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56
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
APRIL 19,
An Interview With the McCarthy & Fisher Boys
In making my rounds of the different publishers, looking for scandal, I drifted into McCarthy and Fisher's
and the first man I met was Fred Fisher.
FRED FISHER
T asked Fred Fisher what
lie thought was the best song
in his catalog and Fred said
"There is no such thing. We
have so many wonderful
songs and each one is so dif-
ferent from the other that it
is almost impossible to pick
which is going to be the big-
gest hit. Right now I think
that
'EVERYBODY
WANTS A KEY TO MY
CELLAR' by Ed. Rose, Billy
Baskette and Lew Pollock, is
a safe bet for the biggest
comedy song hit of the year;
but you cannot overlook the
other comedy songs we have,
such as 'RIP VAN WINKLE
SLEPT WITH ONE EYE
OPEN,' 'OH SUSIE BE-
HAVE' and 'BALLYHOO
BAY; Can you imagine such
a thing as having four great
comedy songs at one time? I
suppose if I mention some
more songs you would say I
am raving, but on the level,
did you ever think we could
pick up a song like 'KISSES'
and make it one of the biggest
hits in the country? Lynn
Cowan and Alex Sullivan, who
wrote 'K I S S E S\ certainly
deserve a lot of credit, and
they have given us a waltz
song entitled 'I CAN'T SEE
THE GOOD IN GOOD
BYE/ which looks like an-
other one of those things.
Well, I have got to go along
now and rehearse that act in
the front room on Jimmie
Monaco's new 'daddy' song,
and say, it is some song. The
title of it is ' T H E R E ' S
ONLY ONE THAT I
WOULD EVER LOSE MY
SLEEP FOR AND THAT'S
FOR DADDY.' It is one of
those clever little rag songs
that only one 'Jimmie' can
write. So long. Why don't
you go upstairs and see Jack
Mills for a minute if he isn't
too busy?"
JACK MILLS
I found Jack Mills on the
third floor demonstrating for
several acts and had to wait
nearly half an hour before I
could even get him to give me
a tumble. I finally got him
in a corner and told him what
Fred Fisher said about songs
and then Jack started his
spiel, which was something
like this: "What Fisher told
you was the truth. We have
such a big catalog of regular
songs that I am nearly
swamped. Fisher was too
modest to talk about his own
songs, but 1 want to tell you
that his new song, 'EYES
THAT SAY I LOVE YOU,'
is the surest fire hit the house
ever had. It is a real Fisher
melody and the song lends it-
self to so many angles that
anybody can sing it. I'll bet
we have twenty-five different
choruses on 'EYES' and ten
different
double versions,
Tust keep your eyes on this
baby. It is going over as
sure as the Lord made little
apples. Another great song
is Grant Clarke's and Jimmie
Monaco's first song with the
house called 'WHEN YOU
HEAR
A
DREAMY
WALTZ MELODY.' Now.
after all has been said and
done about waltz songs, you
can take it from me this song
is going to walk away with
the bacon. Just wait until
you catch it once from the
front of the house, yoii ( will
rave about it as much as I
do. Nothing can stop it."
JACK GLOGAU
After congratulating Glogau
for his good judgment in
connecting himself with a
live wire house, I asked him
for a little scandal, but all he
would talk about was songs
the house is publishing, lie
elaborated on what Fisher
and Mills had already told
me, but he gave me a little
more song talk. "Say, did you
hear Sam Lander's and Phil
Baker's novelty song, 'LOV-
ERS' LANE IS CROWDED
AGAIN?' Some title, Eh?
Well, it is some song, right
up to the minute and a laugh
in every line. We have an-
other great novelty song by
Shelton Brooks, 'TELL ME
WHY YOU WANT TO GO
TO PA REE WHEN YOU
CAN GET THE SAME
SWEET LOVING HERE
AT HOME.'
You know
Shelton never wrote »a bad
one and you can bank all
you've got that this one is a
pip. This number is going
to put all the 'parlez vous'
songs in the shade."
Just then someone called
for Glogau and he left me
flat, so I took a chance and
knocked on the door that
leads to "Smiling" Leo Ed-
wards' office.
LEO EDWARDS
Leo was there and asked
me to sit down while he
played his new one-step,
"CASTLES IN SPAIN,"
which is a corking number.
Then I asked him about
songs. Leo said: "We have
one ballad in the house that
is going to make us a fortune
just as sure as you live and
that is 'MY LADDTE.' by
Howard E. Rogers and Harry
Akst." I heard the song and
agreed with Leo. T thought
I had heard enough songs for
Just then Jack Glogau one day and started down-
walked into the room and stairs, where I ran into lack
McCoy on the second floor.
Mills left me with him.
JACK McCOY
"Well, Jack," I said, "I
thought T would drop in for
a minute, but I have been
here for two hours. You cer-
tainly have a wonderful cata-
log." "Did you hear the
songs?" asked Jack. I told
him I did. "T'11 'bet you didn't
hear my favorite ditty," and
1 asked him what that might be.
He grabbed me by the arm and
draped me into a rehearsal room
and played me an Trish song by
Hilly Tracy, Kate Klinore and
Sam Williams, entitled "IF I
KNEW THAT IRELAND WAS
FREE." That capped the climax.
I heard every conceivable kind of
song under one roof that any per-
former might want to use. I even
heard someone rehearsing "SADIE
HARROVTTC1T,
TELL
ME
WHICH TS WHICH," a great
clean comedy Jew song. I started
for the front door and bumped into
General Manager George Friedman,
whom the boys refer to as "Ross."
GEORGE A. FRIEDMAN
He asked me into his beau-
tifully upholstered: red and
white, mahogany furnitured
office and^ offered me a Fa-
tima. "Well. George," I said,
after I sat myself down in
the $500.00 guest chair, "this
is a great institution you have
and a great bunch of boys,
and the greatest bunch of
songs I ever heard." "Do
you think so?" said George,
"well you haven't heard any-
thing. Tn about four weeks
we are going to hand you the
greatest surprise of your life.
We are going to make every band
and orchestra leader in the country
our friends, by giving them the
most wonderful catalog of instru-
mental numbers they ever heard."
He showed me a stack of manu-
scripts and out of it he selected
what he termed the "cream." They
were "DARDANELLA," Oriental
Fox Trot by Felix Bernard;
"LOVE STARS," Waltz, by Leo
Edwards;
"HIAWATHA
WALTZES," by Jimmie Mcllugh;
"SONG OF OMAR," Oriental Fox
Trot, by Leo Edwards; "STAR OF
LTGHT," Oriental Fox Trot, by
Jacques Adrian; "CASTLES TN
SPATN," One Step, by Leo Ed-
wards; "BUDDHA," Oriental Fox
Trot, by Lew Pollock. Then he
sent for Arthur Lange, who de-
lightfully played them all over for
me, and if what I heard was in
those manuscripts, McCarthy and
Fisher, Tnc, have nothing to worry
about.
1919