Music: Jitterbugs in Jersey

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Last week Newark, N.J. was the field of the jitterbug's equivalent to ordeal by battle. Benny Goodman, who for four years has reigned in adolescent hearts as the King of Swing, was playing on the stage at the Shubert Theatre. Within shagging distance, at the neighboring Paramount, was Artie Shaw, young pretender to the throne, and his band, which in six months has zoomed to fame on the strength of a few rousing records. A clear-cut battle for supremacy was forecast: the theatres are of approximately equal size; each was showing a Grade B film; and the acts accompanying the bands were similar. Both leaders are ace clarinetists.

The expected jitterbug riots occurred on the opening day. Shaw's vocalist had to burrow to his microphone through the ecstatic exhibitionists swarming the stage. At the Paramount, a boy hurt himself jumping from a box. At the Shubert a girl swooned clean away.

At week's end Benny Goodman could claim technical victory. Box-office receipts were approximately equal ($24,000), but the Paramount, where Artie Shaw was playing, had a 99¢ top to the Shubert's 75¢. Addicts of Shaw's exciting recordings of Begin the Beguine and Backbay Shuffle were disappointed by their idol's cold stage personality. Goodman's matchless trio and quartet and the smooth rendition of old favorites like One O'Clock Jump and Don't Be That Way won back wavering allegiance.

While Goodman and Shaw lead in current hot-fan popularity, challengers of their positions are not wanting. High on the list of contenders is the well-balanced band fronted by Singer Bob Crosby. The Bob Cats, exponents of a modernized Dixieland Style, are well-regarded by discerning swing fans. Another potential champion is the band headed by diminutive Bobby Hackett, whose graceful, sure trumpet, as well as his down-the-middle hair-comb and tiny mustache, is reminiscent of the late great Bix Beiderbecke.