Evening star., 1953-10-22

Rosa Archie Bleyer volcano keeps
churning away, Spewing verbal
lava in all directions. Some of
| the hot ashes even fell on such
an innocent bystander as affable
Don McNeill, quietly minding his
own business 800-odd miles away
in Chicago. There hasn't been
such a public fuss about the sep
aration of a man from his job
since the then President Truman
laid the ak to Gen. Macarthur.
(If you just this minute came
up out of a deep cave. here is
what has happened. On Mon
days CHS simulcast, La Rosa
concluded his song and was
startled, he later professed, to
hear Godfrey announce that it
was his swan song. This boy is
going out on his own. Godfrey
said, and we all wish him well.
A short time later Bandleader
Archie Bleyer was informed that
he would be on no more Godfrey
shows but Talent Scouts" where
he would play out his contract.
The Associated Press wires have
been vibrating somewhere around
E above high c ever since)
Yesterday it was Godfrey's
turn to take over the forum. He
called a press conference to get
his side of the story on the
record and to refute the La Rosa
statement that this was all so
sudden. He decided he could dis
pense with the singers services,
Godfrey said, because he lost the
quality for which he was hired
which, for lack of a better word,
I call humility"
x X 4 +
That wasn't all. either, the
red-haired star continued. JUL
Jus played hockey when the
Little Godfreys" were ordered
to dancing class. He became
not only unco-operative. said
Godfrey, but "obstreperous," too.
1t all led Godfrey to conclude
/ of La Rosa, This boy is hotter
than dynamite and he wants to
get out of here and make some
money"
The "straws that broke the
camel's back" were two, Godfrey
said, according to the Associated
Press report. One was the sign
Ing by La Rosa of a personal
management contract with Gen
eral Artists Corp. The other
was a record featuring ABC's
Don McNeill. This gave Nc
Neill undisputed claim to the
very confused guy mantle
worn only the day before by La
Rosa.
Its all news to me-" said Nc
Neill. Il never envisioned any,
/ thing like this would happen
, Arthur and I have always been
good friends. I thought" He
added that he cant understand"
being classed as a competitor
of Godfrey's, since they are on
the. air at different hours.
X x X
This still adds up to about the
same thing it added up to yester-
day. 1t would seem that La
Rosa told Godfrey that he
wished to depart the fold and
he probably expected to do it
when his contract ran out in
November. This was too much
for the paternal Godfrey, who
decided that the traitor to the
Little Godfreys" could go right
now. And his fellow conSpira-
tor, Bleyer, for whom La Rosa
made some records, could go
with him.
This is beginning to assume
some aspects of a monster pub
licity stunt. Godfrey will go his
/ way securely, a sort of two
| legged Fort Knox. Bleyer will
sell La Rosa and McNeill records
by the thousands. La Rosa will
continue under contract to CHS,
with So weeks set as a regular
on Ed Sullivan's Toast of the
Town" julius is not headed for
the relief rolls. Sullivan says
his Toast" salary, according to
a published report. will be "at
least three times" the estimated