Variety (February 1957)

MUSIC P^ie¥y 48 OnllKDpbeat New York Art Mooney bought the Windsor Hotel in Hollywood, Fla. . . . Eddie Lane orch replaced Guy Lombardo at Roosevelt Grill Monday (65) . . . The Four Voices set for a two-week run at the Monteleone .Hotel, New Orleans, March 5 . . . Ann Summers Is thespew femme vocalist with the Glenn Miller orch under direction of Ray McKinley . . , Ken Collins, deejay at KXYZ, Houston, into the Army for a sixmonth hitch. He reports to Ft. Lee, Va., March 8 as a second lieutenant in the Quar¬ termaster Corps . . . Ted Maksymowicz heads the polka session every 'Wednesday at Roseland Dance City. Allen Stanton of SheldonSequence Music and Ann Lawton of Barry & Enright tv productions honeymooning in Havana. They were married Feb. 22 . . . Rylon Merced, the Jamaican Thunderbirds and Steve & Bobo head the bill at the Ekim Calypso Dock . . . George Shearing readying his first tour of England since coming to the U.S. in 1947. A1 Hibbler into Brooklsoi’s Town & Country March 19 . . . Meyer Davis to Palm Beach to conduct his orch at the Everglades Club for the annual Hospital Ball March 7 . . . Erroll Garner began a week's stand at the Colonial Tavern, Toronto, Monday (25) , . . Chris Connor headlines the bill at Birdland starting tomorrow (Thurs.). Lineup also includes the Johnny Smith Quartet and croon¬ er Mark Murphy who’s making his New York nitery debut . . . Damiron^ mambo orch currently at the Golden Slipper, Glen Cove, L.I. London Fred Jackson, Mills Music topper in this country, on a two-week busi¬ ness visit to the Continent . . . Agent Harold Davison back to U.S. for windup of the Ted Heath tour. Davison went out with the band but came back for a week before rejoining it . . . Tex Ritter arrived here last week (23) for a variety tour . . . They’re teaching rock ’n' roll at the Savoy Hotel. Resident orch the Savoy Orpheans plays the music, and Hameda (the specialty dancer in “Fanny”) with Alan Gabriel teach the steps . . . Theme music for Columbia’s “Fortune Is A Woman” composed by William Alwyn, and recorded for the film by the Royal Philharmonic Orches¬ tra. Plans under way to add lyrics to the music, for release on sheet ■ by Campbell Connelly . . . The King Bros, vocal instrumental trio first to be signed by Norman Newell in his new job as a&r man¬ ager with EMI . . . The Oscar Rabin band’s five-year contract at the Lyceum Ballroom extended until 1960 . . . Shirley Bassey lined up for Cafe de Paris return date early in 1958. She’s currently appearing at Las Vegas. _ _ a wonderful ieasonal song STYNE AND CAHN'8 * CAHN MUSIC Hollywood Jimmy Wakely set to pen title song for UI's “Slim Carter” star¬ ring Jock Mahoney . . . Liberty Records is planning a big. bash, to. celebrate’ its second anniversary next .month , . . Freddy Martin’s orch set for eight-week stint at N. Y.’s Statler Hotel beginning March 1 . . . Albert Glasser set to score Am-Par’s “Beginning of the End.” Julie Dorsey, daughter of the late bandleader Tommy Dor¬ sey, set for a role in Warners’ “The Helen Morgan Story.” . . . Ray An¬ thony’s solid weekend biz at the Palladium has cinched the Friday-Saturday policy for the terpery . . . MGM Records is rushing “Calypso Melody,” a Dave Rose etching of a Trinidadian instrumental by Larry Clinton, the old dipsy doodler . . . Jim Backus readying a deejay tele¬ phone interview bit around the country to plug Victor’s “Magoo In Hi-Fi” album. Decca exec veepee Leonard W. Schneider in 10-day huddle with waxery personnel here . . . Ten¬ nessee Ernie Ford’s hymn album passed the 200,000 mark, the “This Is Your Life” show getting the credit for a solid added boost . . . Art Kassell and Bill Daily cut a single with vocalist Johnny Ridge on their Kady label and then sold it to Epic. Benny Carter conduct¬ ed : Vik Records has signed Julie Wilson to a longtermer and she will start cutting an album shortly . . . Gale Robbins bought a batch of calypso tunes from Tohl Mathers and will record them for Era. Chicago Johnny ^ Puleo & Harmonica Gang are booked for Hotel Roose¬ velt, New Orleans, along with Rusty Draper for early 1958. Draper goes into the Balinese Room, Galveston, May 9 for two frames . . . Russ Carlyle orch plays the. Chi Martinique for four weeks. May 15 . . . June Christie into Mr. Kelly^s March 11 . . . Modern Jazz Room will be closed through the Lenten season until May 1 when Stan Getz lifts the shutters . . . Chubby Jackson has come under the wing of Associated Booking Corp. Miles Davis Quintet opens twoweek stand at Modern Jazz Room tonight (Wed.) . . . Chico Hamilton Quintet inked for five-weeker at Chi’s London House April 3 . . . Bob Scobey six at Blue Note for two weeks April 17 . . . Stan Getz Quartet at Modern Jazz Room for two weeks April 29 . . . Woody Herman set for Blue Note May 1523 . . . Noblemen (3) at Kentucky Hotel, Louisville, for four frames I March 11". . . London House pacted Errol Garner Trio for four weeks July 31. Pittsburgh Marion McPartland Trio had to cancel out of the Midway Lounge this week with Jutta Hipp, pianist, booked in as last-minute replace¬ ment . . . Dan Mastri, leader of Deuces Wild, in hospital with a back injury and Jim DeJulio is subbing for him oh bass fiddle vidth combo at Sportsmen’s Mural Lounge,. , . Phineas Newborn Jr., at Midway Lounge with his four¬ some just a couple of weeks ago, will be back in the Billy EckstineSarah Vaughan-Count Basie “Birdland” package at Mosque March 12. Philadelphia Howard Gerlach, cleffer of “Dad¬ dy’s Little Girl,” is the new pianist at the Red Oak . . . Bob Scott, for¬ mer 88-er with Gene Krupa, doing PARAMOUNT THEATRE, N.Y.-Now BUDDY KNOX With the RHYTHM ORCHIDS STATE THEATRE. HARTFORD— Nexf Current ROULETTE RECORD Releote PARTY DOLL, b/w MY BABY'S GONE ASSOCIATED BOOKING GOBPORATiON JOE GL4SER, Pres. New York 'Chicago 745 5?Ii Avg, PL. 9-4600 i 203' No. Wabash Kollywood 3619 Sunset Blvd. the arrangements for the Cal Milncr-Larry Brown orch . . ^ Gloria Mann ’switched from Decca to ABC-Paramount label . . . Pep Lattanzi, Bil Bill’s trumpeter, con¬ ducted the Freddie Bell recording session in New York, for Mercury . . . Barbara Lea making local de¬ but at the Celebrity Room . . . Bobby Breen pacted to follow next week . . . Louis Jordan & Tympani Five booked into Pep’s (22) for a week’s stand . . . Anna Maria Alberghetti will be in for the Sher¬ aton Hotel inaugural party (March 5) . . . The Blue Note, cool jazz landmark, latest spot to go calypso, featuring Candida . . . Eileen Bar¬ ton, Tommy Leonetti, The Hi-Lites and The Rhymettess inked into Chubby’s for a week (25). KENNEDY IN SUIT VS. BELAFONTE ON SHARI Jay Richard Kennedy filed suit against Harry Belafonte and Shari Music in N. Y. Supreme Court last week seeking an accounting of the music firm’s profits and allagin'g that Belafonte wrongfully wasted assets of the firm for his own bene¬ fit. The Shari firm was set up in October, 1955, with Kennedy as prez and director owning 20 shares, of common stock and 50% of capi¬ tal stock. Belafonte, who had same amount of stock, is firm’s veepee and director. The suit charges that since June, 1956, Belafonte worked out a plan whereby he diverted income right¬ fully belonging to Shari for him¬ self and that he acquired title to a number of calypso songs for his own benefit, depriving Shari of royalties and other monies. Kennedy also charges that the singer utilized corporate property for his own benefit without pay¬ ment to Shari for the tune “Island in the Sun.” Song, which will be used as a title theme for the , up¬ coming 20th-Fox pic, had been de¬ veloped as a corporate property but, the suit alleges, Belafonte ar¬ ranged for the licensing for $2,500 and terms unknown to Shari and then put the tune in his newly formed Clara Music firm. Novelist eKnnedy was longtime personal rep for Belafonte. Pearl Bailey to Spin Roulette's Album Bow Roulette Records, the recently formed indie label, will begin its album catalog buildup with Pearl Bailey. Thrush* is the first artist to be inked for Roulette’s package push by Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore, who took over operation of the dlskery a couple of weeks a, go. Miss Bailey will record her first album for the label when she re¬ turns from her current European jaunt in three weeks. She cut an album for Peretti and Creatore late last year when they were a&r’ing at Mercury Records. Urania Brass Hopping In Pre-Spring Push Urania Records’ brass fanned out around the country last week to kick off the diskery’s spring merchandising program. Daken Brc^dhead, firm’s board chairman, was in New York for planning sessions and confabs with the eastern distributors. Ned Herzstam, Urania’s Coast rep, is swinging through the south and midwest visiting dealers and distribs, while sales manager David Rothfeld introed the label’s new stereo tape line to the trade at hifi shows in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Urania’s current promotion pitch is on its “Dreams of Paris” pack¬ age which is tied in with the Lion paperback, “Paris,” by Art BuchI wald. Decca Pacts Judy Scott Judy Scott, 19-yeor-old song¬ stress from Colorado and a “dis¬ covery” of Jerry Lewis, has beep inked by Decca Records. Lewis heard the songstress while she was performing in the Copacabana, N. Y., lounge last fall. Miss Scott later played the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas with Lewis under the name of Judy Gaye. She formerly was vocalist with the Ralph Flanagan orch. MILT FRIEDMAN TO GALE Milt Friedman has joined Moe Gale’s Sheldon-Sequence music comb’ne to handle disk promotion in the east. Vedneaday, February 27» 1957 Gene Buck— Music Statesman !=^ .,■■■■ . =By ABEL rinwxr — The paid obit on Gene Buck reads, in part, “The 17 years of his presidency (of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Pub¬ lishers) from 1924 to 1941 were the most critical and significant years of ASCAP’s existence, years that brought national recognition to this Society. His gift for leadership will never be forgotten. , . .” One of the founding fathers of the Society, this showman-songsmith* industry leader lived to see ASCAP develop from its' 1914 cradle days, through that 1922 milestone when the Society’s first annual dividend (a paltry but highly significant $68,000) was declared, to 1941 when, with and despite the broadcasters, ASCAP was on its way to vigorous $20,000,000 annual melons. In Buck’s time, what appeared a byproduct revenue for the Amer¬ ican music business developed into its major economic yield as the electronic and “performance rights” values made the once basic busi¬ ness of “publishing” a mere detail. . ' Buck was a multiple-threat talent. He was literally an artist with vision. It first manifested itself when he conceived the multiple-color “piano copies” for popular songs, which he designed for the old Whit¬ ney & Warner music publishing house, in Detroit, after taking a course in the Detroit Art Academy. When Jerome H. Remick bought out Whitnoy & Warner he took Buck with him but after drawing 5,000 different title-pages his eyesight went back on him. Buck’s longtime association with Flo Ziegfeld is part of the show business lore. He was a librettist, with 500 published numbers to his credit. And above all he was a leader, a gifted orator. (Variety vets recall the phrase uttered by Buck, at one of the annua) pilgrimages to the bier of this paper’s founder-editor-publisher, when he said, “the reason we gather here so spontaneously is because we all recog¬ nize that when Sime Silverman left this crazy jigsaw puzzle of life he left a space that can never be replaced”). Gene Buck’s longtime dedication saw him presidenf of the Catholic Actors’ Guild, among other intra-industry activities . But he’ll be most remembered as a great figure of America’s music business. Gene Buck Dies At 71 Continued from pace 43 the administration of the Society. Paying tribute to one of his prede¬ cessors, incumbent prexy Paul Cunningham said, “Buck had a pro¬ found influence on the professional careers of thousands of American composers and authors. The 17 years of his presidency were the most critical and significant years of ASCAP’s existence, years that brought national recognition to the Society.” Buck came to New York in 1907 and designed more covers for Gotham publishers. In 1911, he Gene Buck Memorial Hollywood, Feb. 26. Gene Buck will be memori¬ alized at the Coast meeting of AS(3aP’s membership at the Beverly Hills Hotel here to¬ morrow (Thurs.) night. L. Wolfe Gilbert, chairman of the Coast contingent . and a close friend of Buck, is flying into N. Y. tomorrow (Wed.) to pay his respects to the family and will fly back to the Coast in time for the dinner meeting. Other ASCAP execs are also planning to fly to the Coast immediately after the funeral services at St. Patrick’s Cathe¬ dral, N. Y.. Thursday (28) morning. wrote “Daddy Has a Sweetheart and Mother Is Her Name,” which Dave Stamper set to music. Buck later worked with Lillian Lorraine in an Oscar Hammerstein show as her set designer and director be¬ fore joining Flo Ziegfeld as a writ¬ er. Buck was with Ziegfeld for 17 years, writing most of the 20 edi¬ tions of the “Follies” and 16 edi¬ tions of the “Midnight Frolics.” Buck originated for Ziegfeld the combination restaurant and show spot in the “Midnight Frolics” on the New Amsterdam roof. J Buck’s role in the creation of va¬ rious Ziegfeld productions 6f the past was easily traced through the extended text of Robert Baral’s special ptece in the 51st Anniver¬ sary edition ot Variety. Buck himself proved a treasure trove of research data, having kept copious notes and possessing considerable powers of detailed recall. A man of great artidulation, Buck was one^of the thinning gen¬ eration of “speech makers.” Noted for his broad strain of sentimen¬ tality about things and personali¬ ties pertaining to the business there’s none like. Buck was one of the unpublicized eulogists who tra¬ velled many a September with the pilgrimage of old hands to the tomb of Sime Silverman at Salem Fields in Long Island. These pil¬ grimages arose spontaneously, af¬ ter the death of the founder of Variety in 1933, and continued nearly 20 years. Others who were heard in tribute to Sime Included Eddie Cantor, Arthur Hopkins, George Jessel, Jimmy Durante, Bert Lytell, et al. ' Gene Buck’s role as a man quickwith-the well-phrased appropriate remarks in no way conflicted with his other role as a tough, hard¬ bitten administrator of ASCAP. He and Edwin Claude Mills were def¬ inite tough eggs in the period when ASCAP knew not the mean¬ ing of good public* relations with ASCAP’s own customers (notably the .broadcasters), or with the press (early Variety staffers considered the ASCAP offices “imposible” as a news source). Buck collaborated with Victor Herbert, Jerome Kern, Raymond Hubbell and Rudolf Friml on nu¬ merous songs. In his catalog are such tunes as “Hello Frisco,” “Tu¬ lip Time,” “’Neath the South Sea Moon,” “Garden of My Dreams,” “Lovely Little Melody,” “No Fool¬ in’,” “Maybe” and “Someone-Someday-Somewhere.” He produced several shows independently, among them “Yours Truly” in 1926, “Take the Air” in 1927 and “Ringside” in 1928. He returned to the Ziegfeld organization in 1931 but shortly afterwards di¬ rected his activities exclusively for ASCAP. He is survived by his wife and two sons. Funeral services will be held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, N. Y., tomorrow (Thurs.) morning. The’ RON HARGRAVE ONLY it DAYDREAM aiM LATCH MGM 12422 K 12422 ASCAP Lyric Writer with extensive portfoilo seeks ASCAP composer with ilve contacts for pur¬ pose of forminfl permanent coliahorator teiAi. Box V.225-57, VARIETY. 154 W. 46th St.. Now York 36