Variety (August 1956)

Ufi&nsff 43 Wednesday, August 1, 1956 MUSIC . George Marek ‘Surprised’ at the Way Europe’s Taking to Made^for-D-S. Beat Spina Sidling Up to Spinners With Own ‘Packaged’ Tunes for ASCAP Pot George R. Marek, RCA Victor -f veepee just back from recording “II Trovatore” and "Rigolelto” in Rome, as he has done the past two or three years with other big-name operatic stars abroad, is amazed by the continuing "Yank invasion of Europe” with such indigenous American items as Elvis Presley, “mood music” albums, not to men¬ tion the obvious impact of pop artists ' like Perry Como, freak diskery items like Marilyn Monroe (who happens also to be an RCA Victor recording artist) and, of course, jazz. The impact of jazz by now is. of course, stock because Le Jaz? Hot cultists in France and Belgium made the American rhythms gen¬ erally acceptable. “But Presley, who even to some Americans is considered too offbeat to have that European impact from just a few records,” surprises Marek. Ifs credited, of course, to Armed Forces Network and the British Forces Network playing of his plat¬ ters. The mood music and film sound¬ track albums are also “following in the tradition of other things American, like automobiles, quick- lunches, Coca-Cola, and the like, which have taken Europe by storm.” Tlje sight ’ of “service libre” (self-service) cafeterias off the Champs-Elysees is something Marek, an old European hand, wouldn’t believe unless he saw it' himself. Just as he is annually disbelieving about the constantly pyramiding Paris prices which, he feels, year after year, “just couldn’t go higher, but they do.” Can’t See the Musicians For the Mikes as Conn. Jazz Fete Hits Fat 18G By LEO MILLER Bridgeport, July 31. First Connecticut Jazz Festival is claiming distinction of biggest paid one-performance attendance of any festival to date and most radio network remotes of any fes¬ tival, but that’s as far as the dis¬ tinctions go. More than 9,000, by far the rec¬ ord crowd of the current Connecti¬ cut Pops season, went through the turnstiles at Fairfield U. field Saturday (28) for an estimated gross of $18,000. Figuring music package at $4,000,' net was very substantial. Event was for benefit of Connecticut Symphony Orches¬ tra, making it a case of a jazz concert being staged to aid a long¬ hair organization. Sponsors were so pleased that a three-day festival Is being projected for next year. As a show the festival left a lot to be desired. Poor programming, poor production' and an almost complete lack of coordination ne¬ gated a great deal of the talents involved. It wasn’t until the second half that the concert got off the ground as the very virtuoso Chico Hamilton quintet took over and established a high mood which generally maintained to the end of the evening. With all it's recent festival ex*- perience, the Duke Ellington orch missed many crowd-pleasing op¬ portunities. The “Festival Suite? was a wrong choice to open the bill cold, and the sensational solo and ensemble .smashes of the latter half were too long delayed. Much more successful were the visiting soloists—Willie (The Lion) Smith, songstress Barbara Lea, Buck • Clayton and Hank Jones. What marred the night as much ' as any factor was the . overage of radio coverage. By the time ABC, NBC, Mutual, BBC, the Voice of America, WFUV-FM had set up there was such a forest of mikes the musicians could hardly be seen. And the time demands of the vari¬ ous programs also interfered with the normal processes of the live performance. Sid Gross, the former British disk jockey who produced the fes¬ tival, outdid himself in promoting the event—probably the best-sold concert ever staged in these parts. But as an emcee , he was a dud— especially when the Connecticut Pops’ regular emcee, Walter Kier- nan, was benched for the night. No ‘Free* Listening George R. Marek, RCA Vic¬ tor veep, was impressed on his recent Paris stopover from Rome to New York by (1) a big charge-it phonograph shop in the Gare de Lyons (railroad station), which has a unique (at least for Paris) merchan¬ dising pattern, and (2) a “200- franc per half-hour listening charge in the music booths.” Latter is to discourage the kids freeloading on the new platters, hence the 60c charge, but if they buy a disk there is no charge. The idea also dis¬ courages wasting a lot of time just to buy one platter, hence the 30-minute ceiling at the 200-franc fee. The merchandising that In¬ trigued Marek was the manner in which the commuters leave their orders for the new disks when they arrive at the rail¬ road station, picking them up, already packaged, when de¬ parting; and, somewhat unusu¬ al for Paris, a charge-it sys- teth which this music mer¬ chant has built up. Glen Island Casino Sues RCA Victor, Others On Glenn Miller ‘Air Checks’ The Glenn Miller air-check al¬ bum has developed into a big legal headache for RCA Victor. Latest wrangle came up last week when the Glen Island Casino filed suit in N. Y. Supreme Court charging that Victor, Helen D. Miller (the orchestra leader’s widow) and David Mackay had wrongfully ap¬ propriated the bandleader’s radio broadcasts at the Casino. The suit seeks an accounting and damages from the limited edition released by Victor. The plaintiff claims that the defendants appro¬ priated for their own benefit the radio broadcasts which were made for the plaintiff, at the plaintiff’s predecessor’s expense, at the Ca¬ sino from May 15 to Aug. 30, 1939. . The contract was between Mich¬ ael L. De Zutter, owner of the Ca¬ sino, and Miller had provided that all expenses for installation of wires for broadcasting be paid by the plaintiff and under agreement that no part was to be reproduced. The air-checks were made to help Miller improve his performances. The suit claims that the Victor album totaled over $10,000,000 in sales and that the plaintiff was en¬ titled to at least 5% of the gross. Lieberson to Europe Goddard Lieberson, Columbia Records prez, planes to Europe Aug. 9 for a looksee at the over¬ seas disk situation. It’s his first hope abroad since taking over the presidential reins, from James B. Conkling in June. He’ll be away from his N.Y. desk for about three weeks. Mercury’s Billy Daniels Signs With Polydor Also London, July 31. Billy Daniels, Mercury contract artist, now on a British vaude tour, last week was signed by the Poly¬ dor label (a subsidiary of I-Ielidor) which gives them world rights to a number of disks he will cut in this country. By this deal, Poly¬ dor gets its biggest international name since it began British pro¬ duction. Because of time limitations, Daniels’ first recording session last Friday (28) took place at midnight; with him were accompanist Benny Payne and a group of picked Brit¬ ish instrumentalists. He will not be available to cut other disks un¬ til Aug. 20. f Hollywood, July 31. Now ASCAP performance pay¬ off system has cued a precedental move by tunesmilh Harold Spina, who has packaged some of his own material in a set of promotional albums for disk jockeys only. Suc¬ cess of the scheme will be meas¬ ured in performances of Spina’s tunes—with the resultant boost in his performance ratings. Since the new ASCAP formula went into effect, Spina has been corresponding with deejays around the country, suggesting they play specific recordings of his tunes. In many cases, the deejavs reported they were unable to get the plat-, ters in question. As a result, Spina decided to supply the platters. He selected 24 songs, ranging from the Guy Lombardo etching of “Annie Doesn’t Live Here Any More” (1933) to “Phenix City Blues,” as recorded by Meg Myles last year, arid began the hunt for some of the more obscure record¬ ings. The rare Dinah Shore etch¬ ing of “So Nice to Have a Man Around the House” and Ben Pol¬ lack’s "The Beat of My Heart,” with Doris Robbins on vocals, pre¬ sented the biggest problems. When the disks were assembled, Spina turned them over to per¬ sonal manager Red Doff', who pro¬ duced a pair of 12-inch albums, each programmed for easy deejay use with the pertinent information carefully included on the liner cover. “Man Around the House” also was edited to delete material which had kept the platter from being broadcast over many stations when the tune was initially re¬ leased in 1950. Total of 1,000 sets were pressed, and the first mailing to deejays [•went out last week. Total cost is in the neighborhood of $3,000, a figure Spina figures to recoup through the added boost his ASCAP ratings will receive. Set is clearly marked “Not for Sale” and will be available only on a free distribution basis to platter spinners. Material includes Ozzie Nelson’s recording of "Dark on. Observatory Hill”; Fats Waller’s "You’re Not the Only Oyster in the Stew”; Bing Crosby’s "I Still Love to Kiss You Goodnight”; and Patti Page’s "Would I Love You, Love You, Love You.” Muse-Art Hits Muzak With Antitrust Action; Alleges Discrimination An antitrust and' conspiracy suit was filed in N. Y. Federal Court last week against the Muzak Corp. by the Muse-Art Corp of Phila¬ delphia, a Muzak affiliate. Also named in the suit as defendants are three Muzak execs, William Ben¬ ton, Harry Houghton and Charles C. Cowley, Suit, involving a treble damages claim of over $1,000,000, alleges- that Muzak entered in H o a con¬ spiracy to obtain and maintain a monopoly in the field of wired music. The suit charges Muzak with practicing discrimination against; particular franchise hold¬ ers, including Muse-Art, by charg¬ ing royalties, that are. greater than those paid by the favored fran¬ chisers. Plaintiffs state tlfiat Muzak can fix arbitrary and <■ excessive rates which greatly increase the cost of services. , The suit further charges that there is a conspiracy between Mu¬ zak and WCAU in Philadelphia to destroy Muse-Art's business and prevent lawful competition be¬ tween the latter two companies. Muse-Art charges that Muzak de¬ livered, directly or indirectly, con¬ fidential information of Muse-Art’s business to WCAU. Muse-Art has been affiliated with Muzak for over 15 years. Under the agreement, Muse-Art, as a franchise holder, is required to pay 10% of its gross to Muzak plus supply a derailed list of names and addresses of its customers and charges. Muse-Art charges that the names on its list were supplied to WCAU which solicited them for new contracts. Max Ingber, president of Muse- Art, «aid the suit had. been "Jhreat- ening” for several years and was "inevitable.” ffiRnfTY Scoreboard OF TOP TALENT AND TUNES Compiled from Statistical Reports of Distribution Encompassing the Three Major Outlets Coin Machines Retail Disks Retail Sheet Music as Published in the Current Issue NOTE: The current comparative sales strength of the Artists and Tunes listed hereunder is arrwed at under a statistical system comprising each of the three major sales outlets enu¬ merated above. These findings are correlated with data from wider sources, which are exclusive with Variety. The positions resulting from these findings denote the OVERALL IMPACT de¬ veloped from the ratio of points scored, two ways in the case of talent (coin machines, retail dislcs) and three ways in the case of tunes (coin machines, retail disks and retail sheet music). POSITIONS This Last Week Week TALENT TUNE- (My Prayer ] Heaven On Earth 7 8 9 10 POSITIONS This .Last Weik Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ARTIST AND LABEL PLATTERS (Mercury). 'fHound Dog ELVIS PRESLEY (Victor) . i I Want You, I Need You * - [Don’t Be Cruel DORIS DAY (Columbia) .Whatever Will Be, Will Be PAT BOONE (Dot) .. I Almost Lost My Mind ' GOGI GRANT (Era) .(Wayward Wind ' 7 (Heart Hideaway fMore PERRY COMO (Victor) .-(Glendora (S’Body Up There Likes Me VIC DAMONE (Columbia) ..... On Street Where You Live ■ PATTI PAGE (Mercury) ..Allegheny Moon MORRIS STOLOFF (Decca) . Moonglow-Picnic Theme GENE VINCENT (Capitol).. Be-Bop-a-Lula TUNES • (♦ASCAP. tBMI) TUNE PUBLISHER ♦WHATEVER WILL BE* WILL BE.Artists fWAYWARD WIND .......!. Warman ♦MY PRAYER . Shapiro-B ♦ALLEGHENY MOON.Oxford fl ALMOST LOST MY MIND.Hill & Range ♦ON* THE STREET WHERE YOU LIVE. Chappell .^MOONGLOW-PICNIC THEME .Mills-Columbia Pics fHOUND DOG. Presley fl WANT YOU, I NEED YOU, I LOVE YOU ....Presley fSWEET OLD-FASHIONED GIRL.Valor