Music Trade Review

Issue: 1906 Vol. 42 N. 26

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
43
VSICrV5LISHING
TRADE PRICES DEMORALIZED.
At Least for Popular Publications—Western
Dealers Notify New York Publishers That
Unless the Supply of Goods to the Five and
Ten Cent Stores Is Stopped They Will Have
to Discontinue Their Sheet Music Depart-
ments—Prices on High Class Publications
Are Solid and Satisfactory.
lar lines, though the upper strata of publishers
have never done better. Their business has
grown slowly, but surely, and they are on a
sound basis, with nothing to fear in the future.
Every year has witnessed an improvement, and
while the slaughter of popular stuff has caused
a clamor for lower prices on standard goods, the
shading has been slight. That is to say, such
advantages as have been given are enjoyed by the
dealer, and the retail price remains unchanged.
Our friends in the popular lines do the reverse,
and we all know now what has happened. I
dipped a little into that branch of the business,
experimentally, mind you, and when I saw what
I was up against it was the regular business for
mine."
At this time of the year, when business with
the publishers of popular music is reckoned at its
lowest ebb, it is refreshing to turn to the pub-
lishing houses whose names have become widely
known and highly respected for the legitimate
and successful manner in which their affairs
have been conducted. The "popular" firms com-
STILL AMENDING COPYRIGHT BILL.
plain bitterly of the demoralized condition of
trade, the producers of higher class music are
winding up a season the most satisfactory in Congressman Sulzer Introduces Bill to Permit
the Hiring of Musical Works, Although the
their history. With the steady growth and ex-
New Bill Deals Adequately and Equitably
pansion of musical culture follows an ever in-
With the Matter—No Possibility of Its Pas-
creasing demand for publications of character
sage—Something of a "Bluff."
and repute. But the publishers of this class of
music do not run amuck in the trade cutting and
(Special to The Review.)
slashing prices for the benefit cf the consumer
Washington, D. C, June 25, 1906.
and the ruination of themselves. There is only
Evidently a desperate effort is being made to
one end to proceedings of this kind, and every
amend the copyright law so as to permit the hir-
now and then is revealed a "hard-luck" story of
ing of musical works. The new bill, introduced
how some publisher of popular music has brought
in
Congress, May 31, the hearings on which have
about his finish by methods that make the
trained business man gasp when the story is been reported in The Review, deals adequately
and equitably with the matter. But the "scalp-
told.
ers" know if this measure is enacted it will put
Perhaps another chapter will soon be added
them
out of business, so they have again rallied
to this harrowing tale, unless the rank compe-
tition of the "cheap" stores is not checked. Sev- their forces, and have succeeded in having the
eral of the largest and oldest music dealers in Bennett bill framed to legalize their practices, tan-
the West have formally notified the New York tamount to infringing copyright compositions,
publishers of popular music that unless the sup- amended and favorably reported by the House
ply of goods to the "five and ten-cent" stores Committee on Patents. The Bennett bill, intro-
is placed on a different basis, they will have to duced January 15, amended Section 4966 of the
discontinue these sheet music departments al- Revised Statutes, as follows:
"Nothing in this act shall be so construed as to
together. In one prominent Western city these
"cheap" stores display flamboyant signs read- prevent the renting of religious or secular works,
ing: "We will supply the music of any pub- such as oratorios, cantatas, masses or octavo
lisher in the country at 10 cents." When this choruses from any person, musical library, or
society, nor to prevent any person or society
has been "put up" to the publisher he replies:
"Well, they must get their goods from other from obtaining copies of any such work from any
sources; we don't sell to them." Of course, this other person, society or musical library owning
statement is not believed for the fractional part the same."
of a minute, and those on the "inside of the Those directly concerned felt satisfied no
further move would be made to effect a change in
game" know its falsity.
A publisher who knows spoke as follows to The the face of the provision in the new copyright
Review Monday: "Business is very quiet in popu- bill, to wit: "Section 1, that the copyright secured
by this act shall include the sole and exclusive
right (b) to sell, distribute, exhibit or let for
Complete vocal score and Separate Numbers of
hire, or offer or keep for sale, distribution, ex-
hibition or hire, any copy of such work."
Book and Lyrics by CHAS. EMERSON COOK.
Nevertheless, the enemy never sleeps, and
Music by LUCIUS HOSMBR.
Tuesday week the trade were surprised when
Featuring the well-known prlma donna,
Mme. LILLIAN BLAUVELT.
Congressman Sulzer, who prides himself on look-
Supplementary Songs In the following productions :
ing like Henry Clay, and having the cause of the
EDNA MAY'S New Musical Play,
"THE CATCH OP THE 8EA80N."
"pee-pul" nearest his heart, reported the follow-
"RAINING"
By Jerome D. Kern
ing in the House, with the recommendation of
SHUBDBT BROS.' English Musical Comedy Success,
"THE EARL AND THE) QIRL."
the Committee on Patents:
"HOWD YOU LIKE TO SPOON WITH ME."
Max. C. Eugene's hit, "IN ROSBLAND" Intermezzo
"Nothing in this act shall be so construed as
to prevent the performance of religious or secu-
Published bv
lar works, such as oratorios, cantatas, masses or
T. B. HARMS CO.
octavo choruses by public schools, church choirs
26 West 44th St.
NEW YORK
or vocal societies rented or borrowed from some
other public school, church choir or vocal society,
provided the performance is given for charitable
or educational purposes and not for profit."
"Come Take a Skate With Me"
Of course, Mr. Sulzer advocated its passage
with a few remarks plausible to the uninformed,
In "HIS HONOR THE MAYOR"
but entirely misleading as to the real effect on
and tliene other liila:
authors, composers and copyright owners. The
"If a Girl Like You Loved a Boy Like Me," "Some-
body's Sweetheart I Want to Be," "I'll Do Anything
Bennett bill openly indorsed the so-called "musi-
in the World for You," "Two Dirty Little Hands,'
cal library" scheme with which the trade is only
"When the Green Leaves Turn to Gold," "In a Little
Canoe With You," "Pocahontas," "You Can't Give
too familiar. The committee bill, it is held,
Your Heart to Somebody Else and Still Hold Hands
With Me," "Kiss Me Once More Good-Night," "Na-
means practically the same thing, with the "Afri-
poli," "Cherokee" and "The Hurdy Gurdy Man."
can in the woodpile" quite visible. The chances
PUB. BY G u s Edwards Music Pub. Co.
of its passage are exceedingly slim, but should
1512 Broadway, New York
it go through the House, the Senate Committee
"THE ROSE OF THE ALHAMBRA"
BLANCHE
RING'S
>
is said to be unalterably opposed to any change
in the copyright law until the new copyright bill,
on which further hearings will be given next ses-
sion, is reported upon.
REVIEWOGRAPHS.
Early in the month Allan M. Hirsch, author of
the famous "Boola" song, the classic football
anthem of Yale College, was married at Montclair,
N. J., to Ellen H. Reid, of that place. Mr. Hirsch
graduated from Yale in 1901. The event was
quite a society function.
Frank Pixley, the librettist, returned from
Japan last week, bringing with him the com-
pleted book of his new piece, "The Grand Mogul."
It was accepted by Klaw & Erlanger, and Gus
Luders, the composer, will begin work on the
score at once. Prank Moulan will have the title
part and Maude Lillian Berri will sing the prima
donna role. The new opera will be staged in
November in one of Klaw & Erlanger's theaters.
Following the erection of a new building, 50
by 125 feet, four stories, by G. Schirmir, at 69-71
Bank street, New York, for a publishing and
printing plant, the premises at 108 East 16th
street will be devoted entirely to their wholesale
and shipping departments, removing them alto-
gether from the Union Square place. J. L. Tin-
dale, who is manager of the wholesale branch of
the business, is now on an extended vacation,
running into the city occasionally to supervise the
fitting up and arrangement of this department.
"That story The Review had recently about
Senator Kittredge, of Idaho, and George W. Fur-
niss, with the Oliver Ditson Co., about news-
papers in the trade," remarked a publisher, "re-
minds me that when The Review handles news
BIG
HITS t
"HOYTONO."
Latest Japanese Intermezzo.
"YALE BULL DOG"
Latest College Song.
80 per cent, off list for limited time only.
VOGUE MUSIC PUB. CO.
Aborn Hall Bldg.
New London, Conn.
Orchestrations Free to Leaders.
^Francis, Day & Hunter's^
POPULAR HITS
Waiting at the Church
50 cts.
(The Craze of New York)
Valse Royale
-
-
60 cts.
Beautiful French Waltz
By Allred Margls, Composer ol "Valse Bleue")
, DAY & HUNTER, 15 W. 30th St.. New Y o r k ^
LOOK!
HAPPY HEINE
IS THE MOST TALKED OF
M A R V H TWO-STEP.
Do you play it ?
JEROME H. REMICK & CO.
4S West 28tti Street,
Mew York
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
44
THE.
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
or other matter it does not wait to see if there is
'anything in it' before publishing, but handles it
when it is 'live,' and of contemporaneous interest
to the trade. That is a great blemish in the
music trade press, excepting The Review, and in
no instance is this more emphatically proven than
in connection with the copyright bill. The con-
ferences were regularly reported, and the legis-
lation they had in view was kept steadily before
the trade and intelligently commented upon. Not
another paper referred to this mattei\ of such
transcending importance, excepting by indirection
or by brief statements, in which the facts were
so garbled as to do more harm than good. Why,
one of the journals which boasts pre-eminence
knows so little about the copyright bill as to call
it the Bennett bill in their current issue. The for-
mer, as everybody knows who knows anything,
was framed by the copyright office, approved by
the conferences and introduced by the chairman
of the respective patent committees of the Senate
and House as an administration measure. The
Bennett bill dealt solely with the hiring or leas-
ing of musical publications, and was intended to
legalize this species of robbery. These observa-
tions I make in no spirit of captious criticism,
but it only goes to prove tnat unless there is
'something in it' how indifferent and careless the
music papers can be and not half try. The Re-
view can always be relied upon, and its remark;
regarding the inaction of the publishers' con-
vention were entirely in order and apropos to the
occasion."
as close as possible to the title, words and mel-
THE STARS, THE STRIPES AND YOU.
ody. The new copyright bill deals a death blow
M. Witmark & Sons have in press a new
to these scampish tricks, only too prevalent with
a certain class of publishers.
march ballad from which they look for great
results. Those who have been favored with a
manuscript hearing predict that it will be as
LIBRARIAN PUTNAM'S VIEWS
great a hit as "Good-Bye, Little Girl, Good-Bye."
The subject of the song is a soldier leaving his
On Charges Made That Copyright Conferences
native place and bidding his sweetheart fare-
Were Star-Chamber
Proceedings—Makes
we;l. He tells her that his inspiration, in the
His Position Clear in This Respect.
midst of shot and shell, the smoke and dangers
of battle, will be "The Stars, the Stripes and
At the risk of absorbing more space in this You." The words are full of a beautiful senti-
department of The Review than should be reason- ment, combined with a noble and inspiring pa-
ably spared with references to the copyright bill triotism, set to music that is very taking, bril-
now pending in Congress, the charge of the oppo- liant, martial and stirring. The illustrations of
sition that the conferences were star chamber the song were made in Peekskill, N. Y., while
sessions, from which certain interests directly the Seventy-first Regiment, N. Y. N. G., was in
and vitally concerned were excluded, the report camp, and where De Witt Wheeler spent a week
of Hon. Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress, taking various poses. These illustrations, com-
who presided at these meetings, and under whose bined with the song, will surely arouse enthu-
official supervision the measure was drawn, will siasm of any audience.
ciear up the point. The Librarian minces no
words nor makes no excuses for consulting only
STERN & CO.'S HAPPY HITS.
• those that are concerned in an affirmative way
with the protection of the right." Further, he
Burt and Solman's Turkish song hit, "Milo,"
frankly asserts, "the mere pirate * * * w a s is heard to the best advantage at the Cafe Lib-
not invited." This extract should not be over- erty or "Little Hungary," where it is sung to the
looked, in justice to an honorable official who has accompaniment of the Hungarian orchestra there.
made "a sincere attempt, as we have seen it, to Another song which is very popular there is
frame a reasonable general statute," as follows:
"Twilight Hour," by Benjamin Hapgood Burt
"If the bill reveals some selfishness, it is perhaps
and J. P. Greenberg.
I'cnelonable. It is the selfishness of nien trying to pro-
The singing of Nibbe and Bordeaux, comedy
tect their own property ; for of course, as I have em-
entertainers, who appeared recently at Tony Pas-
phasized, the interests that were especially Invited to
Imitations of "Waiting at the Church" are be- the conferences were those that are concerned In an tor's, New York, is especially good, each having
affirmative way with the protection of the right. The a voice that rings clear and true, and their
ing heard from. One of the leading publishers,
conferences were not generally representative—com-
songs are carefully selected from the best ma-
who should be guiltless of such contemptible pletely representative—in other respects.
The bill
terial that "The House of Hits" affords. It is a
has that purpose—that is, for the protection particu-
practices, have instructed their writers to come
larly of the property. It comes before you for consid-
treat to hear them sing such numbers as "Com-
eration on the ground that it goes too far. It does not
ing Home from Coney Isle," "I'll Keep a Warm
create, of course, a new species of property ; it merely
ROBERT TELLER SONS & DORNER
recognizes a species of property created by the O u - Spot in My Heart for You," "Waltz Me, Bill,"
st itution and already recognized by statute. Its pur- and "Then the Evening Breeze Is Sighing Home,
Music Engravers and Printers
pose is simply to secure to the man who has created it
Sweet Home." This team has been re-engaged
a species of property which peculiarly requires the pro- for Pastor's, and has signed to go with one of
SEND MANUSCRIPT AND IDEA OF TITLE
tection of law, because the very act which makes it
FOR ESTIMATE
Gus Hill's big shows next season.
remunerative to him lays it open to expropriation—that
226 WEST 26th STREET, NEW YORK CITY
OUR "NEW ISSUE"
PROPOSITION
Is ol Interest to all dealers—we furnish
you with any quantity ol our new
thematic catalogues without charge.
We publish "Blue Bell." T e e l i n * lor
You," "What the Brass Band Played"
and other big hits.
Let us get In touch with you—write us.
.
F. B. Haviland Pub. Co.
125 W. 37th Street, New York
WILLIS WOODWARD & CO.
PUBLISHERS OF
May Irwin's Great Hit of this Season,
"DON'T
ARGIFY"
By John B. Lowitz (Swifty).
Elizabeth Murray's Great Success,
"PEGGY
SHEA"
By Arthur Gillespie and Paul Schindler.
And the New Summer Waltz Song,
" HELLO PEACHES "
By John B. Lowitz and Henry Arthur Blumenthal.
For a limited time the above can be had at 80,°-i from
list price.
Ready!
All the numbers
of the
is. the act of publication—and seems peculiarly eu-
titled to the protection of the law, because it is that
act, and that alone, which makes It of any use to the
public; and, of course, it secures this protection —
not permanently, but only against untimely expro-
priation.
"It may be said that the public was not represented
at the conferences. The public in this matter would,
1 suppose, belong to one of four classes : In the first
jilac- 1 , the producer, the creator, with his publisher and
manufacturer; or, second, one who is to enjoy the
work as a consumer; or, third, one who wishes to
utilize the woik in some other work, or to produce and
market it for his own benefit, when this can be done
innocently; or, fourth, the student and critic of the
rights and obligations of property, and of the regula-
tion of this by law. There may be a fifth class, I he
mere pirate. He was not invited to the conferences,
and I suppose he would not be to your hearings. Jiut
the innocent reproducer was not unrepresented at the
conferences of in the discussions.
In fact, most of
the producers were also reproducers, and quite insistent
upon their convenience as such.
The original pro-
ducers, publishers and manufacturers were there as of
right, and the student and critic through their Interest
and public spirit.
As for the consumers, two con-
siderable groups were actually represented, and more
would have Iven if organizations could have been
found to represent them. Others also there spoke for
them.
"Hut, as I understand it, it is in the interest of the
coiiMinuT ju.-t because it is in the interest of the pro-
ducer that copyright laws were originally designed, and
were called for by the Constitution ; and if this pro-
posed one fails fairly to regard that interest of the con-
sumer, its defects will surely be brought to your
attention by the third great estate which is jealous of
those interests—th^ newspaper and periodical press. 1 '
Two New Musical Comedy Successes.
"HIS HONOR, THE MAYOR,"
By Campbell & Skinner and Edwards & Aarons,
Now playing at the New York Theatre, New York.
"THE MAN FROM NOW,"
By John Kendrick Bangs & Manuel Klein,
Now playing al the Tremont Theatre, Boston, Mass.
Both these pieces are on for a r u n .
ORDER. NOW.
M. WITMARK
IN PRESS:
<& S O N S ,
Witm^rk Building, NEW YORK
" O N THE SHADY S I D E " and " I ' M NOT PARTICULAR," written and sung by
Clifton Crawford in "Seeing New York," at the Wistaria Grove, New York Roof.
Jack Drislane will leave for Boston in the in-
terests of his new compositions, "Crocodile Isle,"
"Keep on the Sunny Side" and "The Good Old
J. S. A.," and will visit all the principal summer
resorts.
Winifred Stewart writes that "The Gold Old
U. S. A." is the biggest song hit she ever had.
TWO
GREAT
HITS!
"Where the Mississippi Meets the Sea"
AND
••S W EEXHEARX"
MELVILLE MUSIC PUBLISHING CO.
55 West 28th Street, New York
"Priscilla"
Intermezzo
Mid Two-Step
"SINCE
FATHER
WENT
TO WORK"
HA],I.ADS
Down Where M o h a w k
F l o w s , Tune Sweet Klalne, Eve-
ning Breeze Slghltig 1 lome,
Sweet Home, Henrt'n To.
night in Tennenwe.
JOS. W. STERN
& CO.
The House of Hits
34 E. 21 St., N. Y.
tW~ Send for rates
Kathir
"Little Girl
You'll Do"
Laid C'nri>et on
Stah »
Little Buttercup
Young Antelope (Imllin-
e«iue)
Harvest Moon Shining on
River
"Dearie"
Billed
"Robinson
Crusoe's
Isle"
"Peter
Piper"
March
Folios
that SELL
The dealer who displays our Folios finds
them steady and profitable trade brlngers
The Most Popular Home Songs -
$ .50
The Most Popular College Songs - .50
Songs of All the Colleges
-
- 1.50
Songs of the Eastern Colleges
- ).25
Songs of the Western Colleges -
1.25
New Songs for Male Quartettes
- .50
Songs of the Flag and Nation
.
.50
and many others
fW AI 1TH C f Write us for special introductory
ULALEslVO I discount rates.
We offer you
liberal inducements on our entire line of Folios.
HINDS, NOBLE <& ELDREDGE
31 West 15th Street, New York City

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