The New York Clipper (January 1920)

16 THE NEW YORK CLIPPER January 7, 1920 PUBLISHERS' ROLL CO. READY TO START Formal ti.-«nii»«i»»iit of Plans of Pro- posed Corap«ny..jp«lHl this W«k. Will Be & Bi S Enterprise. The formal announcement of the for- mation and plans of the proposed new music roll manufacturing and retailing company, in which a number of publishers of popular sheet music are interested will probably be made this week. The enterprise is said to be a large one, much greater in business scope than was originally planned when the publishers first met several weeks ago. When the newB first leaked out, one of the big roll manufacturing concerns, sens- ing its importance, got into" communica- tion with the music men, and, it is said, made an attractive proposition whereby the publishers might become associated with the roll ™^"g concern which owns and operates a plant of large size and im- portance in the music roll manufacturing business. This is the proposition which the publishers are said to have under con- sideration and which has held up the formal announcement of the new com- pany. A phonograph affiance is also said to bo under consideration and this may still further increase the importance and size of the new company. jack Bliss, Eastern manager of the Q. R. S. Co., will probably hold an im- portant position in the new company, and although when seen by a Clipper repre- sentative a short time ago, denied that any definite arrangements had been made with him, he can no longer be found at the Q. K. S. offices and is said to be on a vacation prior to joining the new organ- ization. At his offices nothmg'definite re- garding his whereabouts could be obtained and the statement that he was "away and might be gone for an indefinite period was all the information that would be given. Thos. Fletcher, president, and Lee Roberta, vice-president of the Q. R- S-, have been in consultation in Chicago, and both arrived in New York late last week. Their presence in New York at this time may have an important bearing upon the new roll concern. NO BRIGHT CORNER FOR HIM BUly Sunday's famous song, "Brighten the Corner Where You Are," was used to darken the marital life, of Edgar A. Ash- ton according to allegations he filed in the Court of Common Pleas in Baltimore, MiL, aominnfc t>r WOW* a iv-isa, a dentist. ^,,„ fc« is suing for $50,000 for the swsnation of the affections of Mrs. Ashton. Dr. Price is charged with walking through an alley by the Ashton house and •whistling "Brighten the Corner" as a sig- nal to Mrs. Ashton. In reply, it is alleged. Mrs. Ashton would wave to the dentist and signify whether her husband was at home. CASEY SUCCEEDS GOODMAN Pat Casey, president of the Vaudeville Managers' Protective Association, has suc- ceeded Maurice Goodman as chairman of the Executive Board of the Music Publish- ers' Protective Association. Mr. Good- man's resignation took effect on Dec. 31, and the office fermerly held by him was immediately, tendered Mr. Casey, who ac- cepted, and is new chairman. E. C. Mills, formerly assistant secretary of the organization, is now secretary. A rearrangement of the offices in the Colum- bia Theatre Building occupied by the or-, ganization will make it possible for all the business of the society to be trans- acted in the building. . SCHIRMER FORMS BIG RETAIL SELLING CO. SCHIRMER BUYS HATCH CO. G. Schirmer, Inc, has purchased the •catalogue of the Hatch Music Co.. Of Philadelphia, Pa. The Hatch Co., one of the oldest publishing concerns in America, includes in its publications "The National -Graded Piano Course," one of the leading teaching editions of the country. H. A Andrews, of the Schirmer Co., has been assigned to the management of the Hatch Co. PUBLISHERS WANT FOX SONG Three New York music publishers have made bids for the Sam Fox Oriental song, "My Cairo Love," by Harry D. Kerr and J. S. Zameenik. The number is already well on the road to big popularity, and in spite of the fact that big cash offers were made for the song Mr. Fox refused them an. FRIEDLAND PLACES "THANKS'* Anatol Friedland, the vaudevillan-com- poser, writer of many song hits, has placed with Jos. W. Stern & Co. his latest song, entitled "Thanks." The song is being featured in Friedland's big vaud- eville act, "Musicland," where it is a de- cided success. The act is booked solid over the big-time, and Stern A Co. are al- ready experiencing a big demand for the song. SCHOOL FOR SONG LEADERS A free school to develop trained .song leaders, to fit them for service in com- munal life, will be opened in Boston on Jan. 12. It will be located at No. 3 Joy street, and will be under the direction of Joseph Lee, chairman of the National War Camp Commuuity Service. The Service has found itself unable to meet the calls for song leaders, and it has been found necessary to open this school. LIBEL SUIT SETTLED The libel suit brought by Louis Bern- stein of the music publishing house of Shapiro, Bernstein A Co. against Edward B. Marks and Jos. W. Stern, co-partners in the music firm of Jos. W. Stern & Co., has been settled out of court. The terms of settlement have not been announced, but the arrangement for the dropping of the case are said to have been amicable all around. G. Schirmer Music Stores, Capitalized at $400,000 Will Handle All of the Schirmer Retail Business MORET HAS EXCLUSIVE CONTRACT Neil Moret, in private life Chas. N. Dan- iels, is writing exclusively for the Daniels & Wilson, Inc., music house. The re- publication of one of the old Moret num- bers by one of the large music houses gave rise to the rumor that Moret was free lancing. Moret is the composer of the famous "Hiawatha," also the newer songs, "Micky," "Yearning" and "Peggy." NEW SONG RELEASED Harry Von Tilzer has released several new songs which are already bein^ fea- tured by scores of well-known singers. Among them are "When My Baby Smiles At Me," "He Went In Like a Lion and Came Out Like a Lamb" and "All the Boys Love Mary." KAUFMAN SIGNS WITH FOX Mel B. Kaufman has signed a contract with the Sam Fox Publishing Co. by the terms of which the Fox company -will have the exclusive publication rights to all the Kaufman compositions for a term of years. HARRIS HAS FISHER SONG Chas. K. Harris is re-issuing a Fred Fisher eong called "Happiness," which met with some success a number of years ago and for which a considerable demand among professionals has been noted re- cently. BERLIN Df NEW ACT Irving Berlin, who is planning to re- enter vaudeville early next month, is pre- paring a new act which will be seen in the local big time houses. The G. Schirmer Music Stores, a re- cently organized corporation capitalized at 8400,000, and which is to take over the retail selling end of the G. Schirmer busi- ness, is ready to commence operations. The new company, which, in addition to handling the retail end of the Schirmer business in New York, will also operate the sixteen branch retail stores of the Schirmer house in the various cities of the United States, is planning a big cam- paign to popularize music buying the country over. One of its first moves in this direction is the launching of a na- tional advertising campaign in the big magazines and weeklies which is calcu- lated to greatly stimulate the retail sales of music. This alone is looked upon as a big move in the advancement of the music business, as while a few of the publishers have done some 'advertising in the national publications none of .the various retail syndicates have ever done so. In addition to its advertising cam- paign,. the new corporation has many other plans for the stimulation of music sales, all of which will be put into execu- tion as rapidly as possible. H. W. Hess, of the Schirmer organization, is vice-presi- dent and general manager of the new cor- poration. Mr. HesB, who controlled the phono- graph department of the Schirmer busi- ness in its New York store, will continue to have charge of this department, which will in" future be exploited under the Schirmer name. HARRIS GETS NEW SONGS Chas. K. Harris has secured the publica- tion rights of three new Creamer and Ley- ton songs which will be released this week. In addition to these numbers Mr. HarriB has acquired from these writers the score of the new Mr. and Mrs. Coburn produc- tion, "Three Showers," which will be pro- duced this spring. STERN BLUES SCORES BIG One of 'the first and biggest of all .the "Blues" hits is the Stern number "Blues" (My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me). This number is a success both in its vocal and instrumental form, and is a big fea- ture with scores of big-time singers and orchestras in all the big cafes and res- taurants. • $60,000 BID FOR "DARDANELU" Fred Fisher received an offer of $60,000 for the publication rights of "Dardanelli" from a Broadway music publisher recent- ly. The offer was refused by Fisher, who believes that in the song and instrumental number he has a hit which will outsell anything published in the last twenty FELDMAN TO VISIT AMERICA Bert Feldman, the London music pub- lisher, is planning a visit to America early this coming summer. Feldman, who has many friends in the United States, has not been here for the past eight or nine' years. FLORENCE WALLACE WITH BAND Florence Wallace has joined the Pat Conway band now playing at Miami, Fla. She is featuring two of the Remick num- bers, "Your Eyes Have Told Me So" and "Hand in Hand." WANT TO SING IN GERMAN Protesting against the activities of the American Legion in stopping the singing of songs in German, 20,000 members of the Northeastern Singing Association, many of them of German descent, last week, through their board of directors, adopted the following resolution: "The Northeastern Singing Association, which gave 3,000. of its members and sons of members to the defense of the country and flag, whose loyalty has always stood above reproach, and whose obedience to the laws of the United States, and in par- ticular to its constitution has never been questioned, protest against any interfer- ence with their constitutional rights to render their songs in the German lan- guage and demand the protection of the proper authorities against such illegal demonstrative interruption, inasmuch as our musical endeavors have absolutely nothing in common with any anti-Amer- ican propaganda." MOVIES BOOST GOOD MUSIC The Committee on New York's Music Week is quietly trying to ascertain the city's musical taste preparatory to the campaign from February 1 to February 7, for more and better music, has discovered that the movies are doing much in teach- ing,and giving good music to the people. Before an audience aggregating between 60,000 and 70,000 a. week at each of the big motion picture theatres, the movies get a good chance at the minds of the public. The picture theatres are 'reaching 90 per cent of the population, which does not attend concerts and symphonies, and are giving them the best in music. Not only in the big Broadway theatres where pictures are shown is the best music played, bnt in movie houses all over town the works of the masters are performed and the audiences have come to appre- ciate* this type of composition. The pop- ular music is by no means neglected, as the managers and musical directors of the houses have learned' that it is by the clever combination of the two are the best results obtained. While the big percent- age of movie patrons keenly enjoy the popular tunes, they also appreciate the standard and high class compositions. MANAGERS BOYCOTT COMPOSERS Berlin, Germany, Jan. 2.—In order to force the powerful Association of Operatic Composers to join forces with them, the "Baehnenfcartell," or "stage pool" has practically declared a boycott oh all works by members of the former association. The purpose of the pool is to gain a monopoly of German stage Interests, and iu order to bring the opera in, it is neces- sary to have the composers. These latter, having refused to join, the managerial in- terests have ceased production of their work. The authors number among them Richard Strauss, Hans Pfitzner, Prof. Max Von Schilling and Humperdinck. "SUNSHINE" STILL LEADS "Carolina Sunshine," the Harry Von Tilzer song hit, still leads the Von Tilzer catalogue in point of sales, closely pressed by "Theyjre All Sweeties." The "Sweeties" song is gaining fast in the singing profession and may even the great popularity of the "Sunshine" song. WALKER PLACES SONGS Ray Walker haa placed two new songs with the Waterson,' Berlin A Snyder Co. They are "Chuckles, Chuckles, Chuckles," and "I'm Glad My Dad Didn't Marry Your Mother." The lyrics of both are by Lew Kline. " .. . . JACK ROBBTNS MARRIED Jack Bobbins, general manager of the Maurice Richmond Music Co., was married last week to Miss Rose Jacobs, a young and beautiful New York girl. CAMPFIRE FEATURED George' McFarlane, at the Riverside Theatre this week, is featuring Percy Wen- rich's song, "By the Campfire," and it is scoring one of the big hits of his act.