Radio Digest (June 1932-Mar 1933)

Blues," "Palestina," and "Margy," especially "Singing the Blues," has given Marion one of her greatest mediums of expression. Now that she is in Europe, Russell is associated with the firm of DeSylva, Brown & Henderson, and seems to be writing exclusively for them with Mercer Cooke, a young colored boy whom I have known for several years, and with whom I fought the battle for true authorship of "I Love You, Sweetheart of all My Dreams;" Mercer teaches French at Howard University in Washington; he is a graduate of Amherst, and the son of Will Marion Cooke, one of the greatest negro song-writers and show directors. "Stop the Sun, Stop the Moon" was one of the best things these two boys have done together, and although not a popular seller it is an outstanding type of song. They are diverting from the beaten field if nothing else; whether their wayward attempts are profitable or not, at least the boys are attempting to give us something new. In this case Mercer has seized upon the idea of deliberate illiteracy, even more than the usual "I Ain't Got Nobody," and "Mama Don't Wan't No Peanuts and no Rice;" But more than double negatives, all sorts of irregular uses of verbs and pronouns is the predominating tone of this particular song. From the title itself one may judge what the rest of the song will be. Given a clever lyric, Russell Robinson has written an unusually good melody. In fact, the song haunted me for several days after we first played it. Our rendition of it must have been one of the first on the air, because Russell played it for me when it was still very nebulous in his mind, on a morning he came up with Nick Kenny and Stella Unger to play, what both of the latter hoped would be, the Hoover Medal Prosperity song. This song should grace the piano of any lover of the ivories, as it the type of song that little evening gatherings will have much fun in singing. I only hope that most pianos now dust-covered are occasionally opened for festive gatherings, although I guess the radio, going from morning until late at night, has almost effectively silenced the ten million pianos which are known to be in the homes of American music lovers. We play IS I IN LOVE? I IS giving about a minute to the chorus, and as I said before, DeSylva Brown & Henderson are its publishers. TJ/HY CAN'T THIS GO ON FORVV EVER AND EVER? Messrs. Turk & Ahlert again! Not satisfied with having written one of the outstanding hits of the season, "When The Blue Of The Night Meets The Gold Of The Day," thereby giving Mr. Bing Crosby his most effective theme song, these two boys are trying to follow up the success of their waltz "Why Dance" with another, also leaving it with the same music publish ers, the publishers, in fact, of their greatest hit, "I'll Get By." The demonstration of this song, and several others, took place up in the Berlin demonstration rooms, where the radio plugs of the air are inveigled into hearing the latest offerings of the firm. Among those present was none other than Irving Berlin himself, with Max Winslow, the man who helped to pilot him to his fame and riches, Georgie Joy, Dave Dreyer, who demonstrates the songs so ably at the piano, and little Bennie Bloom. Bennie, to my way of thinking, is the finest secretary Irving Berlin will ever have; besides being publicity man, legal adviser and financial adviser, he is an aide-de-camp par excellence. There is no one who knows the finest eating places of New York City as does Bennie Bloom, and because he has shown me the two finest eating places in New York City, Mannie's and Leonie's. He is one of the finest and best liked boys in the music publishing business, and I am always happy when Bennie tells me he has an unusual song. WHY CAN'T THIS GO ON FOREVER AND EVER? is an unusually good waltz, a little difficult to sing and a little trying on the voice, but a lovely thing to listen to, and a beautiful thing to play, and I am hoping that it becomes one of 27 the best songs in the catalogue of Irving Berlin, Inc. FOU'RE THE ONE. Hurrah for the 6/8 numbers, scarcer than hens' teeth, and harder to find than the proverbial needle in the haystack. It remains for Buddy Fields and Gerald Marks, the two Detroit boys whose "All Of Me" was one of the best tunes of the last season, to give DeSylva, Brown & Henderson one of the loveliest and sprightliest of 6/8 songs heard in a long time. I was rather surprised to find a lot of people humming it the day after we broadcast it from Pittsburgh, when Sophie Tucker Was our guest artist, and upon inquiry I found, strangely enough, that it really was the result of our broadcast of it. I had no idea that people really learned a song so quickly. Mrs. Bolger, the wife of Ray Bolger, our dancing comedian, was frank to tell me that our one rendition of it had set her humming and whistling the tune everywhere she went. That's enough for me; the song has affected me the same way, and I only hope, for Gerald Mark's sake, as well as Buddy Fields', that it keeps on haunting people until they purchase copies, because that's what songs are written for, and unless the song-writers are given some monetary inspiration for writing, we, who want to play their songs, will find it increasingly difficult to get good material. Reeva Reyes of NBC and "Hot Cha".