Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

✓ 0 % McCORMICK MESSENGER, McCORMICK, S. C.. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1938 ZOOM! BOOM! Music-Mad America 'Eats Up' New Tunes Faster Than Composers Can Write Them; The Song You Hum Today Will Be a Headache Next Week I By JOSEPH W. LaBINE It’s not so many years since you heard a good phonograph record at your neighbor’s house, thereupon rushing right down to the music store to buy a copy for your own grama- phone. Maybe it was one of Gene Austin’s remarkably suc cessful songs—remember? In those days, a composer could write “Yes, We Have No Bananas” or “Margie” and settle back to watch the profits roll in from sheet music, recordings and dance orchestras. For a year or more, “Carolina Moon” swept the nation and nobody tired of it; in deed, we haven’t tired of it yet. But that was long ago—maybe 10 years—in the dim, halcyon days be fore home was not the same without a radio, before music became a high-speed industry instead of a lei surely profession. Nowadays you get shivers up the back one week from “A-tisket, A-tasket” and the following week you scream when ever anyone hums it. The first time you hear “Flat Foot Floogie” it has a novel catch; but after it’s been smashed all over your living room by every band from Benny Goodman to the Hot Shot Six, “Flat Foot Floogie” really falls flat. In other words, if you’ve any ideas about making a million by writing a popular song, get rid of them. The tide has changed so rapidly, so completely, that the modern com poser starves to death unless he can grind out several new tunes a year. Zoom Up—Boom Down. Take “The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down”—it actually did, in three months, simply through too much radiocasting. Overnight it zoomed to nation-wide popularity; almost as fast it fell with a thud and a boom that resounded up and down New York’s Tin Pan Alley. Looking at incidents like this, the American So ciety of Composers, Authors and Publishers (“Ascap” to the trade) is trying to promulgate fair trade practice rules to stop carrying a good tune too far. In common practice, a publish er’s representative approaches a na tionally broadcast dance orchestra leader like Guy Lombardo or Rudy Vailed and begs him to give every new tune a trial. It’s really quite an honor, they say, to offer a num ber over the air for the first time. If the public likes it, the song be comes a national favorite overnight, and is thereby ruined. What Ascap wants is control over the number of performances a new song gets over the airwaves. And though some may cry “Monopoly!” and “Unfair!” it still isn’t a bad idea. Ascap is composed of most major song writers, who complain they must now write 10 times as many songs as in pre-radio days, and even then their sheet music and record ing profits are smaller. The best index to this up-and- down trend of public acceptance is found in the radio program which asks its listeners to vote on their favorite numbers each week. No tune has ever stayed in first place more than a few weeks; seldom do they stay in the running more than two months. Billy Hill’s Experience. Ascap, which pools all musical copyrights of its members, collects royalties and distributes them, has won some success in its campaign. In Nebraska, where Ascap was held an unconstitutional restraint of trade, an appeal brought a tempo rary injunction against the decision. The organization claims it simply protects its members, which could hardly be called “racketeering.” Gene Buck, Ascap president, likes to tell what happened to Billy Hill, who found himself broke while his “Home on the Range” was being hummed all over the nation. Since the public eats up new tunes so fast, composers and or chestra leaders are getting gray hair trying to meet the demand. The result has been some ingenious devices. One method is to take an old tune and rearrange it, change it from waltz to foxtrot time and back again. “What,” asked Benny Good man recently, “can you do with a song like ‘My Gal Sal’ after you’ve played it 4,000 times? You’ve got to kick it around!” Another method, which ties up with Goodman’s idea, is to go back into history. Ella Fitzgerald, Negro vocalist, completely abandoned modem tunes when she saw how fast they wear out. Instead she combed through the files and revived old numbers like “S’wanee River,” final ly reaching the nursery rhymes. As a result, “A-tisket, A-tasket” was brought into the limelight. Schubert to Swing. Some months ago an opera lover was amazed at the familiarity of a tune he heard being played by a jazz orchestra. The melody kept running through his mind at its fast tempo, exasperatingly, until he slowed it down and discovered the truth: An adept arranger had sim ply lifted an aria from the opera, “Martha.” Since then, such classi cal composers as Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann and Grieg have been turned over in their graves and changed to swing time. This, say some, is plain “rob bery,” yet it’s very seldom that a brand new tune comes out of Tin Pan Alley. The June-moon, love- dove, blue-you idea rims through so many modem lyrics that it some times becomes disgusting. What’s more, many a long-dead composer has furnished the inspiration for a O’ Radio’s growing army of enter tainers helps devour the new songs, so much that the average tune lasts only a few weeks before the public tires of it. At left, Rudy Vallee of “Stein Song” fame. Below, Phil Cook, song plugger extraordinary. Frankie Masters, well-known ra dio orchestra leader, leads his band in rehearsing a brand new tune—or is it just an old one revamped with a few notes and another set of lyr ics? modem song writer. A good musi cian can take most popular numbers apart and show what makes them run. Copyright Troubles. “The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down” had its start in a Manhattan night club where Eddie Riley and Mike Farley pulled a verse from the Ford joke book and wrote a tune to go with it. Soon a New York radio station began broadcasting from the club and overnight the song was a national favorite. The interesting sidelight here is that the Ford joke book was not copyrighted, other wise its publisher could have col lected $250 from every radio sta tion, cafe and restaurant that used it. Copyrights—or lack of them— have given many a composer finan cial trouble. Take Shelton Brooks, now pounding piano in a New York cafe. Back in 1910, while doing the same thing in Chicago, he wrote the famous “Some of These Days.” No publisher would touch it, so Mr. Brooks and a friend handled it them selves. Their net profit at 10 cents a copy was $62.50. But a few months later a vaudeville trio picked it up and started it on the road to fame. Mr. Brooks sold out to Will Rossiter for $500. That’s all he got out of it though “Some of These Days” went on to make a cool million dollars. Since good song writers are few these days, publishers have grasped at a new method of protecting them selves and keeping the public happy. They’re keeping in mind the fact that copyrights on the tunes that thrilled grandfather are now run ning out, and that it’s often possible to buy renewal rights from the com posers or their heirs. With new tunes so few, orchestra leaders oft en find it convenient—and pleasing —to insert a medley of oldtimers in their programs. Reviving the Nineties. One of the leaders in this old tune business is Jerry Vogel, a New York publisher who got a break several years ago when George A. Cohen turned over his entire portfolio with out charge. Thus, Vogel found him self sitting with full rights on such one-time hit tunes as “Forty-five Minutes From Broadway,” “George Washington Jr.” and “Over There.” Sometime later a woman from near Boston dropped in and offered to sell renewal rights on the num ber her uncle had written, Henry J. Sayers’ “Ta Ra Ra Boom Der E.” Vogel snatched it up and showed it to Fred Waring, then play ing on the Ford hour. Waring tried it out and Mr. Ford—a lover of old tunes—liked it so well he had the orchestra write special lyrics. They used the tune more than a year, which was a nice piece of business for Mr. Vogel on a tune which a few months before had been dead and forgotten. But at best the revival business is only a stop-gap proposition, a matter of securing tunes that will fill in until Tin Pan Alley can turn out more “new” songs. Publishers often get pretty disgusted about the whole thing. Although they receive vast amounts of script from ama teurs, the bulk of it is sent back unopened because there’s seldom anything of value. An exception was the song, “Springtime in the Rockies,” which a San Francisco publisher bought from an amateur several years ago. It was a terrific smash. Again, publishers are often the victims of their own disgust or smugness, call it what you will. Hoagy Carmichael wrote “Star Dust” quite a few years ago but it gathered dust in the drawer until someone tried it out, having noth ing else to do on a rainy afternoon. You know what happened. Similar ly, another publisher tossed “If I Could Be With You One Hour To night” on the shelf until it was for gotten. Finally somebody wrote a new arrangement of it and a highly successful recording was mada. <t) Weatorn Newspaper Union. HEALTH • New sound equipment from England is boon to hard-of-hearing. —By Dr. James W. Barton*— WRITE frequently about hard of hearing because most physicians feel that to enable a patient to hear bet ter means not only more hap piness and enjoyment but an improvement in general health owing to more physi cal activity on the part of the patient. It is therefore gratifying to learn through the London cor respondent of the Journal of the American Medical Asso ciation of a special sound equipment installed at the cinema or movie of the Royal School for Deaf and Dumb Children by Lord Horder. Fortunately the word “deaf” is now more often re placed by “hard of hearing” and the word dumb is not used at all because the individual could talk if he could hear. Dr. Barton “Experiments In the use of electrical hearing aids have been carried out during the last three years at the school, which is now the first to be equipped with apparatus that en ables a fair proportion of its pupils to distinguish the sounds reproduced in a talking film. A record is made, by means of an audiometer (ma chine to measure the amount of hearing possessed by a pupil), of the exact amount of loss of each child. It has been found that those who do not have a greater hearing loss than 70 per cent (still have 30 per cent of hearing) can be benefited with hearing aids. Use Special Headphones. “The sound reproduced with the film is put on to. a line through a special device which makes sure that the sound will not be too loud. The line goes to sockets fixed on the back of each chair and each child has a small box from which a lead is plugged into the socket. The special unmasked or true tone headphones which the child uses make the sounds clear and dis tinct.” This apparatus is especially help ful to the hard of hearing, as it brings out more clearly the con sonants (t, s, b, 1, m, n and others) which are not as easily heard as the vowel sounds (a, e, i, o, u). The system of unmasked (natural) hearing is regarded as the most important part of this new equip ment because its use helps the youngster to learn or appreciate speech sounds. * • • . But They Don't Like Me!" IMPROVED J UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL S UNDAY I chool Lesson By HAROLD L. LUNDQUIST, D. D. Dean of The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. © Western Newspaper Union. Lesson for September 25 DAVID: TRIUMPHANT FAITH LESSON TEXT—Psalms 23 and 27:1-6. GOLDEN TEXT—The Lord is my shep herd: I shall not want. Psalm 23:1. PRIMARY TOPIC—The Song of the Shep herd. JUNIOR TOPIC—The Song of a Shepherd Boy. INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR TOPIC— Songs of Faith and Courage. YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOPIC— A Steadfast and Triumphant Faith. What a fitting conclusion to our three-month study of Old Testament characters it is to sound the note of “triumphant faith.” The life .stories which have passed in review have been true to life, as they have shift ed from strength to weakness, from fear to courage, from moral re sponsibility to moral weakness. But God is the one who changeth not— and we would not close our series properly without the encouraging reminder that the man who truly believes God may know strength out of weakness, courage in place of fear, may like David rise out of de grading sin and defeat into the joy and victory of faith. Two elemental needs are common to all mankind—provision for the maintenance of life, both physical and spiritual, and protection from the enemies of soul and body. Our first Scripture portion declares the faith of David in God as his pro viding shepherd and the second as his security from fear. I. Provision (Ps. 23). “The Lord is my shepherd.” Put ting God first in every detail of life means that there will be 1. No want (w. 1-5). “My cup runneth over,” and surely then there can be no lack of any good thing. God is able and willing. We, like David, should trust Him. 2. No weakness (v. 3). “He re- storeth my soul.” The world is puzzled by the rejuvenating power of the grace of God in the Chris tian’s soul, but it becomes very I'eal to us through the Word, through prayer, through the indwelling Holy Spirit Himself. 3. No wandering (v. 3)., “He lead- eth me.” In an unknown or dan gerous country the essential thing is to stay close to one’s guide. In the wilderness of this sinful world, we must keep close to our divine Leader. He knows where the still waters and the green pastures are to be found, even in wildest and most barren land. 4. No worry (v. 6). “Surely good ness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” It was true of David, it is (or should be), pre eminently true of the Christian. Someone has said, “If we trust we do not worry; if we worry we do not trust.” 5. But—blessed assurance. Not only will the goodness of God follow us all our days, but we shall “dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Exclusive Initials for Linens and Lingerie Pattern No. 1809. Highlight your linens and lin gerie with colorful initials and monograms in easy lazy-daisy stitch and french knots. Extra sprays help form interesting mon ograms! Pattern 1809 contains a transfer pattern of four alphabets, two 2*4 inch and two 1% inch (with floral sprays); directions for placing of initials; illustrations of stitches; color suggestions. Send 15 cents in stamps or coins (coins preferred) for this pattern to The Sewing Circle, Needlecraft Dept., 82 Eighth Ave., New York, N. Y. Please write your name, ad dress and pattern number plainly. Still Der Kaiser Although ex-Kaieer Wilhelm of Germany has been an exile and outcast for almost 20 years, he has abandoned none of his royal pre rogatives. The gentleman still re fuses to see visitors until they have been informed how to act in his presence, a set of rules that even includes “the proper way to walk” into his audience chamber. —Collier’s Weekly. Fight Malaria This Easy Way To fight Malaria — to guard against the disease before it atari* —take the Malarial compound that thousands “swear by” every year— Wlntersmith’s Tonic! Taken reg ularly, Wintersmith’s helps kill off Malarial germs in the body, tonal up the system, build general bodily strength. » Don’t take chances. Winter- smith’s is the Tonic to use because it has been PROVEN by over 70 years of use, in more than 21 different countries. Ask your drug gist for Wintersmith’s Tonic today! Don’t accept any other kind! Keep Up Friendships A man should keep his friend ships in constant repair.—Dr. Samuel Johnson. For a number of years it has been known that certain foods cause urticaria (hives) in some in dividuals. Eating strawberries was about the first food noted as a cause of hives because so many were af flicted at the strawberry season. Today it is known that many of our most nourishing foods—wheat, eggs—will cause hives, itching and other forms of skin inflammation. An individual thus afflicted is said to be “sensitive” or “allergic” to particular food or foods. Later it was found that instead of skin irritations some foods caused “head colds” and even asthmatic symptoms. Still later it was found that it is certain foods that cause upsets of the stomach and intestine. This was hard for some individuals to understand because they “liked” the food or foods that were found to be the cause of the stomach or intestinal disturbances. There were some, however, who stated that, “I like apples, eggs, or lettuce, and they don’t like me.” Allergy Causes Ailments. It is only very recently, however, that many stomach and intestinal disturbances such as chronic indi gestion, diarrhoea, constipation, symptoms resembling appendicitis, colic\ inflammation of large intes tine (mucous colitis) were found to be due to sensitiveness to foods. Dr. W. H. Browning in New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal states that in addition to the usual “in digestion” symptoms in many cases of peptic ulcer (ulcer of the stomach and small intestine) healing fails to take place because the patient is sensitive to certain foods. In fact, the food to which an individual is sensitive may cause symptoms sim ilar to ulcer, in that pain comes on from two to four hours after eating this food. Another annoying ailment due to sensitiveness to certain foods is ec zema of the anus (lower opening of the bowel). It is not surprising that eczema in this region fails to clear up, when it is being caused by a : ! ood eaten regularly. Instead of thinking that foods to which we are sensitive cause only skin irritation, head colds and asthma, we should remember that these foods cause cases of stomach and intestinal disturbances. • Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service. II. Protection (Ps. 27:1-6). “The Lord is my light and my salvation”—could there be any greater certainty that we shall be delivered from every danger and difficulty? To the one who walks in that light there can be 1. No fear (v. 1). “The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?” He is the per fect and final answer to all the fears of life. 2. No failure (w. 2, 3). “Though an host should encamp against me ... in this will I be confident,” that they shall but stumble and fall. One of the, fears that dogs the footsteps of a man is that after all his effort and labor some enemy will come in and destroy. The Christian must often meet wicked and troublesome enemies — but though they be a host, he may be serene in his soul, knowing that if he is right with God the devices of man or devil against him shall only fail. 3. No falling (vv. 4, 5). “He shall set me up upon a rock,” and that rock is in “the secret of his taber nacle.” The assurance of the be liever in Christ is in Him, His work upon the cross and His certain word of promise. David longed for the house of the Lord; he wanted to return to the temple from which his many wan derings so often separated him. How blessed is our lot as Christians for we have in our own bodies the temple of the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 3:16, 6:19); we have Christ in us as the hope of glory (Col. 1:22). We also long to be in God’s house (that is if we really love Him), but if we are born again we have the temple of God wherever we may be. 4. No fainting (v. 6). “Now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me.” Just when, humanly speaking, we would faint because of the enemies all around us, or by reason of the heat and pressure of the fight, then God causes our heads to be lifted up and in the moment of apparent defeat there is victory. 5. But—a song. “I will sing praises unto the Lord.” The atmos phere of praise is one which the enemy of our soul cannot stand. It is too rare, too pure, too holy for him. Next time he tries to defeat you—why not “Try Prai*e”? It works* NERVOUS? Do you feel so nervous you want to scream? Are you cross and irritable? Do you scold those dearest to you? If your nerves are on edge and you feel you need a good general system tonic, try Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound, made especially for women. For over 60 years one woman has told an other how to go “smiling thru” with reliable Pinkham’s Compound. It helps nature build up more physical resistance and thus helps calm quivering nerves and lessen discomforts from annoying symptoms which often ac company female functional disorders. Why not give it a chance to help YOU? Over one million women have written in reporting wonderful benefits from Pinkham’s Compound. Books a University The true university of theso days is a collection of books.— Carlyle. bloodshot are cured without pain in one dajr by Leonardi’s Golden Eye Lotion. No other eye remedy in the world as cooling, healing and strengthening for weak eyes. LEONARDI’S GOLDEN EYE LOTION MAKES WEAK EYES STRONf 35c at all drwgglsta Sew large uze with dropper—SO cents S. B. Leonard! 8 Co., New Rochelle, N. V. WATCH the Specials You can depend on the spe cial sales the merchants of our town announce in the columns of this paper. They mean money saving to our readers. It always pays to patronize the merchants who advertise. They are not afraid of their mer chandise or their prices. t- .