The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-01-14
In New York.
By PAUL HARRIsON

NCW AoIk' k'-oOHS-WrlLlnS IS an uncertain business, but exciting. A fellow may be just sitting in Lindy's munching a herring and meditat- ing on the shallowness of fate, when-bang!-comes an idea for a song worth a lot of blue chips.
 Even the shabbiest inhabitants of Tin Pan Alley will tell you that novelists and playwrights are suckers. Work for months put ting together thousands of words which may not add up to the price of cakes and coffee. Your swell composers, too, may pour theIr souls into symphonies and such that nobody can even remember the name of, much less whistle.
 No sir! A songwriter at least gets a quick turnover on his ideas, which are either terrible or ter- rife. A long time ago Theodore Metz, with the Mcintyre and Health Minstrels, was watching a fire when he heard somebody say. ''There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight!" Metz recognized q sure-flre title, and wrote the music in couple of hours.
 w. c. Handy heard Negro wo- man say: "Dat man got heart lak arock cast in de sea ..." He walked on, turning over the words in his mind. Pretty soon they were part of the ''St Louis Blues"
 
 Making Their Marks.
 Irving Berlin sat at a piano and with one finger plunked at a catchy phrase that had occurred to him-"Co'mon an hear, c'mon an hear .."." And "Alexander's Ragtime Band' brought him $3O,. 900.
 George Whiting arose one morn ing with a hangover, found the apartment empty, and wrote My Wife's Gone to the Country, Hur- ray, Hurray." Irving Berlin made up a tune for the lyrics in half an hour, and the song was hit. Also because his wife didn't enjoy being pointed out as the inspiration for the ditty. Women's clubs and min- isters reproached him for his de- structive gibe at American home life.
 It was years later before Whit ing was able to make amends of sort by penning the lyrics of My Blue Heaven," which glorifies domesticity.
 In 1894, Edward B. Marks, travelling salesman for a notions concern, met 8 ,necktie salesman, Joseph w. Stern, and showed him some vsrses he had written. Tho title was "The Little Lost Child" Stern said he would try to write some music for the verses, and he did. They sold more than mill lion copies and went into the song publishing business together. Stern retired years ago, and Marks no longer bothers much with the de- tails of the Marks Music Corpora tion. Mostly he sits around and writing. Discovered Jimmie Walker.
 Marks had hand in discover ing, or encouraging, nearly all of today's elder songwriters.' Irving Berlin was one. Jerome Kern worked for the firm three Years, but wasn't allowed to do anything but make out bills, and invoices. Jimmy Walker. who recently has been doing a little prose, was an- other.
 Broadway. remembers Walker for his will You Love Me in De- cember as You Do in May?," but Jimmy actually had ten songs published. He did the first nanny song-"Black Jim," and the first Sally song-"In the Valley Where My Sally Said Goodbye" T Like Your Way" and After They Gath CT the Hay" were hits. hits. There's Music in the Rustic of a Skirt" wasn't so good. Kiss All the Girls for Me" contained a pro- the Mayor of Broadway ..." Marks rejected quite a lot of other Walker lyrics, and is said to have driven the dapper young man into politics by telling him that most of his stuff was terrible and that he'd never make much of a songwriter.
 Small Pickings. .... .. ...... Rights of authors are safe- guarded much more carefully now than they were generation or so ago. Paul Dresser-a brother of Novelist Theodore Dreiser, though the names differ a bit-received q phenomenal amount from "On the Banks of the Wabash" about ESQ., 900. A Maine housewife was paid only $5 for her rights to Rock Me to Sleep" An envious organist named H. P. Danks heard of her good fortune and wrote silver ThreadsNAmong the Gold" He held out for $40, and got 1t. James Randall was satified with $25 for My Maryland"-and was paid in confederate money.