Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-14


article, toritten especially for The .Stor.
| While The Star Is glad to present M.
article does not mean that The Star
SHoscrfbes to these utews
BY A. JULIAN BRYLAWSKI.
To get at this point in the proper
way, it is well to go back to the period
prior to the perfection of the sound
pictures and the days when all movies
| were silent, and there 1t was found
| that music was a necessary concomi-
| tant to the showing of these pictures
| to fill the void caused by the silent
screen, and when properly used, by
| its variations and tempo and theme,
| could be cunningly used to heighten
the effect of the scene being played.
AS pictures and picture theaters de-
veloped, so did the musical accompani-
ment It has only been few years
| ago, during the era Of inexpensive silent
| films. when some of the finest Or
chestras in the world were to be found
in the larger motion picture theaters.
In fact, competition for theater music
became as keen as competition for
theater films.
| Competition Improbable.
This competition was carried. In
/
proved improbable and disastrous and
was responsible for the retirement OF
well known figures from the theatrical
world. The law of supply and demand,
however, operating inevitably, has al
WAYS forced orcheStraS in theaterS TO
correspond with the capacity OF those
theaters. The small theater, however,
could not bear this competition. II
was relegated to lower position with
lower prices, and frequently with
lone organist or pianist. but under the
Conditions we are now describing all
/ theaters were required to have music
of some kind or other. In this era
| the musical union fiourished to its
| highest point, so that between the years
F, of 1918 and 1925 the average salary
| maid musicians in theaters had more
| than tripled, while the hours and con-
| ditions grew more drastic with eacn
| successive contract. Three years ago.
| in 1927, the theater owners OF WASH
ington signed a three-year contract
| with the musical union OF this city,
under which their members were PAID
as high as SOS q week for SIX hours
work per day, and in addition they
pledged themselves to use large ano
stated number of musicians for the
full length Of this period.
"Don Juan" Brings New Note.
In the spring of 1927 a new note In
picture entertainment appeared IN Ins
| premier of Warner Bros. Don Juan,
| then known only as q "synchronizeo
movie" in which the musical accom-
paninert, played by the New York Phil
| harmonic Orchestra, accompanied the
entire running Of the picture. TINS
while q novelty, met with tnd1nerent
success, and the Importance OF tne
| orchestras did not seem TO be seriously
menaced. However, in the Spring Of
1928 q talking and singing picture APP
peared, the first of the "talkies." War.
I1er Bros again produced q novelty that
has become immortal, Al Jolson In The
.Iazz Singer" It's immediate and over
| whelming success turned the attention
of the entire industry to this new form
| of dramatic art. Since then the taking
picture has become the worlds standard
motion picture fare, to- the entire ex-
clusion of any other form OF screen
entertainment.
Elimination Held Necessary.
With the talking picture came the
necessary elimination OF the music
sequence that formerly accompanied the
Aim, on account Of its interference with
the sound effects and speech, so that IN
| the progress of this form OF dramatic
entertainment the use and necessity o.
music Of any kind practically has 0lSap-
peared and, although useful at times,
| the orchestra in a modern theater Is
| like the cherry in the cocktail-pleasant
and decorative but not essential. Not
| withstanding that this condition has ex-
| listed In Washington theaters for nearly
two wears. the Washington theaterS con-
tinued to carry on their pay. rolls the
large and expensive orcheStras tnat
they had contracted for In 1927. With
the added burden OF the expense OF
putting on talking pictures, ADDITIONAL
| operators, expensive apparatus ano
costly Aims, only q few OF the largest
were able to bear the burden probably.
| Chief among the sufferers OF this con-
dition were the twenty-five or thirty OF
| Washington's small theaterS, owned and
operated by washington citizens, where
the additional operating cost had com
pletely wiped out their prof1tS. Yet the
most earnest pleas could not obtain 1or
them a relief from the musical burden.
Musicians Unneeded But Paid.
Manv theaters in Washington have
| not had need for, nor used, music lor
| a period of over one year, ana yet the
musicians employed under the contract
of 1927 have received their salaries reg
ularly, other theaters have gone along
awaiting for the emancipation that the
contract expiration offered. IL Is q
small wonder, then, that at the meet
ing with the musicians in August the
theater managers refused to renew the
contract of 1927, as the musical union
then demanded. The industry could
NOT survive the extension of a contract
| that had proved so burdenSone. The
smaller theaters fatty disclaimed their
ability to continue to pay for unneeueo
and unreouired music and the largest
theaters of the city were compelled 10
seek relief from the burden formerly
| imposed upon them. At the meeting
| of August 4, 1890. the musical union
demanded a renewal OF the present con-
| tract and since have steadily main
tanned their position that every theater
| in washington must employ union
music. and that all theaters employing
| existing orcheStras must maintain ex-
! listing orchestras. After two months OF
| negotiations the best proposition that
| has been received from the musical
| union is reduction of approximately
| S per cent in the number of men en-
| ployed, not in the wage scale, but
| solely in the number of men employed,
| a form of relief which did not reach
the smaller theaterS and meant little to
| the larger organizations. Upon failure
| of the local managers to get together
on this matter it was carried to New
York, the headquarters of the musical
union, and no progress has been made.
Says Theaters Lack Quarrel.
| The position of the theaterS in this
| controversy is that they have no quar-
rel with the musical union, that they
| have no differences on the scale Of
| wages. rs high as 1t Is: they do not ask