SHORT TAKES : Thorn EMI Buys Song Publisher

Entertainment and electronics giant Thorn EMI said today that it is buying a British music publishing company with rights to such golden oldies as “Stormy Weather” and “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini.”

The acquisition of Filmtrax PLC and its U.S. subsidiary, Filmtrax Copyright Holdings Inc., will add 90,000 musical titles, including movie soundtracks, Broadway hits and popular songs, to London-based Thorn EMI’s 600,000-composition catalogue.

Thorn said it will pay up to $115 million in shares and cash for Filmtrax, which bought the assets of Columbia Pictures Entertainment Music Group in 1988 and produced royalty income of nearly $10 million in the year to March 31.

The titles include about 2,500 copyrights from Columbia Pictures feature films such as “Ghostbusters” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” and classic song hits such as “Red Roses for a Blue Lady” and “Ain’t Misbehavin.’ ”