Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1905-1906, 1906-02-21


Paul Dresser died. in New York the
other day. You mayanot knowlwho
he was, but you tanin6t have lived In
the United States for the last decade
and have failed to listento thessongs
that, Dresser wrote says a writer IN
the New York Evening Post. 16s =
When you have been Willing away
an hour or two at vaudeville five to
one the sentimental song team, ;"
especially if billed as throwing IN
colored stereopticon pictures with
their" act,n employed a Dresser dit
ty to enthuse the gallery the ioccu-
pants of which are really "goas' to
the song writer and his publisher. Ii
you have passed through side street
of summer evening, when boarding
house and fat windows were open,
You have heard the same writer's
"ballads' rasped through the horn
of talking machines or tinkled upon
masy pianos, more or less guilty OF
pitch.
The song OF, the. day, the sort that
Dresser, wrote, the one that appeals
to the. "pepul," is truly anepheme-;
raj thing, but possessed of a longer
life than we of the cities are wont to
imagine. In many backwoods town
mountain farm, Or settlement on the
plains, "Just Tell Them That You
Saw Me- "The Banks of the Wa
bas,'' and "The Pardon Came Too
Late,n have just arrived" These
are not to be classed as really dead
for years to come; and when the his
torias of little things busies himself
few, hundred years from now-as,
doubtless he may after the manner Of
our Industrious present-day antholo-
eists-in his collection the Dresser
ditties will loom large. 2 r".'
.ttSally, In Our Alley" helps fill
many a bracket on mondern. concert
programs. In III. fCarey's day, the
earlier half Of the eighteenth century
itfwasi "popular.'' Take it; weigh
itte1inef for line beside some 'bfl our
Own. 'stsellers,o and who ,shalr say
hakwhen the latter have bees ,gilde,d'
with time, they may not be REGARDED
asaqnaint and Ipfeasing also, illustraT
tive lofrthe taste of the periods i'gie
fPahl Dresser would have. been the
.last' top Write himself "artist." He
had no illusions about his work, but
none the less he did it honestly and
was not ashamed of writing t9down
to the tenements.' He is worth re-
calling because his sincerity and in
telligence--in both of which he was
rich-made him achieve something in
the light of which the oft-quoted re-
mark that. he who writes nation s
songs, yields more influence than the
lawmaker, becomes easier to appreci-
ate. If one were not averse to pro-
voking a possible sheer from the Sc
rions-minded musicians, Dresser
might be styled maestro of the dit
ty of the day. #KEA ,
Many youngster filed with a
longing to, write "big money-mak-
er,i' has reason to recall gratefully
the enormous, thick-necked man to
whose tender mercy he was entrusted
after stumbling into the publisher s
Office, his creation tucked In a neat
roll beneath his arm. For Dresser
was an exception to the curt, rudely
intolerant professional listener, who
hears few bars, wags his head In
disapproval, and without the, slight
est pretense of civility, spins on his
heel to resume conversation which
he has interrupted to. listen to the
timorous intruder. Dresser always
heard a song out, frequently endur-
ing, its entire collection of stanzas,
and in the end giving a word of
kindly advice.
HHarmny Square" the profession
ais call the just-off Broadway side
street section in the latter Twenties
where the music publishers Offices
arc thickly scattered, citadels for be-
sieging BY the variety song teams. on
the lookout for Something good, .
with monetary inducement for fea-
turing it. To the visitor. or even
theipasser-by there is little TO Justify
theiname.A score of pianos are jam
ling at once; the performers are not
always gifted with SIRE toudh, and
the voice Of the vaudeville "toplin.