NAB reports (Jan-Dec 1941)

Fall In BMI’s Copyright Research Department In a larf;c office lined with long rows of filing cases. Miss Ottalie Mark, head of the BMI Copyright Research Department, has as¬ sembled cards for hundreds of thousands of selections, each with the name of the number, its comp<rscrs, publisher, date of publica¬ tion and designation of the performing rights society that controls it. In other files are cards with information on thousands of pub¬ lishers, not only those in the United States, but also in such dis¬ tant countries as .Argentina, Japan, Peru, Hungary, Haiti and many others. A third file of cards is devoted to authors and com¬ posers. Here one can look up almost any living music writer of importance of popular, standard, hill-billy, devotional, military, symphonic or an\ other classification of music, and secure his name and pseudonrm, age, affiliation with performing society, ami whenever possible, his address. Thus, Miss Mark has at her finger tips information on practically every composition that might be used today and every person who is at all important in the world of music. In addition, broadcasters can also secure information on the best sources for such obscure and little played material as Chinese, Arabian and Indian music. According to cop>right experts, no music firm has ever taken such extensive steps to avoid errors and infringements as BMI. An example of this extreme care may be seen in the copyright background of the public domain numbers being newly arranged. First, a photostatic copy of the original source material of the number is obtained, usually from the Library of Congress in Wash¬ ington or the New York Public Library. The composition is then cleared by BMPs Copyright and Legal Department when it has been definitely established as P. D. material. After clearance, the selection is sent to the Arranging Depart¬ ment where it is assigned to an arranger b> Arthur Gutman, head of the Department. Finally, when the composition has been scored in a new orchestration that is copyrighted, it is returned to the Copyright and Legal Departments for a final check-up. After these steps have been taken, a iirinted copy of the new arrangement to¬ gether with all “source material’’ is put in a large envelope and tiled away. Similar records of all BMI’s new popular and standard songs arc likew'ise kept and put on file. Because of the complete coverage of every aspect of musical copyright, BMPs Copyright Department has become a sort of national fountain head of information pertaining to copyright questions that is consulted many times daily by BMI stations and also by many band leaders, singers, theatres, managers and others who waant authoritative data. “Because of You” Without any particular attention. Because of You, a BMI tune liy Arthur Hammerstein and Dudley Wilkinson, is rapidly gaining favor not only with the bands, but with concert artists. It has been sung recently on the best of the musical jirograms and by the best known artists of the air. Arthur Hammerstein is the same Arthur Hammerstein who produced Naughty Marietta and Rose Marie, who introduced Rudolph Friml and who brought to the public eye such outstanding composers as George Gershwin, Vincent Youmans, Jerome Kern and others. While he never wrote any of the music in the successful operettas he produced, there is no doubt that he contributed to the public reception of the hit num¬ bers that came out of each of these productions. Now, after thirty years of producing musicals, Mr. Hammerstein and his collabora¬ tor, Mr. Wilkinson, widely known as an accompanist of concert artists, find themselves hit song writers. It is a new experience for hotli of them. .\s Yankee Doodle was characteristic of the “Spirit of 1776’’ and the Battle Cry of Freedom suggested the crusading spirit of the war between the states, so Fall In, a new patriotic march, now rolling off the presses of Broadcast Music, Inc., may be said to reflect the cry that is coming to be heard everywhere today — AMERICANS, UNITE AND HELP TO KEEP US FREE . . According to its author. Welcome Lewis, radio singer, the idea and words for Fall In where inspired by President Roosevelt’s “Hand that Held the Dagger’’ speech which followed Italy’s en¬ trance into the war on the side of Nazi Germany against her former ally, France. •After listening to the President. Miss Lewis was moved to write the chorus of the song . . . she says now, she didn’t know why, be¬ cause up to that time she had never written a song ... yet the words just seemed to flow from her typewriter. She put them aside and it was not until several days later that she persuaded Milton Shaw to write a melody for them. Like many another song. Fall In was not accepted at first. Nearly everyone who read the lyric declared that it was too parti¬ san. At that time the country and particularly the major networks were leaning over backwards in an effort to be neutral. The policy of all-out aid to Britain had not yet been endorsed by the public in the second re-election of Franklin D. Roosevelt and by Con¬ gress with the lease-lend bill. Even though she was unable to interest a publisher. Welcome Lewis, convinced of the value of the song’s appeal, re-wrote the lytic in milder tone . . . had it okayed by music clearance and began to plug it as an unpublished number on her own audience participation show, the Welcome Lewis Singing Bee on the Colum¬ bia Broadcasting System. The first performance of the song proved that she was right. She was deluged with letters and appeals for copies from patriotic societies as well as individuals throughout the country. For months the requests poured in. and finally in recent w'eeks when the appeal lor Unity in the country reached nation-wide proportions and opened discussion on the floor of Congress, BMI became interested and decided to publish the song. A stirring march, Fall In is easily singable as well as playable and will undoubtedly irrovide the strains for many a rookie’s daily dozen on the parade grounds. The girl wdio wrote it is a Californian, a petite brunette, and a member of a large family noted for musical accomplishments. graduate of \'enice Fligh School and the daughter of the former Mayor of Venice, California, she stinlied violin under her brother, the first violinist of the Los .Xngeles Sr-mphony Orchestra, but became famous as a singer on the radio despite the fact that she never had a singing lesson in her life. Her grandfather was FTank Emil Englander, former concert mas¬ ter of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and one of the most famous musicians on the West Coast. I AM AN AMERICAN ASCAP has advised the NAB that any station has per¬ mission to broadcast the composition “I AM AN AMERI¬ CAN” on I AAI AN AAIERICAN DAY. DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME Reitlying to Neville Miller’s letter directing attention to the desirability of national daylight saving time, IMr. William S. Knudsen, Director General of the Office of Production IManagement, states that the matter is now 426 — May 9, 1941