Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
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JANUARY 13, 1923
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A NIPPONESE NOVELTY
HEAR IT NOW!
DEMAND FOR MUSIC CENSORSHIP AGAIN COMES TO FORE
NEW TENOR SINGS WITMARK SONGS
Dancing Master Suggests Committee to Judge Publications by Arbitrary Standard—Movement
Should Be Regarded Seriously by the Publishers to Prevent Outside Control
Once again there comes to the front propa-
ganda for the establishment of some form of
censorship for music, particularly popular music,
this time sponsored by a prominent dancing
teacher who suggests a committee to assume
the duty of passing on the relative quality of
new music publications and placing a ban on
those that do not come up to the standard fixed
by the committee.
.This question of censorship is one that botli
music publishers and dealers, and particularly
the former, should take very seriously, for ex-
perience in other fields has shown that censor-
ship in most cases leads to evils that in them-
selves are greater than those that the super-
visory work is calculated to eliminate.
Beyond a steadily decreasing few of frankly
suggestive songs, the value of music rests
largely with the individual taste. What appeals
to one individual is distasteful to another. One
believes in certain standards of composition and
others disagree with them. To have any com-
mittee, voluntary or duly appointed, set itself
up as a tribunal before which all popular songs
must pass before publication would not only
be disastrous to the industry, but absolutely
unfair to the public.
We have had a number of cases recently
where in the matter of book publications self-
appointed "vice" hunters have presumed to pass
judgment and find the volumes wanting. In
several of the cases that came into the courts
the decision of the unbiased judges has been
that the books in question were not in any
sense calculated to impair public morals. To
the vice hunters apparently everything is evil,
and so it is likely to be with any official or
unofficial committee of song censors. They will
not be looking for the good things, but will
search diligently for the bad things, with minds
that are more than likely to be too greatly
biased to make possible an impartial decision.
Music publishers need no greater warning
against song censorship than that afforded by
the experiences of the motion picture producers.
Films that were absolutely innocent in'them-
selves and actually designed to appeal to chil-
dren were passed in certain States and barred
in others, according to the whims of local
censors.
If songs arc vulgar or suggestive then there
are still courts functioning that are empowered
to take the proper measures for the protection
of the public against such works. The fact that
neither words nor music may be of the highest
order, or have an appeal for the lovers of the
tragic, does not mean that they should be placed
beyond the reach of the hundreds of thousands
who are inclined to favor popular music even
for its jazzy tunefulness, at the cost of having
their tastes described as depraved.
The music publishing trade has, up to this
time, considered the question of censorship
largely as a joke and has made little effort to
take the matter seriously and organize a strong
resistance. Unless this attitude is changed, the
industry is liable to wake up some fine morning
to find that before a song can be offered to
the public it must pass the scrutiny of a group
of "Holier-than-Thou" individuals.
PLAYS THREE NUMBERS AT ONCE
Paul Specht, noted orchestra leader, has
registered with the N. V. A.'s protected material
department an original idea in which he plays
at the same time three numbers, namely,
"Homesick," "To-morrow" and "All Muddled
Up." Specht originated the idea more than
three weeks ago at the Coliseum Theatre.
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Home SWeet Home,
Robert
Davis Featuring Several Ballads
Engagement at Capitol Theatre
A singer new to New York has lately been
scoring a decided success at the Capitol The-
atre. He is Kobert Davis, who possesses a
tenor voice of exceptional merit. Mr. Davis is
under the direction of S. L. Rothafel, who
also directs the program of the Capitol.
Mr. Davis, before coming to New York, had
two years of success on the Pacific Coast ful-
filling a practically continuous engagement at
the Grauman Theatre, Los Angeles, during that
period. Among the particularly important songs
included in his program are several ballads from
the catalog of M. Witmark & Sons. These
include "Can't Yo' Heah Me Callin', Caroline?"
and Arthur A. Penn's successful ballad, "Sun-
rise and You."
FINED FOR COPYRIGHT VIOLATION
A. H. Sullivan Found Guilty of Charge Brought
by Music Publishers' Protective Association
Augustus H. Sullivan, of Worcester, Mass.,
who was found guilty by a jury in the Federal
Court- of Boston several months ago for violat-
ing the Copyright Law and conspiracy to do the
same, recently paid a fine of $500 imposed by
Judge Morton. The evidence in this case was
gathered by representatives of the Music Pub-
lishers' Protective Association. The indictment
alleged that Sullivan, with another man, dupli-
cated, reproduced and sold the musical com-
position "Humming" published by Harms, Inc.
TO PUBLISH "ROBIN HOOD"
"Robin Hood," a song written around the
Douglas Fairbanks motion picture of the same
name, has been accepted for publication by
Irving Berlin, Inc.
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