Wurlitzer Party Is
Huge Success
HOLLYWOOD-Descending on the west
coast August 23rd the top executives of the
Rudolph Wurlitzer Company played host
to California operators at an all day open
house at the Hollywood P laza August 23rd
and at the St. Francis in San Francisco
on August 25th.
"Mike" Hammergren, vice president and
salesmanager, headed
the welcoming
party, ably assisted by W. E. Simmons,
California, Arizona and Nevada representa-
tive for Wurlitzer. Food and drinks were
served throughout the day and strolling
troubadors entertained the operators and
their families. Ninety three were in attend-
ance in Los Angeles and ninety six in San
Francisco.
The get-togethers were part of a series
of meetings being held by the Wurlitzer
executives in various parts of the coun try.
♦
50c Columbia Records
Make Initial Bow
View insid e th e trave ling showroom on wh ee ls maintained by K. F. Wilkin son 's United
Amuse ment Company, San Anton io, Texas. From left to right: Mr. G e orge Prock, David
Styles and M r. Debner exam ining a Rock-O la Lu xury Lightup mode l ready fo r a
demonstration trip .
Henderson Added
To Goodman Band
Song Dividends
Hit New High
SAN FRANCISCO- Benny Goodman
added Fletcher Henderson, famous Negro
pianist, to his band here, recently, and will
feature him in the future.
Henderson's arrangements helped to
make Goodman famous and he knows and
understands the Goodman style completely.
Was ting no time jn introducjng Henderson
to the public, Goodman presented him on
his first Camel program from the Bay City.
Jess Stacy, who is being relieved by
Henderson, and is one of the old veterans
cf Goodman's hand, will take a one month
vacation and then will go to New York
and head a new hand of about eight pieces
which Harry Goodman will manage.
Although mixed bands have never been
successful, Benny believes that the addi-
tion of Henderson to his organization will
NEW YORK-A new top mark in roy-
alty payments for the past decade was
reached this week, when the Big Three
music firms paid collectively almost $100,-
000 to composers and authors for the firs t
six month period of 1939. The sums dis-
tributed totaled $48,000 for Robbins Music
Corporation; $34,000 for Leo Feist, Inc.,
and $15,000 for Miller Music, Inc.
Of special notice in the statements was
the decided increase in royalties on instru-
mental compositions, instruction books and
educational publications. Top royalty on
a single item for the period went to Peter
De Rose and Mitchell Parish for the song
"Deep Purple" which sold over 450,000
copies to date.
♦
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - Changing the
color of the label from blue to red the
Columbia Recording Corporation, subsid-
iary of Columbia Broadcasting System, an-
nounced that in the future top-flight popu-
lar artists will be available to music oper-
ators under the Columbia label at fifty
cents each list.
Benny Goodman, Kay Kyser, Duke El-
lington, Horace Heidt, Eddy Duchin, Harry
James, Gene Krupa, Matty Malneck, Ray
Noble, Jack Teagarden, Teddy Wilson,
Raymond Sco tt, Ella Logan, Mary Healy
and Martha Raye head the list of artists
announced for the firs t few records under
the Columbia name.
Columbia records will be issued weekly
through the various distributing outlets
and in the future recordings under the
Brunswick label will be released once a
month and feature recordings in that large
category lying between the classical and
the popular fields.
♦
NEW YORK-An estate of approximate-
ly $15,000 was left by Chick Webb, na-
tionally famous hand leader, when he died
here in June, according to an administra-
tor's report.
About $10,000 will go to his widow, Mrs.
Sally Webb, and the remainder will go to
his mother.
The famous Chick Webb orchestra car-
ries on with Bill Beason pounding the
drums. Ella Fi tzgerald, who helped to
bring fame to the group, is in charge of
the band, now being billed as "Ella Fitz-
gerald's Chick Webb Band."
♦
COLUMBIA
VOCAi.iON
COLUMBIA
Every Artist an ARTIST !
T o p s Y our " Must" L ist!
Every Artist an ARTIST !
.
.
Smack, as Henderson 1s known m
band circles, appeared daily at the Golden
Gate Exposition on Treasure Island with
the Goodman hand. His popularity con-
tinues to grow.
Goodman has also added Buford Estes,
20-year-old alto man from Kansas City, to
his band. He was with Lawrence Welk in
Chicago.
Benny is now in Los Angeles at the Vic-
tor Hugo. In July he cut his first records
for Columbia and it is rumored that an
entirely new label, to sell for 50 cents, will
he introduced by Columbia.
♦
Chick Webb's Estate
Totals $15,000
COIN
MACHINE
REVIEW
Beer Barrel Polka
Nation's Hit
LOS ANGELES-Definite proof that the
"Beer Barrel Polka" is leading the nation's
hit parade was made in August when the
Los Angeles Times columnist Ed Ainsworth
published the fo llowing letter from a read-
er commenting on the "state of the nation":
"Well it stands something like ~his:
Zing! Boom! Ta Rar Re! Sing out a song
of good cheer. Now's the time to roll the
barrel for the gang's all here! From every-
where comes the 'Beer Barrel Polka'. On
the loud-speakers at the New York World's
Fair, from strolling orchestras and in every
cafe in every state we heard the tune on
automatic phonographs.
"Up in Canada the 'Polka' was number
one tune, with Bing Crosby's 'El Rancho
Grande' a close second. The nation seems
to he united on one rollicking song .
'Beer Barrel Polka'!"
♦
"g~ over.",,
23
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