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The Music Trade Review
JANUARY 21, 1928
25
Leo Feist, Inc., Publishes Sketch of
Walter Donaldson as Popular Writer Km Cant Go Wrong
With Any FEIST'
Writer of "My Blue Heaven" Has Had Remarkable Career in Popular Music Field
Song"
With Long List of Outstanding Hit Numbers to His Credit
FOLDER has just been mailed to the
trade by Leo Feist, Inc., New York,
sketching in an interesting way the remarkable
career of Walter Donaldson as a popular com-
poser. This tunesmith, who is said to produce
at least two sure-fire hits a week in addition
to three or four average numbers in that time,
is one of the hardest workers in the popular
music field, and treats his song writing as a
regular systematic business. Day after day and
often into the middle of the night he sits at
his piano revamping and polishing up a tune
that has appealed to him, and when he is fin-
ished, the publisher can rest assured that the
song is just about right. Walter Donaldson is
his own severest critic and will not be satisfied
with a shoddy or mediocre piece of work.
He was born and bred in Brooklyn and still
makes his home there. His first job was in a
broker's office, marking up the stock quotations
from the ticker on a big blackboard, but a
prosaic job of this kind to a boy whose head
was full of tunes held no charms, and before
long he was engaged as a pianist in a music
publishing establishment. Once in the atmos-
phere of song writing, his rise, while not sen-
sational, has been a steady one and a span of
seventeen years has brought him from the ranks
of an ordinary pianist to the peak of popularity
in popular music writing.
The recent sensational success of Mr. Don-
aldson's "My Blue Heaven" has started his
friends reminiscing over some of his past hits
and in addition to his famous "Mammy" song
A
SONGS
THAT HIT THE MARK!
HENRY'S MADE A t A D T OUT OF LIZZIE
AMONG MY SOUVENIRS
BROKEN
HEARTED
WITHOUT YOU, SWEETHEART
PLENTY
OF
SUNSHINE
SWEETHEART
MEMORIES
TIN PAN PARADE
THERE'S
ME
GEE,
ONE LITTLE
GIRL
WHO LOVES
I'M GLAD I'M HOME
I'M LIKE A BIRD WITH A BROKEN WING
he has to his credit some of the outstanding hits
of recent years. Among them are "My Buddy,"
"She's the Daughter of Rosie O'Grady," "How
Are You Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm,"
"Carolina in the Morning," "Beside a Babbling
Brook," "Yes Sir, That's My Baby," "That Cer-
tain Party," "After I Say I'm Sorry," "Let's
Talk About My Sweetie," "It Made You Happy
When You Made Me Cry," "Where'd Y'ou Get
Those Eyes," "In the Middle of the Night,"
"Sam the Old Accordion Man," "At Sundown"
and dozens of others, which have been sung,
played and whistled all over the country.
From the above titles it is apparent that ver-
satility is one of his astounding qualities. He
writes "hot" numbers, novelties and ballads
with equal facility, and far from being "written
out" he seems to be just now getting his stride
and his melodies are fresher than ever. Among
his new songs are "A Shady Tree," "That Mel-
ody of Love," "What Are You Waiting for,
Mary," "Changes," "My Ohio H o m e ' and
"There Must Be a Silver Lining," all in the
present Feist catalog.
J& Hot
As They Come!
CHANGES
A Donaldson,
Novelty/.
Singapore Sorrows" Scores
With Act at Palace
Parker & Butler Feature Number in Slow Blue
Tempo—Composition Taking Hold as Dance
Number Also
Parker & Butler featured the song, "Singa-
pore Sorrows" at the Palace Theatre in New
York last week, Miss Ann Butler of the team
singing it in slow tempo, and winning an ova-
tion at each performance. Will Von Tilzer,
head of the Broadway Music Corp., New York,
which published the number, was particularly
enthusiastic over the use of the song by this
act, because of their special interpretation of it.
The story goes that Parker & Butler were
looking for an atmospheric number before
playing the Riverside the week previous
to the Palace and having heard a dance orches-
tra play "Singapore Sorrows" Miss Butler saw
the possibilities of the song in a slow, "blue"
tempo. The number is growing daily in popu-
larity with the dance orchestras who play it in
strict, dance tempo, and as a result Will Von
Tilzer feels that he has released another double
hit similar to "Muddy Water."
Sensation!
MY BLUE
HEAVEN:
/Walter Donaldson.
George Whitini
BABY FEET GO FITTER PATTER
DIDN'T I TELL YOU (That You'd Come Back)
WHO'S THAT KNOCKIN' AT MY DOOR?
Sons Hit* from the Collegiate Mutical
Comedy
''GOOD
NEWS*'
Popular Comedian Sings "Four Walls" and
"The Song is Ended" During Noteworthy
Dodge Bros. Hour
GOOD NEWS
THE VARSITY DRAG
MCKY IN LOVE
THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE
FREE
HAPPY MAYS
JUiT IMAOINK
BIG
S E L L E R S
IN
FOLIOS
SAXOPHOLIO
TENOR BANJO FOLIO (2nd Edition)
(Each containing: fifteen great songs)
E3tfUA.5fiOWN»HCMX1!6ON
Jolson Features Berlin
Songs Over the Radio
StVENTH AVCNV/t MWYOCK
Two hits from the catalog of Irving Berlin,
Inc., New York, were featured by Al Jolson,
celebrated comedian, from New Orleans, on the
occasion of the Victory Hour hook-up, on Janu-
ary 4, when practically every radio owner in
the country tuned in to hear the Dodge Bros,
announcement.
The numbers were "Four
Walls," a very recent release, and "The Song Is
Ended," composed by Irving Berlin. Both
songs were rendered in true Jolson style with
the last chorus done in a recitative and almost
dramatic manner. Mr. Jolson was on the air
again on Sunday evening, January 8, when the
testimonial dinner to William Morris was broad-
cast from New York over the WMCA network.
Although he announced facetiously that his con-
tract would not allow him to sing over these
stations, Mr. Jolson later sang "Four Walls."
A Real , _
Ballad Hit/
MY OHIO
HOME
Walter Donaldson,
Gas K9hn
LEO. FEirr
I
N
C
th
231 w 4 0 St.,
NEW YORK, N.Y.