Variety (March 1956)

56 MUSIC Wednesday, March 14) 1956 Music Trust Fund Allocations Soaring To JilOJOO Next Year as Take Climbs The Music Performance Trust Fund, which has become an issue in the revolt of American Federa¬ tion of Musicians Coast Local 47 against AFM prexy James C. Pet- rillo, will allocate nearly $4,000,- 000 for footer employment pro¬ jects for the 12 months ending June 30, 1957. Growing rate of royalties from the disk and video film makers will make possible the hike over the $2,800,000 being al¬ located for the year ending June 30, 1956. The Fund, operated for the disk and tv industries by trustee Sam¬ uel R. Rosenbaum, was set' up as a result of* agreements with the AFM. Although originally admin- Disk Sales Following is the annual breakdown of sales on disks licensed through the Ameri¬ can Federation of Musicians and on which royalties were paid to the Music Performance Trust Fund: 1949 .$150,600,000 1950 .$151,000,000 1951 . .$156,400,000 1952 .$163,800,000 1953 ...$172,000,000 1954 .$178,000,000 (1955 figures will be avail¬ able on June 30 of this year.) istered by the AFM, the Taft- Hartley Law illegalized that oper¬ ation and so the Fund was trans¬ formed into an industry body.. The Fund’s,money is used for financing cuffo concerts in hospitals, parks, etc., in projects suggested by the various AFM locals. During 1955, the Fund financed over 23,000 per¬ formances involving 179,000 jobs for musicians. Coast Local 47 members have been squawking that coin has been diverted from their pockets to swell the Fund’s treasury. AFM execs, however, contend that un¬ ion members' make no contribu¬ tions to the Fund, since it is fi¬ nanced from royalties paid by the disk and tv industries. According to Local 47, that is purely a techni¬ cality since the last AFM pact with the diskers provided that the in¬ dustry would pay more into the Fund in lieu of a wage hike. Collections from the disk indus¬ try have been steadily rising over | the years,* along with the rise in the gross sales. During the first six months of last year, the Fund col¬ lected some $1,300,000 from disk royalties. From the tv film indus¬ try, the Fund collected over $700,- 000. Total allocations made by the Fund from 1950 to June 1956 will be over $ 10 , 000 , 000 . Wilde Joins Levy In Birdland Jazz Setup A1 Wilde has wound up a 20 -year association with the Gale Agency; to team up with Morris Levy in* the management of the Birdland jazz concert activities as well as other jazz package ' promotions. Levy heads for Europe March 16 to line up a first overseas tour for the Birdland group. The Bird- land Jazz Concert takes its name from Birdland, N. Y. jazz* nitery operated by Levy. The 1956 Birdland tour wound up a three-and-a-half-week trek recently in Washington, D. C., and plans are already in the works for next year’s tour. Wilde expects to extend the tour from the usual three-and-a-half-week run to sev- en-and-a-half weeks'^ in ’57. Mike Hall will continue to pressagent the tour. Col Ups Jack Fuller To Sales Press Chief Columbia Records has upped Jack Fuller to the newly created post of manager Of sales publica tions. In the new- spot, Fuller will handle the weekly “confidential” to Col’s sales staffers, a weekly deejay newsletter and a monthly “dealer confidential bulletin.” . _ Fuller was previously Merchan¬ dise manager in Col’s pop and country & western division. Jack Fina orch to open the new business room in Galveston, Tex., in May. Stratford Stomp Stratford, Ont., March 13. Shakespeare teams up with jazz next summer at the fourth Bard- fest here. Five jazz programs will be given during the Festival in July and August. Louis Apple- baum, Canadian composer, is plan¬ ning the festival’s music. Jazzmen to appear include Wil¬ bur de Paris, Jimmy Rushing, Wil¬ lie (“The Lion”) Smith. Duke El¬ lington, Calvin Jackson Quartet, Phil Nimmons, Dave Brqbeck’s Quartet, Norm Syriionds’ octet, Modern Jazz Quartet and Art Ta¬ tum. Paul Draper will dance on one of the jazz shows. Festival plays are “Henry V” and “Merry Wives of Windsor.” Safari for Sounds Chicago, March 13. Mercury Records is shipping a soundtruck to Europe in June to record European opera and classi¬ cal music groups. David Hall and Bob Fine will su¬ pervise the trip. * Peatman’* TV Credits Growing importance of tele¬ vision as a showcase for origi¬ nal musicals and/or tunes has won video a credit in* the Dr. John G. Peatman chart run weekly in Variety’s music section. Need for the tv billing was pointed out by producer- composer Arthur Schwartz who produced the musical ver¬ sion of “High Tor” over CBS- TV last Saturday (10). “When You’re In Love,” and “John Barleycorn” from “Tor” are now repped on the chart. In the past such clicko songs as “Let Me Go, Lover,”- “Hard to Get” and ‘Love and Marriage,” from various video shows, made the chart. Sparton to Distribute ABC-Paramount in Can. London, Ont., March 13. Sparton of Canada, diskery here, is now Canadian outlet of ABC- Paramount Records. Sparton originally cut 14-year- old Priscilla Wright’s “Man In a Raincoat,” which became a smash in Canada and a moderate U. S. hit on Unique last year. Harold E. Pounds, merchandising manager, presently heads its expanding a. & r, department. SPA to Lay Down Law to Publishers Re Curbing Cut-Ins on Getters’ Coin The Songwriters Protective Assn, plans to laj% dbwn the law to music publishers in its fight against the cut-in on cleffer royalties. SPA will sit down with the top publish¬ ers at a formal meeting at which time the writers’ organization will state that any pressure to divvy up the royalties with persons known or unknown is a violation of the basic SPA contract. SPA’s council issued the follow¬ ing statement last week: “SPA believes thqre can be no compro¬ mise with the payola or with sim- jlar practices in the music indus¬ try. These can lead only to disaster. Because talk is no substitute for vigorous action, a committee has been appointed to consider the means of eradicating these prac¬ tices. “The committee will report its findings and recommendations to the council within the next 10 days. Members of the SPA com¬ mittee are prexy Abel Baer, Otto Harbach, Alex Kramer, John Jacob Loeb and Charles Tobias. From the cleffers’ viewpoint, the publishers bear the major respon¬ sibility for the existence of the cut- in technique. It’s claimed that the pubs put the heat on the writers particularly the less experienced ones, to make any deal necessary to land a platter. * From the publishers’ standpoint it’s the diskers who should take the rap. It’s held that they hold the whip-hand in the music biz’s present setup and force them to make all sorts of comer-cutting deals. Not only the under-the-table payola is involved, but also the diskers* pressure on pubs to share exploitation costs, take royalty rates, buy disk jockey and jukebox copies, etc. One SPA exec stated frankly that he “expected no cooperation from the publishers in this mat¬ ter.” JUDY'S SISTER ON WAX Dallas, March 13. Virginia Thompson, sister of Judy Garland* and her arranger- husband, Johnny Thompson, have been signed by Linn Records. Their first release will combine Thompson’s “Crying in the Night” and “Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt” by Peg Morrison pf this city. RETAIL DISK AND ALDUM DEST SELLERS NELSON RIDDLE (Capitol) “Lisbon Antigua”. X LES BAXTER (Capitol) “Poor People of Paris”.. .. FOUR LADS (Columbia) “No, Not Much”. 8 KAY STARR Victor) ' “Rock and Roll Waltz”. 3 PLATTERS (Mercury) “Great Pretender”. 2 “DICK HYMAN TRIO (MGM) “Moritat** . 5 DON CHERRY (Columbia) “Band of Gold”.. TEEN-AGERS (Gee). . “Why Do Fools Fall in Love”. CARL PERKINS (Sun) “Blue Suede Shoes”... PAT BOONE (Dot) “ “I’ll Be Home”. BILL HALEY’S COMETS (Decca) “See You Later* Alligator”’. 4 PERKY COMO (Victor) “Hot Diggity”. ELVIS PRESLEY (Victor) “Heart Break Hotel”. DEAN MARTIN (Capitol) “Memories Are Made of This”.... 0 “PERRY COMO (Victor) “Juke Box Baby”. .. TERESA BREWER (Coral) “A Tear Fell”. . DIAMONDS (Mercury) “Why Do Fools Fall in Love”. CHORDETTES (Cadence) “Eddie, My Love”. DREAMWEAVERS (Decca) “It’s Almost Tomorrow”. ... 10 TURBANS (Herald) “When You Dance”. BONNUTsISTERS (Rainbow) VCry Baby”. BETTY JOHNSON (Bally) I’ll Wait”. BILLY MAY (Capitol) “Main Title”. TEEN QUEENS (RPM) “Eddie, My Love”... .. Al7"HIBBLERlDecca) “Eleventh Hour Melody”. 1 1- 2 71.. 4 7 2 1 2 2 149 4 2 11 4 1 .. 1 5 10 8 144 10 3 4 A, 2 5 3 4‘ 4 1 6 128 34 4 117 7 5 .. 10 OKLAHOMA! 5 TROMBONES, ; , , 4 FRESHMEN HARRY BENNY . CAROUSEL OKLAHOMA! 5 TROMBONES, GOODMAN 4 FRESHMEN BELAFONTE STORY Film Soundtrack film Soundtrack , Four Freshmen ’ Harry Belafonte Benny Goodman Capitol Capitol Decca Capitol Victor D k 3252.3 W 694 SOA 595 T 683 LPM 1150 ED 797-8-9 EDM 694 FDM 1, 2-595 EAP 1,2,3-683 7 8 9 1° MAN WITH THE MUSIC TO ELVIS PRESLEY GUYS AND GOLDEN ARM CHANGE HER DOLLS K | ro s.» n d.,..k , film soundtrack Jackie Gleason Dedca - Capitol Victor „ DL 8257 W 632 , DL 9023 ED 2335-6-7 EBF; 1, 2-632 LPM 1254 ED 2308