The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1935-05-21
In New York
BY PAUL HARRISON

New York, We've been going a.
long all these years giving too
much credit to song writer's and
orchestra leaders for the way pop
ular music sounds. And now I
pause for a minutes meditation on
the unsung deeds of the arrangers
positions, and complete orchestra-
tions, from one-finger melodies.
We hear all about the Gersh-
wins and Cole Porters, and Rod
gers and Harris, and the Gordons
and Revels. We see fellows named
Whiteman and Lopez taking bows,
But arrangers don't take bows,
or collect royalties, either. They
should.
Carl Hoff, the orchestra leader
AND arranger, is trying to do
something about winning recogni-
ton for the forgotten orchestra.
tors. They're mainly responsible,
he says. for the brtlliance OF
composition or score, just az
scenic and costume designers and
dance directors (who get plenty
of cash and kudos) lend sub.
stance to a stage production.
Bargain ~.
George Gershwin was writ.
ing the tunes for a Broadway
show when he though up some
strains which. I'm told, he plan.
ned to use as Introductory must.
cal phrases. Ferde Grofe, an ar
ranger then. heard them and said
he could make them into tune.
He took the five or six strains
and fashioned Rhapsody in Blue"
Gershwin now Is orchestrating
his own compositions for the mu-
steal version of "Porgy," to be
presented by the august Theater
Guild next autumn. But there
aren't many tunesmiths with that
much technical ability. Irving
Berlin is almost 0ne-finger
composer. He can pick out q mel
ody only in the key Of F-sharp.
which uses all the black notes.
Unable to transpose, Berlin does
1t mechanically-an q specially
built piano. the entire keyboard
OF which can be shifted along to
strike different sets of strings. j
Horning In
w. C. Handy, Negro author OF
the immortal est. Louis Blues"
did part of his composing on n
cornet ... Fred Fisher Gre.
member 'Dardanella"?) Is a must.
cal "faker," playing by ear $3.50.
George Myer, Bert Grant and
lot Of others are unskilled must
clans, even though they do have
q knack for snatching new tunes
from the black and white keys.
Arrangers In Tin Pan Alley pub
fishing houses usually go to work
on nothing more than lead
sheet" containing the bare mel
ody.
Dr.. sigmund spaeth does his
tune detecting as a profitable
amusement, but rival publishers
and authors aret forever shopping
aroung to see how much OF their
stuff Is being pilfered and put In
to other pieces. There are occa-
s.onal lawsuits. but damages are
infrequently awarded. Defendants
usually are able to show that
the material they lifted was, In
turn. stolen by the plaintiffs from
somebody else.
There was the time when the
publishers OF Puccini's la Tosca"
declared nj court that avalon"
the Billy Rose-Af Jolson hit OF
1890, was plagiarism. The
court agreed that Avalon did
sound q lot like part Of La Tos-
ca" but that Puccini also seemed
to have got his idea from a piece
written back In the twelfth GEN.
tury.
one OF the most entertaining
suits was that In which II Hear
You Calling Me- was declared 70
have been pilfered to make song
called Tennessee. Hear You
Calling Me-" Jolson was engaged
by the defense to sing the latter
ditty in the courtroom, 80 the
plaintiffs popped up with their
own expert testimony, warbled by
John Mccormick.