Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-11-05

NEW YORK CITY, Nov. g.
American ragtime is now factory
made. Popular songs no longer are
the products of lone, gifted individ-
uals, but the work of organized ex-
perts. Their various parts are Gre
ated and assembled with the same
speed and mechanical perfection
as motor cars. Who wrote the song
hits of ye~steryear? In all probabih-
ty not those to whom they were
credited. hut nobody remembers the
names of the authors anyway-it is
hard enough to remember the names
Of the songs.
In these restless times the life of
A. popular song hit is scarcely longer
than the lift of a toothbrush. IL
wears out quickly under intense pres
sure. and the public is ready for a
new one. Enthusiasts like to buy
half a dozen songs at one time and
play them necessarily for perhaps a
month, supplementing their W ef-
forts on the family piano with pho
nograph records of the same tunes.
At such merciless repetition even the
most sympathetic a is certain TO
rebel. so that it is not long before
the jazz-wranglers 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 in.
dependent SON. artist could not nope
to survive. In his place have grown
IN large iazz factories, capable of
producing and marketing many n
a year. 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 fac
tory, containing twenty-five sound
proof studios and employing a stan
of 175 persons.
In Mr.. Berlin's plant, it is true,
the usual factory atmosphere is OBJ
scured by decoration. The studios
are finished in mauve and French
gray, with carpets an inch n a
ouartas thick, ivory wicker chairs
upholstered with lowered %cretonne,
wall friezes depicting the Muses. in
CAV and festive mood, and soft, in
verified lights. With these conces-
sions to art, the routine of song-pro-
duetion proceeds as briskly as any
other business.
This includes two important tasks,
according to Mr.. Saul H. Bernstein,
general manager of the Berlin plant.
zone is to take the germ of an idea,
he saws "synchronize it to the tempo
of the hour, and make it into a tech
nically perfect song hit. These ideas
come from two sources-the staff
writer's and the inspired outsider"
Building "a Song.
Suppose you belong to the lat
ter class. You write a set of verses
which you think would make a snap
by song. You take it TO Mr.. Born
stein.
How about the melody?" he inn
mediately asks you. Got any ideas
for that?"
You believe you have. Accom-
panying him to his private, sound
proof office, which contains a grand
priano. you whistle a few bars into
his critical ear. Listening attentive
", he gradually picks out the mel
ody on the piano until the substance
of a connected song appears. Then
he pushes a button and a staff writer
comes in. Mr.. Bernstein goes over
the melody and words with him a
couple of times, after which you and
the staff writer adjourn to another
sound-proof room, where you devote
the rest of the day to ~perfecting the
manuscript.
.'Then this first rough draft" ex'
plains Mr.. bernstein, goes to an
other staff writer, who makes a teen
nically perfect piano arrangement
to another who makes a vocal ar
rangement: to another who makes
an orchestral arrangement; to an
other who arranges it for dancing
and still another who arranges I
for a band. 1t is the work of still
another staff writer to improvist
various cues and gags for it, so tina
it can be introduced into vaudeville
acts" -.
When the story energies from thii
process. a finished product which i
the work of half a dozen men, II /
ready for exploitation. in some re
spects the factory's most importan
task. Thirty thousand copies OF tn
song are printed and distributed Z
, 8 1000 orchestra leaders in all part
of the country. The vaudeville trad
receives $4,000 professional copies
, Special ~nlesmen must interest vau
deville principals in its use. TIT
rights of mechanical reproduction
must be disposed of to talking ma
chine and player piano companies
: The songs must be extensively ad
1 vertised in the trade papers. All o
' these things must be attended to be
fore the factory's sales force enter
the music store heid