Idol of the Girls

Crooner Tony Bennett, 25, is the latest idol of the bobby-sox set; in Manhattan's Paramount Theater last week, Tony's tune-punching had the girls squealing and curling their toes in their saddle shoes. Bennett accepted the acclaim (and $4,000 a week), though he protested the while that he would really rather be doing something else.

"This isn't the kind of singing I want to do," he explained. "I can go out onstage and crush them every time--they'd stand on their hands for me. But I don't like being sensational that way. If I could sing the way I like to sing--naturally--I'd be a better entertainer. It'll take from six months to a year to get the right arrangements and the righ songs, but that's what I'm going to do."

In eight months, Bennett (real name: Anthony Dominick Benedetto), but newly risen from seemingly permanent unemployment on Long Island, has become one of the top record-sellers in the U.S. His first big hit, after he was discovered by Bob Hope, then by Columbia Records' Mitch Miller, was Because of You; the record sold more than a million copies. Since then, under Miller's shrewd supervision, Tony has hit hard again with Cold, Cold Heart. He has grossed almost $200,000 ("I'm not sure; my manager takes care of that") from record sales and personal appearances; he retired his dressmaker-mother and bought a home in River Edge, N.J.

Tony makes his stage entrance in a breathless vaudeville lope. When the applause and giggles have died down, he begins his act, swaying his loose-limbed body, singing in a style derived from several of his colleagues. When he belts and writhes a tune, he sounds like Frankie Laine; he uses Frank Sinatra's phrasing and slurring methods; he occasionally adds a few scale slides reminiscent of Billy Eckstine; at times he seems to be contemplating Bing Crosby's nonchalance, as through a dark glass enviously.

Bennett's voice, however, is distinctly his own; it has a diffused, No.-OO-sand-paper sound, a quality which he feels has endeared him to his fans. Says he: "At first, I tried to eliminate things like that from my voice. But I've decided now to let it all alone. I've stopped eliminating altogether."

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