Music Trade Review

THE
40
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
SE PTEM BER
I, 1923
A Chain of Successes-
youVE
CAROLINA
GOT TO SEE
Mam";y Sonc3
EV'RYNIGHT
A Lonesome Blues
MAMMY
A Real Southern
MAMMA
Ff},X Tl'ol
1
SWINGIN
DOWN THE
LANE
An Old Fashioned Son~
With a FyTJ'otSwin~
"You can't 50 wi'ons -With any'FEIST'son~\\
.BASES FOR OPTIMISM OVER THE DEMAND IN THE FALL
"LITTLE JESSIE JAMES" A HIT
Publishers Just Completing One of the Most A ctive Summer Season'S in Their History-Merit
New Musical Comedy by Thompson and
Archer Being Published by Leo Feist, Inc.
of New Numbers Being Released Sure to Create Heavy Demand f.or Them
With th e opening of the September season
it is natural to bec ome optimistic over the pros­
·pects for Fait; so far as popular shee t music is
co·nc erne d. These rosy predictions, however,
are IJa,;ed upon goo d foundation s and, ~hether
or not the outcome of the early plan s is rea l­
ized, th e re is certain to be muc h additiona l ac­
Ii vity.
The re are many reasons for this optimism, in­
cluding l-he one that the publishers very often
hold back for several weeks on their activities
ulltil the opening of the theatrical season. ·When
th a t period arrives, however, publicity cam­
paigns are immediately inaugurated, new num­
bers re lea sed, e nthu siasm aro used and every de·
partment of a publishin g business is put on its
m e ttle to get an ear ly start.
This can be said of the opening of any Fal l
sea so n, but there are several an gles in the pres­
ent situation which can hardly be overlooked
and which give more than the usual assurance
of a most active Fall. The publishers have
passed through onf' of th e most act ive Summer
periods for several seaso ns. Thi s was due to
the prevalenc e of a goodly number of success­
ful iss ues. We had the spectacle this Summer
of see ing a song reach over a million copies in
point of sa le. This, and other s uccesses, made
lhe music counters more active than usual. It
demonstrat ed what has long been conte nd ed
that good songs wi ll sell, good in the sense. of
popu la rity. no matter what the season.
This Summer activity and the res ult in prof­
its for both the publisher and·dealer are the bes t
bases for optimism; in fact, they could not be
improved upon. At any rate, as far as the
popular publisher s are conce rn ed , plans were
neve r more exten s ive than those that a re ar ­
ranged for this Fall.
An other factor that is of va lu e as a founda­
ALL
WRONG
tion for optimistic pr edictio ns is th e mer it of
the new numb e rs released. The va rious ca ta­
logs seemingly all have several numbers that
,lre more th a n worth while.
P la ns to realize on the momentum in sales
c reated by th e active Summer are covering
eve r y c han nel of act ivit y. Bands, orch estras,
reotion picture houses and all other mediums of
publicity wh ich in the past have been found
cffe cti ve as creators of sa les for sheet music
arc be ing indulged in by all of the leading
houses.
If th e number s issued 'pr ove up to expecta­
tions a big Fa ll is assur ed . If g r eat quantities
of sheet music can be sold durin g the Sum m er
mOl1ths there is no qu estion about the success
of the Fa ll if the songs are meritorious and,
as has been said before, meritoriou s in the se ns e
that the y 1l1ee t pop ular approval.
"TED LEWIS' FROLIC" OPENS
New Musical Show, With Orchestra Starred ,
Has Premiere in Boston
"The Ted Lewis' Frolic," th e new mu si ca l
show in wh ich Te d Lewis and His Band are
starred, recently opened in Boston, Mass. It
seemingly has met popular. approval , newspaper
reports predicting that it would stay the full
le ngth of the originally proposed run, s ix we eks.
The show is produced by Ted Lewis a nd Arthur
Pea r so n; the book by "Dugs" Ba e r a nd Wi llia m
K. Wells; the lyrics are by Jack Yelle n and
the music by :Milton Age r. Among the songs
th at bear promise are "Twinkle; Twinkle, L ittl e
Stars," "Reautiful 'Girls," "Change Your Steps ,"
"Beyond the Moonbeam Trail," "Back Home,"
"Pa isl ey Shawl," "Ti ck, Tock" (The Dresden
Clock).
SALT
YOUR
SUGAR
The r e r ece ntly opened at the Longacre The­
atre a new musical comedy presented by L.
La wre nce Weber, entitled " Little 'J ess ie James."
The book and lyrics are by H arla n Thompson
and the m usic by Ha rry Archer, who is not a
nov ic e at writing the scores for musica l pro­
ductions.
Vario us New York papers received the show
Illost· favora bly as, indeed, did the out-of-town
c ritics an d public where it had previous ly ap­
peared durin g the early Sum m er months. {'n­
doubtedly, from p resent indications, it will run
lo ng int o the co min g sea son. Nan Halp eri n
is starre d and sings some of th e outstanding
songs. She has an inimitable way of renderin g
th e number s, and, with her pe rsona l charms, wi ll
do mu ch to a ss ure the show s uc cess as we ll as
the songs that she s ings .
A 1l10ng the leading son gs a re "M y Hom e
Tow ll in Kansa s" and "From Broadway to
lV[ain Street." Among others who appear in
the ca~ t is M iriam Hopkins, Lucila Mendez,
C la ra Thropp and Win ifred Harris. Leo· Feist,
I nc., publishes the music.
SPECIAL REMICK SALES DRIVE
BUFFALO, )J . Y., Au gust 2S.-William H. McDer­
mott is touring the beaches an d resorts of west­
ern New York for the Jerome H. Remick Co.,
where he is featuring thei r catalog. He r epor ts
a bi g demand for "Babbling Brook," "Barney
Google" and "Dreamy Melody."
The Irving Berlin, Inc., number "\>\Then Yo u
\Valked Out Someone Else Walked Right In"
continues to be one of the most active sellers
in that firm's catalog. The professional and
sales departments of the com pany expect this
activity to continu e through th e Fall.
WHAT
COULD BE
SWEETER