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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
AUGUST 1,
1925
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The Fox-trot Song Successor to "THE FLAPPER WIFE"
Exploited in Conjunction With the Sequel Story —"FOOTLOOSE"
Promoted by 800 Newspapers
The most thorough and intensive co-operative sales drive and publicity cam-
paign ever conceived.
Radio, Theatres, Dance Halls, Vaudeville and Photo-Play Houses and Music
Stores will all take part.
Special Newspaper articles, illustrations, and thematics will appear daily.
Don't miss this opportunity—Order a liberal supply. Feature "Footloose."
Ask for Title Pages and Other Display Material
Watch for Records and Rolls of this new
popular song and dance hit
SAM FOX PUB. CO. :: Cleveland, Ohio
New York Office, 152 West 45th St., New York City
Songs Based on Topics of the Day Are
Rarely Landed in the Popular Hit Class
Publishers Deluged With Numbers Based on the Recent Evolution Trial but Fight Shy of Them
—The Things That Make the Success of a Number Are Broad Fundamental Themes
A17E suppose there must have been as many
' ' as a hundred, presumably popular, songs
submitted to publishers on the recent evolution
trial held in Dayton, Tenn. So far as can be
discerned none of these was accepted and this
is indeed fortunate. No topical song based
upon the news of the day, catastrophes or
similar events ever amounts to much. Popular
publishers know this only too well and no
matter how meritorious the offering they gen-
erally steer clear of such publications.
We did have several cross-word puzzle songs
and the justification in this instance seemingly
was the lengthy popularity of the craze. The
songs had merit and some money was
placed behind them, but they achieved nothing
like the popularity one would think was pos-
sible from such widespread publicity.
The nearest an}' one in recent years came
to having an unusual topical hit was the Jack
Mills number "They Needed a Song Bird in
Heaven So God Took Caruso Away," which
was said to have sold over 600,000 copies.
All the King Tut songs were also-rans. None
of them were able to cash in on the interna-
tional publicity of the historical events with
which they were supposed to be connected.
Other instances of similar failures might be
mentioned.
A season ago we had one or two songs re-
lated to the comic strips of the daily papers.
The best of these was "Barney Google," which
arose quickly and died the same way. But it
did have an active life for a short period.
Probably its melody with a comedy .lyric of
a different caliber would have achieved just
about as much popularity. So the full meas-
ure of credit cannot be given to the cartoons
which were the inspiration.
In a recent issue of The Antidote of Thom-
son & Co., 9 Murray street, New York City,
who are originators of printing, an article ap-
peared under the caption "Topical Advertising"
and much of the material therein applies to
popular songs. Popular songs are after all an
advertising proposition. Publishers of popular
songs are really in the greatest of all advertis-
ing businesses. They sell their wares by public
rendition either vocally or instrumentally.
Nothing can be more direct to the consumer.
In the article "Topical Advertising" it states:
"There is a small and highly sophisticated sec-
tion of the public to which topical advertising
appeals but the masses are apparently un-
touched by fads and furors. It was estimat-
ed that only 1 per cent of the public was in-
terested in King Tut and in an investigation in
which the investigators acted as eavesdroppers,
in a four-hour period, only one allusion was
made to King Tut. This was by a pair look-
ing in the shop window in which the husband
asked while viewing a cartoon 'What Does
Tut And Amen mean?' Stray conversations
were heard in street cars, theatre lobbies,
courts, waiting rooms, department stores and
on street corners, and the above question was
all that could be gained in the snooping.
"What then does interest them? It is the
timeless things, not the timely. Love, food,
money, weather, youth, age, rent, babies, sick-
ness, games, dress, land, animals and color.
Of particular interest to music publishers, com-
posers and lyricists are mother, sweetheart,
sorrow, joy and home. These things, by the
way, are the sure fires of popular songdom and
the old heads of the song writing game stick
pretty closely to mother and sweetheart and
to the old homestead, with Dixie interpretation
now and then, or a song related to some par-
ticular state, which on analysis will be found
to be basically a mother or home song. The
rules after all are not so many. Taking these
things with a lyric of heart interest and a
melody which can carry some of the burden,
there is not so much gamble.
"It is when the writer or publisher tries to
pioneer in a new avenue heartaches and losses
come. The exceptions, of course, are the
comedy songs. These, however, have a com-
paratively short life. Some of them may take
down the house in a musical show and not get
a ripple on a music counter.
"So the real business houses of the popular
publishing field avoid the passing manias. They
stick to the more permanent things and leave
the transient subjects for the novice for 'hu-
man wants are much the same yesterday, to-
morrow and always.' "
Consult the Universal Want Directory of
The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free of charge for men who desire positions.
Danny Engle Given
a Larger Territory
Shapiro, Bernstein & Co. Representative in
Buffalo Also to Cover Cleveland for Firm
in the Future
BUFFALO, N. Y., July 27.—-Danny Engle, who has
represented Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., Inc., in
this locality, has been given the Cleveland terri-
tory in addition. Mr. Engle will spend a month
in Cleveland district exploiting his firm's "Col-
legiate" song.
"By the Light of the Stars," a Jerome H.
Remick & Co. number, has been featured by
William McDermott, the local representative of
the company. Mr. McDermott put over a big
campaign in this territory on his firm's "Don't
Bring Lulu."
Over 800 Newspapers
in "Footloose" Campaign
(Continued from page 47)
allows them to demonstrate publicly the feelings
and the inward desires that they had to hold in
check. "Footloose" will command everyone's
attention because the story itself is intensely in-
teresting, because the publicity that will accom-
pany it is so thorough, because the "Footloose"
song will have wide appeal and because the com-
bination represents what is termed "the jazz
age." Whether we like it or not it is here. This
widespread campaign arousing interest to the
highest pitch may help it spend itself. In the
meantime the bright young fellow who con-
ceived the idea of commercializing "Footloose"
and sold the idea to eight hundred newspapers
should be congratulated.
This is probably one of the greatest cam-
paigns of exploitation that has ever been under-
taken in the music publishing field.
Two Infringement Suits
PORTLAND, ORE., July 24.—Infringement of copy-
rights on songs is charged in two suits filed in
the Federal Court of this district by publishers
against the United Amusement Co., operator of
Oak Park, an amusement center here. In one
case the company is charged with using with-
out authority the copyrighted song "Don't Mind
the Rain" in a musical production given at its
resort. The second suit contains similar charges
in connection with the song "I'll See You in
My Dreams."