Variety (Nov 1928)

Wednesday, November 14, 1928 MUSIC-RADIO VARIETY 57 Radio Rambles By ABEL Donald Flamm and his radio sta- tion WMCA burst into the dailies favorably Monday as a result of the ^allocated wave-lengths' which ordered the McAlpin station to share time with WNYC. the Munici-, pal broadcasting station. Volum- coming feature into the Astor this week-end. A songster, known as Jimmy Valentine, broadcasts regu- larly from the Loew station. . . Saturday Night Party WAAT is. bick asain with its DX 1 iirmacasuiiK cLo-L.uix. .parties whereby the station picks pal -^^^^ the cur- up far distant stations, sueh.^as liious public PrPtest^against^tne cur . l^'..,,^^ j3g„,.er„ the cpast, Halifax tailment of WMCA which is one of the five leading broadcasters In the metropolitan area followed, be iDallas, Denver,, the cpast, Halifax and others and re-broadcasts their programs, it is a regular late Sat- urday night DX~ party, Some ob the metioijuiii.t'." "''-'^"- ■ ~- l uiaay niBni. i^chlj, cause of WNTC's summary refusal jectioh might be that the announcer ♦n abide by the Federal Radio Com- too often goes Into detailed ex- ,eci^n% rulinffs planation as to what he is doing, mission s ruiinsb. * v,„f that l<; actually very necessary : The public seems to ^^e ot the but U^^^^^ opinion that WNYC with Its cut and ^^g^j^'fj^^l ^-^ne is misled into ; be- (Bry broadcasts .of police reports, j^j^t^y. go^ie freak one has missing persons' descriptions, pidted up Denver with an indoor weather etc., does not; iill a ,suf- atrial on a super^het which Is im- floicntly large demand to .excuse, possible even considering the type Jj^;"ncroa5.ment on WMCA's al- 0^^^^^ Chicago, and the lotted period, particularly when the latter is abiding by the Federal Commission's rulings. Indlgnfint communications flooded the McAlpiu hotel and the station's Switchboards when it was found that WNYC had not signed off m time for WMCA. to go on the air with regular Christian Science .hours threatened. .. Otherwise, the iailocation in New York, aside .from necessitating a community's adjustment of their radio logs, has worked out benefi midwest is about, the "limit for a loop gadget. .; 'larcheta" Trail Starts; Song Made $400,000 Alleging that "Marcheta". earricd, $400,000 for Frank Sheridan, now a picture aC'-or, and fqrmerty head of the John Frainklin . Music Co.; Jerry Vogel's $89,000 sjuit started radio logs, has workea ^".V "^"^^^" / yesterday (Tuesday), in tho cially; The big league NBC ^t^t^^^ Supreme Court before come through cleaner and clearer_in ^ew .^o . P ^ . _ certain., suburban. «^f°''=^^^^^';^' '^'NSrouB performers and han^ while not "dead-.centre.s" as they had ^^^^JV^j^.^S in court on Yoger^- been before the NBC transmitters ! me"^appe^ that they had,lent were removed to Bellmore, L.. 1., a Deadheading Checks A ihaJe principal ..entcrtixiner, recently engaged for. a New York class club, made it a con- dition of the agreement that the cheokg he okayed for friends, or promotion acquaint- ances should not be diTdxicted in full frorn his salary. The agreement Is that the performer shall pay actual co.st of food and drinks (no sell place), but that, the check otherwise shall go dead. 'Phis, solyts for that, particu- lar entertainer ia vexatious matter for all floor principals. It is notorious that one pf New York's best women floor en- tertainers has never drawn a full week's salary, through the checks charged against her. Many Weeks she never drew a dpilar. with her salary swal- lowed up, while in other weeks ,the .tabs left her In hpck. to the house. Somie time^go performers and choristcrs~in cafes arbund I New York were allowed 50 per cent, discount : on their food checks. In those days the girls wbuld let their checks ride un- til a friendly. John fell in. With the connivance of the waiter the girl' usually maneuvered the John into settling the ac- I cumulations. At present with the kitchen mostly a gfig, few of the floor people are . eating where they work. " .■ Inside Stuff-Music Radio Fan Personal Flop What maslo alluro tho radio can lend to uiic who was fonn.n-ly a song- pluuger is Vxi-mpUlloa hy .the manner in which this .ranu-son.;stvr is . flopping In .personal appearanre?. Careless about his atv ro.-.uul luvthor •move hitting Hut hit;h notes whore formerly the radio nu:^ht ha ve. rx.-uso,l- that at the altar of di.^tortion. this. sinRor is washed, up for personal-ap-, pearances. His reaction is understood alsi> to-cost him his-nulio sUuuling.^ Ernie Ball's Son in Vaude - ." ■. The Ernie . Ball. Jr., in vaudeville is activally Roland rail, th^r oUlosf boy of the late composer. Krrest K.. r.all, Jr., who. is the ybunf;;ot. ot the ^ two lads, is ^till'in military sGhoal:.and consented to his brother s.use of his name fpr professional purposes. Their sister resides^ with their ; mother in Beechurst, L. I. Prof.'Boys' Squawk . • .' The Allev bpvs squawked at Variety's inference that the theme sp.ngs threatened to cut dpwn the profes.sioiutl departments' overhead. They argued anew that landing nets wa.s as, necessary as ever before, and that-not all of a music catalog could be thematics. . . couple of years ago, still weren't as clearly received. The heterodyne noLses have since been eliminated with the new wave allocations and «ven^the champ nuisance of em' all, WHN,. which drowns out everything else as far as Variety's reception is concerned: can be tuned out when desired in. the Variety office on West 46th. just aroiihd the corner from :\yHN's. broadcast central In the Loew State theatre building on 45th and Broadway. The weather again induces the fans anew to fish for distance, not that Chi and Cincy these days can be considered distance on any^sort of radio receiver. Anyway, froin WHT In the Wrigiey building, Chi- cago, Larry Larsen with a late hour organ recital was heard doing his stulf smartly. Larsen knows his pops and picks the (jltties ' smartly. On Distance Powel Crosley, Jr.. station "V^LW. In Cincinnati, Increased to 5,000 watts, comes through on what , is the corresponding WOR wave-band in the east, like the proverbial million bucks. ■ , Seemingly the statioi. is stitl testing its reception range, since fleveral Crosley radio sets are held out as allures to. the fans for the purpose of inspiring mail from dis- tant points. Canada. Hawaii' and other spots seem, to be particularly unheard from, according to the coinments. Whether accidentally or because of the desire for the announce- ments. Sammy Watkins' smart dance program from the Hotel OiD- Bon was cut 10 minutes short of its schedule because of announced phone wire trouble between hotel - -and--radio - studio. Regardless, enough of , Watkins' syncorhythm was heard to stamp him . smartly among niid,\yestern dance music purvey9r3. -' Right thereafter the action shift- ed to the Swiss Gardens, one of the largest dance halls in the country, In Cincy, ialso via WLW, whfere Jesse Hubert, and his Pennsylvania Collegians were whopping it up. Hubert (Pr ' is it Huber?) has a snappy dance team and gives it put in great style. His own xylo solo of an original composition. Tip Toes," was well done and listens like a highly promising instru- mental novelty a la "Kitten ort the keys." ' • •. .. Overplug for "Sonny Boy" Bobbv Crawford should do some- thing about his "Sonny Boy" pub- lication. Crawford, or rather his De Sylva, Brown & Henderson, publishing firm, is smart enough to restrict their show tunes. If they don' t do Jthat with_ the^ Jolson pic ture theme s^ihg tKey^rie"gpnna H^Vir a dud on their hands in short .order If never heard again on the air. it u be top spon, which is.idea pf how the ether warblers arid instru i mentalists are laying heavy on It, Talk about "My Blue-Heaven having been, the disease of the music biz, this "Sonny Boy" aeema to be a plague.and a scourge In one Loe'w's statipn. WHN, a.lready Is <5omme.ncing Its ballyhoo on. behall behailE tp testify that they had,lent their, fexploitation efforts to the song , because of their friendahip and regard for Vogel, whp is the head of the popular music depart- ment of the Plaza Co., jobbers. Vogel was given a . 25 per cent., cilt" in the song by Sheridan who had depo.sitcd $11,000 to Vogel's credit^ The latter sues for the dif- Cerenfce of $89,000, up to the $100,000 alleged due him, ag a quarter of the song's earnings. Trial will cPnsume several df)yf^ this week. Sheridan came en from Holly- wood for the • trial. His full name is John Franklin Sheridan, hence; the John Franklin Music Cp., al- though profesaionally he uses Frank Sheridan, Vogel paid Sheri- dan's expenses efist. for the trial by court, order. O'Brien. Male- vinsky &. DriscbU repre.^ents the plaintiff, lish and Theme Songs GriH$ Outdoing Clubs Lawrence Wright,. English music publisher, is in New York to study up on. the theme song business, the recent music publishing innovation. Mr. W'right admits it was partly curiosity that brought him across. He is anxious to also know if the ordinary ppp spng is passing, out, likening the spng situation over here at present to the talking-silent plc ture condition. In Britain but few theatres are wired, another complex for the Eng lish publishers to worry over. It may be.a long time, if ever, before Great Britain will,, see a sufllcient number of wired houses, for a theme song plug to instantaneously catch on, as is possible now in America. ■Plus a few headaches, Mr, .Wright expects to get caUght up with the prevailing mode in pop music very shortly. He will be In New York about another week. Musician Alleges Wrong Identity in Auto Crash Alton Zimmerman, 21, 216 Nurth Midland avenue, Nyaeli, N.' Y., who heads a small orchestra, was. held ln $1,000. bail for further hearing when he was arraigned before Magistrate McAndrewy in West Side Court oh a charge .of assault.- Zimmerman alleges lie is the vittim of mistaken identity. • , '• — Gn Oct. 23 Mrs. Lebna Schilling^ 40, and her daughter Charlotte, 4, 424 Central Park West, ..were cross- ing Columbus , avenue at 104th street when they were run down by an automobile. The machine stopped and conveyed mother and daughter to the Reconstruction Hospital, where the chauffeur disappeared without leaving name, address . pr license number. Several persons who said they witnessed the accident gave Detec- tive John Curry, West. 100th street statipn, a license number, which turned out to be a ccCr owned by Zimmerman. The detective cpm- muriicatod with Zimmerman, and he came to the station house to talk with Curry. He made emphatic de- nials that it w.as his machine and said he had not been out of Nyack that day. Despite this, witnesses who were summoned said they were certain Zimmerman was the man, and he was arrested. Zimmerman's attor- ney said he was confident he would prove that a mistake had been made. Bryk Charged with Theft From German Composers , , Berlin, Nov, 1. llofrat- in-yk, . the louiider and president of the German GPnvposers SoQiety, (Oema) h,is been accu.sed of embezzling from the, funds of the society. Frau Krueg^r, secretary, em- bezzled 80,000 marks ami. commit- ted suicide^ In. a letter, found after, her death she accused Bryk of hav- ing been a party .;to her act. She wrote: "If . I did .have to steal for you, I won't go tp Jail: fpr yoii." : The inquiry which then tppk place di*clcsed that Bryk Was im- . plicated, in erder' to clear himself Bryk started proceedings against himself. Bryk founded the Gema and It is due to. his energy that.it has won its influential position. He organ- ized the whole system of flat sums paid by the Cafe, hotel and film, or- chestras. tP composers. As Bryk received 10 per cent of all receipts his yearly income was enormous—estimated; as high as 360.000 marks. The sum which Bryk is accu.sed of embezzling is areund 120,000 marks. L A.'s " Broadway grill rooms continue to pull strong despite the depression felt generally in their step-sisters, the night clubs. Paramount Grill und6r the direction of Ben Locker is turning them aWay in one of hugest of the most, pretentious rooms on the Stem. Park Central Grill with Lou Pollock's orchestra and the Carletons, dance team, is catering to a fast collegiate mob, vvho inundate the room every Sat- urday night. Cliff O'Rourke is the tenor and m. c. Wynn Ralph so- pranos.- The current show at the Para- mount grill includes Betty Leonard, smiling blonde with a ypltiminous sbprah6V^:p'et6r^6n'"aTfdeharlotte; dancers, and. Henri Therrieh,- billed as the Roxy ienor, a short chap with much Met in his rep. Arnold Johnson's orchestra of "Scandals" is thevmain, drawing card. Cut Union Wage Scale, Fined $1,000, Loses Job BOOSTS UNION HEADS' PAY . ChlcagPi N0V.-13. Executive salaries agreed upon by the board of directors . .of th^s Chi- cago Federation of Musicians for 11929 Include only one change—an increase to $2r)0 per week for the president. Other salaries are $150 for the recording secretary, $125 for th« financial secretary, $50 for the treasurer and $10 per session for the board of directors. Nomination of ofllcers Is to be made tpday (Tuesday). Chicago, Nov. 13 Under direction of President James C. Petrillo the Chicago Fed eration of Musicians is conducting a disciplinary^ ca^mpaign against ^^^^^^^ Standard Ust members who break, the rules. J.-x-i »^ ample" penalties are being exploited to drive home the seriousness of the union's purpo.se. .Latest "example" Is Ruth Irwin organist at the Grove theatre, flned $500 by the trial board for accept- ing less than scale and $500 addi- tional for doubling at the piano. Besides, she lest her jpb Los Angeles, Nov, 13. KNX 7 Paramount i'ictures - Los , Angeles 'Evening Express radio sta^ lion broadcaist f'rpm its new studip plant the night pf Noy. 11, using at that time the hew exclusive wave length. That is 285.6 meters, cr 1,050 kilocycles; No other radio In the country will have this wave length. With a power of 5.000 watts It Is expected the plant Will reach prac- tically any point In North America. The studio radio plant is tiie. ful- fillment of plans strongly urged by Arch Reeve, publicity <lirector of Paramount. [Musician in Talker; Ist Time Before Camera Los Angeles, Nov. 13^ Russell Columbo, soloist of Gus Amheim's Cocoanut Grove or ,^ , , • . rchestra, will piaya part in Para^ Waterson Has Judgment count's "The wou song,- m which ■he will sing the theme song of the picture. He will play *n both the sound and silent versions, which Victor Fleming Is directing. . Columbo has never appeared In pictures before. Henry Waterson has taken Judg ment for $4,183 against. Walter G. Douglas, the former general man- ager of Waterson, Berlin & Synder. Co., on a claim, for moneys over- drawn. Douglas, now in business for him- self' with Walter Donaldspn^ and Mpse . Gumbl^, has another suit pending against Waterson, a sepa- rate action and not a counter-claim for an accounting. <5ommenclng its oauynoo on. ^hnnv <Wheatra. of "Alias Jimmy ValenUne." forth- Phony Orchestra, Goldkette's Concerts "^ean'^'GMakcCl^T^ band units playing in Chicago, St. Lpuis, and Detreit, will appear .at two concert piano. r<f<3itals .to be held in the latter city next month. At tho Detroit .Athletic Club,, where he Is the musical director, Goldkette ^^'iH play the Rubinstein Concerto, while later in the month he wlil play MacDowell's Concerto in A Minor -With the Detroit Bym- BUYS SCOEE TOE FILM LPS Angeles, Nov. 13. M-G-M has purchased from Harms the musical score of "Five o'clock Girl" for use in the picture version which will star Marion Da- vies. Alfred Grtefi to direct. ^^tIosF^i^ Clayton, Jackson and Durante, 1 reported at first to be reopening at the Parody Club,.' theif.Uust night club stand, are to replace the girl show at the Silver Slipper, retain- ing only four or five of the beauties as part of their act, Jimmy Carr band will be sup- planted In the orchestra pit by the Durante orcheetra. DeSylva, Brown & Hend(!r.son is adding a standard . music catalog with compositions by Charles Wakefield Cadman, Geoffrey O'Hara. Frederick Martens, Oiey Speaks, Lily Strickland and Serge Walter. Robert Crawford, president of the company, has been working on this catalog for nearly a year. He is issuing the first five numbcra lltirbf lly;~ ^ ^ T Helen Morgan Off Roof Helen Morgan will not be part of j the star units of talent when the Ziefefeld Roof opens Thank/igiving week, she said. Eddie Cantor and the glorified. beauties will have the I entire floor to theinsclve.s, for H<;l"n 1 has- numerous- offers with a bigger cut of the pr'oc-eed.s. , BroadwViy rumors .indicate that she may open in Gene's Rendezvous I above the Winter (iarden, which clo.sed when Frances White failed to draw. Rapee Takes Charge Of Firm's Sound Music Erno liapee, the Roxy musical di- rector, has closed an extraordinary arrangement with Bobby Crawford, president of DeSylva, Brown & Henderson, Inc., to take charge of a new music publishing business to be knewn as Sound Music Corp. It Itv^III^ bc-the sta,ndard- Irnu.siG adjunct of DeSylva-Brown-Hchderson, spe-; ciall.zing.particularly In lilm talker, cpmposltions. . R{ipoG ajsp has another, contract for three years a.s staff writer with both companies. .. Rapec's deal as head of Sound Music Corp. carries wl'tli. it a -five- year contract. He. also ^has a block (if stock of the. hew company;. Ranee Ik stiekink At. the. R.oxy,' and will schedule, himself to handle both his music bu.slnes.s along with the baton wielding at the theatre. PADLOCKS A new .b.'itch- of padlor.-klngs in- cludes a flo<:k of u p-state road- hou.sos, Ilarlcni oa.ses and lower east side spf^uks.iind cabarels. Includfd is a large cafe at 80 Krist 4th street, owner by Ixniis .'ind Tjeon Siiapiro, ll^rry^Si inJ^^^r ~WorfW'K\r- 1 n^^nr; d Kajn Brown. Fi P.. Wrltprs, Lo!--. Any<-\t :-, S'jv. 13. Richard Wl,i! in,', comix.Hi r, ati.l Leo Robin, lyri':)st, on'f--f.iff of l'".'i- mouM Mii.-io I'ublhhin;,' Cowiiuuiv of New Vork, are at TMrtiTnount stuflio. Tiiey v.ill writ'.- fh<-rn<: : ■•tir.s. SLIDES FOE THEME SONGS I Mu.slc puhll.sherB' slide .ver.-.ions. o. pifture theme songs now include I still photo.s from the picluro, An the slides ;irc ns»'<l mo.stly by I picture hoUH" oirf>nl.st.-. it'.s a plug. fr>r the pict.ure in the.itres wh<TO the film ,yet a future booking. 1 Grogan in Vaude O ■'■.'ir Cf";-iri';) ra.ili') Jin-l flohun- r''f:oi-d..r.-i) are;VU^ti.g/hini intr.?: Ki-jih v'!'i'l'-. ■• . M.iuii''" it'^.'=<; la !,i)-.r.iiiK lii/n. (;i..(;;in I.m a n'-'-v^'om'T, c.'iu.'rht. on fh» riir bv oil" cf CchinibiJi's fuf'-u- ! f:-<'Mi -i .M'-mi'l'I'- ^'t-iti-'ft which ' l.;,;ii/'T(.s to be the Ii.^ine town of both.