Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-11-05
THE MANUFACTURE OF JAZZ
By Frederic ! Iisssin

-
New York. Nov. b.--Amefieap rag
time In now factory-made. Popular
songs no longer are the products of
lone. gifted individuals. but the work
OF organized exparts. Their various
parts are created and assembled with
the same speed and mechanical per-
fectlon as motor cars Who wrote. the
song hits OF yesterday In all prob
ability not those % whom they we're
credited. but nobody remembers the
names of the authors anyway--it Is
hard enough 10 remember the names /
Of the songs
In these restless times the life of a |
popular song hit Is scarcely longer /
than the life Of toothbrush. II
wears out quickly under intense pres
sure. and the public is ready for new
one. Enthusiasts like To buy half a
dozen songs at one time and play them
ipcessant1y for perhaps month, sup
plementing their own efforts on the
family piano with phonograph records
Of the same tunes. At such merciless
repetition even the most sympathetic
ear is certain to rebel, 30 that II Ii
weary Of these melodies and replace
them with five or six new numbers.
In the face OF such an enormous and
ever changing demand. the indepen-
dent song artist could not hope to
survive. In his place have grown up
llarge jazz factories, capable Of pro-
ducing and marketing many songs a
lyear. Irving Berlin. for example, who
used TO write his own songs in the
privacy Of his own home, now has a
large and sumptuous jazz factory.
containing ~ sound-proof studios and
lemploying a staff Of IT'S persons.
In Mr.. Beriin's plant, it is true. the
usual factory atmosphere is obscured
by decorations. The studios are finish
I'd in mauve and French gray, with
carpets an inch and q quarter thick,
ivory wicker chairs upholstered with
lowered cretonne, wall frenzies depict
: ing the MUSES. in gay and festive mood
and soft. inverted lights. With these
concessions To art. the routine Of song.
production proceeds as brislsly as any
: other business.
This includes two important tasks
according 70 Mr.. Saul II. Bernstein
. general manager OF the Berlin plant
One is to take the germ Of an idea.
he says, "synchronize Il to thes ternps
OF the hour, and make It into a tech
lnicaliy perfect song hit. These idea
come from two sources--the stat
vNiters and the inspired outsider"
: Building Song.
:. Suppose you belong to the latte
class. You write set Of verses whicl
I you think would make a snappy sons
: You take Il to Mr.. Bernstein.
How about the melody?" he i'm
: mediately asks you. Got any idea
: for that?"
{ You believe you have. Accompany
! ing him to his private soundproof OF
4 fee, which contains grand plan,
= you whistle n few bars into his crit
. cal ear. Listening attentively, h
4 gradually picks out the melody on tn
: piano until the substance of a cor
j. nected song appears. Then he pushs
e button and staff writer comes ii
e%fF tfDhAf7Nf HUfn UNtI the IflFfOI
y and words with him couple of time.
J. after which you and the STAFF write
j. adjourn 20 another soundproof room
n where you devote the rest Of the da
1f 70 perfecting the manuscript.
l. Then this first rough draft - q
81 plains Mr.. bernstein, "goes TO anoth,
s. staff writer, who makes a Il clinical
i perfect piano arrangement: to anothi
le who makes a vocal arrangement;
another who makes an orchestral a
rangement; to another who arrang
- it for dancing and still another vi
arranges it for a band. It is the wol
Of still another staff writer to in
provise various cues and gags T
It, so that 10 can be introduced in
vaudeville acts
When the story energies from II
a process, a finished product which
the work Of half dozen men. it
en- ready for exploitation, in some 7
speets the factory's most importa
as task. Thirty thousand copies Of t
song are printed and distributed
Ter 10000 orchestra leaders in all pal
of the country. The vaudeville ira
IN receives $4,000 professional copi
Special salesmen must interest vauC
Wy vile principals in its use The rigf
g OF mechanical reproduction must
disposed Of to talking machine a
1s'' player piano companies. The so
must be extensively advertised in I
trade papers. All Of these things mi
-,,,o be attended to before the factor
sales force enters the music store he
bls An important item in marketing
song Is its cover. Songs with a "
= 7 popular appeal are not nearly as nu
erous as they used to be. The LC
hon Nest" ana Whispering which W
distinctly Of this order, were only I
out of a dozen Of songs marketed
the same year. But these other songs :
moderately well, in spite Of their ID
mt Of charm, probably because they of
ed something new and because Of II
an attractive covers. A good cover G
tains the title OF the song in lar
~. clear print and an extremely sim
design. wholly black cover with
an, title in large white letters has achi
ed great popularity while yellow
hen also apt 10 attract the attention
the public.
Songs That Sell On Their Look:
my There are some songs, known to
trade as counter songs" which
-ney altogether on the merits Of their {
o. ers. They are so lacking in apr
an that no one expects the buyers
sing them, yet some of them h
ding -----------------------