Presto
Issue: 1923 1912 - Page 24
24
PRESTO
never have been played will be examined under con-
ditions that will exclude all favoritism. All manu-
scripts must be sent to Mrs. William Cowen, chair-
man of the score committee, in the Fisk building, be-
fore May 1. Other conditions attached to the com-
petition are:
Each score must be signed by a 110m de plume.
Each must be accompanied by a sealed envelope con-
taining' the composer's name and address and the
nom de plume on the manuscript. The sealed en-
velopes will not be opened until winning manuscripts
.have been selected.
Any form of composition may be chosen suitable
for orchestral performances. Score must not exceed
twenty-five minutes in length. Winning composers
must present orchestral parts not less than two
weeks before performance.
PICTURE OF TIN PAN ALLEY
Graphic Pen Sketch of the Head Center of the Pop
Song Industry.
In his "New York Day by Day," in the Chicago
Evening Post, recently, O. O. Mclntyre turns the
flashlight upon ''Tin Pan Alley":
"Nearly everybody has a secret ambition to help
in writing the nation's songs. The heaviest mail in
New York goes to Tin Pan Alley—manuscripts from
every hamlet and city. It is one calling that is prac-
tically hopeless.
"The popular ditties of the hour are written by a
select group of young dandies with iron arms who
are in the pay of the music publishing houses. Tin
Pan Alley is along 47th street—a row of old-fashioned
brownstone structures.
"In box-like stalls, just big enough for a piano,
coatless youths, none more than 23, grind out tunes
that the nation whistles. The windows are always
open and a riotous blending of disharmony floats out
to the streets. '
"One of the leading music publishers says that out
of 1,000 songs written by amateurs only one was pur-
chased, and it was necessary to rewrite this one.
There is one man in .Wisconsin who has sent to a
publishing house 764 songs without receiving a single
word of encouragement.
"It is true that the majority of manuscripts are not
even looked over. The song-writing youngsters are
not so much musicians as students of public taste.
Many of them are able to play the piano with only
one finger.
"Lyricists fare a trifle letter, but very little. Now
and then lyrics are accepted and a tune composed for
them, but it is seldom that the effort is scarcely
worth the trouble."
March 17, 1923
he said. "I was going up Third avenue one morning
and dropped into John Golden's hat store, between
fourteenth and Fifteenth streets. A friend of mine,
Jimmie Blake, worked there then, and Jimmie was
clever in making rhymes. I can remember the day
well, March 4, 1894, and Jimmie was waiting on a
customer.
" 'I've got a song hit,' I told him when he had fin-
ished.
" Where is it?' he asked.
" 'On "The Sidewalks of New York," I said, then
told him all about my idea and sang a few bars.
" 'It sounds good,' he remarked. 'Why don't you
write it down?'
"'Faith and I will,' said I, and he gave me a piece
of paper. While he went to wait on another cus-
tomer I stood at the showcase and wrote the music,
all in about twenty minutes, and when he came back
1 was trying to smooth up my rhymes. He helped
me a little and the song was done. I went across
the street to a cafe where actors and writers and
such people used to gather and sang the chorus for
them. They took it up and before I left the whole
crowd was singing about 'The Sidewalks of New
York.'
"I hurried to a music publisher and in a little while
my song was coming off the press by thousands."
CHANGE IN JAMAICA, N. Y.
Buying at home is the business motto of Joseph
King, who has taken over the Clinton-Fulton store,
at 420 Fulton street, Jamaica, N. Y. He wiU over-
rate it under the name of the King House Furnish-
ing Company, Inc. The entire building is being re-
modeled to suit the needs of the new proprietor.
The store has a large phonograph department, which
will remain in charge of Mr. Buxbaum. .Mr. A. Levy
will supervise.
"Sidewalks of New York" Written Between Sale of
Two Hats 29 Years Ago.
For the last few years the man who wrote New
York's own song, "The Sidewalks of New York," has
been sitting uptown in a little flat on the west side,
awaiting his chance, says the New York Times. Al-
though 70 years old, sightless and feeble, he has said
all along that it would come. And now it has, and
Charles B. Lawlor is back again in vaudeville with
one of his daughters, after he had slipped from the
minds of most theatergoers, singing the ballad which
he wrote twenty-nine years ago.
Partly because old-time airs are coming into favor
again, "The Sidewalks of New York" has caught the
popular fancy once more, a fancy on which it has
long had special claims. "The Sidewalks of New
York" was the most popular song that the old town
ever had. It had a vogue for years, much longer
than most popular airs. Lawlor, the composer, was a
man of reputation long before writing his song and
when it came out New York simply took the tune
to its heart.
Having found the composer at home in his favorite
seat near the piano, it was natural to ask how he
came to write his famous ballad.
"Well, I had been thinking about it for some time,"
NEW YORK
433 Fifth Ave.
STILL IN FLORIDA.
Emil W. Wolff, vice-president of the M. Schulz
Co., Chicago, is still enjoying himself in Florida on
his vacation, according to a message recently re-
ceived from him. The Schul/. Co. is wishing for his
return to Chicago, to help clear up the great amount
of work which is accompanying the rush of orders.
Manufacturers of the
CHICAGO
Republic Bldg.
HARDMAN PIANO
The Official Piano of the Metropolitan Opera Co.
Owning and Operating E.G. Harrington&Co.,Est.i87i,makersof the
A U T O T O N E (HSJSSS)
The Hardman Autotone
The Harrington Autotone
The Autotone The Playotone The Standard Player-Piano
HARRINGTON PIANO
(Sufreme A mong Moderately Priced Instruments)
The Hensel Piano
The Standard Piano
THE KOHLER INDUSTRI
of NEW YORK
AFFILIATED
COMPANIES
anufacturing for the trade
Upright and Grand Pianos
Player Pianos
Reproducing Pianos
Auto De Luxe Player Adtions
Standard Player A&ions
Art De Luxe Reproducing Actions
Parts and Accessories
Folding Organs
School Organs
Dealers' Attention Solicited
The effect of jazz on polar bears was recorded in a
moving picture film in Seattle last week, and Count
George Hay Du Barry, the Seattle piano man, pro-
rosed the test and bore the expenses. To test his
theory that captivity can be sweetened by music—be
it confinement in a bear pit or the county jail—the
count, accompanied by a man with a moving picture
camera, presented himself and a Victrola to the
superintendent at the Woodland Park zoo.
"Put it in the bear cage. I want to see what
they'll do," he said, pointing to the glistening cabinet
phonograph. "I'll take what's left to the county
jail," he finished.
The superintendent had the music box lowered into
the bear pit with "The Sheik" playing at the rate of
eighty revolutions per. The count's little experiment
in polar bear psychology moved in three parts.
Episode one: Mollic, Hannah and Joe come
swinging out of the cage where they are penned
while the Victrola is put in place. Snuffling and
sniffling, their toe nails clicking on the pit floor, they
catch the strains of "The Sheik."
Episode two: They begin the search for the nigger
in the wood pile. Mollie's paw rips through the
wooden scroll work in front of the sounding box.
Joe discovers he can turn off the music by putting
one foot on the record.
Episode three: Mollie hauls off and strikes first
with her right and then her left. With three legs
gone, the machine topples and falls. She jumps up
and down with her fore feet until it is thoroughly
drowned. Joe and Hannah plunge in and the three
have a game of iceberg.
H A R D M A N , PECK & CO. ( F X ded )
HIGH GRADE
Practice Keyboards
Count George Hay Du Barry, Seattle, Piano Man,
Sacrifices Phonograph in Test.
CONN SAXOPHONES FOR SEXTETTE.
C. L. Brown's Saxophone Six, a nationally known
vauseville feature, is receiving wonderful press no-
tices throughout the West, stopping the show in
many of the high class vaudeville houses by a truly
remarkable program. The six players are using a
complete set of the most beautifully finished gold
Conn Saxophones in polychrome effect.
Owning and Operating the Autotone Co, makers of the
TELLS STORY OF HIS SONG
EFFECT OF JAZZ ON BEARS
Wholesale Chicago Office and Service
San Francisco Office
462 Vhelan building
'Departments
KOHLER INDUSTRIES
1222 KIMBALL B U I L D I N G
CHICAGO
A. L. WHITE MFG. CO.
215 Englewood Ave., CHICAGO, ILL.
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/
PRESTO
never have been played will be examined under con-
ditions that will exclude all favoritism. All manu-
scripts must be sent to Mrs. William Cowen, chair-
man of the score committee, in the Fisk building, be-
fore May 1. Other conditions attached to the com-
petition are:
Each score must be signed by a 110m de plume.
Each must be accompanied by a sealed envelope con-
taining' the composer's name and address and the
nom de plume on the manuscript. The sealed en-
velopes will not be opened until winning manuscripts
.have been selected.
Any form of composition may be chosen suitable
for orchestral performances. Score must not exceed
twenty-five minutes in length. Winning composers
must present orchestral parts not less than two
weeks before performance.
PICTURE OF TIN PAN ALLEY
Graphic Pen Sketch of the Head Center of the Pop
Song Industry.
In his "New York Day by Day," in the Chicago
Evening Post, recently, O. O. Mclntyre turns the
flashlight upon ''Tin Pan Alley":
"Nearly everybody has a secret ambition to help
in writing the nation's songs. The heaviest mail in
New York goes to Tin Pan Alley—manuscripts from
every hamlet and city. It is one calling that is prac-
tically hopeless.
"The popular ditties of the hour are written by a
select group of young dandies with iron arms who
are in the pay of the music publishing houses. Tin
Pan Alley is along 47th street—a row of old-fashioned
brownstone structures.
"In box-like stalls, just big enough for a piano,
coatless youths, none more than 23, grind out tunes
that the nation whistles. The windows are always
open and a riotous blending of disharmony floats out
to the streets. '
"One of the leading music publishers says that out
of 1,000 songs written by amateurs only one was pur-
chased, and it was necessary to rewrite this one.
There is one man in .Wisconsin who has sent to a
publishing house 764 songs without receiving a single
word of encouragement.
"It is true that the majority of manuscripts are not
even looked over. The song-writing youngsters are
not so much musicians as students of public taste.
Many of them are able to play the piano with only
one finger.
"Lyricists fare a trifle letter, but very little. Now
and then lyrics are accepted and a tune composed for
them, but it is seldom that the effort is scarcely
worth the trouble."
March 17, 1923
he said. "I was going up Third avenue one morning
and dropped into John Golden's hat store, between
fourteenth and Fifteenth streets. A friend of mine,
Jimmie Blake, worked there then, and Jimmie was
clever in making rhymes. I can remember the day
well, March 4, 1894, and Jimmie was waiting on a
customer.
" 'I've got a song hit,' I told him when he had fin-
ished.
" Where is it?' he asked.
" 'On "The Sidewalks of New York," I said, then
told him all about my idea and sang a few bars.
" 'It sounds good,' he remarked. 'Why don't you
write it down?'
"'Faith and I will,' said I, and he gave me a piece
of paper. While he went to wait on another cus-
tomer I stood at the showcase and wrote the music,
all in about twenty minutes, and when he came back
1 was trying to smooth up my rhymes. He helped
me a little and the song was done. I went across
the street to a cafe where actors and writers and
such people used to gather and sang the chorus for
them. They took it up and before I left the whole
crowd was singing about 'The Sidewalks of New
York.'
"I hurried to a music publisher and in a little while
my song was coming off the press by thousands."
CHANGE IN JAMAICA, N. Y.
Buying at home is the business motto of Joseph
King, who has taken over the Clinton-Fulton store,
at 420 Fulton street, Jamaica, N. Y. He wiU over-
rate it under the name of the King House Furnish-
ing Company, Inc. The entire building is being re-
modeled to suit the needs of the new proprietor.
The store has a large phonograph department, which
will remain in charge of Mr. Buxbaum. .Mr. A. Levy
will supervise.
"Sidewalks of New York" Written Between Sale of
Two Hats 29 Years Ago.
For the last few years the man who wrote New
York's own song, "The Sidewalks of New York," has
been sitting uptown in a little flat on the west side,
awaiting his chance, says the New York Times. Al-
though 70 years old, sightless and feeble, he has said
all along that it would come. And now it has, and
Charles B. Lawlor is back again in vaudeville with
one of his daughters, after he had slipped from the
minds of most theatergoers, singing the ballad which
he wrote twenty-nine years ago.
Partly because old-time airs are coming into favor
again, "The Sidewalks of New York" has caught the
popular fancy once more, a fancy on which it has
long had special claims. "The Sidewalks of New
York" was the most popular song that the old town
ever had. It had a vogue for years, much longer
than most popular airs. Lawlor, the composer, was a
man of reputation long before writing his song and
when it came out New York simply took the tune
to its heart.
Having found the composer at home in his favorite
seat near the piano, it was natural to ask how he
came to write his famous ballad.
"Well, I had been thinking about it for some time,"
NEW YORK
433 Fifth Ave.
STILL IN FLORIDA.
Emil W. Wolff, vice-president of the M. Schulz
Co., Chicago, is still enjoying himself in Florida on
his vacation, according to a message recently re-
ceived from him. The Schul/. Co. is wishing for his
return to Chicago, to help clear up the great amount
of work which is accompanying the rush of orders.
Manufacturers of the
CHICAGO
Republic Bldg.
HARDMAN PIANO
The Official Piano of the Metropolitan Opera Co.
Owning and Operating E.G. Harrington&Co.,Est.i87i,makersof the
A U T O T O N E (HSJSSS)
The Hardman Autotone
The Harrington Autotone
The Autotone The Playotone The Standard Player-Piano
HARRINGTON PIANO
(Sufreme A mong Moderately Priced Instruments)
The Hensel Piano
The Standard Piano
THE KOHLER INDUSTRI
of NEW YORK
AFFILIATED
COMPANIES
anufacturing for the trade
Upright and Grand Pianos
Player Pianos
Reproducing Pianos
Auto De Luxe Player Adtions
Standard Player A&ions
Art De Luxe Reproducing Actions
Parts and Accessories
Folding Organs
School Organs
Dealers' Attention Solicited
The effect of jazz on polar bears was recorded in a
moving picture film in Seattle last week, and Count
George Hay Du Barry, the Seattle piano man, pro-
rosed the test and bore the expenses. To test his
theory that captivity can be sweetened by music—be
it confinement in a bear pit or the county jail—the
count, accompanied by a man with a moving picture
camera, presented himself and a Victrola to the
superintendent at the Woodland Park zoo.
"Put it in the bear cage. I want to see what
they'll do," he said, pointing to the glistening cabinet
phonograph. "I'll take what's left to the county
jail," he finished.
The superintendent had the music box lowered into
the bear pit with "The Sheik" playing at the rate of
eighty revolutions per. The count's little experiment
in polar bear psychology moved in three parts.
Episode one: Mollic, Hannah and Joe come
swinging out of the cage where they are penned
while the Victrola is put in place. Snuffling and
sniffling, their toe nails clicking on the pit floor, they
catch the strains of "The Sheik."
Episode two: They begin the search for the nigger
in the wood pile. Mollie's paw rips through the
wooden scroll work in front of the sounding box.
Joe discovers he can turn off the music by putting
one foot on the record.
Episode three: Mollie hauls off and strikes first
with her right and then her left. With three legs
gone, the machine topples and falls. She jumps up
and down with her fore feet until it is thoroughly
drowned. Joe and Hannah plunge in and the three
have a game of iceberg.
H A R D M A N , PECK & CO. ( F X ded )
HIGH GRADE
Practice Keyboards
Count George Hay Du Barry, Seattle, Piano Man,
Sacrifices Phonograph in Test.
CONN SAXOPHONES FOR SEXTETTE.
C. L. Brown's Saxophone Six, a nationally known
vauseville feature, is receiving wonderful press no-
tices throughout the West, stopping the show in
many of the high class vaudeville houses by a truly
remarkable program. The six players are using a
complete set of the most beautifully finished gold
Conn Saxophones in polychrome effect.
Owning and Operating the Autotone Co, makers of the
TELLS STORY OF HIS SONG
EFFECT OF JAZZ ON BEARS
Wholesale Chicago Office and Service
San Francisco Office
462 Vhelan building
'Departments
KOHLER INDUSTRIES
1222 KIMBALL B U I L D I N G
CHICAGO
A. L. WHITE MFG. CO.
215 Englewood Ave., CHICAGO, ILL.
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).