Variety (November 1958)

Wednesday, November 26, 1958 Pl&RlETr MUSIC 53 JAZZ DOUBLING IN ‘SHEET’ Pepsi-Cola Ready to Bankroll Disk Academy 'Oscar Video Spec COLINPUBBERY IIPS IRROSSnifF Form Country Music Assn, at Tenn. Meet; Prez Gay Raps ‘Fast-Buck’ Ops With the first awards by the 4 National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences to be handed out next spring, the Pepsi-Cola com¬ pany is now in the picture as the most likely bankroller for a video spectacular to showcase the event. The Pepsi-Cola execs are currently talking with NARAS ex- ces on the Coast about the spe¬ cific details of a deaL It’s figured that the £eup of the soft drink company with a disk industry event of this type is a natural. The top awards in the NARAS “Oscars” are expected to be “best single of the year” “best album of the year” and “best song of the year.” There will probably be about two dozen categories getting awards, covering such matters as recording technique, album art, and other artistic and technical phases involved in disk production. Membership in NARAS has been limited to the creative end of the business, such as the singers, song¬ writers, artists & repertoire staff¬ ers, musical directors and super¬ vising engineers. In many re¬ spects, the disk setup parallels that of the Motion Picture Acad¬ emy of Arts & Sciences. While some operational prob¬ lems involved in the voting for the final choices are still to be ironed out, the Coast chapter of NARAS has already come up with a work¬ able plan. A couple of dry runs have been held on the Coast and members of the Academy are sat¬ isfied, on the basis of the tests, that the nominations and final winners will be an honest reflec¬ tion-of the industry’s tastes. Paul Weston, who’s chairman of the Coast NARAS chapter, is currently in New York and has met with the New York chapter about shaping up the organization for the awards next spring. It’s expected that about 700 members Will be in the Academy, eligible to vote, when that time rolls around. MGM-MARVELA IN DEAL FOR PUERTO DISK SWAP A reciprocal disk-trade .agrees ment between the U.S. and Puerto Rico has been set by MGM Rec¬ ords here and Marvela Records in P.R. Deal was made by MGM prexy Arnold Maxin who returned from a quickie trek to Puerto Rico over the weekend. Pact calls for an exchange of MGM and Marvela disks as well as for Marvela to press the MGM platters in P.R. During his stay, there Maxin also acquired several P.R. artists whom he’ll p«t into the groove under the MGM ban¬ ner. Bigger Average Checks, Grove Rebooks Lombardo Los Angeles, Nov. 25. Guy Lombardo’s recent engage¬ ment at the Cocoanut Grove prov¬ ed so lucrative to the uitery that Gus Lampe, entertainment direc¬ tor, will bring him back next fall for four weeks instead of his past stand of three. Covers on the second and third week exceeded those of the first and, according to Lampe, the tabs ran higher than with most previous acts, indicating that Lombardo brought in the spenders. Lombardo orch’s recent click Grove stand, marked his first re¬ turn to the Ambassador Hotel spot in 10 years. In the three Weeks, the band drew an average of $10,* 000 in covers ($2 and $2.50) each week, better than average for Grove headliners. Chi’s Gamiat Expands Chicago, Nov. 25. Indie record distributor Lennie Garmisa has opened a Milwaukee branch. New office will be headed by John O’Brien. Labels bandied by Garmisa in¬ clude ABC-Paramount, Jubilee, Apt, Elektra and Love, Att’n Richard Wagner Bayreuth, Nov. 18.. Composer Richard Wagner would probably flip into the ring of the nibelungen if he could see how his heirs are carrying on over jazz here. The Wagner family, who have reorganized the summer Richard Wagner Festival, are not letting their musical tastes go strictly longhair. They’ve just given part of their his¬ torical house, the Villa Wahn- fried, over to the members of a local jazz club. Cellar has been redecorated \vjth pictures of leading jazz musicians, and the members meet once a week in the room. House belongs to Winifred Wagner, Richard’s daughter, and it is^her two sons, Wie- land and Wolfgang, who have revolutionized their grandad’s idea with modern staging and dramatizing of his operas at their annual summer fests. CoIPromodoneers Touch Bases With The Broadcasters A promotion man has to be more than a disk-carrier. That’s the peg evolved from Columbia Record*’ meeting of promotion men and representatives from radio stations held in New York last week^ Meet was called by Col’s sales execs as a starting point in a move to lift its promotion men in the field from the role of “plugger” to that of “programmer.” The sta¬ tion people were in agreement that they needed help from the diskery reps in the field in lining up the (Continued on . page 60) The jazz upsurge is now spread¬ ing into the sheet music field. Ac¬ cording to the publishers, it’s part of the ruboff of the jazz boom In festivals, concert halls, small night clubs, books and disks. Market for the “written-down” jazz music is building steadily with strongest pull centering in the field of modem and/or progressive jazz. Heretofore, students, teachers and aficionados were content just to listen to the music, live or re¬ corded, but now they want it on paper so they can attempt to dupli¬ cate their jazz hereos. Spotlighting the sheet sales up¬ beat in the jazz idiom is Charles Colin’s publishing activities. Via his operation, Colin is publishing and distributing jazz folios in tie- ups with publishers who have jazz copyrights in their catalogs. The folios are priced between $1.25 and $1.50 each with the original pub¬ lisher in for 10% of the selling price. Colin’s profit is about 15c to 17c a copy. An average initial print run, ac¬ cording to Colin, comes to about 1,000 copies on each folio but he expects it’ll get begger as more and more music store outlets in the U.S. and overseas start pitch¬ ing in the orders. Many of Colin’s jazz folios are developed from the jazzsters’ disk- ings. He has a staff of arrangers to transcribe the music note for note, off the disk and on to the music sheet. In many cases record store retailers tip him on the. disks that get customer quries as to whether there’s any corresponding sheet music available. The deal with the publisher of the music that Colin has to tran¬ scribe is the same as the one in which the publisher already has a sheet copy printed. Seeco Records’ Bronjo Music firm, for example,, gave Colin’s firm the rights to tran¬ scribe disks that were turned into folios of the works of Stan Getz, Charlie Perry and Jimmy Rainey. Some of Colin’ii other ties in¬ clude Chuck Darwin’s Lively Arts (Continued, on page 60) The ‘Dooley* Story Washington, Nov. 25. Even if the spelling is off, there’s as much truth as tune to the big hit number, “Tom Dooley,” says disk jockey Fred Fiske of WWDC Radio. | The song,. Fiske relates, is I really about a man named Tom Dula who fought with Zeb. Vance’s cavalry in Gettys¬ burg and who was hanged in 1868. for the murder of his sweetheart, Laurie Foster, whom he believed had been untrue to him while he was off fighting. Fiske got the in- . formation from John Djldine of West Hyattsville, Md., who uncovered the facts in re¬ search at Statesville, N.C. Legend has it, Fiske says, that Dula wrote the song in prison and sang it on the cart ride to the gallows. RCA s Sholes Puts WC&Win Crypt At Nashville Meet Nashville, Nov, 25. Oldfashioned country music, un¬ touched by current trends in the pop field, is a thing of the past, according to Steve Sholes, RCA Victor’s pop artists & repertoire chief. Sholes said that despite re¬ quests from the hinterlands, Vic¬ tor and other diskers have dis¬ covered that the market for the old-style disks has. all but disap¬ peared. Sholes was to have spoken before the disk jockey convention here over the last weekend, but he was taken ill at the last mo¬ ment and his speech was read to (Continued on page 62) OUT SOON! The 53rd Anniversary Number Of Forms Closing Shortly Usual Advertising Rates Prevail Special Exploitation Advantages Copy and space reservations may be sent to any Variety office NEW YORK 34 154 W. 44th Sf. HOLLYWOOD 28 4404 Stmstr Kfvd. CHICAGO 11 412 N. Mlcilgan Ava. LONDON. W. C. 2 8 St. Martin's Place Trafalgar Sqaara 4 Nashville, Nov. 25. Out of the assemblage of some 2,000 country disk jockeys, record execs and artists who converged here for the seventh annual folk fest, a new organization, the Coun¬ try Music Assn., has emerged to represent ali facets of the indus¬ try. New organization replaces the Country Music Disk Jockey Assn, which went out of business some months ago. Connie B. Gay, prexy of the Town & Country network of Arl¬ ington, Va., was named prexy of the new outfit. Other officers are singer Eddy Arnold and Harold Moon, representing BMI of Cana¬ da, vice-prexies; Mac Wiseman, or Dot Records, secretary; and Hubert Long, talent manager, treasurer. A board of governors representing such phases as ar¬ tists, dee jays, recording execs, etc., were also elected as an over¬ all directing body. While an undercurrent of gripes about the lack, of cuffo disks to many smalltown country jocks were voiced-at several of the meet¬ ings, the conclave generally was a swinging affair tied in with WSM’s “Grand Ole Opry,” the j longtime bailiwick for many of the • top artists in the field. The usual j kudos to country music were voiced by guest bigwigs and such j politicos as Gov. Frank Clement | of Tennessee and Sen. Albert Gore, also from Tin Pan Valley. One of the dramatic highlights of the two-day affair occurred at (Continued on page 62) HOFFMAN-MANNING’S BRIT.‘MR. PARLIAMENT’ A couple of veteran Tin Pan Al¬ ley cleffers, A1 Hoffman and Dick Manning, who have been angling for a Broadway legit assignment for some time, have finally landed a musical—but in England. Hoff¬ man and Manning were inked last week to write th~ score for a musi¬ cal titled “Mr. Parliament,” to he produced by Jack Hylton, who’s currently represented on Broadway with the French revue, “La Plume De Ma Tante.” . Don Appell, an¬ other U.S. writer who has been working in television, wrote the book for “Mr. Parliament,” which will have the British comic, Arthur Askey, in the top role. “Mr. Parliament” wa~ originally titled “Mr. Congressman” by the team of U.S. writers. But with the shift of locale to England, the play was retitled and some songs had to be revised. The musical is due to start rehearsals early next year. Hylton is dickering for Michael Kidd to direct the show and Thel¬ ma Ritter to 'costar with Askey. Decca’s N.Y. Shift From Did Stand to U. Bldg. Decca Records id due to shift its operational base from its old Read- quarters on West 57th St., N.Y., to the Universal Bldg, at 445 Park Ave. within the next couple of months.' Due to cutbacks at the picture company, which is owned by Decca, a full floor has become vacant. Decca is planning to trans¬ fer about 90% of its staff to the new building, but will retain the recording studios In the 57th St. building. Decca’s lease on 57th St., where it occupies most of the floors of the 16-story building, runs out | shortly. i Suit Charges lift Of | E. German Natl Anthem Berlin, Nov. 25. German composer Peter Kreu- der has filed suit against Hanm Eisler, creator of Soviet Germany’s “national anthem,” for plagiarism. Kreuder claims that Eisler’s cre¬ ation bears a striking resemblance to his “Goodbye, Johnny” song from the 1938 Hans Albers film, “Water for Canitoga.”