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IN THE WORLD OF MUSIC PUBLISHING
Conducted by Fred B. Dielil
Fine New Library of Photoplay Music
in Preparation by Witmark Firm
A SERIES of "orchestral readings" has been
instituted recently by M. Witmark & Sons,
New York, in connection with the preparation
of the Witmark Philharmonic Photoplay Li-
brary to be released shortly for use in motion
picture recording studios. An important read-
ing was given on Tuesday, May 14, in a private
studio in Carnegie Hall, when a full symphony
orchestra tried over a group of new scores
before a qualified committee of critics. Each
number is thus tried over to receive the sanc-
tion of the committee before going to press.
David H. Broekman, prominent conductor and
producer of scores of sound pictures, was put
in charge as editor of the new series With
the support and assistance of many of the lead-
ing American composers and an able staff of
orchestrators, he has made remarkable prog-
ress. Twenty-six descriptive and dramatic com-
positions by such prominent composers as
Henry Hadley, Christian Kriens, Franz Grau,
Sam A. Perry, R. Meredith Willson, David H.
Broekman, George J. Trinkaus and Adolph
Fink have already been published for full or-
chestra, as well as for smaller aggregations.
These cover the gamut of human sentiment
and moods of nature from the solitude of the
desert to the violence of the hurricane.
M. Witmark & Sons, through their affiliation
with Warner Bros., pioneers in the field of
talking motion pictures, were quick to sense
the demand for this entirely new type of photo-
play music. The Witmark Philharmonic Photo-
play Series has been evolved at great expense
as the logical answer to the problem. To build
up a library of this type on short notice de-
manded the unlimited resources that the War-
ner-Witmark affiliation made available.
Regarding this innovation, Julius P. Wit-
mark, of the Witmark firm, stated this week:
"With the 'talkies' has arisen an insistent de-
mand for a new and superior type of 'tone
color' music to meet the growing demands of
the new form of entertainment. For a number
of years, film fans have been compelled to listen
to mediocre music played by small orchestras.
At best, such orchestrations were compromises
to meet a variety of situations. With nothing
better available, musicians had to content them-
selves with the best the market afforded.
"To-day, with large symphony orchestras
employed in the leading studios, it is recog-
Bobbins Presents
The first popular priced book of its kind
Contents include 22 selected songs from the
immortal operas of Gilbert and Sullivan.
HAROLD DIXON'S
MODERN ARRANGEMENTS OF
and
Sullivan's
FAMOUS SONGS
List p r i c e 5Oc
M
Usual trade discount
4
ROBBINS
Music CORPORATION •
799 Seventh Avenue,New York
2X 4
nized that the score for 'sound' feature films
must be more than a mere musical accompani-
ment, aimed to drown distracting noises ema-
nating from the audience itself. Each scene re-
quires its individual tone picture, conveying
the precise mood, passion or atmosphere that
the action itself attempts to convey. The same
music will no longer do service for a love
scene, a pathetic parting and a demonstration
of supreme sacrifice. A critical public is now
listening with well-trained ears."
Walter Douglas Making
Fast European Trip
Walter Douglas, general manager of the
music publishing firm of Donaldson, Douglas
& Gunible, Inc., New York, sailed recently for
Europe on the S. S. "La France" for a short
business visit, which will keep him abroad about
one month. The purpose of his trip is to make
additional European connections for the firm's
catalog for the coming year. The firm, which
was organized about eleven months ago, has
shown remarkable progress during this period
with many Walter Donaldson hits as well as
outside material, theme songs and production
music. The concern has been ably represented
abroad during the past year and many Euro-
pean publishers are showing great interest in
the firm's present catalog.
Among the newer songs to be released by
Donaldson, Douglas & Gumble, Inc., are four
numbers, all of which were written by Walter
Donaldson in collaboration with Edgar Leslie,
co-writer of "Among My Souvenirs."
The
songs are "Sweet Seventeen," "If We Never
Should Meet Again," "Reaching for Someone
and Not Finding Anyone There" and "As Long
As It's You Dear, O. K." Following the re-
turn of Mr. Douglas to New York, Mose Gum-
ble and Walter Donaldson, the other members
of the firm, will go to California to work on
two picture productions for the William Fox
company.
Jack Robbins Quoted
in Western Paper
Los ANGELES, CAL., May
9.—An interesting in-
terview with J. J. Robbins, head of the music
publishing firm, Robbins Music Corp., New
York, appeared recently in the Los Angeles
Times, having been written by Edwin Schallert,
conceded to be one of the outstanding music
critics west of the Rockies. Mr. Robbins,
whose firm is closely linked with the Metro-
Goldwyn-Mayer organization, is an authority
on music for the motion picture, and his views
on this subject were greatly sought after by
newspaper men on the occasion of his recent
trip here. Mr. Schallert spent considerable
time with Mr. Robbins, and some of the high-
lights of his interview were as follows: "I
talked to Jack Robbins, New York publisher
of 'The Broadway Melody' numbers, the other
day, and he declares that the popularity of the
majority of songs is doubled as a result of
pictures. In some instances it is more than
doubled. Mr. Robbins mentioned that a num-
ber like 'You Were Meant For Me' would have
sold probably 100,000 copies had it been writ-
ten before song pictures came into vogue. As
a part of a film musical production, it will sell
17
"HITS"
From Musical Shows
I"\ oni Schwub & MIIIMICI'N SmaHh Musical
•' F O L L O W
T II It I' "
31V M'CKY STAR
B U T T O N I P YOUR OVERCOAT
I WANT TO IIK IIAl)
YOU WOl L D N T FOOL MK, W O I L 1 ) YOU?
NO MOKH YOl
From
Aaron's & Freedley's Sensation
41
II O L 1) E V K K Y T H I N G "
V O C l t K T H E CltKAM IN MY C O F F E E
TO KNOW YOl IS TO LOVE YOL
DON'T H U M ) E V K U Y T H I N O
(Let Everything 1 Go)
TOO GOOD TO B E TKI'K
From CliarlcM
Dillinghiini'M Kxtrnv
41
T 11 It K E C II E K 11 8 "
1'OMl'ANOLA
MAYItE THIS IS LOVE
itKG'Al SE YOU'RE U E A U T I F U L
TWO HOYS
From
GEORGE
WHITE'S
S C A N D A L S "
I'M ON T H E CREST OF A WAVK
WHAT 1VYA SAY?
IMCKIN' COTTON
AMERICAN T U N E
(I Love to Be 'Neath the Old Apple Tree)
WHERE: YOUR NAME IS CARVED WITH
MINE
44
From Schwab & Mundel's Joyous College
Musical " G O O D
N E W S "
T H E VARSITY DRAG
T H E B E S T T H I N G S IN L I F E A R E F R E E
LUCKY IN LOVE
GOOD N E W S
J l ST IMAGINE
HE'S A L A D I E S ' MAN
De Sylva, Brown & Henderson, Inc.
Music Publishers
745 Seventh Ave.
New York City
Gamble Hinged Music Co.
Now on Wabash Avenue
A new addition to Chicago's "piano row"
is the Gamble Hinged Music Co., which re-
cently moved from 67 East Van Buren street
to the Starck Building at 228 South Wabash
avenue. The company occupies the second
floor, and, in addition to larger space, has many
modern facilities for handling a large distribu-
tion of sheet music.
To Give Music Degree
DELAWARE, O., May 11.—The Ohio Wesleyan
University School of Music will be reorganized
as a department of the college of liberal arts.
Conferring of the degree of bachelor of music,
which has not been granted by Ohio Wesleyan
heretofore, is also to be recommended to the
trustees. This degree would be conferred upon
students satisfactorily completing the require-
ments of the four-year course in music or in
public school music.
probably 500,000 copies.
"There is another angle to the success of
songs, as Robbins relates it, and that is the
speed of the success. A picture is an 'imme-
diate plug' for the song. It is more rapid than
the radio even. In two or three weeks, with
a generally released production, a tune will go
round the country. It will hit more quickly
and more certainly, because the audience sees
as well as hears it sung. This result obtains
naturally where the singer appears on the
screen as in 'Broadway Melody.'
"The song picture promises to cause a quick-
ening in sheet music sales throughout the coun-
try. Popular music trade has been at a low
ebb for some time. The public much prefers
to buy the record, or listen to the number over
the radio. Record sales will, of course, be
stimulated, and sheet music also.