The Washington times., 1930-06-07
LIVING MUSIC
ON WAY BACK
SAYS WEBER

NEW YORK, June Pros
poets for the return of living mu'
sic" in the theaters appear
brighter today than at any time
since the advent of sound pictures,
IN the opinion of Joseph N. Weber,
president of the American FEEDER
alton of Musicians, contained in
his report to the federation's con.
vention, which will open in BoS.
ton, on Monday.
Weber bases his opinion on the
growth of the Music Defense
League, formed to oppose substi'
tuition of mechanical music for
personally rendered music.
THE trend toward mechani-
ZatiOn Of the art appears to
have suffered a setback" Mr..
Weber said. "By that / do not
mean that talking and sound
pictures are losing their pOpu-
larity, but rather that millions
are becoming articulate in their
demand for real music in addi-
ton to screen entertainment.
"The public usually gets what
It wants in the theater, so we
are encouraged to take an Opti.
r1istic view of the future"
Unemployment has been Sc
rious problem for musicians in the
last two years, according to Mr..
Weber. This condition, however,
has not had the effect of weaken
ing the unions membership or
causing any reduction in wage
standards or conditions in the
trade. Some improvement in the
situation will result from adoption
of a vau"- "'~-and-film policy
next year by a number of the
aters, which have been using
sound films exclusively.
THE Federation Convention
Is to be congratulated" the
Weber report says, upon the
wisdom Of the policy it has pur-
sued in this serious artistic
crisis. In 1928, and again in
1929, the convention was urged
to forbid its members working
in sound picture StudiOs-in
other words, to strike. 1t re-
fused, and instead engaged in
an advertising campaign to
center public attention upon
the ruin threatening the art of
music. Had it attempted to
block sound recording for pic
lures the result would have
been failure.
"The Hollywood studios today
employ regularly only about 200
musicians. Although ours is
one of the strongest unions in
the world, it would have been
impossible to prevent recruiting
of such a small staff of mu.
sicianS. So much for the prac-
tical side. The conventions of
the past also took the position
that it would have been unfair
to the public to attempt arbi-
trarily the restriction Of any
entertainment form. whatever
| we might think of its artistic
shortcomings.
"The convention elected
rather to appeal to the publiC'S
taste and cultural consciousness.
Its confidence has been amaz-
ingly supported. Through the
advertising campaign the Mu-
sic Defense league has been
! formed and in a few short
months has attained a men,
bership approaching 2,5OO,OOO.
1t is still growing rapidly. The
object Of the league is to con.
vince theatrical interests that
the public wants real music in
the theater, and that the pub.
lie will not be satisfied with
purely mechanical entertain.
! ment, lacking in glamour and
human appeal.
Incidentally, this campaign
has demonstrated the efficacy
! of newspaper advertising. Music
Defense League coupons have
! been obtained on an average
! cost of less than cents each.
Space was used in 7HS news
papers, with total circulation
of 31,834,232, and "a magazines
with total circulation Of g.
@S1 1917