The New York Clipper (January 1920)

»-January 28; 1920 THE NEW YORK- CLIPPER 17 FIGHT OF WOOLWORTH AND MUSIC "MEN I S NOW IN FULL SWING Publisher* Declare They Will Continue to Exploit High Priced Numbers. Laugh at Syndicate'* Singer Paying Statement. "No Retail Store* Can Make a Song Hit," Say Publishers The story of the declaration of war by the big "Woolworth retail syndicate on the music publishers, printed first, in the Cup- ees of last week, set the whole world of music publishing by the ears and was the big topic of conversation throughout the week. The story was picked from the Cufpbb by other publications and rewrit- ten from other angles, bat the story as printed in this publication is the true and authentic one. The Woolworths are not contemplating entering the publishing field as has been published, but have started a fight on the music men who are featuring the high priced pr thirty cent numbers, and axe making a strenuous attempt to reduce the price to the old ten cent rate, or six and 'a half cents a copy wholesale. The first ' move of the syndicate is to concentrate its selling efforts on a ten cent, number, try in every way to put it over as a big na- tional hit and then follow this np with some other H*mHwx number,- . In other ' words, "j the- Woolworths are about to try - to make a hit, a piece of work which has in the past been strictly up to the pub- .' Usher, and which they say 'Can never be . - . ■ accomplished by. any retail syndicate, no 'matter how 1 big or strong. .-.■■•'. The great number, of high-priced songs ■ which -have during- the past few months ■. bean issued by. the" publishers of popular "'■ : tausie which in the past generally retailed Tor ten cento and which the professional forces have successfully exploited, has left the Woolworth music departments in a precarious condition in so fax as -the han- dling of hits is concerned. Fully eighty - per cent of the hits of the present season are of the high priced order, and these are automatically oft* -.the Woolworth - counters, as the highest retail price of music in these stores is ten cents per copy. The Woolworth concern will not depart from its ten cent retail policy and the publishers unhesitatingly say that the day of ten cent music is past. That increases in production have made the publication of any number so expensive that if it is to be exploited through the ordinary chan- nels, it most be wholesaled at a price greatly in excess of the Woolworth rate iftvjst a big loss will be recorded. The con- tention of the Woolworth concern that the big increase in production cost is due'to ■-. the many branch offices the various pub- lishers Tnntn tn'n, the' publishers say is ridiculous. "They ™^iti*»»w that .with the elimination of every branch, music under present conditions could not be sold at the six and one-half cent rate. They further say that the Woolworths in -failing to - adopt a price-raising-policy in their music -. -departments and raising the retail rate, 'nave only themselves .to blame for existing ' conditions, and should not blame the pub- lisher. The publishers say that had the ' syndicate put the retail price of music np to fifteen cents that it could have paid the publisher ten cents a copy, and the thirty i -cent publication in so far as the regular *■" sheet music is concerned would never •have- • been dreamed of. ", » A meeting of the members of the Music Publishers' Protective Association was held on Saturday afternoon and was attended s by a representative of everymisrt^^e Woolworth ~ matter was tborougnry-- gone over, and a -rot* of the members showed " they were unanimously ia favor of mining the Ugh priced rata.- - The _nent that the syndicate, might pay singers in the theatres was laughed at. The matter of sending a delegation to wait on E. Z. Nutting, of the Woolworth concern, to explain the absolute necessity of maintaining the high-priced numbers was discussed, but as dozens of the mem- bers stated that they had in person gone into the matter at great length with him the. idea was abandoned; Every member of the organization called upon for his views at-the meeting stated, that the publishing of music to wholesale at six and one-half cents per copy was business suicide and could not for a mo- ment be considered. The outlet for the pigh-priced numbers is large, and the pub- lishers state that if -necessary they can get along well without the Woolworth business. One of the members mentioned the po- sition of the well known and successful song writers,' and stated that almost with- out exception they demanded the high- priced publication with the big royalty which it carried, and stated. that .the beat writers will not place a'number in which they have confidence unless they are as- sured that it is to be issued as a high- priced publication. . Rumor has It that all the big. publishers who are featuring the high-priced numbers are to lose their trade listing with the Woolworths, and that only such numbers as are in big demand will bo handled at all - This could not be verified, although it is well known that one of the Wool* worth representatlTes recently made In- quiries of a number of the publishers re- garding their intentions in the high-priced publication matter. In the meantime the Woolworths are go- ing ahead with their exploitation campaign in connection with the first number which they announce they are to make a mutton wide hit, and the publishers are watching the outcome with much interest In'discussing the si tu a t ion, one of the representatives of the Woolworth ■ co n c ern said. "We have no idea of going.'Into the publishing business. That b .a move we will never make unless actually forced into it, but tiie day .of ten cent music ia by no means over and we must get it for our customers. The bulk of. business which we did on our 'music counters last, year was the greatest m the history of. One career and we believe it- will continue' to ' increase. • We believe ten . cents is 'the logical retail price for a popular song and do not believe it is worth thirty cents, and should not be raised to. that figure. ' A production number is a different proposi- tion, but with the ordinary run of songs we think ten cents is a. fair price to ask." "PEGGY" SCORES QUICKLY "Peggy;"'a new song recently released .by the Leo Feist house, has scored one. of the quickest hits on record. It was. purchased a few weeks ago and work was' not planned to commence on it for sev- eral weeks, but it has leaped into such quick popularity that it.is. being released through an the Feist branches. It is one Of the leaders in the big Feist catalogue. "RAINBOW" FANTASY STAGED -, "The Bainbew Fantasy" is the name of a hew proauclron which will be seen at the Broad way* Theatre on February 1. '. Music will -play an Important part in the. piece and Edw. F. Breier and Edw. A. Weinateln are responsible for several espe- cially written melodies, including specialty Interpolations from, the house of Joe. W. Stern A Co. Of great interest Is the information that Raymond Midgley is in charge of the staging of the production. "Ray" Midg- ley's name is a byword in Chicago for the big things in theatrical and musical cir- cles. Among the well known examples of his work has been the staging of Geo. Damerals* "Merry Widow" musical com- edy, Eva Tanguay, Blanche Ring,."Char- lotte,'' skater of New York Hippodrome fame, in her'review at Terrace Garden, Geo. Ohoose*s "Bride Shop," and a notable collection of prominent reviews. - RAY SHERWOOD BACK FROM TRIP Ray Sherwood, of the Vandersloot music house, is-bad in New York after a suc- cessful trip through the middle west. Ray has combined professional and trade work on the trip and has not only sold a big quantity of the Vandersloot publications . but has placed songs with many wall known singers. • HENRY BURR SONGS FEATURED "Oh! My Lady" and "I've Found the Nesting Place of the- Bluebird" were the feature songs in the Songwriters' Jubilee held last week at the North Star Theatre. "Henry Burr" night proved a big drawing card, and a crowded house heard the week- ly presentation of songs' from the various nouses. ' KAUFIELDS TO PLAY PALACE The 3 Kaufields, a new vaudeville act, composed-of-Irving and Jack Kaufman and.Arthur Fields, the phonograph singer*, will be heard at the Palace Theatre next week In an act In which they will sing S numb er of the songs which they have sung for the phonograph companies, - BERLIN PUTS OVER "QUICK HIT" The Irving Berlin house is claiming one of th e qu ickest Sits on record in tits new song Til See You in C-TJ-B-A," a novelty lyric set to a particularly pleasing mel- ody, nt Is by Irving Berlin, and although . but a few days old is being sung by scores Li of vaudeville's best singers. FULLER TO MAKE RECORDS Earl Fuller, the leader and manager, of 1 a.scoro"or more of Jaxs bands and arenas I tras, and music-publisher as well, Is going , into the phonograph record business. His new company, called the Earl Fuller Rec- ord Company, has been incorporated for $500,000. . ——■ i — JOHN BLACK SIGNS John Black, one of the writers of the famous "Dardannella," baa. signed a con- tract whereby he is to write exclusively for a term of years for the McCarthy A Fisher Co. He has placed six new num- - bets' with the house for early release. W. C. HANDY ON THE ROAD . W. C. Handy is meeting .with much sac- *«eess placing the new Pace A Handy pub- lications' on his business trip through the West and South. He is expected back in New York on February 1. MUSIC MEN TO MEET "te 'silTr i-"Hs"fi' ~ i The MOslet- gjbHeoers the United Stiteltwill hold a speeffirmeet-: ing on Tuesday, February 3, on the second floor of the Grand Central Palace. Mat- ters of ^importance affecting the entire music ptipliabjBg trade are to be discussed at that arreting. ■ .-'.... W^i -j-i . KORNHEISER OUT AGAIN PhQ Kombeiser is back at his desk la- the Feist professional department after a X .absence at home, where be. was ned with an attack of innuenae, ;' SONGWRITERS ORGANIZING - A number of meetings of song writers have been held during the past few weeks -and a new organisation to be called the American Songwriters' Syndicate has been practically completed. The new organisa- tion plans to; write and publish popular numbers, all to be sold st ten cents per copy. The money derived from the salt of these as well as the royalties from me- chanic*] Instrument concerns, ig to.be divided equally among the members of the new organisation, which at present ia to be limited to ten members. In this way the writers figure that a hit for one is a hit for all, and should one of the writers be a Utile off his batting stride for a. few months the work of some other who Is bitting around three hundred would keep him in good health and spirits. One of the first moves of some of the members of the organisation was to call on the Woolworth Retell Syndicate to dis- cuss business, and the news of the -call started the rumor that the Woolworths were going into the publishing business. The outcome of the call on the big retailers is said to have been an arrangement where- by the buyer, If he thought the publications meritorious, would take good cam of the numbers, give them a good display, and | possibly place some big orders for the num- bers which showed the strongest. -'". The songwriters, pleased with the way they have, -been received in this and in other quarters, are going ahead rapidly and hope to be established la the publish- ing business within the next few week*. In the meantime they are planning a big vaudeville act to give the .new songs the first start on the road to popularity. STARK AND COWAN OPEN Max Stark and Bo bey Cowan have opened their new music publishing estab- lishment st No. 834 West Forty-sixth Street. Their new songs are "Ha Was Everybody's Buddy," "If YouTI Come Back," There's Just is Little Toweb of . Dixie In Your Bye," and "You Can Stay But-That Doggone Fiddle Most Go." A throng of .singing actors were at the new offices all day Monday learning tile new numbera, A™«ng the prominent sots were Krans and La Salle, Swift and Kelly. MCE BOOKS VAUDOGRAPHS "Vaudogrsphi," the--song and motion picture combination Invented by Ben W. Levy and put out by the music house of B. D. Nice A Co. to be used in popularis- ing the Nice song ■eonipoaitiona, has Seen succeaaf idly booked In the vaudeville ithe- atres. A long route bad been laid out, and the houses in which the film has been shown report that it is a success. The film, which runs about fifteen min- utes, gives a great impetus to song popu- larisation, and the Nice compositions are going big in the centers where the film .has been Shown; . MINNIE BLAUMAN ILL Minnie Blanman, of tike.Irving Berlin professional staff Is Bl at her home with iuBnensa. , Bir.ststarv;LQy, died of the "FLU" HITS THE MUSIC HOUSES The return of the influenza epidsnafe ha*.. hit the music publishing houses particu- larly hard. None of the big houses are running with a full staff, and several are badly crippled; - The professional depart- ments have suffered the greatest, many of them keeping open with less than *aH the usual force of employees, - - '' THOMAS A WALKER TO MOVE Thomas A Walker, who for the past two months have been located In- the Qs&scy Theatre bnfldlng, have- leased ofsess at No. ,162 West Forty-fifth Street and win take, possession early next week. Bfuy Lang, formerly of the Boston of- fice of the Broadway Music Corporation, Is now connected with the New York of the company and to the position of I