Exhibitor's Trade Review (Sep-Nov 1921)

1412 EXHIBITORS TRADE REVIEW Volume 10. Number 20 Music for the Conducted by NORMAN STUCKEY THE design of this department is to diffuse among musicians and exhibitors correct information on all important subjects pertaining to music for the film; to improve the quality of musical interpretation and to raise the standard of music in motion picture theatres. Questions concerning music, suitable instrumentation, queries relating to organs and mechanical players, etc., should be addressed to Music Editor, Exhibitors Trade Review, Knickerbocker Building, Broadway and Forty-second Street. Pit Deportment Regarding the musician's conduct in the orchestra pit, Mr. Joseph Fox, writing in Jacobs' Orchestra Monthly, has many important things to say: . • » n "The average theatre musician is m full view of a large audience from one to two hours at a time. During this period his actions are more closely watched and criticised than most of us realize, and as a consequence it behooves us to be on our continual good behavior. "The general appearance of an orchestra has much to do with its popularity, musical critics to the contrary notwithstanding. Anyone who has been in the show business for any length of time could state specific instances of certain musical organizations getting away with mediocre work simply because they put up a 'swell front.' " (Mr. Fox cites many reasons for musicians' failure to hold down steady positions ; among them, the yawning drummer, the lazy violinist; the "mushy" pianist; the musician who spends his time flirting with the fair sex; and other musicians whose inefficiency and carelessness results m inferior playing.) Brevities The Alhambra Theatre, of Milwaukee, has added a symphony orchestra of twentyfive men, with Jerry Nastri as conductor. The musical programs are made a special feature of each week's offering. The new Strand Theatre, in the process of construction at Los Angeles, will install a $30,000 Robert Mortan organ. Wins Music Prize To the young English school of composition goes the victory in the 1921 Berkshire Chamber Music Contest, the prize of $1,000 for a trio for piano and strings having been awarded to H. Waldo Warner, viola player of the London String Quartet. Sixty-four compositions in all were before the judges. Ten nations were found to be represented among the composers competing, and about one-third of the manuscripts were from Americans. The prize work was played for the first time at the September Berkshire Festival, Pittsfield, Mass. Music in China In a Chinese theatre string instruments are only used to accompany songs, and wind instruments are only employed in the event of a marriage or reception. Galaxy of Well-Known Organists Clyde Martin, South Bend, Ind. The man who claims to be the first to write a musical setting for a motion picture— back in the days when David Wark Griffith was making one-reel "features"— is now a notable in the South Bend musical world, Clyde Martin, Castle Theatre organist. Because of that achievement, Mr. Martin, although a young man, claims to be the grand-daddy of such symphonic compositions as "The March of the Clansmen" and the rest of the settings for "The Birth of a Nation," or of the characteristic music lately heard in South Bend with the showing of "Way Down East." Mr. Martin started his career as a motion picture accompanist fourteen years ago in the first cinema in Denver, Col. Those were the days of split-reels and ballyhoos, when a repertoire of the "Ben Hur Chariot Race" and "Hearts and Flowers" was considered sufficient for the pianist in the nickelodeums. But pioneers were already forging ahead. In the van of progress on the musical side was Mr. Martin. In 1911 Col. William N. Selig — one of the grand old men of picture production — became interested in the young musician and believing in his ideas concerning photoplay accompaniment, sent him out for a year of one-night stands in the leading theatres of the country to instruct local musicians in the new art of "playing the pictures." This was done at the expense of the Selig company. With this background of progress so closely identified with the growth of good music in the photoplay houses, Mr. Martin's work at the Castle is proving a neverending source of delight to the Castle crowds. Music Typewriter Much interest is being manifested in New York by composers on the possibilities of the kromarographie, a music typewriter recently invented in Europe. With the aid of this instrument, it is said, the composer may produce a typewritten scroll without the trouble of making the characters by hand. He simply sits at the piano and gives free play to his creative fancies. Every stroke upon the key is registered in regular musical character upon a paper scroll wound upon a drum. THE EDITOR Of This Department Will Be Pleased to Advise Readers on Any Subject Pertaining to Music for the Photo-Play. No Charge — Glad to Serve You. Antiquity of Music The field of musical history stretches beyond our sight. The most ancient document we possess is a Chaldean bas-relief representing a harpist, discovered by M. de Sarzec at the palace of Telloh, on the left bank of the canal which connects the Tigris with the Euphrates. Good judges, like M. Pottier, attribute it to the 30th century before the Christian era. There is no paradox in saying that music is more ancient than poetry and that it has provided poetry with its structural laws. From the most distant ages to the present time the series of facts are unbroken. It has even happened that in the modern period music has acquired an exceptionally representative value. Everyone knows the names of Bach, Handel, Mozart and Beethoven, but how many of us know the names of the painters, sculptors and architects who were their contemporaries in Germany? Popular Music Below is a brief list of songs that are enjoying popularity on Broadway: "All By Myself," "Peggy O'Neil," "Ma," "Nobody's Baby," "My Man," "Moonlight," "Second-Hand Rose," "Crooning," "Ain't We Got Fun?" "Sally, Won't You Come Back?" "Oh Me, Oh My," "Stolen Kisses," "Bring Back My Blushing Rose," "Last Waltz," "Sweet Lady," "Wang Wang Blues," and "Strut, Miss Lizzie." The Musician's Bookshelf "How to Enjoy Music" is a new volume in the "Library of Music and Musicians" which E. P. Dutton & Co. publish. Herbert Antcliffe, who wrote a previous volume in this series, "Short Studies in the Nature of Music," is the author. He says that it is a collection of suggestions aiming "to help lovers of music to learn how to enjoy more what they hear and how to hear what is enjoyable." Its chapters explain why classical music is good, what is meant by form in music, what is meant by interpretation, how music is made, what is meant by opera, program music, harmony and instrumentation. There are lists of suggested works suitable for the development of musical taste and knowledge, a glossary of musical terms, a short bibliography and a section of biographical notes covering five centuries of composers. For Better Music THE FOTOPLAYER THE AMERICAN PHOTO PLAYER CO. NEW YORK CITY CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO 1600 Broadway 64 E. Jackson Blvd.; 109 Golden Gate Ave.