The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-09-18
In New York

New York-Tin Pan Alley, like that indefinite area that is called Broadway" is more of a nam1 than a place. more sentiment than substance. Music publishing houses occupying upstairs officers. are to be found on Broadway and Seventh avenue, and even over in Rocke- feller Center. If! they were placed end to end, they'd all look about alike.
 Each has a lobby where .small- time composers and lyricists sit and fidget by the hour under the cold glances of an harassed recep- tionist. Each has g beehive of small offices where men you never heard of sit in judgment on songs you'll be hearing constantly.
 Orchestra leaders and night club singers, looking for new dit ties to use, can walk right past the receptionist. So can the top potch songwriters. In addition to offices, each publishing company maintains few little rooms, com- plete with pianos, where these visitors may go and sing or play or listen far into the night. Arr rangers are handy to polish up tunes, and piano thumpers are supplied to singers who want to learn new numbers. Impromtpu conferences constantly are being held regarding the purchase of songs. The decision almost invari- ably is to "iet it ride for a few days" Just leave it here.' they say. and we'll see what Benny and Joe think of it."
 Wordy Debate
 It's funny to hear lyricists at work. They'll spend hours, in sol- chm argument over such points as whether a phrase ought to read: {" :. your soft, white arms or .. your beautiful arms. Sometimes cabaret warblers use pretty scorchy lyrics which have to be toned down for publication.
 ASCAP, which stands for Amer ican Society of Composers. Au- thors and Publishers, Is taking
 good care of it's members these days, always being on the lookout
 for chances to collect royalties. A writer gets about cents from each copy of sheet music sold. cents for each orchestration. and a third of the sums paid for
 recordings and movie reproduc- tions. For all that, there are said to be only a few people who are really in the big money from songs. Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, George Gershwin. Buddy DeSylva and Sigmund Romberg just about complete the list. Men who write for musical comedies and the movies are the money
 makers. because they collect from
 many sources Kern, for example. got 3z per cent of the gross re- as royalty for writing the music. He also had an interest in the shows profits. Counting sheet mu- sic records and other uses of his songs, he will make, out of that
 one venture, something like $SO,000.
 Notes and Banknotes
 Romberg realized nearly $50,- 900 from the music used in the movie, Desert Song" Gershwin tops them all in cclluloid, how
 ever; he was paid $60.00O for the right to have Paul Whiteman play
 "Rhapsody in Blue" in "The King of Jazz" There are lot of stories
 like this. but scores more about people who turned out one prom
 ising hit and never were heard
 from again. Frank Silver and Try l ing Cohn, who wrote "Yes. We Have No Bananas" haven't clicked with anything since. Johnny EBlack's "Dardanella" was his only profitable effort. just as was "The Prisoners Song" by Joe Massey.
 Gitz Rice wrote Dear Old Pal of | Mine," and that was all,
 Some tunes keep right on sell | ing, however. The estate of
 Charles K. Harris still gets royal ties from After the Ball Is over" Carrie Jacobs Bonds The End Of
 a Perfect Day" made a fortune.
 And w c. Handy's "St Louis
 Blues," written just 20 years ago,
 is still bringing in a tidy income.
 Before the depression the most famous of blues brought him
 about $25,000 year, and Handy is glad he didn't sell it as he said the Memphis Blues"-for $100.
 He has his own music company now, right on Broadway, and in the lobby is enshrined the old piano on
 which "St Louis Blues" was com posed.
 l unnsaslsssaaasusuu.ss sssaaasssspsssssssssse1NA