Variety (December 1954)

1&S3JJ2JL Survey of retail sheet music bestsellers based, on reports Obtained from leading stores in 13 cities arid showing com- parative sales rating for this and last week. * ASCAP t Mil National Ratine This Last wk. wk. Levant’s Last-Minute Fade in D.C. Concert; Same Sub on 2d Time & Washington, Nov. 30. Illness caused Oscar Levant to do a virtually last-minute baqkout from a concert he was to perform with the National Symphony Or-' chestra on Saturday night (27). Earl Wild flew down from New York to All the gap as solo pianist in a Gershwin program.. Levapt, who was to play the “Rhapsody in Blue” and Concerto in F, was rehearsing /with the or- : chestra Saturday afternoon when suddenly he stopped and advised Howard Mitchell, the National Symphony conductor, that he was unable to continue. A physician was. summoned. After examining Levant he warned that the pianist and humorist might suffer a recurr rence of the heart attack he had. several months ago on the Coast; if he tried to go ahead with the j performance. It'- was during the ! end of his convalescence from the first attack last year that Levant was forced to cancel another book- ing as soloist for the orchestra’s annual all-Gershwin program. Since it was to late to notify ; ticket holders of Levant's illness, j Mitchell telephoned to Wild, in| New York: Young pianist, who had | rescued the performance a year ago, did it again Saturday, He flew to Washington, arriving too late to rehearse with the orches- NEW I D HI DEI CET 17AD tra. His performance, however, Ll uxiOHL ULii si/IV rom^e g ra 1 t ^ S ic^rcs kudoes DEPT. STORE MARKETING Upsurge of fhe album package biz around the country has sparked the launching of a new longplay Hialprt f Amir ^taurart lin(? under the Grand Award Eec * I/IdlvLl LUnilL t/lcWdll ord banner. Label will be market- Hollywood Nov 30 ed primarily through top national . «'•* mt. "■"> »*•”• fit:: 1 ”*! SS*. RETAIL SHEET BEST SELLERS W L 1. I 2 fa ~ & H I 1 B i S £ •d ■ ■ P | • £ f S i« I 1 3 Title and Publisher ♦Count Blessings (Berlin).... ♦If I Give My Heart (Miller). ♦Mister Sandman (Morris).. *1 Need You NOW (Miller). This Ole House (Hamblen). . ♦Papa LoVes Mambo (S-B)... ♦Hold My Hand /(Raphael) ♦Teach Me Tonight (Hub-L).:. ♦Hey. There (Frank). ♦Naughty Lady (Paxton)...,. ♦Woman’s World (Robbins). . Whither Thou Goest (Kavelin) Shake, Rattle & Roll (Prog.). fThlngs I Didn’t Do (H&R),. ♦Man That Get Away (Harwin) U 0D n 2 « hi i t n ill o SIS tn 5 6 6 8 ., 1 9 .. 8 6 . .. : 10 ,... Wednesday, December 1 , 1,954 Wide Exploitation Area Seen Opened Up in New Disk Pressing Method Hollywood, Nov. ^0. A whole new field of disk ex- ploitation has Been opened with the development of a new record invention by Jess Oppenheimer, producer and headwriter on the “1 Love Lucy” series, and his brother-in-law, Jack Brown of Rainbo Records: Device is a new method of pressing disks bin micro- thin acetate. First development as a result of the process is a deal with General Mills under which the new type disk is incorporated as one side of a Wheaties box. Kids can cut off that side, trim the edges and play the record on a regular record player; Inventors claim the new disk is permanent and hi-fi quality. General Mills deal, Brown re- ported, is for an. initial order of 10,000,000 With another 40,000,000 expected. Tieups now are being arranged with book companies, postcard companies,, dress, manu- facturers and theatre chains as well as with other diskeries interested in the new platter-package, setup. Dialect Comic Stewart Hollywood, Nov. 30. ’Hit Parade’Lineup (On Nov. 27 NBC-TV Show) .1. Mister Sandman . .Morris 2. Papa LoVes Mambo ,. S-B 3. I Need You Now . . . .Miller 4. If I Give My Heart .. Miller 5. Count Blessings .. . Berlin 6. This Ole House . .Hamblen 7. Teach Me Tonight.. . .Hub debut next week at John Waha- maker, Philadelphia, and Jordan has two more C C^ristma/ y sidls W out de ^ dt next week at John Waha- SibcIiUS Dufi to Get 0 S thfs week™^^Canftnf ; maker, Philadelphia, and Jordan U1UC1IU5 UUC 10 UC1 U. 0. t^tal W ofY iiIa ^ * Marsh, Boston. The albums will f * Affor ACf AD ice ? f 949 eig New ohes aYe-I'Give * “ced at a special test price 1010 Alter AM/Af tight ? .What. Is It” and “Be Kind to of 98> Winding up a case that has been e Street Corner Santa Claus ” Already lined up for Grand pending since the end of World In the last five vears Stewart Award etchings are Eugene Con- War. II, Jan Sibelius, 89-year-old __ Oiewart I Molnnsno tonnr* Winifrorl Vinnich pnmnncor 11HTI ennn hectin imi il eight^ dKr Yuli tunei Boston The albums will since 1949. New ones are “I Give ** * sp?cial test pnc ® Up What Is It” and “Be Kind to of 98, the Street Corner Santa Claus ” Already lined up for Grand has cut six Christmas tunes in a ley * Metopera tenor; Winifred Finnish composer, will soon begin Swedish dialect andtwo with a Heidt, N, Y„ City Opera Co., so- to collect royalties on perform- Jaoanese accent For the prano; American Artists Symph, ances of his works in the U. S. he P works under the name°Y™5 Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Ra- Sibelius’ coin was put in escrow Yorgesson and for the latter Ha?rt dio Vienna . Grand Symphony, here by the Alien Property Custo- xorgesson ana ior me latter, narry nnVk „ Hian hpoanw rnanv nf hie earlier Kari. from the 20th Century-Pox CtntmaScopc Production "DESIREE" THE SONG FROM DlSIREE WE MEET AGAIN MILLER MUSK CORPORATION It's Music by Bobby Byrne’s orch, and such jazz dian because many of his earlier names as Eddie Safranski, Cliff works were published! while he Leemaii, Peanuts Hucko, Pee Wee was a member of the German per- Irwin and Billy Maxted. Contracts forming rights society, GEMA. with the European orchs were con- ASCAP execs, headed by general summated several months ago. counsel Herman Finkelstein, were Label’s general manager is instrumental in getting the Custo- Enoch Light, who’ll also act as art- dian to release the money, to Sibe- Ists & repertoire director. JESSE GREER Program Today Yoitarday'n FLAPPERETTE MILLS MUSIC, INC, (1419 Broodway, Now Yarik) lius. Two years ago, ,on Sibelius’ 87th i birthday. ASCAP sent the com- Epic's Promotional Bally poser $5,000 as a gesture of the o ri • 4. “high regard in which Sibelius was Un o current Ivoieascs held by his composer Colleagues Epic Records has earmarked in America.” In 1945, Sibelius three current releases for a big joined the Finnish performing promotional bally. Disks being rights society, .TEOST0, and since geared for the hefty, exploitation that time, ASCAP lias been able to campaign are the De John Sisters’ forward him money through its “No More,” “Four Coins,” “I Love agreement with the Finnish sb- Yoji Madly” and “Roy Hamilton’s ciety. “Hurt.” — —— Columbia Records’sales and pro- i ^ . , T ». motional forces will pitch in on Bethlehem Sets Up Its Western Distrib Outlets the one-year-old subsid of Colum- " vuucw hia. Murray Singer, Bethlehem Rec- —_ % ords sales manager, returned from D LL . f n r ii a Coast trek this week after setting Kobbins Llecca r ollowup U p distribution outlets for the la- Hollywobd, Nov, 30. bel in the west and launching its . In a sp.eedy followup to the ini- own sales .outlet in Los Angeles, tial release. Lion Records has cut Bethlehem’s o.&o. branch in another LP package of rhumba and L.A. will also handle other jazz samba music by Tico Robbins. Robbins’ first album has been on the market only a few weeks but cued such immediate reaction that the label decided on the followup. lines as well.- Awtter BMI ‘Pi, (/»' m, Wc JjYANlifl SEE SANTA DO THE MAMBO TERRY FEU. by • • • • •• • *'X" ;"• ••• Groov, Nyti ,* < ♦ A Dytt • • o A Groov# Best British Sheet Sellers (Week ending Nov. 20) London, Nov. 23. Hold My Hand........ Wood I Give My Heart..... . Robbins My Son ,. .,,...... Kassner This 016 House...... Duchess Smile ...:. ..... .. . Bourne Must Be Reason; . . .Connelly My Friend........... Chappell Santo Natale . Spier Sky Blue Shirt Wright Things Mean a Lot.. .Robbins Happy Wanderer :.. .Bosworth Story of Tina.. . .Macmelodiej Second 12 Coins in Fountain.......Feist I Love Paris . Chappell High-Mighty . Harms-Connelly Can’t Tell Waltz ......Reino No One But You..... Robbins Sway . .Latin American Wait For Me.....Lafleur I Need You ........ Feldman Veni Vidi Viol..,.,... .Dash Count Your Blessings .. Berlin Gilly Ossenfeffer....... Spier Sh-Boom .......... Aberbach Des Moines, Nov, 30. Remodeling and enclosing the Val-Air ballroom, to convert it into a. year-around dancing spot, are under way. Remodeling includes a new bandstand, foyer, checkroom and lounges, plus enlarged floor. There will be 200 booths and 200 tables on terraces. on two sides of the floor. -The remodeling, costing $100,- 000, will make the ballroom the second largest in Iowa, according to T. H. Archer, president of Ar- cher Ballroom Co. The company operates ballrooms in Cedar Rap- ids, Sioux City and Sioux Falls, S. D. Des Moines School Sued On Astaire Dance Steps Des Moines, Nov. 30. Paul Rose and Richard Walker, operators of the Fred Astaire School of Dancing here, were sued in County District Court last week for $10,000 damages by Mrs. Mar- vel Daniels, operator of the Mar- vel Daniels Dance Studio, Des Moines. Mrs. Daniels alleges Rose and Walker converted to, their Own use dance routines that were, her prop- erty and said her routines were “taught to the dance team cur- rently going under the name of the Astairettes” in the Daniels studio. The Astairettes danced this rou- tine, Mrs. Daniels’ petition stated, in a television program Oct. 31 on KGTV, Des Moines, when it was declared that “tfie Astairettes learned to dance as they did from the Fred Astaire School of Danc- ing.” Texas Indie Buys Up Sacred Music Label Word. Records has bought out the catalog of the Key label, New York firm specializing in choral and organ platters of sacred music. Word, which operates out of Waco, Tex., plans to release two of the newly-purchased disks this month and the remaining four a three-month period. Meantime, Word has added Jack Holcomb, sacred music artist, to its roster. Deal also included the purchase of the masters previously cut by Holcomb while wider con- tract to Sacred Records of Los Angeles. Possession of the masters had been retained by Holcomb. Cap’s Eastern Brass To Head for Coast Huddles Capitol Records’ eastern brass heads out on its annual end-of-the- year 'trek to the diskery’s Coast headquarters next week. Cap execs will 11 huddle with label’s district managers on upcoming releases for January and February. In the east-west junket will be acting general manager Bill Fowler* sales manager Hal Cook and east era publicity manager Dick Linke. ‘House’ Tops Glasgow Glasgow, Nov. 23. English chirper Billy Anthony’s recording of “This 'Ole House,” on the Columbia label, tops the cur- rent list qf bestselling disks here. Don Cornell’s rendition of “Hold My Hand,” on Vogue, holds second slotting, with . Eddie Fisher’s “I Need You Now” (HMV) in third place. Dean Martin’s Capitol recording of “How Do You Speak to an Angel?” is in fourth position. Jo.XDO. \ c RECORDS "The finest sound on record WILL OSBORNE AND HIS ORCH. Now 37tfi Wook Ntw Gold## Hot#l ( R#no Mgt.t MILTON DKUTSCH America's Fastest r Selling Records!