New York Clipper (Apr 1923)

April 25, 1923 PRODUCING MGRS. INVESTIGATING VALUE OF BROADCAS TING SHOWS P. M. A. ^ipoints Cammittee to Determine Whether or Not The- atres Derive Additioiial Patnmage From Radio Service— Hammerstein Declares Record and Music Sale Keeps Peofrfe Away from the Shows At a miTting held last Friday by the Producing Managers' Associatioa, a com- mittee was appointed to investigate the matter of royalties and exploitation possi- bilities by radio of masical compositions used in their prodnctioos. Arthur Ham- merstein is chairman of the committee. InteiestiDg developments are promised this week by the producers who are yet sure whether or not the broadcasting of a play <lraws additional patronage. As £ar as Arthur Hammerstein, chair- man of die committee, is personally con- cerned, sheet music and phooograiih rec- ords of any of his shows wnl not be issoed in the future until he has first tried out the value of the radio station as an advertiser of his productions. Sheet music and phonograph records, ac- cording to Mr. Hainmersteui, being avail- able at ,any time in the hom^ is apt to Iceep people away from the theatre. But radio being a transitory operation is more likdy to vbct the appetite of those who liear it and make them want to hear more of the same. Lyric writers and composers of the -scores of musical plays, as well as music publishers, who collect royalties on their songs through the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers for the performance for profit of their works, are now beginning to collect some royal- ties from the radio stations which are being won over gradually by the society. These members of the society are not in favor of the producing manager's plan of collecting royalties. For similar reasons they are not in favor of the restricting of sheet music sales or phonograph records whidi is thar biggest item of revenue in most cases. Among musical comedy lyric and music writers the proposed Hammer- stein plan is* far from being in favor and in practically every case composers and authors can choose their producers. Sevpal months ago the producing man- agers announced their plan to restrict the puyhig in public of the compositions com- prising part of their mnsiral comedy scores and also wanted to share in the dividends of the American Society of Com- posers, Authors and Publishers.^ How-. ever, up to the present time nothing defi- nite has come of it with the exception of two or three letters being written by counsel for the P. M. A. and the general manager of the society, J. C. Rosenthal. An» TO- WILTING STAFF Following the recent withdrawal of Clarke and Leslie from the concern. Stark & Cowan, Inc, is leorganizmg its staff of writers and also replcqMnng it3. cal^ague from teveral . well-loR>wn free °. lance writers. ' " Among^ tfifi. >^ij|cis - from wImau * soogv were taken last^ week by Stark & Cowan, Inc.,' are Con Conrad and'Eugne West, Bauqt Davis and Harry Akst, Bemie Crossman and Willie White, Billy Rose, miy Baskett and otibers as well as a tune from Isham Jones, well-known orchestra man. Sam Coalow, whose Spanish com- edy song is now being pinaged by the Ixnise, las been signed as a staff writer for two years, and u collaborating on some nnmbers with Abe Ohlman. WARREN WITH CLARICE A LESLIE Harry Warren, composer of "Rose of the Rio Grande," and formerly connected with Stark & Cowan, has beoi added to :the staff of Clarke & Leslie. BERLIN GOES TO LONDON Irving Berlin sailed on Saturday on the Majesne fair London. Berlin will super- vise the r^earsals of "The Music Box," -which win open in London on May 14. MAX SILVER WITH ABRAHAMS Ma'*' Silver is now connected with the ICanrice Abtahams Mnsic Compapy in the ■capacity of general manager. Silver and Abrahams worked together, the former as general manager and the latter as head of -the ^ofessional department, more than fif- teen years ago for F. A. (Kerry) Mills.- They were with the same concern for a period of ten years imtil about seven years ago. , Silver most . recently was irith Charles K; Harris. History scems.to r^-. veat itself in this respect; fidlowiiiK on tiHc 'bedbM>f '.tlic'ieaiiion' of. the 'FiAeii;Mc-^ Caitiqraiaff at JadE~BfiIIs,.Incl .' LEVY CHANGES NAME TO DAVID Benjamin W. Levy, attorney, formerly head of the mnsic publishing house of B. D. Nice & Co., has returned to the practice of law and has become connected with .the firm of San, Ittelson & Van Voorhis. By leave of court Levy has changed his name to that of Benjamin David. SIXTY YEARS IN ONE JOB E. S. Cragin, manager of the C H. Ditson & Co. music store on East Thirty- fourth street, last week celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday. Sixty years of his life has been spent with the Ehtson bouse. MUSIC BflEN FOR CONVENTION Several band and orchestra men, repre- senting New York music publishers, will attend the twenty-ninth aimual convention of the American Federation of Musicians to be held May 15 in St. Louis, Mo. In- cluded in- the hanA and orchestra inen who are leaving are Lester Santly, of Leo Feist, Inc.; I^eo Lewin, of Waterson, Ber- lin & Snyder; Abe Holzmann, of Jerome ' H. Remick & Co., and Frank Marvin, of Clark-Leslie Songs, Inc. SONGWRITERS IN ACT Lou Brea'u and Charles Tobias, of the Tee Bee Music Company, have been rooted over thr Moss time for six weeks, opening in Phflklelphia the week of April 23. The offering is a singing act and the duo will sing their own compositions. The Tee Bee's newest addition is a high-class ballad written by Tobias, Breau and Fred Huff, musical director of the Am- bassador "Theatre. NEW TRIANGLE SONG The Triangle Music Company's song, "My Mother's Lullaby," is being released shortly as a special' the Okeh Record Company, havug been made by Vincent Lopez.-and His Orchestra. Lopcz is also staging the song as'a featare in hb vaude- 'rille '-act' :. ■ KRESGE BIG INSURANCE PLAN OFF The plan of S. S. Kresge to take out a life insurance policy amounting 'to $5,- 000,000 has been blocked by the action of the Life Underwriters' Association. The proposed Kresge policy, the largest evet issued has gone into the discard and the head of the five and' ten cent store chain has decided to call it all off. Forty insur- ance companies were prepared to share in the monster policy but the Underwriters' Association displayed sufficient strength to cause them to refuse to issue it. The trouble with the policy was due to the fact that its premium and commission amounted to more than any on record and in round figures was about $150,000. The policy payments figured around $300,000 a year and the commission for the under- writer figured atraut half of the first year's premium. Wallace Scott, not a regular under- writer, but a broker who belongs to the N. Y. Stock Exchange firm of W. E. Hut- ton & Co., is a friend of Mr. Kresge's and be applied for a license permitting him to handle the policy. This would insure the payment of the big premium to him and the Underwriters' Association immediately filed its protest James H. Mcintosh, at- torney for Mr. Kresge declared that after his client had decided to take out the big policy, the filing of the jn-otest caused him to change his mind and call off the whole dnng. "It caused Mr, Kresge too much aimoyance," said Mr. Mcintosh and he de- aded that if the insurance companies pre- ferred to give the agents commissions rather than do insurance business, he was willing." The New York underwriters, led by Lawrence Friddy, 120 Broadway, made their fight largely in the interest of George H. Beach of Detroit, who had been woric- ing for years to sell insurance to the chain store man. Mr. Beadh had been active in selling large instuance to seventeen of- ficials and associates of Mr. Kresge. Through his o-wn arguments, supple- mented 'with those of the holders of some of these seventeen policies, Mr. Beach had sought to convince Mr. Kresge that he needed big life insu^ce to pay estate taxes and absorb the fiiock to his interests on his death. Mr. KBresge finally decided to take out the $5,000,000 policy and was examined by six or seven physicians. But then he suddenly broke off negotiations with Beach and started to deal with Wal- lace Scott, who was not in the insurance business at all. The premium and commission involved were greater than any on record., Two or three others have insurance of nearly $5,- 000,000, but Mr. Kresge is older than any of Ae big policyholders were when they obtained their insurance. He is .56 years old. Mr. Beach, questioned by officials of the ■New York Insurance Department, said that Mr. Kresge had at first asked for "a wholesale rate" because of the size of the policy. Any form of a rd>ate, how- ever, is illegal Mr. Kresge a little later began to deal -with iiis New York friend, but it has been denied that' there 'was any understanding on the first premium involv- ing a rebate. "We have sho-wn Mr. Kresge," said Mr. Priddy, "bet w een him and Mr. Scott, that if he wants life insurance he must deal with life insurance underwriters and that he cannot transform a stock broker over- night into an underwriter in order to take care of a special transaction. "Mr. Kresge does not have to deal with Mr. Beach, but he does have to deal with some regidarly accredited life insurance man. Our organization is not a union in any sense of the word, but it is a vigilant organization in detecting -violatioiis of the insurance laws and in demanding that they be obeyed. iTHr. Kresge has wired to all the insur- ance companies to whom he made 4>plica- tion in this city, oddng that his applica- 'tibti be withdrawn. SOaETY FILES TWENTY SUITS Sydney S. Cohen, president of the Mo- tion Picture Theatre Owners of America, is made defendant in twenty suits for in- fringement of copyright, filed. in the United States District Court by The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers on Monday, through the Society's general counsel, Nathan- Burkan. This action comes within ten days after Cohen announced to the A. S. C. A & P., and the press, that he would discontinue the licenses held by the five tiieatres in the city and would play music not in the cata- logue of that organization. Immediately after the letter was re- ceived by the Society the five motion pic- ture houses owned by Cohen were placed on the Socie^s regular list for inspection and infringements were reported at every house at each performance. The five theatres are the Bronx Strand, West- chester avenue; Empire^ Westchester avenue and 161st street; Fa/s, Bos- ton Road; North Sta*^ Fifth avenue and 105th street, and the Tremont Theatre, 178th Street Not only were popular num- bers played at the Cohen houses but whole musical comedy scores were among _ the selections rendered on various occasions, according to the Society's complaints. The sudden move inade by Cohen on the eve of the National Convention of Mo- tion Picture Theatre Owners when the an- nual election of officers 'will be made early in May in Chicago, is characterized by J. C. Rosenthal, general manager of the A S. C A. & P., as a "grand-stand play" on the part of Cohen who expects some dis- cussion, at the convention of the situation regarding the so-called "music tax." Mr. Rosenthal pobted out that Cohen was among the very first who took out licenses for his theatre back in 1917. Since then, as head of the movie theatre owner's or- ganization he has advised and worked against picture houses taking out licenses to perform copyrighted music for profit. That the film houses owned by Cohen were licensed by the Society, was not gen- erally known until last year when that fact was made public by the A. S. C A & P. "Cohen's reason for the grand-stand play is obvious" said Mr. RosenthaL "The peculiar thing about Mr. Cohen's actions" continued Mr. Rosenthal, "is that he said in his letter that he took out the A S. C A &.P., licenses in 1917 because it 'was under duress and fear of oppression. Why should he have been afraid of a puny little organization that the Society vras in its early days in 1917? This same man Cohen defied tiie strongest opposition in the motion picture field, and he fought Zukor, Loew and other powerful combina- tions. Yet he claims that the Society ..coerced near five years ago. "Another thing we fail to understand about Cohen is the alleged library of more than 10,000 selections he has gathered to- gether exdu^ve of copyrighted music in the Soqrty's catalogue, and _ which was claimed (o be sufficient music of every variety for every exhibitor in the United States, to play without fear of an infringe- ment. 'What has become of that library? Despite this collection of music said to be made by Mr. Cohen, his theaters have de- liberately played our music at every per- formance." MUSIC MAN IS AN ACTOR Milton Wallace, assistant to Leo Lewin in the band and orchestra department of Waterson, Berlin & Snyder, was given an important part in "Abie's Irish Rose" last week, the show bong the first legitimate stage experience. BORNSTEIN GOING TO EUROPE Saul Bomstein. general manager of Irv- ing Berlin, Inc., is sailing for Europe this week on his annual busmess and pleasure trip.