New Pop Records

In the corridors of Tin Pan Alley's Pentagon--the Brill Building, on Broadway--oldtime songwriters are taking it big. A novice at the trade has written a catchy song called Snowflakes, Guy Lombardo has recorded it for Decca, and song sheets and records are selling in a flurry. The successful tunesmith: a nine-year-old girl from Brooklyn, a fourth-grader who doesn't even know Billboard from Variety.

How could Marjorie Kurtz write a song hit? Simple, says Marjorie: "I dreamed it." One night last June, curly-headed Marjorie had her dream, woke up early the next morning to jot down some lyricj about up-in-the-sky-sky-sky, see-the-snow-fly-fly-fly. She hummed an almost profes< sionally simple melody, and her aunt, a onetime supper-club singer named Sandra Kent, wrote it out. Marjorie's father, an amateur violinist, thought the lyrics were too repetitious, but Aunt Sandra dis<< agreed. She landed Marjorie's song on g CBS-TV program last month, and later. Guy Lombardo heard it. Lombardo investigated and decided that it was true: Marjorie had really composed the song herself--without help even from her uncle, Songwriter Jim Morehead. In two weeks, orders for recordings have reached almost the quarter-million mark. The song seems a certain hit, and if it is, Marjorie will earn more than $25,000 before she is ten.

Other new pop records:

Slow Poke (Arthur Godfrey; Columbia), a fast-moving hillbilly song about a girl (or a fellow) with all the time in the world. A surprisingly straightforward Godfrey version of a number that is breaking out all over the bestseller lists, and climbing hard.

The Columbian Limited (Columbia). The record company says that this piece "can be used as realistic live background sounds for model and toy trains, or enjoyed for the pleasant excitement train sounds can give." Save for some transition dialogue by two children, and the conductor's calls, the recording is all train, chugs relentlessly for two sides.

Fats Waller Favorites (James P. Johnson; Decca, 2 sides LP). Among Waller's favorites: Ain't Misbehamn', I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter, I've Got a Feeling I'm Falling, Honeysuckle Rose--all played with light fingers and breezy ideas by the man who taught Waller himself.

Be My Life's Companion (Rosemary Clooney; Columbia). A song that asks the soap-opera question: Can a man who is only 33 find peace & contentment? Clooney's answer: love me and you will never grow older than 33. The other side, Why Don't You Love Me? is a bouncing bet for the hit parade.

Here's To My Lady (Nat "King" Cole; Capitol, 45 r.p.m.), one of Cole's best jobs in recent months; a soft, pretty ballad sung with good taste.

Guess Who I Am (backed.by Guess What I Am) makes a pleasant children's game out of identification of animals, is sung by the Melodeons. Another good record in "Uncle Leo's Records for Young Folks" series (MGM) is Frosty the Snow Man (backed by Isn't It a Shame that Christmas Comes but Once a Year), done to a turn by carborundum-voiced Jimmy Durante.

Kings and Queens of Boogie-Woogle (Decca, 2 sides LP). Digging deep for a classic collection of boogie, Decca offers Pianists Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson, Meade "Lux" Lewis, Dot Rice, Cleo Brown, Honey Hill. Outstanding: Lewis' Yancey Special, Johnson's Kaycee on My Mind.

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