Variety (March 1959)

ednesday, March 11, 1959 ■PA _ British Disk Bestsellers ' London, March 10. Smoke In Your Eyes. Platters (Mercury) Aa I Love You . *.Bassey (Philips) Gum Lose Flavor?.. .Donegan (Pye-Nixa) Pub With No Beer.Slim Dusty (Columbia) Stung One Night.Presley (RCA) Side Saddle... Conway (Columbia) Kiss Me Honey.Bassey (Philips) Petite Fleur ..Barber (Pye-Nixa) Little Drummer Boy. .Beverly (Decca) To Know Him ... Teddy Bears (London) MUSIC 59 Clyde McPhatter Switchs to MGM; UA Label Gets Tamers; Other Pacts Clyde McPhatter has switched from Atlantic Records to the MGM label. Instrumental in bringing the singer under the'MGM banner was MGM’s newly appointed art¬ ists & repertoire chief Ray Ellis, who had arranged and conducted several of McPhatter’s dates on Atlantic. McPhatter’s recent Atlantic dis- Click was “A Lover’s Question.” His first MGM release is scheduled tentatively for late March. United Artists: Tarriers, Grant United Artists Records has added the folk singing group, the Tarriers, and crooner Charlie Grant to its roster. The Tarriers came to the fore during the calypso craze a couple of years ago with a clicko version of ‘‘The Banana Boat Song” on the Glory label. Group’s manager Peter Kameron will supervise their recording ses¬ sions. Vanguard: Odetta Odetta, Negro blues songstress who has been playing the jazz nit- ery circuit, has -been inked by Van¬ guard Records. Imperial: Bernie Wayne Orch leader-composer Bernie Wayne has been added to the Im¬ perial stable. Wayne previously etched for ABC-Paramount. ' Disneyland: Roberta Shore Roberta Shore, one of the stars in Walt Disney’s ‘‘Shaggy Dog,” has joined the Disneyland label. The 17-year-old singer-actress, who formerly appeared on segments of the “Mickey Mouse Club” tv show, will cut her initial single for the company this week. Both sides are tunes associated with the “Shaggy Dog” pic. Sunbeam: Tommy Tucker Orch leader Tommy Tucker is returning to the disk field via Tommy Valando’s indie Sunbeam label. For a time Tucker has been waxing under the MGM banner. Todd: Clyde McCoy Paul. Cohen is building his re¬ cently launched Todd label with Clyde McCoy and his new dixie¬ land band. Another addition to the Todd label is singer-songwriter Bobby Worth. One of his top ef¬ forts is “Do I Worry.” Capitol: Russ Regan Capitol Records has signed Coast singer Russ Regan. His recording sessions will be supervised by Buck Stapleton, one of Cap’s a&r pro¬ ducers. His first sides will re¬ leased within the next few weeks. LANE HEADS AKRON SYMPH Akron, March 10. Louis Lane, assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, has been engaged as conductor and mu¬ sical director of the Akron Sym¬ phony Orchestra for the 1959-60 season, succeeding Laszlo Krausz. Krausz, conducting the Akron Symphony since 1954, and also viola player with the Cleveland Or¬ chestra, told the Albion trustees he could not accept their proposed contract. N. Y. Aliy. Gen. Moves Vs. W. C. Handy Fund-Raiser The W. C. Handy Foundation for the Blind, created by the blues composer who died last year, was victimized by a fund-raising outfit which kept 90% of the contribu¬ tions, according to charges filed in N. Y. Supreme Court last week by State Attorney General Louis J. Lefkowitz. Both David A. Ulrey, the fund-raiser, and the Founda¬ tion were named defendants in the attorney general’s action . to pro¬ hibit solicitation of funds pending further legal action. The fund-raisers, which circu¬ lated many in show biz via the Handy auspices, raised $35,216 in the last 17 months, but the Founda¬ tion received only $3,583. Ulrey had contracted with the Founda¬ tion tp keep 40%. Mex Geffers Press for CoOectkm Of Peso Tax From 30,000 Jukeboxes; Also Private-Eyeing Radio-TV Tunes Sholes on Cal. Bike Hollywood, March 10. Steve Sholes, head of RCA Vic¬ tor’s a&r division, planed for north¬ ern California and other points over the weekend on a seven-day trek to visit deejays and distribu¬ tors. Sholes, accompanied by RCA’s Coast publicity chief, Ann Ful- chino, will also look over the tal¬ ent field for potential artists. It’s all part of the company’s move to intro new singing stars. Stops include San - Francisco, Portland and Seattle with shuttling to other communities being done f rom those key-points. Carlton’s Album A&R’er Dewey Bergman Jr. has joined Carlton-Records as artists & rep¬ ertoire director for the album de¬ partment. His duties will also in¬ clude album merchandising, sales and promotion. For the past two years, Bergman had been with the ABC-Paramount label in the same capacity. He also did stretches with the King, RCA Victor, Benida and Remington diskeries. -4- By EMIL ZUBRYN Mexico City, March 3. Tired of always receiving the short end of the take, if any take at all, the Society of Mexican Au¬ thors & Composers has initialed a campaign aimed at jukebox op¬ erators within the republic. Ignacio Uzcanga, chief of the collection unit for the Society, stated that there are at least 30,- 000 “rockolas” (as jukeboxes are termed here; another name is “sin- fonolas”) in Mexico. No accurate figure exists for no official agency has taken a census, but the Uzcan¬ ga figure, if any thing,, is conserva¬ tive. Of this total, there are 10,000 jukeboxes in this city—an accu¬ rate figure since here operators must register, according to city administration regulations. The Society’s beef is that most jukebox operators fail to pay the “author’s rights” tax levied against each box. Of the 10,000 in this city, only about half pony up a fee ranging from 20 to 60 pesos ($1.60 to $4.80) per juke. In the hinter¬ lands it’s even worse, only about 4,000 of the 30,000 throughout the country shell out a monthly fee of from 10 to 25 pesos <80c to $2). Now all this will change as the Society takes aggressive action. Uzcanga said that by the end of this year at least 80% of the 30,- 000 jukes will be turning over monthly fees to the accounting de¬ partment. CPA Surveillance* Uzcanga has four public account¬ ants under him as well as a score of collectors for this city. He has also set up a stronger nationwide collection agency comprising a So¬ ciety represenative, chief account¬ ant, assistants and collectors for each state in the republic. Within two years the machinery will be functioning smoothly, Uzcanga said, so that collection will reach 100%. Club being used by the Society is an authors and composers law (heretofore not in¬ voked) which states that anyone not paying rights for execution (Continued on page 61) Brit Coort Rules Calvert. Must Pay Ex-Mgr. Fallon on London, March 10. Eddie Calvert, horn player who rocketed in Britain and the U.S. with his disk of “Oh Mein Papa” a couple of years back, was or¬ dered in the high court last Tues¬ day (3) to pay his former manager,. Jack Fallon, 10% commission on recording royalties of over $56,000. He was also instructed to make an immediate out-of-court payment of $5,600 agreed commission on other earnings. Fallon, who’s now entertainment director of the Dorchester Hotel, brought the action, during which. Calvert admitted owing him at least $5,600 but fought the disk royalties point on the score that, when signing an agreement with Fallon in 1951, he asked for re¬ cording arrangements to be left out. The judge felt that Fallon wouldn’t have agreed to this and that the exception clause applied to all contracts held by Calvert at the time of signing the 1951 deal. In the hearing it was revealed that Calvert earned about $56,000 from variety appearances and broadcasts in the period January, 1955, to October, 1956. ASCAPN.Y. Meet on 30th ASCAP’s New York general an¬ nual meeting, originally set for March 26, has been moved back to March 30 at the Hotel Astor, N. Y. It’s the first time in many years that the N. Y. meeting has been held outside of the Waldorf-Astoria and represents a move by the So¬ ciety to rotate its business among various hotels, all of whom are its customers. The Coast ASCAPe’rs began rotating their meetings sev¬ eral years ago.