Variety (December 1954)

16 MUSIC Wednesday, December 22, 1954 Inside Stuff-Music In its third year, “Silver Bells” 'moves into select company as an •lltime Christmas song with its inclusion in a special deejay album of Bing Crosby tunes issued by Decca. Other tunes in the package are “Silent Night,” “Jingle Bells” and “White Christmas.” Ironically, “Bells” has become an annuity for Jay Livingston and Ray Evans who wrote it, almost under duress, for “Lemon Drop Kid,” the 1951 Bob Hope starrer. Tunesmiths balked, figuring all Yule tunes had been written, finally decided to try one with a city theme. It is now Hope’s annual Christmas theme song, and the tune now is second only to “White Christmas” as the Yuletide sales topper of modern times. By the end of the current season, sheet music will have passed the 365,000 mark and disks the 1,000,000 mark. Coincidentally, Crosby—the alltime topper with "White Christmas”—has the biggest “Bells” disk as well. Others are by Doris Day and by Jimmy Wakely and Margaret Whiting. The old argument about “is there a season for songs?” got another working over this week after tunesmiths L. Wolfe Gilbert and Ben Oakland put on an oldfashioned songplugging routine. Gilbert and Oakland penned “Mr. Publisher 'Have I Got a Song For You)” and Gilbert and Sammy Fain turned out “Is That Asking Too Much?” Both tunes were bought by Mills Music and recorded by the pubbery on its subsidiary American Records, back to back. However, Irving and Paul Mills decided to wait until after the holidays before pushing the tunes or the etchings by Bob London. Gilbert and Oakland how- ever, decided not to wait and took some dubs around to Coast deejays, mailing others east. The result was that the firm was forced to get the disk into release. Tunesmiths on the Coast are accustomed to the whims of film pro- ducers who demand special tunes for any and all occasions, but Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane faced a new one when they went to work on “The Girl Rush” at Paramount. Producer Frederick Brisson demanded a theme song with the flavor of Las Vegas and adaptable to every sort of tempo.” After some wor4c, Martin and Blane came up with “Take A Chance.” In the picture it will be played and sung as a waltz, tango, beguine, German oompah band standard. French cancan, dixieland, fast foxtrot and lush ballad. Montreal pianist Andre Mathieu’s claim for a world record for con- tinuous playing, following his recent 21-hour pianothon, is being contested by Frank Crowther. who broadcasts under the name of Red Cross on WMAZ-TV in Macon. Ga. Cross played 121 continuous hours back in 1929 in a “world championship” match with a German 88er. Cross, who was chained to the piano, won by 15 hours. MACHITO CREW TO PLAY COAST BEFORE S.A. TOUR Hollywood, Dec. 21. Machlto and his Latin-American orch have been set for a flock of one-niters and jazz spot engage- ments on the Coast in the next couple of months. Following its! current stand at the Oasis in Los Angeles, the Machito crew will play a couple of one nite stands ’ before moving into The Downbeat in San Francisco Jan. 6 for two weeks. Following, the combo will tour through Arizona and Califor- nia before starting its annual South American tour Feb. 10. Tour has been handled by the Storper Agency in N. Y. and the Sennes Agency here. Meyers Music. Philadelphia firm, has set up a branch in Toronto. It’ll be headed up by Eli Kassner. DEAN PARKER VERA CRUZ Sings I MANDOLIN MGM 11866 78 RPM K 11866 45 RPM MGM RECORDS v E N E Vj y O 9 * 3 £ \ » Songs With Largest Radio Audience The top 30 songs of week (more in case of ties), based on copyrighted Audience Coverage Index & Audience Trend Index. Published by Office of Research, Inc.. Dr. John Gray Pentman, Director. Alphabetically listed. * Legit musical. t Film. Survey Week of December 10-16, 1954 All Of You—♦“Silk Stockings” Chappell Christmas Alphabet ... Budd Count Your Blessings—t“White Christmas” Berlin Fanny—♦“Fanny” . Chapnell Give Me Your Heart For Christmas Fisher Hey There—♦“Pajama Game” Frank Hold My Hand—+“Susan Slept Here” Raphael Home For The Holidays Foncorn I Need You Now Miller Idle Gossip Evans If I Give My Heart To You ... Miller It’s A Woman’s World—^'Woman’s World” Robbins Let Me Go. Lover II & R Make Yourself Comfortable Pylan Mister Sandman Morris My Own True Love— f “Gone With The Wind” Remick Naughty Lady Of Shady Lane Paxton Papa Loves Mambo Shaoiro-B Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer St. Nicholas 'Santa Claus Is Cornin’ To Town Feist Silk Stockings—♦“Silk Stockings” Chappell Silver Bells Paramount Sleigh Ride Mills Smile Bourne Teach Me Tonight Hub-L This Ole House Hamblen Vera Cruz—+“Vera Cruz” Feist Without Love—♦“Silk Stockings” Chappell Wrong, Wrong, Wrong : Porgie You’re Nobody Til Somebody Loves You Southern Top 30 Songs on TV (More In Case of Ties ) Cara Mia A Dame’s A Dame— + “So This Is Paris” Crazy ’Bout You Baby Count Your Blessings—f’White Christmas”.. Crazy ’Bout You Baby Dance, Mister Snowman, Dance Davey Crockett Every Christmas Morning Give Me Your Heart For Christmas Home For The Holidays I Dreamt That I Was Santa Claus I Need You Now If I Give My Heart To Vou Let Me Go, Lover Love Can Change The Stars Make Yourself Comfortable Mister Sandman Muskrat Ramble My Love Song To You Naughty Lady Of Shady Lane Papa Loves Mambo Pupalina Santa Claus Is Cornin’ To Town Santo Natale Sh-Boom Silver Bells Sleigh Ride Teach Me Tonight Three Bon Vivants—t“So This Is Paris” .... Two Of Us—+"So This Is Paris” Wait Till Paris Sees Us—t’ So This Is Paris” . Feist Mills Feist Berlin Sunbeam Favorite Disney Radio Music Fisher Roncom Ludlow-F Miller Miller H & R Feist . Rylan Morris Simon , SongSmiths Paxton Shapiro-B , Pincus . Feist , Spier H Si R Paramount . Mills . Hub-L Mills Mills Mills FELDMAN CLUB, BRIT. GI MUSIC HANGOUT, FOLDS London, Dec. 21. The Feldman Club, jazz resort on Oxford St. which was visited by hundreds of GI’s and American musicians during the war, closed its doors last Sunday (19). Opened in 1943, the club never missed a session throughout the darkest days of the war, and Glenn Miller was one of its regular visi- tors when he w as over there.' Reason for the closure is the dearth of the right kind of jazz talent.to bring in the fans, say the organizers. Best British Sheet Sellers (Week ending Dec. 11) London, Dec. 14. Hold My Hand Wood If I Give My Heart.. .Robbins Santo Natale Spier This Ole House Duchess Can’t Tell Waltz ..... Reine Mitster Sandman Morris My Son, My Son Kassner Must Be A Reason ..Connelly Veni, Vidi, Vici Dash Smile Bourne Happy Wanderer ...Bosworth My Friend Chappell Second 12 No One But You.... Robbins Things Mean a Lot . .Robbins Sky Blue Shirt Wright I Count Your Blessings.. Berlin I Still Believe...Macmelodies I Love Paris Chappell i Story of Tina.. . Macmelodies High-Mighty . Harms-Connelly Wait For Me. Lafleur Heartbeat Kassner Mama Doll Song Leeds I Finger of Suspicion. .Pickwick This Personal Mgr. Even Pounds Keys for Singer Hollywood, Dec. 21. There can’t be any complaint about the amount of work personal manager A1 Lerner is willing to do for singer Bobby Milano. Latter made his debut as a Capitol Rec- ords artist in a session last night (Mon.)—with Lerner at the piano. Lerner, keyboard accompanist for Frankie Laine, signed Milano in Buffalo and the youngster is a Laine protege. Capitol is giving Milano a big treatment in the first sides which have backing by a 25-piece orches- tra, including 16 strings, arranged and conducted by Les Baxter. Bell Bells Colby Bell Records, indie lowprice label, has tapped Marion Colby to a disking deal. Nitery and le- gituner thrush etched her initial sides (“Dim, Dim the Lights” and “Unsuspecting Heart”) for the diskery last week. She’s currently appearing in the legituner, “Pajama Game,” on Broadway. Renewals Continued from page 41 back his copyright at the end of 28 years and has a second lick at bat in trying to make a new deal either with the old, or with a new firm, depending on where he can get the best deal. Also part of the general problem is the growth in the number of split copyrights. In cases where there are two or more songwriters on a tune, the possibility of the col- laborators splitting the copyright renewals is always present, particu- larly if an estate is involved where ; the savvy in music biz operation is lack ng. In the case of split copy- J rights, the publishers point out that everybody loses, including the writers, since no one is going to lay out any exploitation coin on a tune in which they have only a half-interest or less. Disk Horizons —^ Continued from page 41 $300,000,000 for the industry as a whole in 1955.” . SarnofT also touched on another aspect of the hi-fi movement in pointing out that magnetic sound recorders are gaining in popular- ity. He said that over 750,000 are already in use in homes and in- dustry. He pointed out that Victor became the first major record com- pany to make a library of tape re- cordings for the commercial mar- ket. Sarnoff also said that Victor was also the first to produce stereo- phonic recordings. The RCA top- per stated that the company will explore further possibilities in these new fields in 1955. A WONDERFUL SEASONAL SONG $•, c-ic Ca hn i 'LET ITS NOW.'" 1£T nsnoivr "LtTlTSNOM" CAHN MUSIC COMPANY Latest DECCA Ralaasa STARS NEVER CRY b/w NOT TOO YOUNG TO HAVE MEM0RES CHARLIE APPLEWHITE P«f. Mflf. Direction I WYNN LASSNER WM. MORRIS AGENCY I SPACE AVAILABLE Office Space (furnished) for Music Publisher or Theatrical Agent 1650 Broadway (at 51st Street) CaH JUdeon 4-3344 America's Fastest ■’Selling-Records!