with “The Mam bo Con- cert," skedded for a Carnegie Hall, N. Y., bow Saturday (20), by re- lasing the deejays and record librar- ians in the New York area a Special mambo kit of 30 platters of Victor’s Latino artists appearing on the bill. Kit includes such Chile paclecs as Noro Morales, Sylvia De Grasse, Perla Marini, Mercedes Valdes and Alfredo Saydel. “The Mambo Con- cert" currently is being prepped for a 25-city tour,