Variety (June 1958)

V^negday, JiHi^ X8> 1958 45 Two jazz-fan readers of the London DaUy Express will have the chance, of attending the Newport Festival which opens in the Rhode Island city July Z. Four days at the festival, plus three days of sights^ing In New York^ -with first-class hotels and. travel for two, is the prize in a ; contest which the sheet is running. Entrants have to list the three big bands and the three small combinatiohs ttikt they would featnre at the festival If they had their choice. Montreal-born Maynard Ferguson’s 13^piece orch will rep^ce the Erroll Garner Trio in Aug. ,2 jazz concert at Stratford’s (Ont:) Music FestivaL With Toronto’s Moe Koffman Quartet it’ll be ah all-Canadian show. Ferguson plans to record a Roulette album, ‘‘Maynard Ferguson At the Stratford Festival.” A top trumpeter, he played with Boyd Raeburn, Jimihy Dorsey, Charlie Barnet and Stan Kenton before forming his present band. Songwriter Gerald Marks will get a bipartisan plug this fall when both .the Republicans and Democrats will promote his tune, “Come To The Side of Your Party.” The Marks tune was written specially for the American Heritage Foundation to stimuiate voters to contribute to the parties of. their choice. Marks bas Been'associ¬ ated \vith a couple of other civic-minded songs, including siich get- out-the-vote tunes as *‘Is Your Name In The Book,” artd “When You Reach The Age of 21:” With Irving Caesar, he wrote a collection of songs to teach safety to children. Trumpeter Red Rodney was an-ested. as both aVuser and possessor of narcotics, in Philadelphia’s recent dope clampdowns. Police raided the avant, garde jazzman’s West Pliilly home, where he lives with wife and daughter, and found hypodermic needle, eye-dropper, spoon •and. a quantity of narcotics.: He denied being a usCr^ Rodney,. 30, was arrested on a similar, charge in .1954, after being released from a hospital in Lexington, Ky>, where he had undergone treatment for 'addiction" ' London Dally Herald disk columnist Mike Nevard had some strong things to say about a record which Capitol is to release in Britain. Platter made in America by hillbilly singer Ferlin Husky is titled ‘The Drunken Driver.” After hearing the ditty, Nevard informed hiS readers that he had sent his copy ta the BBC with the .Tnessage: .“Refuse to touch this nauseating record. Do not play it” The writer went on to impart the song’s lyrics which tell of a drunken driyer who kills his kids by running them down. Nevard wound . his piece with these comi^nts: “If ever the Lord Chamberlain (the censor) ought to step Into the' record field—the time is now. Forestall him, Capitol,, by withdrawing the record immediately.” British Disk Besisellert Whe’s Sorry New. ..^.Francis ■•■(MGM) ' -"J- Tom Hark . .. . . . . Jive Flutes (Colunibia) Too Soon to Know. -.: • Booiie (London) . Street You Live Damone (Philips); Witch Doctor ... i ,..... .Lang (HMY)' Stairway of LoveHolliday (Columbia). You Need Hands_Bygraves tDecca) Wear My Ring...;.... Presley (RCA) To Do Is Dream.: Everly Bros.. (Londpn) Grand Coolie Daip. ,i)onegan • (Pye-Nixa) ’ COLE FORTER JOlN-HP American Guild of Authors. & Composers iforraerly Songwriters Protective Assn.) recruited Cole Porter to its membership roster last week:. Porte;r: stated there was no parficiil^ reason why he did not join b^re this. ; Joining of the songwriter. Who ranks second to Irving Berlin in: the ASCAP writer distributiqn classification, is a . morale-booster to th e AGAC which is now' in the process of set-, ting up a hew basic agreement with the publishers. Other - recent newepmers to AGAC’s fold include Bing Crbs- by; ..Mantovani, . Ray.' Noble,. Ste¬ phen Sondheim (“West Side Story”), Maxwell Anderson^ Cor¬ nel Wilde and Lew Ayres. Bff U#'GTs Arpiind Told iliteb’Kc MGM' Records .is prepping the soundtrack album of ^Tom Thumb” aS; its .Ghr^tnias push LP this year. Jesse Kaye, diskery’s veepee in charge of Coast operations, already has huddled with, pic’s prqducer- directot George. Pal on promotion plans.' The “Tom. Thumb” sepre in¬ cludes four songs written by thrush Peggy . Lee. They are . “Tom Thumb’s Tune,” . ^‘Are You A Dream,” and Jn collaboration with Dave Barbour, “Gon-Fu-Sh on Says” and . “Take A Little Tims To Smile.”. Other songs are “The Talented "Shoes” add “After All These Years” by Fred Spielman, and Janice Tofte; ahd 'The Yawn¬ ing Soitg’* . by Spielman and Kerr' mit GoelL Jah Likkel Adds Offices The newly organized Jan Rec¬ ords.: iis on an expansion kick, es¬ tablishing offices in Beverly Hills, Dallas and New York. The disk- ery, headed by Tom Fleggler and Dan Weisfeld, is;*a subsidiary of. Fleggler Drilling Iiic., Texas oil equipment firm. Weisfeld, veepee in charge of national sales and' promot’oh, cur¬ rently Is prepping an LP program for the fall. Jan kicked off its pop singles push with Gene Sum¬ mers’ “Strai^t.Skitts.” RETML ALBDH BEST SELLERS - . AViesbaden, June 10. ; '’Bpotleg^ng” by American serv¬ icemen stationed in Europe of copies of the Columbia LP of the original Broadway -cast of “My Fair Lady” has come to a halt here with recent legalization of the record to 'go on sale at the militaiy exchanges^ PXs for the soldiers and AFEX outlets for the airmen. Due to., a strange and highly criticized agreement with the Brit¬ ish producers, the original -cast records from “MFL” could not be sold in the American military ex¬ changes overseas or even played over American Forces, Network, the American radio station for soldiers in. Germany which head¬ quarters near here. Even though AFN is primarily aimed at provid-. ing entertainment for servicemen abroad, the British producers had felt that, if-it aired the music from the hit musical, British listeners who constitute a “secondary” AFN audience might become tired of the tones before they had a chance to see the play in their own land. So AFN had the “MFL” originat cast music on its banned list, and the exchanges in Europe were for¬ bidden to.: sell the music—and an¬ noyed servicemen, hearing about, the terrific sticce.ss of the play in the States^ asked their parents to send it to them through the mails, or. had friends journeying to the States bring it back. Hence it became a popular btmtiegged item abroad. . Through a p^uliar twist, though, the exchanges were al¬ lowed to sell “My Fair Lady” music other than the original cast platter, and another Columbia la¬ bel, PerGy Faith’s orchestration of the shpwtunes, did a rousing busi¬ ness. Servicemen were annoyed at tois apparent discrimination, point¬ ing out that Americans, civilian and military; in . the States could buy whatever "MFL” music they choose. ^ Those who wanted the music either got copies from the States or bought records of it by other artists. With the April 30 opening of the play at Theatre Royal in London, May 1 was set as the start for the* I record sale at the exchanges. Bouyed by the publicity of the play in London, the Philips platter did a rousing: business there, but moved just fairly along in other European exchanges. 3 Suns'Artie Dliim Files for Bankruptcy; $61,111 Owed €ov’t and Others Artie Dunn, longtime member of the trio known as the Three Siins, filed a voluntary petition of bank¬ ruptcy last w'eek in N. Y. Federal Court, listing liabilities of $fil Hi and no assets. At the same time hiS; wife, Betty, filed a similar peti¬ tion with liabilities of $24,201 arid no assets. Dunn’s major creditor, according to^ the papers, is the Government which he owes withhoWing taxes of $3,583. for 1957 and deficiericy taxes of $2,404 for 1953. 1954 and 1956. Some $54,000 in -other debts were distributed among 80 un¬ secured creditors. These items in¬ cluded such things as loans, serv¬ ices rendered, hotel lodgings, car rentals^ etc. His largest individual creditor is listed as attorney Joe Diamond whom he.ow'es $6,865 for services rendered- . Other creditors range from General Artists €>orp., $2,970; MCA, $4,229, and the N. Y. State Tax CohMnission, $135, dow'n to a $15 tab at Chicago’s Palmer House, Mrs. Dunn’s petition lists her top creditor as the Manufacturers Trust Co. of N. Y. which she owes $4,498 on a loan. W. & j. Sloane, N. Y. furniture store, has a $3,689 judgraent against her arid various other debts cover department store bills plus maid, telephone and laundry service, etc. A top trio for years, the Three Suns was formed back in the mid ’30s by accordionist Morty Nevins, his brother A1 and their cousin,. -^^le D^n. Several years ago Morty withdraw to open a iriusic store in Roanoke, Va., and Al stepped itot due to illness. But the threesome were reactivated from time to time for RCA Victor re¬ cording sessions under the Three Suns banner. • Al Neyiris held the Victor wax ^ct rights whilg.'Dunn toured en the road as Runs.