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62
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
NOVEMBER 20,
1920
CONDUCTED BY V. D. WALSH
MUSIC ON THE FRONT PAGE
San Francisco Branch of Jerome H. Remick
& Co. Gets Unusual Publicity at Election Time
by Furnishing Singers for Press Parties
SAN FRANCISCO, CM.., November 13.—Hitherto
sacred first pages of the daily newspapers of
t lie Western metropolis have been devoted
largely to Remick song numbers during the
three days preceding election, through arrange-
ments between Ford Rush, professional repre-
sentative of Jerome H. Remick & Co., and
two of the largest daily papers. Rush furnished
a small army of singers who entertained at elec-
tion parties given by these papers. The singers
sang Remick numbers, and their pictures, to-
gether with copies of "Avalon," "Japanese Sand-
man," "Beautiful Annabelle Lee," and "Nobody
to Love," showed plainly on the first page of
one of the papers which reaches hundreds of
thousands of persons. In addition to this the
different numbers were prominently mentioned
for several days in connection with the election
party. As a result of this arrangement, thou-
sands of copies were sold in San Francisco.
"PRETTY MISS VIRGINIA" HAS DEBUT
Jos. W. Stern & Co. Publish New Song Hit
Which Is Featured by Conway's Band
Jos. W. Stern & Co. are the publishers of a
new song entitled "Pretty Miss Virginia." It
has achieved no little popularity during the past
six weeks, and it gives every indication of being
recognized as one of the season's big hits. Pat
Conway's Band, now traveling in Middle West
territory, features this number at every concert.
Ray Miller's Black and White Melody Boys,
now pjaying in Ed Wynn's Carnival, are using
"Pretty Miss Virginia" as one of their principal
numbers. The sales, according to the" reports
from the jobbers, are constantly increasing.
JUST SEVEN DAYS FROM HEAVEN
"Just a Week From To-day," one of the lat-
est additions to the catalog of M. Witmark &
Sons, is being featured with great success by
Hyams and Mclntyre, now playing an engage-
ment on the Keith circuit. It's a song of joy-
ful anticipation by a prospective bride and
groom who have reached the point where "Just
a Week From To-day" is synonymous with
seven days from heaven. As a double number
i*. seemingly has more than the usual charm.
It is written by Bert. Rule. Al Dubin and Paul
Cunningham.
DEALERS:
Please remember that
"The Barefoot Trail"
Song Success
is now on the broad highway of
SINGERS, TEACHERS AND PUBLIC PROCLAIM IT!
Supplying the demand is up to you —
Co-operation spells ORDERS—we're at your service
BOOSEY & CO.
The House of Song
Fame
NEW YORK (9 East 17th Street) and TORONTO (384 Yonge Street)
VAUDEVILLE A POOR MEDIUM FOR POPULARIZING SONGS
Results in Recent Months Have Shown the Superiority of the Band and Orchestra Department
Over the Professional Department in Creating Popularity and Sales for New Numbers
Among the new situations the popular pub-
lishers now have to contend with are many that
have nothing to do with the retail price of
music. It has often been the case recently that
when writers desired to discuss the publishers'
problems they resorted to the prevalent retail
price of thirty cents for popular music as the
crux of the situation. This, upon close analysis,
has had very little to do with the case or cases
in question, and while it is true that prices have
had some effect on conditions, it has been hard
to discern just what were the chief causes for
the unusual situation. One thing, however, that
has impressed many of the leaders in the in-
dustry is the poor results obtained through
popularizing songs by the medium of the vaude-
ville performer.
It is the consensus of opinion that the vaude-
ville performer has done very little during the
past year to put over successes, at least
this being true of the bigger hits. With the
exception of "Oh What a Pal Was Mary," "Oh,
By Jingo" and a few other songs, all of the
biggest successes have won their initial laurels
through the aid of the orchestras.
The professional department of the publish-
ers, which always includes all or some of the
branches throughout the country, is one of the
most important adjuncts to a publisher's busi-
ness, or at least one of the most expensive. If
this department fails to deliver results in pop-
ularizing songs, it does not justify the expense,
at least not on the scale on which it is run at
the present day. It is now rumored that at
least two or three publishers have decided to
greatly reduce their professional department,
and at least one has threatened to abolish it al-
together. If the professional departments do
not do more than lias been shown in recent
months the publishers will no doubt find some
method of popularizing songs which will serve
for the loss of activity in that direction. The
bands and orchestras have done splendid work,
and in several other directions the publishers
have succeeded in putting to good use chan-
nels that were heretofore unavailable. With
the poor success in popularizing songs in vaude-
ville circles, additional means must be found to
take the place of the loss from this source. They
will be found, because the publishers after all
are wide awake, and are ever on the alert to
meet conditions.
All of which leads us to remark that there are
some publishers (not the majority, however) of
the mind that it would be well to discontinue
the work of the American Society of Authors,
Composers and Publishers. This is a mistake,
tor the simple reason that the added publicit3\