Variety (November 1954)

Wednesday, November 17, 1954 msic 57 Brit London, Nov. 9. The first week in November saw the Woolworth’s chain of stores throughout Britain enter tlve record market.. The first 10 disks of its own Embassy label (re- corded -and pressed for them by Morris Levy, of Mercury arid Oriole), came on sale,.and found ready buyers at 3s 9d (50c), as. against, the 5s to 5s 6V£d (70-77c) charged for 104 inch 78s pop disks by the major, labels. Before the war, Woolworth’s had its own disks at 6d (7c), arid re- calling this, some newspapers have raised hints about a record “war." Woolworth’s policy, however, is not to rely* on artists’ names, but to sell the song/ and tThejy say they are nof^entering into ^any “war” but are taking a new slant on the record business. The first .includes names of . well-known British per- formers. Songs sung on the Em- bassy records are all hits of the moment—“Three Goins,” ‘‘Hold My Hand,” “I LoVe Paris/’ “If I Give My Heart,” “Story of Tina,” “Smile,” “Little Things,?’ “Sh- Boom,” ‘'The High and the Mighty,” etc. Artists on the first Embassy list are ■ Larry Cross, Rita Williams, Bob Dale, Sam Browne, Beryl Templeman, Penny Nicholls, the Four-in-a-Chord vocal group and the Embassy Orchestra directed by Jack Coles. SHAW RESHUFFLES Billy Shaw reshuffled his band agency setup last, week, upping Jack Archer to veepee and Jack Whitemore to head of the location department. Whitemore, who joined Shaw several months ago, is replacing Irving Seiden, who ankled the firm. ( Milt Shiaw, the agency topper’s son, and Monte Kaye will assist Whitemore. Archer continues as head of the one-niter department. Sets Own Pub, Disk Cos. Wichita, Kan., Nov. 16. Morton J; Levand, publicity chief of the Wichita Beacon here arid son of the daily’s publisher, is entering the music biz with his own disk company, Tex Records, and publishing firm, Robbie Music. Latter is a BMI affiliate. He is also a songwriter and will cut several of his own tunes both the hillbilly and pop idioms. N. Y. Ballet Oreh’s Disk Bow With Amer. Scores Vox Productions, which recently pacted the N. V. C. Ballet Orches- tra and its maestro, Leon Barzin, to a longterm exclusive, Will issue the orch’s first record Dec. 1. This will comprise scores' to two recent hits of the ballet Jroupei both by contemporary U. S. coim posers, in HerShy. Kay’s “Western Symphony” and Virgil Thomson’s “Filling Station,” Hollywood, Nov. 16. Liberace and his brother George grossed a record* $271,000 in the latest 10-coricert tour which wound up in Bogton over the weekend. Pianist, his brother and the nucleus of the Liberace orchestra return here this week lor more telefilm, radio shows and recording work- Final stop on the tour was Bos- ton, where Liberace smashed the alltime attendance. and money fig- ure at the 30-year-old. Boston Gar- den, drawing a capacity audience of 13,909 for a gross of slightly more than $44,000. Haydn Society in Deal With Iberian Distrib The Haydn Society, longhair label headquartering in Boston, has con- cluded a deal with the Belter com- pany in Spain for the pressing and distribution of a large part of its catalog in Spain and Portugal. First releases to be distributed on the Iberian peninsula will be Haydn’s “Creation” and Mozart’s ■‘Don Giovanni,” Burned to the Ground Chicago, Nov. 16. Sylvester Esler’s Nightingale Ballroom in.. Kaukaima, Wis„ one of the oldest danceriesin this ter- ritory, burned to the ground last Tuesday- night (9), eliminating a Stopping place for a number of bands routed this way. Ballroom caught fire on a closed night. Among bands who were slated to play the Nightingale this week was Ralph Marterie and the Mercury Caravan. Benin disk best sellers Survey of retail . disk best sellers based qtl- reports ob- tained front leading stores in 20 cities and showing com- parative sales rating for this and last week. National Rating This Last >» 8 X K PS i & * 4) .a u & 0) — a w t 3 - (O I I s o •1*4 •3 a> •s o & 0 U O 1 <D 3 o c (0 > c a £> Vi O) a £ 0 C ffi P e £ o js- ft ’5 •o « t! co x. *2 o CJ at tf 43 J? ■0 s £ M ft O w « o s PS (A ■ ft w 8 « a ■O' 43 CO *> Vi O o O' Pi & o ' 'S ► W *cs 0 (O & & ft 1 1 ! o 0 IA '3 X 9 ) a- £ 1 * o U o 3 C0 ft 0 B m < W 1 I 0 5 to 8 05 .0 0 IA •3 '3 K . w 1 to- CO o •a. o U CA’ 0 Vi ->» .<! 1 I 0 -s 0 >» Vi CO <U* g , " : 0 o O ,*w J, o' a- n 4) 0 a o Q V V) 3 X . CA 0 X c •o *73 O 8 CO 0 0 o CA §. X 0 w 1 • M i* *0 3 ►J 1 g ft 0 w 1 0 .pN. 43 E ' 3 l-H o 0 w 1 J o 9 ft 9 CA T3 O o O £ Vi 0) > 0 O Q 4 ) O O >» 0. o 0 . 0 t 0) 43 CO 0 4 ) T O T A L P 0 1 N T SIX TOP ALBUMS BRIGADOON Hollywood Cost MGM E 3135 X 263 The small room operators around the country are developing a re- sentment against the New York barid agencies which are selling them musical combos without thought to the groups’ fitness, fdt the spot. Major squawks Are tar- geted. at. the agents, who are so intent on “the sale” that they are pushing any form 4 of musical combo just to get another commission en- try chalked up on the ..books. Up- beat in the mambo vogue has brought the situation to the fore, because m an y of the.Latino combos are new names to the bonifaces and they have to rely entirely on the discretion of the agency. Such beefs as “the group you sent me is too progressive for my clientele,”, “the combo was too loud for the room,” “too small” or “too large,” have been coming into the agents’ offices from all Over the country. Some ops have even complained that “wrongo” outfits have driven away customers and that the damage is irreparable. To offset further op beefs di- rected at Latino groups, Mercury Artists is going into the custom- made combo business. Under the aegis of prexy Leonard Greon,. agency is putting together tailoi*- made musical groups for individual rooms. “It’s paying *off in confi- dence and re-bookings,” Green claims. In the past year, Merc has de- veloped new combos to suit the requirements of the op’s room;,* Bonifaces have ordered Latino out- fits for the dinner hour, for cock- tail. dancing or - for late-hour lis- tening and described the room’s clientele, arid- Merc has whipped up a combo to fit the request. In the New York area, Merc filled the Little Club’s demand for a mellow-style Latino crew by forming the La. Ploya Sextet. The new Gotham nitery, Le Cupidon, asked Merc for a chile group that could produce a solid beat, but it had to be small so that the room’s nut could be kept down. The agen- cy developed the Armando Fred- erico Trio especially for th^ order. Can. TV If Board Okays Ottawa; Nov. 16. Composers, Authors & Publish- ers Assn, of Canada, and. BMI of Canada Ltd:, have applied to the Copyright Appeal Board in Ottawa for permission to - begin collecting fees in 1955 from television stations for the performance of works ’ their repertoires, CAPAC asks 1 3 A% of the g^ross revenue of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. plus lc per capita of population, as well as a fee of 1 3 A%. of the gross from non-GBC video outlets. BMI wants $1,800 a year from each pri- vately-owned tv station. Estimated CAPAC take, if the board okays the deal, would be more than $500,000 a year. Last year, the Copyright Appeal Board rejected the applications of CAPAC for permission to collect $500 a month from each tv sta- tion as a temporary tariff, and BMI’s application for $1,800 a year from each station. The board meets once a year, usually in January. Touzet Back to Coast Macayo After 5 Years Santa -Monica, Nov, .16. Rene Touzet returns to the Ma- cayo Restaurant here next Febru- ary after an absence of five years. Latune batoheer has" been in the east for most of that time and has been recording for MGM Records. His new “Let’s Mambo” album is due but this week. Touzet arid, q, four-piece combo were . at the Macayo for a nine- month run in 1948-49, setting , a record for the room which has riot- been touched since that tiirie. LEVANT WITH KENNETH ALLEN Kenneth Allen Associates have taken over the concert manage-, ment of Oscar Levant. Plans call for several appear- ances this fall as soloist with or- chestras in' the east and then a transcontinental concert tour start- I ing In mid-February in California.