Music Trade Review

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54
THE: MUSIC TRADE: REIVIEIW
INTKBWORLD OF
Conducted by B. B. Wilson
CONSIDERING PLANS FOR CHECKING UP ON ROYALTIES.
Music Publishers' Association May Take Up Qirestion—Must Take Word of Record and Music
Roll Manufacturers Under Present Conditions—English Stamp System Suggested.
The members of the Music Publishers' Associa-
tion of the United States, as well as the music
publishers outside of that organization, are natur-
ally much interested in the question of mechanical
reproduction and the means for checking up roy-
alties accurately. While the publishers do not
question the honesty of the majority of those who
make music rolls and talking machine records,
they nevertheless feel as though there should be
something more than the simple statement of the
manufacturer as to the number of copies of their
music issued in roll or record form. According
to an official of the publishers' association, an
attempt will be made to devise some plan for the
regulation of royalty accounts for mechanical re-
production, and the matter will be discussed at
length at the next convention of that body, to be
held in June.
In the matter of ensuring an accurate accounting
of royalties, both those paid 'by the publisher to the
composer and song writer and those paid to the
publisher by manufacturers, the American pub-
lishers might well take a leaf from the book of
their British brethren and adopt the stamp system.
According to fhe accepted English custom, when
a new song is received ready for the market,
the composer is called upon to mark a specified
number of copies with his signature stamp. As the
demand for the song grows, more copies are
stamped, but none are sent out to the trade with-
out the formality of stamping having been gone
NEW OPERETTAS FROM EUROPE
For Coming Season Announced by Marc Kla.w,
Who Made a Number of Interesting Con-
tracts While Abroad—New Lehar Operetta.
Marc Klaw, of Klaw & Erlanger, returned from
Europe Saturday on the Mauretania after an
absence from New York of a little more than a
month. While on the other side he has been
busily engaged in interviewing dramatists, com-
posers and actors, and seeing productions, with a
view of obtaining attractions for his firm.
Upon his arrival in Europe Mr. Klaw went first
to Vienna. "I went there directly to fulfill an
engagement made several months ago to meet
Franz Lehar, the composer," said Mr. Klaw yester-
day. "During my stay there I heard the score
of Lehar's latest operetta, 'The Ideal Wife," which
is to be produced shortly in Vienna, and secured
it for Klaw & Erlanger. It is a farce set to
music and tells the story of a husband and wife
who were beginning to tire of each other. She
proposes to go away for a while, but comes back
shortly after, impersonating her own sister, and
by an apparent change in manner, taste and dress
wins her husband back again. In 'The Ideal Wife'
Lehar seems to have come back to the lighter
popular melodies which characterized 'The Merry
Widow,' and it ought to prove a success.
"I also obtained while in Vienna 'The Envious
Butterfly' and 'The Circassion Beauty,' two new
operettas. 'The Envious Butterfly' is and Graennichstaedten, composer of 'The Rose
Maid,' a Chinese operetta in the time of the
present Republic. 'The Circassion Beauty' is by
Willner and Steffan.
"In Berlin I saw a production of 'The Little
King,' with music by Kallman, who composed 'The
Woman-Haters' Club' and 'The Gay Hussars.' I
cannot imagine that play without the cast which
forms the company of the Theatre An der Wien.
I made an offer on behalf of our firm to Manager
Karezag of the theater to bring that entire organ-
ization to America in'the spring of next year for
THAT it is a big question whether or not the
plugging of songs by cabaret performers tends to
help sales.
THAT the cabaret fiends do not stay home long
enough to use much piano music, and the home
people do not get to cabarets enough to hear all
the latest music, so there you are.
THAT one of the most used and best received of
the songs used in the cabarets this winter has
been practically a failure from the standpoint of
sales.
THAT a man was arrested in Cleveland for im-
personating Irving Berlin and trying to cash a
check supposed to bear the song writer's signature.
THAT to have someone attempt to get money on
one's name is the final sign of fame.
THAT it is a wise little fellow who breaks into
the publishing game with a job to fall back on
if something drops.
THAT the members of a firm of music publishers
in New York State work as potters during the day
and as music publishers on nights and Sundays.
Wise boys.
THAT there is a lively controversy developing in
a Long Island town regarding the proper pro-
nunciation of Jerusalem. First real fight over the
name in two thousand years. We should worry.
THAT the discovery in England that music
grows hair has made the barbers think about dis-
carding razors for trombones.
THAT, with all the talk of higher musical appre-
ciation it is noticeable that the list of best selling
a four or six weeks' stay at the New Amsterdam music rolls are always made up of the popular
Theater, and perhaps a month after to be divided selections of the day.
between Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago. The
THAT according to the announcements of
Theatre An der Wien has probably the best mu- theatrical managers returning from Europe we
sical comedy and operetta organization in the will have the imported operetta with us for years
world, and if Mr. Karezag accepts, Lehar will to come.
come over with the company, as that theater has
THAT "The Sunshine Girl" adds just another
been the scene of his great successes.
successful musical comedy to the long list pub-
" 'The Dancing Mistress' at the Adelphi was the lished by Chappell & Co.
only play of interest to Americans that I saw
during my brief visit in London."
DEMAND FOR PAULL MARCHES.
through with. The presence of an unstamped copy
of a song on the retailer's counter is to be accepted
as evidence that the publisher is putting something
over on the composer or that pirates are at work.
It is also to be noted that as the composer stamps
all the copies himself and keeps his own count of
the number thus marked, there is no chance for his
questioning the regular statements sent out by the
publishers. To those who have heard composers
and song writers along Broadway complain of the
manner in which they were being cheated by their
publishers—their estimate of the sales of their
songs are always about five times the figures of-
fered by the publishers—the last result of the
stamping system is to be appreciated.
The British publishers have solved the question
of collecting all the royalties on mechanical repro-
ductions of their music by making use of adhesive
stamps issued under the direction of the Board
of Trade. The stamps are bought in quantities by
the manufacturers of records and music rolls and
one must be attached to each separate reproduction
when it is placed on sale. Though several of the
manufacturers expressed doubts as to the legality
of the method, the court, in reply to claims set
forth by the talking machine record company, up-
held the stamp system. Such a system inaugurated
in this country would do much to ease the mind
of the suspicious publisher even though at the
present time he is getting all that is coming to him
under the law.
ADDING INSULT TO INJURY.
Missionary Protests Against Wording of Hymns
Sung by Prison Inmates, and With Good
Reason.
The unsuitable nature of the services in British
prison chapels has caused a protest by Thomas
Holmes, a London police court missionary. "A
few weeks ago," said Mr. Holmes, "I was conduct-
ing an afternoon service, and before me were
1,000 men, locked, bolted and barred in prison,
with warders to keep guard over them. They
were on their knees singing a vesper:
'Lord keep us safe this night, -. y
Secure us from all our fears;
May angels guard us while we sleep,
Till morning light appears.'
"I at once remonstrated with the prison authori-
ties, and offered to provide them with more suit-
able words, but they failed to see my point."
Instrumental
Numbers
Introduced
Over
Decade Ago Still Selling Well.
a
E. T. Paull, head of the E. T. Paull Music Co.,
states that there has been no apparent drop in the
demand for the various marches in his catalog,
including "The Roaring Volcano," which was first
placed on the market last fall. The Paull
marches which have been before the public for
from ten to twenty years still sell at a surprising
rate. At the present time no announcement has
been made regarding a new march for spring,
though there will probably be some addition to
the Paull catalog during the coming months.
LEO FALL SUPERSTITIOUS.
Operetta Composer Firm in Demand for Titles
With Six Syllables.
The superstition of Leo Fall, the composer of
"The Dollar Princess" and a number of other
has prevailed in the naming of his latest
NEW PLAY AT THEJ.ONDON GAIETY. operettas,
work.
George Edwardes has chosen as the play to
The publishers wanted it called "Lola Montez,"
follow "The Sunshine Girl" at the Gaiety Theater, but Fall refused, asserting that it was impossible
London, after Easter, an English version of a for him to score a success unless the titles of his
successful musical play, "The Magic Film." Paul operas contained six syllables, and he pointed out
A. Rubens was to have written the music for the that his only failure was scored with "The Rebel."
successor of "The Sunshine Girl," but the state
Eventually he had his own way, and the new
of his health made it imperative that he should work will be entitled "Die Studenten-Graffen."
rest, and consequently the production of his pro-
Fall's operettas include "Der Fidele Bauer,"
jected piece has been postponed until the end of "Die Geschiedene Frau" and "Die Schone Risette,"
"The Magic Film."
each of them six syllabic.