Variety (December 1954)

Wednesday, December On The Upbeat RETAIL SHEET BEST SELLERS I New York Abbey Albert orch winds up a stand at the Hotel Statler, Wash- ington, Saturday (25» and moves into Detroit’s Hotel Statler Dec. 27 for an indefinite stay . . . Al Mor- eau, currently at the Hatboro Hotel. Hatboro, Pa., into the Copa- cabana, Pittsburgh, Dec. 27 . . . Disk promoter Buddy Basch edit- ing Top Hit Record News mag . . . N.Y. indie WNEW staffers Rudy Rudderman and BiM Harrington penned the new Guy Mitchell tune, “Gee But You Gotta Come Home” . . . Sam Clark, MGM Rec- ords Boston distrib, in town for sales huddles . . . Joni James guesting on WLWD-TV, Davton. for the polio drive . . . The Four Joes, new MGM Records vocal combo, open at the Hotel Statler. Cleveland. Jan. 16 . . . Sol Yaged’s Quintet into Birdland Monday (27) for a one-nite jazz concert . . .Cy Baron and Willie Shore, owners of The Composer, feteing Deems Taylor with a special afternoon birthday party today (Wed.) . . . Dick Linke, Capitol Records’ east- ern promotion manager, back at his N.Y. desk after a quickie Coast- east deejay trek . . . “Day of Triumph” has been bought by Ross Jungnickel Music, Hill & Range’s ASCAP firm. Chicago Jimmy Blade had olosing notice recalled at Drake Hotel, where he’s played some three years, and stay- The Perennial Favorite Santa Claus Is Cornin' PLEATED SHIRTS "On Stage'' or "On the Town' ing on indefinitely . . . Charlie Ventura playing Rendezvous in Philadelphia Dec. 19 for single week . . . Mutual Artists Corp. plucked organist Hack Swain for management and for multi-track recordings on the Cardinal label . . . Eddie Howard set for Casa Loma Ballroom, St. Louis, Jan. 21 for couple frames . . . Harding & Moss Revue in for two-framer at R ipid City Air Base, South Dakota, Jan. 17 for two weeks, following | with Offutt Air Base assignment i beginning Feb. 7 . . . Modern Jazz Quartet playing concert series in Chi Dec. 7 and 28. Pittsburgh Tommy Carlyn’s band signed for Newspaper Guild's annual Page One Ball at William Penn Hotel Jan. 29 . . . Bill Brant orch set for New Year’s Eve party at Gateway Plaza . . . Del Monaco Quartet back into the Blue Moon for an indefinite stay . . . Bobby Cardillo. recuperatirg from kidney opera- tion, expects to resume with Reid Jaynes at the Carlton House’s twin pianos on Christmas night . . . Stan Conrad, organist, has picked up a six-month option hike at the Vogue Terrace . . . Doreen Faust 1 foursome opened New Nixon res- taurant and will be there for two weeks . . . George Wittington Trio now featured at the Midway Lounge . . . With Chicago and Las Vegas bookings in the offing, Larry Faith’s orch will pull out of the Horizon Room after the first of the year . . . Everett Haydn, organist, renewed at Dore’s res- taurant in East Liberty . . . Deuces Wild engagement at My Brothers Place has been postponed until Jan. 3 FLANAGAN’S STRING OF LOCATIONS, ONE-NITERS After a three-week hiatus, the Ralph Flanagan orch is swinging into a string of location ard one- ! niter booking through April. Orch opens the Roosevelt Hotel, New Orleans, tomorrow' (Thurs > for a two-week stay and then moves to a one-weeker in Houston, playing for the Auto Show there. Flanagan will then begin a one- niter schedule which will take his band through Texas, Kansas, Ne- braska, Iowa and Michigan. The one-niters will be primarily at colleges and universities. Survey of retail sheet music best sellers based on reports obtained from leading stores in 13 cities and showing com- parative sales rating for thij and last week. • ASCAP t BM1 <S) M 3 b National Rating This Last wk. wk. i 1 i s 9 10 10 9 11A 11 11B 13 13 14A 12 14B . . Title an C Publisher •Mister Sandm an (Morris)... •Count Blessin gs (Berlin)..., • Let Me Go, Lover (H&R)... •Teach Me Tonight (Hu b-L>.. tThis Ole Ho use (Hamblen).. •Naughty Lad y (Paxton) •I Need Y ou Now (Miller).. . •If I Give My H eart (Miller). •White Christma s (Berlin).. . •Papa Loves Mam bo (S-B).. . •Rudolph (St. Nicholas) •Home for Holida ys (R o ncom) •Make Comfortab le (Rylani.. •Hold My Hand (Raphael).... "tThat’s AM I Want (W&bTT” S 2 | S. I « I | i S J ! c — V ■2c -O ® £ o S >> -t S 1 e — * X cfl < 73 j I 2 120 1 114 9 92 6 81 5 10 4 8 9 10 6 10 10 44 6 9 7 9.. 43 7 7 8 4 32 4 8 5 7 30 22 8 14 10 10 6 . . 7 4 .. * Toiloftd in tin* fabrics, handtsms pleat!, Hat- ** A teriaf tall, ipreol j J tailor. (Sam by Show ' J lit Folks with Tuiede / or everyday wear. r a TV Bit/a or Whila • Sixos 1 4- 17V] in slock mail order! accepted, prepaid Carmichael 111 Seventh Are. Ieu> magram records (Hr t/jj "The finest sound on record Continued from page 41 the music biz in establishing the validity of the old renewal clauses. Billy Rose, in his suit against Bourne Music for return of the copyright on “That .Old Gang of Mine,” written with Mort Dixon and Ray Henderson, is involved in a similar court test. The first 28- year term on “Star Dust” runs out in 1957, while on several lesser tunes in the Carmichael suit, the initial terms have already ex- pired. Lyric to “Star Dust” was written by Mitchell Parish, whose part of the copyright would re- main with Mills Music no matter what Carmichael did. Jack .Mills, head of Mills Music, recently returned from a trip to the Coast, where he confabbed with his brother Irving, the firm’s v.p. on the proposed Carmichael settlement. The Mills attorney, Sam Buzzell, also was on the Coast for the talks. MUSIC WITH A SENSE OF HUMOR HARRY RANCH AND HIS ORCHESTRA CorrooHy J. P. MALONEY'S CHAUDIERE COUNTRY CLUB Hall, Qnoboc Opening Dec 31 NEW MELODY CLUB, Wait Palm Baach, Fla. ★ ★ ★ ★ MGM Racords Epic Gives Go-Ahead To Hawkins-'George’ Disk An artists & repertoire man can withstand pressure from most peo- ple but usually gives in when it’s coming from dealers and distribu- tors. After a bootlegged master of Dolores Hawkins’ etching of l “George” had been aired by jock- ! eys in key cities. Marvin Holtzman, Epic’s a&r chief, gave the green light for the release of the platter to meet the mushrooming demand that had been sparked by the dee- jay plays. Holtzman had nixed the release because of tune’s offbeat Lyric. It’s a special material tune which Miss Hawkins uses in her nitery act. The tune had been cut several months ago but Holtzman had been hesitant to put it on regular re- lease despite pressure from Don Seat, thrush’s manager. Deciding to force the issue. Seat procured the master and sent acetates to jocks in N. Y., Detroit and Cleve- land. The plays brought in orders for close to 30.000 platters and the go-ahead signal from Holtzman. Tune was penned by Bobby Max- i well and is published by Planetary music. . — Betty Blasco Set-Up New K. C. Music Firm Kansas City, Dec. 21. New publishing firm, Happiness Music, is being organized here by j Betty Peterson Blasco. She is with- drawing from Blasco Music. Inc., which was established by her late husband, Louis Blasco, and which they operated for several years. In the new setup, the bulk of ASCAP copyrights formerly held by Blasco Music will become Hap- piness Music properties. Mrs. Blasco also will head Midland Music, the BMI catalogue. A lead- ing property of the new firm is “My Happiness,” for which she wrote the words, and which is now an established standard. Blasco Music will continue ac- tive in publishing and in the re- cording biz, according to Frank Blasco, president, who succeeded his brother, Louis, in that position. Company has the Cardinal label and a talent roster including The Mulcays, Cathy Bryan, Carl King and Hack Swain. MGM DIGS INTO VAULTS i TO RIDE ‘MELODY’ WAVE MGM Records has dug into its vaults to get in on the current “Melody of Love” surge. Oldie tune, which is now getting a top push by the majors and the indie Dot label, originally was issued by MGM in a 78 rpm album of recita- tion to organ by Franklyn Mc- Cormack in 1947. The package was tagged “Why Do I Love You?” * Diskery has pulled the master of “Melody” out of the files and is rushing it as a single release. It’s also repackaging the album into a 10-inch LP and changing ! the title to “Melody of Love.” . Papa Celestin Continued from page 43 Oliver, Bunk Johnson and Buddy Bolden dominated the music scene. By 1910, he was blowing his cornet at Lulu White’s notorious Mahogany Hall, Tom Anderson’s and the old Tuxedo Hall on Frank- lin street. In 1911, he formed the Original Tuxedo Orchestra. It was not a “jazz” band since the term was not yet in use. For the next 15 years. Celestin’s was the band that played for most of the debu- tante parties. The Original Tuxedo Band nur- tured many of the jazz masters who were later to gain fortune and fame surpassing that of Celestin. Such two-beat artists as Lorenzo Tio, Baby Dodds, Shots Madison, Jimmy Noone and Alphonse Picou made up the Celestin aggregation during its 15 years at the top of jazz world. Ijut in the early 20s, the vogue in dance music changed. Bands with elaborate arrangements caught on Celestin and his dixieland crew were eclipsed. He worked for years as a lrng- shoreman on the Mississippi docks, as a construction worker and truck driver to earn a living. Ten years ago he returned to his horn and once again found himself In de- mand for parties and social affairs. In 1953, he and his band went to Washington to play for.the annual dinner of the White House Cor- respondents’ Association. Celestin received a certificate of merit from President Eisenhower which read, “Mr. Celestin, you are a fine gen- tleman and a credit to your race and country.” Only survivor is his widow. Tht couple had been married 32 years. from the 20th Century-Fox CtnemaSiope Production "WOMAN S WORLD" IT’S A WOMAN’S WORLD ROBBINS MUSIC CORPORATION It's Mb tic by JESSE GREER Program Today Yaitarday'i ONCE IN A LIFETIME FROM EARL CARROL'S "VANITIES'* ROBBINS FOR RENT BRILL BLDG. B’WAY & 49 ST. Saany 400 tq. ft. aait, 2 win- dows, high Roar, 24-hr. sanrlco. BRILL REALTY • CO 5-4V50 ASSOCIATED BOOKING CORPORATION JOE GLASER, Pres New York 1 Chicago 205 No WobcMh Hollywood 8619 Sururt Blvd ' Another BMI *PI» Up' Hit hearts of stop * 9eo rded bv THE*OOOfm$ TER *' f “"I RED Folf y I VICI YOUNG '.'.'.r, 0 ^ RUBr WEUS \ Mcguire sisters co'r° in!J ls ,NN,S ™ SEWK:::::- Published by REGENT MUSIC CORP. ■ ■ I I