Radio Digest (June 1932-Mar 1933)

Record Details:

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32 Tuneful t OPICS By Rudy Vallee THE SONGFELLOWS, who are among the first with the latest tunes from the Chicago studios of NBC-WJZ. Fridays 9:30 EST. (Left): Ray McDermott, John Ravencroft, Frances Bastow and George Howard. /MIGHT just as well blindfold myself, reach into the hat, pick out a slip of paper, and talk about the first song written on the slip that I first pull out. This month's "Tuneful Topics," in my humble opinion, is really what gamblers call a tossup ; that is, each song is about as good as the other. As I have previously said so many times, I like nothing better than to be able to put on a legitimate "rave" about at least one of the songs which I list here monthly. Whether the boys are going dry, or just what is wrong, I am not going to attempt to say, but it does seem that it is difficult for them to write tunes like "You're Driving Me Crazy," "Goodnight Sweetheart" and "Let's Put Out the Lights And Go to Sleep." Not that these songs which I am listing this month are not good songs ; in fact, several of them will unquestionably be your favorite song, and you may be quite indignant that I did not class your favorite tune as a great tune. Nevertheless, aside from my own personal hunch and feeling about them, I have the statistics of sheet copy sales, phonograph record sales, and general financial remuneration from them to the publishers themselves to back my statement that few, if any, of the songs will reach the two hundred thousand mark which today is a criterion for an outstanding hit. So, reaching into the hat, I pull out a slip of paper with the title, /CALLED TO SAY GOODNIGHT. I liked the song when I first heard it, and as I said on my broadcast, on the afternoon I listened to that, I also listened to several other tunes written by Joe Young, of whom I have perhaps spoken too often in these columns. In fact, it was in the last "Tuneful Topics" that I mentioned the strength of the vocal rendition at the time Joe Young sang three or four songs for my edification. But it would seem that among the songs he sang, this one was really the one in which the firm of Irving Berlin, Inc., has implicit faith that the song will become very popular. The story of the song, at least as it has been told to me, is that it is a Viennese composition originally, written by Egon Schubert and Werner Bachmann, and has been all the rage in Vienna. It was brought to America by Irving himself, and the subsequent American version was made by Joe Young and Con Conrad, both thoroughly capable of revising for American approval this type of composition. The tune has an outstanding triplet formation with six quarter notes, each quarter ordinarily having one beat, to avoid six beats in a four beat measure, each three of the quarter notes is played as a triplet, which is to say the two pairs of three quarter notes being cramped in each measure so as not to exceed four beats. The odd effect of directing this odd type of phrasing is one which requires good timing on the part of the director, and the effect upon the listener is one of doubt as to whether all the notes will be played within the limits allotted to them. The effect, however, is fine in this particular composition, and is the outstanding characteristic of the tune. By this time the mellow voice of Jack Fulton and many others has brought the composition to you, and as some of you know we intend to use it for several weeks as our signing-off tune on the Fleischmann's Yeast Hour. We play it quite slowly, taking at least a minute to the chorus. // LITTLE STREET WHERE y± OLD FRIENDS MEET. Gus Kahn and Harry Woods must have had a reunion when Harry was in Chicago last, with the result that from time to time we may look for many songs written by these two extremely gifted writers. Harry, of course, is still taking bows for his "We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye," and Gus will always be taking a bow for a clever lyric here and there. This time the boys decided to write a very simple, what is popularly termed in the profession, "corny" type of song, nevertheless the type of song that most publishers feel properly worked on will eventually sell copies to the humble country masses who like this so called hill-billy, rustic type of melody and lyric. Joe Morris is the publisher, which means that Archie Fletcher sensed the possibilities of the tune. While Archie would have liked to have put it out as a waltz, realizing the antipathy of most bands to the playing of waltzes, he found it necessary to make a new fox trot arrangement. Thus the tune is receiving considerable treatment at the hands of many of the best bands and singers, and bids fair to become a good seller for the firm of Joe Morris." J TERE IT IS MONDAY. Michael J_ _/ H. Cleary, at one time had aspirations to become an Army officer, and as a result he graduated from West Point with added fame as a great football player. This ambition he realized while at the Academy. Unquestionably he was one of the most popular fellows there, largely due to his ability to play piano and entertain the cadets during the monotonous evening hours. He would play and entertain them, with not only other people's songs, but songs of his own creation. As so often happens, the thing that was just a hobby with him then has now become his life's ambition and his life's work. Following his resignation from the Army he entered into the field of song-writing, determined to make a success of it. Some of the songs from the "Third Little Show" came from his musical mind, among them "I'll Putcha Pitcha in the Paper," which is one of the wittiest and cleverest compositions of its type I have yet run across. I believe the melody of "Here It Is Monday" was his, though at first Mose Sigler, his lyrical collaborator, had a different idea for the song, something along the lines of "Brother Can You Spare a Dime," perhaps. But Frank Kelton, one of the directors of musical affairs for Shapiro Bernstein, believed that the college idea