Radio Digest (June 1932-Mar 1933)

29 /F YOU WERE ONLY MINE. Isham Jones has been turning out the rhythmic type of tune as one turns out Fords in a Ford factory for the past several months. I am happy to see him finally lean toward the beautiful, smoothmoving type of melody. With Charles Newman of Chicago, with whom he also wrote "The Wooden Soldier and the China Doll," and several other tunes, he has given Robbins one of their best bets, one which they have been hammering on for the past several weeks— IF YOU WERE ONLY MINE. Ever since "I Wouldn't Change You For the World" Isham seems to have started the vogue for the rhythmic type of song, which has given us so many others of its ilk, songs such as "My Extraordinary Gal," "We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye," "I Can't Believe It's True," and so many others, but he shows his versatility by shifting to this type of song which, personally, I enjoy doing best of all. MUSIC FROM "FLYING COLORS." I am sorry that I cannot pay these tunes the musical tribute I would so much have liked. After their wonderful score of "The Band Wagon," I really expected that Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz would give us something unusually good. They attempted another "Dancing in the Dark" as they wrote ALONE TOGETHER, which is unquestionably the best song of all their songs from the show, although I would like to hear them as they are performed in "Flying Colors," where I could see and hear the development of each tune. Certainly, however, LOUISIANA HAYRIDE and SMOKING REEFERS will never reach first base in mass popularity SHINE ON YOUR SHOES makes, .a fine rhythmic dance tune, but it is ALONE TOGETHER which will achieve what little prominence the music from the show eventually attains. Bennie Krueger's beautiful saxophone rendition of it a few evenings ago on the Chase and Sanborn Hour showed me more than ever the tonal beauty of the composition. The show has a mixed chorus of white and colored girls, and I am very anxious to see it because with such a cast as Clifton Webb, Charles Butterworth, Tamara Geva and Patsy Kelly it should be another Max Gordon success. At least, it has my best wishes. The songs are published by Harms, Inc., and we play ALONE TOGETHER slowly and SHINE ON YOUR SHOES brightly. ALL AMERICAN GIRL and ^/l ANYBODY'S COLLEGE SONG. With the coming of the football season come America's Tin Pan Alley writers to give us the college type of tunes. Two of them deserve hasty mention in passing. One of the country's most popular dance orchestras, Rudy Vallee's Connecticut Yankees, becomes an exclusive Columbia Phonograph Company feature by the terms of a contract signed by Rudy Vallee, it has been announced by H. E. WARD, President of Columbia, shown here with MR. VALLEE. Recordings of several selections have already been made under the new contract. ALL AMERICAN GIRL by Al Lewis, who with Al Sherman wrote "99 Out Of A Hundred," "My Heart Belongs To The Girl Who Belongs To Somebody Else," and so many others, borders very closely on another song that Feist published some time ago in which I had a hand, "She Loves Me Just The Same," but its melodic construction is entirely different, although the girl has the various football players at all the various colleges. It is nothing really outstanding, but it is a cute little song for the season. Herman Hupfeld, however, really steps forward with one of the cutest songs for the college season that I have seen in a long time. We are playing it next Thursday on pseudo-all American program. It is called ANYBODY'S COLLEGE SONG, and in it he burlesques and kids the idea of college and college songs. He has the boy running the wrong way with the ball, TJUDY VALLEE'S comments Jl\. about the current songs in Radio Digest are considered important as an indication of trends in music popularity. Mr. Vallee makes no claim to being infallable but his average of selections for winners stands high. If you are interested in music at all Tuneful Topics, appearing exclusively in Radio Digest, should be read regularly. — Editor. everyone getting hoarse at the football games and asking each other what they have on the hip — really a cute song and a cute idea, and one which I know we will enjoy doing. ONE LITTLE WORD LED TO ANOTHER. Remick, Inc., have a song for which I am sure the Lombardos are deeply grateful — ONE LITTLE WORD LED TO ANOTHER. It is their type of song first, last and always, and although others of us may attempt to do it, the Lombardos will really play it as it should be played. I had it on tonight's program, only to have it crowded out as the program went on. Where it would have been followed by Mr. Hoover's speech, it remained unsung and unplayed. We will, however, do justice to it some time in the future, as I think it is one of the best rhythmic type of songs that Isham Jones and Charles Newman have written in a long time. It has a tricky middle part which gave me some worry before I finally mastered it, but its rendition last night by the vocalist in Johnny Johnstone's orchestra in Baltimore as we drove away from the city heading toward New York, with the radio in our car going full blast, was exceedingly fine and "sold me on the tune" 100 per cent. This concludes our discussion of songs for the month. As the boys buckle down for the winter season we will probably get something really outstanding. I regret that we did not have anything in that class this month. So Ions: !