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54
Musical Merchandise Section oi The Music Trade Review
T. J. McHugh Completes His
35th Year With Gibson, Inc.
Ty-ALAMAZOO, MICH., May 6.^-T. J. Mc-
•^- Hugh, chief engineer for Gibson, Inc., this
city, has just completed his thirty-fifth year
with the acoustical department of the company
and has been receiving felicitations from the
entire staff of Gibson officials. Starting with
the Gibson concern when the force consisted
of only a few individuals, Mr. McHugh has
watched it develop to a commanding point in
fretted instrument manufacture. In the begin-
ning he worked tirelessly to assist in perfecting
the original Gibson "Flat" mandolins with
carved top and back. He then turned his at-
tention consecutively to guitar, mandoki,
mando-cello and banjo.
Before many years
Gibson, Inc., were able to offer to music lovers
a complete fretted instrument family, making-
it possible to make up fretted instrument
groups with coloring harmony and balance
comparable to the regular orchestra.
Much experimental work has passed through
Mr. Me Hugh's hands, thousands of ideas for
something different in fretted instrument c
struction have been tested and tried out under
his supervision. Most of them are rejected as
American Guild Meets
T. J. McHugh
impractical or imperfect, but occasionally a
new idea receives his approval with the result
that one more step is made in the ultimate
perfection of fretted instrument construction.
Sound Movies vs, the Orchestra
(Continued
from fagc 41)
Mr. Luz. "If the movie patrons still want to
hear orchestra music produced by musicians
in the flesh the theatre owners will simply be
required to give it to them. I well remember
the time when the pipe organ was first intro-
duced into picture theatres. We saw a very
similar situation as the organ manufacturers
tried to show the exhibitors how they could
materially cut down their overhead by replac-
ing six or eight musicians with one organist.
Later the automatic organ attempted to do the
same thing and a big protest went up from
professional musicians everywhere. But that
isn't the reason that orchestras were retained;
the point is that the public demanded them.
"One grossly exaggerated point that enters
into the discussion of sound pictures is that this
new form of entertainment represents any
actual saving to the exhibitor. This is not the
case, for the cost of installation is often tre-
mendous, requiring a long period to offset the
cost of hiring orchestras.
"In the case of theatres playing vaudeville
with pictures, it is almost impossible to sup-
plant the orchestra with a piano or organ and
still please the public. Outside of New York
City, but one Loew theatre in a southern city
has eliminated its orchestra, and that was the
result of local union conditions rather than the
sound picture.
"I know enough about the music profession
from a life-long contact with it to declare that
the good musician will always get work. There
are a lot of men in orchestras these days who
are musicians because they find it to their liking
rather than because they have any talent for
it. It will not hurt anyone if some of these
get replaced. But there are more miscellaneous
music jobs to-day than ever before and the
real musicians will never starve."
Henri Conrad, president of the Musical Mu-
tual Protective Association, the largest New
York union chapter affiliated with the A. F. of
L., confirmed this last statement in an inter-
view with The Review. Mr. Conrad stated that
there are unquestionably more opportunities for
competent musicians than ever before. The
radio stations with practically a fifteen-hour
daily entertainment schedule require large
"house bands" capable of filling in on regular
or substitute programs. The growth of the
"night club" idea has also put a premium on
good dance musicians and has drawn into the
city hundreds—possibly thousands—of out-of-
town instrumentalists.
"We have not been in any way alarmists over
the sound picture so far as it is affecting mem-
will easily serve to whet the musical appetites
of young America and inspire the imitation of
saxophone, banjo and trumpet artists, who play
for the synchronized films.
There are those who will disagree with Mr.
Milliken's assertion that the world of music
owes a vast debt to the films by introducing
musical entertainment with pictures, for it may
seem just as logical to reverse the statement.
It is fair to say, however, that honors haw:
been about evenly divided in this respect in
the past. The future of music in ihe films and
in picture houses is only a matter of conjec-
ture, of course, but a music-minded public
ought to decide the problem in a manner to
be satisfying both to photoplay and music in-
dustries.
bers of our union,'' said Mr. Conrad. "Oppor-
tunities for work in the radio and dance fields
are larger than ever before and completely off-
set the replaced 'pit' musicians in my opinion.
We have made no attempt to collect statistics
on the question, however, but complaints by
our men have been reduced to practically nil
of late."
Sigmund Pollatschek, secretary of the asso-
ciation, bore out Mr. Conrad's statements and
added that if there is any cry to be raised by
New York musicians it is against the transient
out-of-towner, who competes for local work.
Wages being paid to musicians in general now-
adays are higher than ever before, and the good
men are securing plenty of work, Mr. Pollats-
chek said.
The picture man's angle on the question was
presented recently in a most competent man-
ner by .Carl E. Milliken, secretary of the Mo-
lion Picture Producers and Distributors of
America, Inc., in a talk before the Associated
Musical Instrument Dealers of New York. Mr.
Milliken took as his topic, "The Progress of
Mechanical Music in the Motion Picture Field."
The speaker readily admitted the "collision
of interests" which followed the advent of
sound pictures, but emphasized that the world
of music already owes a tremendous debt to
the motion picture for moulding musical taste
in the right direction during the past twelve
or fifteen years. In his opinion, the introduc-
tion of expertly synchronized scores in the
smaller communities all over the country will
have the effect of making millions of people
"music-minded," who never heard anything
better than an out-of-tunc piano with their pic-
tures before. Mr. Milliken, therefore, feels that
instead of "harming" the music business, the
sound pictures will have a beneficial result in-
stead. This is based on the assumption that
the desire for self-expression on musical instru-
ments will be stimulated by hearing more
music. Mr. Milliken points to hundreds of in-
stances in the history of the films, however, in
which styles of hats, clothing, coiffure and the
like have been set by the widespread showing
of motion pictures. In many cases, demand for
Amcrican merchandise abroad has followed the
showing of our films in foreign countries.
The speaker admitted that there is some
doubt as to the public's preference for sound
pictures as compared to the "all talkies." The
sound "shorts," showing vaudeville turns, instru-
mental and vocal soloists and the like, have
proven definitely popular of late, however, and
if only the "talkies" survive the sound "shorts"
A n n u a l C o n v e n t i o n H e l d in Baltimore, Md.,
With Large Attendance F r o m Various Parts
of C o u n t r y
BAI.TIMOKK, MIL, May 8.—The 192M comcnlion
of the American Guild of Banjoists, Mandolin-
ists a n d Guitarists was held at the Lord Balli-
m o r e H o t e l , in this city, this week, with a large
and r e p r e s e n t a t i v e a t t e n d a n c e from all sections
of the c o u n t r y .
M a n y r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s of lite
musical m e r c h a n d i s e i n d u s t r y were present and
several of t h e l e a d i n g c o n c e r n s had attractive-
displays of t h e latest p r o d u c t s .
Ati o u t s t a n d i n g feature of the convention was
the c o n c e r t p r o g r a m r e n d e r e d d u r i n g the con-
vention and i n t e r s p e r s e d b e t w e e n the business
sessions.
Many prominent artists were fea-
tured.
Ossman & Schepp Scoring
on New England Tour
BOSTON, MASS., May 6.—Vess Ossman and \<<-\
Schepp, well-known banjo vaudeville team, have
been scoring a big hit through New England
recently and are also a feature of numerous
radio programs in the leading cities in which
they are appearing. Recently, while playing
at the Metropolitan Theatre, in Boston, tins
team participated in a gala radio program with
Tom Mix, famous movie actor, over Stations
WBZ and WBZA from the Hotel Statler. ()s«.
man and Schepp have recently celebrated their
fifteenth year of teaming together and they
have come to be termed "the Master Banjoists."
Incidentally, they use U. & D. Silver Hell ban-
jos, having recently purchased new No. 6 N'e
Plus Ultra models for their tour.
Artists Are Endorsing
New Rainbow Flashers
The Nicomedc Music Co., Altoona's popular
manufacturer of the Rainbow Flasher, reports
that five big artists have mailed their endorse-
ments and are fully recommending the new
models of the Nicomede Rainbow Flasher.
These artists are: Harry Reser, Bill Haid,
Eddie Lang, David Bercnd and Mabel Morey.
The Nicomede firm reports the demand for
these flashers is daily gaining.
Columbus Harmonica Hand
Proves Great Attraction
COLUMBUS, O., May 3.—Much interest is being
shown in the Columbus Citizen's Harmonica
Band, which made its first appearance last year.
The newspaper invites every boy in Columbus
to procure a C harmonica and join the band
without any cost to the player. The boy does
not have to be a first-class player, as the band
is in charge of Earl Zaayer, an expert, whose
business it is to teach those who cannot play.
The first Spring rehearsal of the band was held
May 3, at the Y. M. C. A.