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46
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MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
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THIS YEARS BIG WALTZ HIT IS
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CHANGING HOME LIFE AFFECTS SALE OF SHEET MUSIC
NEW SONG BY DONALDSON
Prohibition, Motion Pictures, Dancing and Other Factors Which Have Had a Direct Effect in
Changing the Former Home Life of the Average American Have Also Affected Sheet Music Sales
"Way Down East in Maine" Published by
Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., Inc.
city are outlined, among other things the de-
mands of an eleven-year-old girl to "attend the
movies three evenings a week like other girls."
Prohibition, too, has some effect upon sheet
music sales because, according to all authorities,
our younger generation is somewhat given to
drink, which is obtained from receptacles on
the hip. Naturally, hooch that is carried upon
the person is for outside consumption, proving
another outside attraction which lessens the
home activities.
There are, of course, a few of the old type of
girls and boys left, who take great delight and
pleasure in home entertainment. This class
mostly sings the old type of songs, "Annie
Laurie" and "Silver Threads Among the
Gold," the tenor with his "Endearing Young
Charms" and the bass with "Asleep in the
Deep." Many of the younger generation, how-
ever, term such types pests and "eggs" and,
according to the latter, they are slow and not
in the running.
Just how much the above outside activities
have decreased the sale of popular sheet music
would be, undoubtedly, hard to judge, but that
thev have done so to some extent is certain.
Walter Donaldson has written a new song,
entitled "Way Down East in Maine," which has
been accepted for publication by Shapiro, Bern-
stein & Co., Inc. The number is a home song
along the style of songs of the South. However,
the selection of Maine as the title and basis for
the song gives it unusual novelty. It is a typical
Walter Donaldson number, done in his very
best style. The publishers are exploiting it
through professional channels.
Has there been a radical change in the home
life of America which has affected the sale of
popular sheet music? According to some re-
ports such, apparently, is the case. Among
these outside sources of amusements and attrac-
tions which would seemingly have a tendency
to make home entertainment less a force than
formerly are movies, modern dance orchestras
and prohibition.
If the above is true that the outside present-
day entertainment does affect sheet music sales
there is really little or nothing that can be done
about it until such time as the movements in
those directions have had their days.
An analysis of sheet music sales during the
post-war period would seemingly substantiate
the above contention, for there is only a com-
paratively minor volume of music sold other
than those numbers which are universally
acknowledged as exceptional hits.
There was a time in this country when a
visit to the theatre was the event of the week.
Probably in some homes church activities
might take up an additional night. The balance
of the week, as far as the nights were con-
cerned, were home nights. In those old days the
suitor for the hands of fair ones carried out the
campaign in the girls' parlors. Also during that
period, if he could pick out a popular tune on
the piano, he had a somewhat better chance
than the one who gave his attention to a more
serious side of life. To-day the younger gen-
eration meet and find entertainment to a great
extent outside the home.
A demonstration of this tendency which, if
true, affects sheet music sales is given in Sin-
clair Lewis' latest novel, "Babbitt," in which the
activities of a whole family in a medium-sized
BREAU LEAVES BELW1N, INC.
Louis Breau, one of the best known of the
younger generation of songwriters and who is
responsible for many successes, including "Hum-
ming," "Sing a Song of Swanee," "Zenda," "Fly
Home to Your Nest" and "Creeping," has severed
his connections with Belwin, Inc., for whom he
headed the professional department for several
seasons. It is understood that Mr. Breau is
contemplating organizing his own company.
PRAISE FOR MILLS CATALOG
Professor of Music Endorses Piano Numbers
Issued by Jack Mills, Inc.
Jack Mills, Inc., which is publishing a series
of piano solos, recently received a letter from
Dudley R. Wycoff, professor of music of the
University of North Dakota, in which he says:
"I wish to register my emphatic approval of
your catalog of pianistic compositions and am
sure that they will mark a new era in American
musical history. You are doing much to elevate
modern American music to its rightful standard
and your solos, by the foremost contemporary
pianists and composers, are creating a new
school of musical thought and practice."
EXPOSING THE COMPOSERS!
Fred Fisher has written a new novelty song
called "The Thief." The number is a typical
jazz melody with fox-trot rhythm. The words
are quite novel, inasmuch as they mention many
popular songs and make reference to the origi-
nal opera or theme from which the popular
number was supposed to have been stolen.