Variety (March 1955)

Wednesday, March 23, 195$. MUSIC 47 U.S. Jukeboxes Frankfurf;, March 22. At the Messe, senU-annual inter- national industry fair which is now the largest in 'Europe and wAs held last week at Frankfurt, interest ran high in jukeboxes, both those from the U; S. and those made in Ger- many. ' For the first time in the Messe’s history, one entire building of ex- hibits was devoted exclusively to the showing of jukeboxes, records, slot machines and coin-operated de- vices, separate from the displays of instruments for. home music or for orchestras. The major U. S. names of jukeboxes and rec- ord companies were represented through their. German distributors: Seeburg jukeboxes, represented by Lowen AUtomaten of Brunswig, reported excellent sales at the Messe of their 50-record selection box. They showed up for the first, tiitie at the Messe one year ago and did big business, even though their boxes are the most expensive on display, running from $1,000. to $2,000 with the German import taxes added. Germany is now the largest buy- er of Seeburg boxes of any coun- try outside the U. S., and the home office had feared that some of the jukeboxes were finding their way illegally into the East Zone and into Russia because of the large West German orders. Truth is, however, that the Iron Curtainites prefer a box with a German label and do not like those from the U. S., because of the political con- notations. Wurlitzer, through the German distributor, Gustav Husemann of Cologne, was housed separately with all its machines* displayed in its own small building. Wurlitzer had 14 machines on ex- hibit, most popular being the new 52-record selection box. But Huse- mann, contrary to thp other exhibi- tors, reported making no sales at the Messe since he sells only to operators and prefers making sales, at a later date when he can run a full credit check. Like most of the U. S. major jukeboxes, Wurlitzer brings only the motors, of the machines over ■i ■ i i ■ —j. Heading For HIT-Land! An Array of Great Records! n THE B. F. WOOD MUSIC CO. INC. 24 R.’wck:i/;i? Avo., Boston 1 1 , Mass A New Novelty Song A take-off on traffic congestion. —fiio most written up, talked about Subject of tho day, 45 cfnd 78 rprtis b/w “The Blues Are Here” NOW AVAILABLE froftiiloncl ih«., muilc, too* kAMPUS MUSIC P.O. lax 23 • D. Kalb. Illlnol* RETAIL SHEET BEST SELLERS VARIETY Survey of retail sheet music best sellers based art reports obtained from leading stores in 13 cities and showing com- . pdrative sales J rating for . this and last week. • ASCAP t BMI National Rating This Last wk. wk. Title and Publisher CQ e a M h © 5 6 Q * m I u © 43 in O I © & M © n a o fi © P in © »—i u cd A o A ft V •a 5 £ o 1 O o a •H ft 0 B « a 1 •fl ■© -*» 4 .S CQ h © © in 1-4 © O w k « © in © a 10 •fa s c3 © ft w i a o a S *8 © tn & 5 © w '3. © JB 6 i © o o O v a •pH I 0 Cfl 1 I © s i o U © 9 ■a in ■ © ©. *■> w 1 U S3 (0 3 td >4 ft ft 9 W © •wN to ■9 S C (1 1 ►J ’ • <4* CO o O .2 a 9 cd B in in o u O *© 0 Cd © > © © I.M in I © Cd B © © £ I © .« W) © < in o- P o U .a in 9 a •H ft nr U i cd © CO T O T- A L P 0 1 N T S from the States, and makes the s cabinets and speakers here. Among the European firms, Berg- mand and Wiegaiidt of West Ger- many and Jensen of Denmark are the major names. The biggest sales of any company, however, were recorded by Tonicolor of Ger- many, which sold 1,000 boxes to an Italian jukebox operator. Chappell Buys O’Seas Rights to ‘Earth Angel' Hollywood, March 22. Dootsie Williams, Dootone Rec- ord topper, has just concluded a deal with Chappell Music for the foreign right's -of his current r&b tune “Earth Angel.” Territories involved include. England and the Continent. Dootone waxing with the Es- quires, which kicked off about eight months ago, has sold 165,000 disks and still going strong. ' EP Prices Continued from, page 41 “Country & Western” groups. Each group spotlights label’s top artists. As an added lure, Col' is. dishing out a cuffo EP slice of Sammy Kaye’s “Auld Lang Syne” and “Happy Birthday To You” for each package purchased. Capitol also is moving intojthe EP act with three packages of 10 records each. Cap's classifications are “America’s Favorite Dance Bands,” “Songs of Your Time” and “For Your Listening Pleasure.” Diskery’s * top talent are spread throughout each EP grouping. Cap has priced its package at $7.60. Thus far Mercury Records is the only company to go into the EP push without a package deal. Merc is putting 95 EPs onUhe block for the coin ops to purchase singly at 60c a platter. Labels top-sellers are available in this special coin- ops promotion. The EPs will come without jackets but will be accom- panied by " the usual promotion material. . * MGM Is sticking to its previous- ly announced EP package plan. Promotion consists of two packages of 10 EPs all in the instrumental category. Label also is supplying the Juke ops with racks, posters and title strips. •- Robbins Jias just published “The Snowy, Snowy Mountains,” music by Norbert Schultze, original (German) lyric by Kurt Schwabach, English lyric by Edrich Siebert. It came to America by way of Dix Ltd., London, subsid of B. Feldman Co. (which Robbins-Feist-Miller recently acquired), from the original (1953) copyright by the Wiener Boheme Verlag G.m.b.h., Wiesbaden, Germany. Norbert Schultze came to attention during World War II as the Nazi * composer of “Lili Marieen” (spelled “Marlene” in the American ver- sion) and also composer oi the anti-British invasion song, “Der Vir Fuhren Nacht Engeland.” Inside Stuff-Music Buddy Ebsen, who co-starred with Fess Parker in Walt Disney’s three “Davy Crackett” subjects which were shown on producer’s “Dis- neyland” tv program, narrates the recording condensed from series, v which Columbia Records will put out under the title “Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier.” For this Ohore, Disney had to sign Ebsen to a new pact, since his appearance in tv series didn’t include any recording-stint. Ebsen also sings and acts out a role in recordings, which Columbia, under deal set by Walt Disney Music, will put out April 7. Folksinger Eddy Arnold was" toasted by RCA execs last Wednesday (1,6) on his 10th anni with the Victor label. RCA prexy* Frank M. Folsom presented Arnold with a plaque to highlight the dinner at the Essex/House in N, Y. Late last year, Victor released an album, ^titled “Eddy Arnold, An American Institution,” in which he delivered the 10 top country songs of the past decade. Alan P. Merriman has come up with a comprehensive ^Bibliography of Jazz” via The American Folklore Society. Tome contains more than 3,300 entries and is cross-indexed with jazz names and mags. Robert J. Benford assisted in the compilation. Book is priced at $6. THE HIT OF THE WEEK RUBY MURRAY SOFTLY, SOFTLY b/w HE'S A PAL MGM) 1940 OP MINE K11940 Allen Skeds Fastest TV-Disk Plug to Date With Epic Session There’s nothing the diskers won’t,do for that tele plug. Newest wrinkle in the tv-platter alliance is the slotting of* an actual record- ing session on Steve Alfen’s “To- night” show on NBC-TV tomorrow (Thurs.). Session, which will be open to viewers between midnight and 1 a.m., will feature Dolores Haw- kins cutting “Smoky Morning” for the Epic label. Marvin Holtzman, Epic’s aritsts & repertoire chief, will be In charge of the session while Don Costa will conduct the orch. Epic is gearing its pressing facili- ties so that platters will be> avail- able to retailers around the coun- try within 24 hours. Tune was written by Don George in collaboration with Steve Allen. It’s being published by Carole Mu- sic, George’s own pubbery opera- tion. 4 Aces, in Glasgow, MuD London Palladium Date Glasgow, March 22. The Four-Aces, who teeoff in vaude at the Empire Theatre here Monday (28), are likely to be in- cluded in the Grade Fields.bill at the London Palladium for the two weeks starting May 9. On completing its tour, group re- turns to the U.S. to appear in a n E>y,'pic i ,/; j Wpek?nd in Las V#^s/’: Don Cornell Opens First British Tour London, March 22. Making his first visit to Britaiil, singer Don Cornell flew into Lon- don last Thursday (17), prepara- tory to starting his to.ur at Glas- gow Empire yesterday (Mon.) Two days after arriving, he recorded two titles for the Coral label ac- companied by the Roland Shaw orch. Future dates on his tour Include Edinburgh, Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool, Hanley, Birmingham. The singer's manager Mannie Greenfield and his accompanist Jerry Carretta are here in Britain with him. Ringling Score Jockey Push The circus id now hopping on the dee jay bandwagon. Two tunes from the score of the 1955 edition of the Ringling Bros., Barnum- & Bailey Circus, which was penned by * circus topper John Ringling North (music) and Irving Caesar (lyrics), already have been cut by Columbia- Records. The Big Top drumbeaters are lining up a hefty d.j. promotion campaign ■ to pro- mote the tunes in the 200 cities the circus is scheduled .to play this season. Tunes already sliced by Col are “Impossible” with Sammy Kaye, and “Honolulu Bay” with Mitch Miller. Other tunes from the score are *‘Your Birthday Is The Biggest Holiday of All,” “Mamas In the Park” and “Rainbow Around the World.” Last three are produc-. tions numbers. Caesar returned to his New York base early this week from Sarasota, Fla., where the circus had been rehearsing. The circus opens at New York’s Madi- son Square Garden next week (30). New Tape Club A recorded Tape-of-the-Month Club has been launched by Harold Beechman, a diamond merchant with an amateur’s interest in the field. Beechman is selling standard seven-inch tapes to members at $5.95. Members will, get a cuffo four-inch tape each month to pre- view the upcoming selections. First selection for the tape club this month was Hans Lengsfelder’s “Musical Notes From a Tourist's Notebook,” played by the World Symphony Orchestra. Second selec- tion in April will be “The Investi- gator,” the CBC dramatic show, which was turned into a bestseller on the Discuriosity label. Beech- man plans .to issue jazz, opera, poetry readings, etc., in his tape project. "SfaaKffe £adg utTouift* Recorded by FRANKIE LAINE Columbia #40457 M. WITMARK t SONS v.v.v.*:4 A TUNEFUL ADDITION TO ANY PROGRAM Styne and Cahn's "PAPA WON'T YOU DANCE WITH ME!" STYNE and CAHN MUSIC Inc. America's Most Excitiifg Musician HERBIE FIELDS and his orchestra Currently SAHARA HOTEL, LAS VEGAS DECCA RECORDS aaia ( ■■■■■■ ASSOCIATED BOOKING CORPORATION JOE GLASER, Pres. New York I ■ Chicago I Hollywood 7-V; 5fli Ave. PL. 9-4600 | 203 No. Wabash | 8619 Sunset Blvd.