Variety (March 1954)

Wednesday, March 10, 1954 Capitol Records' artists and ♦ — —— — repertoire buildup in the east is CUnw rim«*ol A rv * expected to .tart roUlng with the &I, * W 0n P,r st naming of the next a&r man to> x Ops With Easter Tunes take over the post. Spot has been For the first time, the Robert vacant since Sid Feller ankled the *Ka. Ch0ra I e ,5 111 t be ^Presented «* tho pop field with a couple of firm last month, Easter tunes for RCA Victor. • Alan Livingston, Cap veepee a&r Shaw was not present at the chief, has been scouting the field dat ®» so Henri Rene, Victor musi- to bring in a top recording man , , d ! re ctor, had the ensemble who can handle upped recording "Angela* Mia.” ast ® r Parade ” and activity ^ in the east. Livingston - ■ * ■ headquarters on the Coast where « A( the bulk of the diskery’s output COL DISKING BROADWAY Cap has stressed the eastern ‘TIGHTS' THIS WEEKEND *»P -P ment has been relegated to a back ■ 9 n S ,na l cast album production seat position. Plans are now afoot of “Girl in the Pink Tights,” Leo to give the post wider leeway in Robin-Sigmund Romberg Broad* the label's recording activity. .. . TT . * way musical, at recording sessions Henri Rene, musical director at thic RCA Victor, had been approached eekend * Headliners in the Best British Sheet Sellers (Week ending Feb. 27) _ London, March 2. Oh My Papa ......... Maurice I See the Moon.. Feldman Changing Partners ... Mcllin Rags to Riches.... Chappell Tennessee Walk... F. D. & H. Swedish Rhapsody .. Connelly . Happy Wanderer .., .Bosworth Cloud Lucky Seven. .Robbins ^ ns wer Me Bourne Don t Laugh At Me .... Toff If You Love Me. .World Wide That's Amore .. .. Victoria Second 12 Ebb Tide .......... . Robbins Blowing Wild.Harms-Gonnelly The Book .......... Kassner Here to Eternity ...... . Dash Luxembourg Polka... . Dash Golden Tango . Wright Heart Belongs to You Kassner Ricochet ...... ,... Victoria The Creep.... ... . .Robbins Bell Bottom Blues....; Reine Tenderly .. . . Morris Poppa Piccolino .. Sterling Co IMF Seen Vaude Lure for Brit. Teenagers ; — —— ♦ By RAY SONIN Vanguard Label Adds ’ London, March 2. u; I?; Tq» v Ta ¥ .ntirrKaiV .Chiswick Empire, London, Is fil-rl Jazz 10 ijOngnair housing a new roadshow intended The indie Vanguard Recording as a shot-in-the-arm to present- Society is expanding its catalog to. day variety. Attendances round include a high-fidelity jazz show* the. country at music halls have case series. Label, heretofore, had been dropping for some time, and confined its waxings to the classl r attempt is being made to catch cal field. teenagers and bring them Vanguard preems its jazz series ^ to .A^ e , v *Hety theatres? British with’two albums by the Vic Dick- youth is rar ir< enson Septet, and an album each m, £ ded P ( 1 j^ sent iit „ by the Mel Powell Septet and Sir .^ ow » s ® m ®“ Charles Thomas'Sextet. *** cornily billed as "the ringi- est, swingiest, bopplest band show ever." Robert Nesbitt de- nri DCAnVmr DIP Vised and produced it. It features KLA K£AUIllHj Dill Jack Parnell and his orchestra; iviPTAntr in. American . importations JL»a Bom- SiiS ^==^= MUSIC HISTORY LP I mie ( shake-dahcer) and Taps Mil- Mr.M HiiiIHc Rncfot* *!? ler (dancer - trumpeter-vocalist); MlxlYI UUUdS KOSter RCA Victor is prepping early re- west Indian pianist Mike Mc- WitH Odette, Belloc lease of the first section of a major | Kenzie (in place of American jazz MGM Records bolstered its ros- longhair project, "The History of j Pianist Mary Lou Williams, who ter last week with the pacting of Music On Sound.” Series, com-1 he^^ the^^DDhkes^wa? croum nitery thrush Odette and the Dan nHcin* in vninmp« nf tun i2-inr*h far from music hall MGM Builds Roster turned it down after huddling with son. Brenda Lewi, and Charles Odette I recUrding C maMgCT V ^t’J n exneeted G< Uhnuf' • a - a . Belloc band will tee o* with Tote “ ’~ that some other^fon r ^°th r !P r ceived m,x ® d . notices a single release. Each volume will be packaged on its first week, and is now draw- tor will cet the ioh^ usic ^ direc " from the New York critics at its Both releases are set for March with an extensive booklet pub-' ing over $5,600 weekly. Advance tor will get the job, opening last week. lished by the Oxford Press. RETAIL DISK BEST SELLERS Survey of retail dish beat tellers based on reports oh tained froip. leading stores in lft cities and showing com- parative sales rating for this and last week. National Rating Thia Last wk. wk. 12A il 12B 22 17A 19 17 B 1ft 22A 22 22B 15. Arttot, Label, Title I E DORIS DAY (Columbia) "Secret Love".... 1 JO STAFFORD (Columbia) "Make Love To Me”....... 4 EDDIE FISHER (Victor) "Oh, My Papa". .. ., . . . . .. 2 FRANK SINATRA (Capitol) “Youpg At Heart"......... 5 PATTI PAGE (Mercury) "Croat Over the Bridges".. .. DEAN MARTIN (Capitol) "That'll Amore'*... .. ..... .... FOUR KNIGHTS (Capitol) "I Get So Lonely" . . .. . . . . . .. TONY BENNETT (Columbia) "Stranger in Paradise” 3 PERRY COMO (Victor) "Wanted" ♦. GEORGIE SHAW (Decca) "Till We Two Are One”.... 9 GAYLORDS (Mercury) "Vine Came the Gra p e"... LOU MONTE (Victor) * "Darktown Strutters B all". 10 HILLTOPPERS (Dot) "Till Then" .. . . .. PATtfl PAGE (Mercury) "Changing Partners” 8^ HILLTOPPERS (Dot) "Vine Came the Gra pe” RON GAYLORD (Mercury) "Cuddle Me” TERESA BREWER (Coral) "Bell Bottom Blues” TONY BENNETT (Columbia) "No Teardrops Tonig ht” FOUR ACES (Decca) ^Stranger, in Paradise" FOUR ACES. (Decca) "Heart of My Heart ” -....... • v NAT (KING) COLE (Capitol) ^Answer Me, My Love”.... 7 EARTCIA KITX (Victor) "Stole Dc Wedding Bell”... • • EARTHA KITT (Victor) "Lovin’ Spree” •.» EDDY HOWARD (Mercury) "Till We Two Are One”.. ■ . ■ BING CROSBY (DecCa) "Y’Ail Come", c • £ Q SIX TOP \ ALBUMS GLENN MIUER ' STORY Rim Soundtrack Decca DL 5519 KISMET Broadway Ca»t Columbia ML 4850 MUSIC FOR LOVERS ONLY Jockit Gltoaon Capitol 8352 THAT BAD EARTHA EarHto Kit# Victor LPM 3187 GLENN MIUER MEMORIAL Glann Millar Victor LPT 3057 SONGS FOR YOUNG LOVERS Frank Sinatra Capitol H 488 | bookings before it started were | $1.950, which is pretty good these ' days. I Judged as entertainment value land as a show though, even the | zingers, swingers and hoppers must admit it’s pretty hard to take. There’s jazz music, singing , and ; dancing throughout, without any ■ comedy or other relief, and the j eardrums are assailed from the moment the curtain rises to the , time it falls. i Parnell Orch Spot ! The show is buUt around the i Parnell orch, Parnell is a tall, j goodlooking chap in his late 20s, j with a fine stage presence. He is ' one of the country’s leading drum- j mers, and biggest moment of the I show is when he sits at the skincr i and plays a synchronized drum- j duet with Phil Seaman, drummer of his combo, in “’Skin Deep.” Par- } nell also emcees tbe show through- out La Bommie agitates her pos- terior sensuously, to the accom- paniment of more giggles than the producer no doubt intended or visualized. Taps Miller sings a bit in a rhythmic monotone, plays' some poor trumpet, and does some undistinguished hoofing. Mike McKenzie plays piano and sing * in a King Coleish sort of voice. Tommy Linden has arranged the dances, and there is a chorus which go through angular, ungainly rou- tines that someone seems to think are in the spirit of jazz. In the second half, the band plays what is virtually a concert of some dozen numbers while, be- hind it, on a builtup platform, things go on with a distracting ef- fect The dancers jig through a routine connected with telephone- calls and switchboards while the band plays “Pennsylvania 6-5000”; a streetwalker, wouldbe client and an interfering New York cop enact a routine to the strains of "Har- lem Nocturne,” and an enormous lighted train belches smoke while the band plays "Night Train.” Despite lukewarm critical reac- tion and a general feeling of dis- appointment that the opportunity has hot been seized to present jazz to the general public in ah enter- taining and palatable form, "Jazz Wagon” Is having a big effect on the outlook of theatre manage- ments and variety agents. They now see b.o. potentialities in dance bands hitherto unrealized. Col Sets New Division For Plastic Products Columbia Records is setting up a new division, Cryton Precision Products, for manufacturing a gen- eral line of precision molded plas- tic products. James Hunter, cheip* leal and development engineer in the plastic disk field, will be vice- prexy and general manager of the new operation. Having recently completed a $1,- 000,000 plaiit expansion program involving installation of injection molding equipment, Columbia now plans to divert some of its facili- ties to products other than disks. Manufacture of plastic products will take place at Col's factories <n Bridgeport, Terre Haute and Los Angeles, as well as in some South American plants.