The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-09-26

You can get some notion of the
record renaissance by the number
of nickel-in-the-slot monograph
machines now installed in the din
ers, beaneries, hotels and barber
shops all over the United States.
A conservative guess puts them at
not much less than q half-million!
1t takes deal of wax to feed so
many public music boxes.
Many an idolized bandleader of
this band-mad moment has re-
ceived his first jolt into the lime
light via a "hot plate,' as the
trade calls a fast-selling disc.
Hal Kemp recorded Got a Date
With an Angel three years ago
and his climb to eminence was
rapid. In 1896, an inconspicuous
lad named Benny Goodman re-
corded a piece labelled "Stompin'
at the Savoy" and Tommy Dorsey
made one called Song of India"
Both have been running neck-and-
neck for fame since then. A year
ago, Artie Shaw's Begin the Beg
uin" sold enough records to make
success of him and currently a
beSpectacled musician named.
Glenn Miller is the shot plate
king.
QUICK MONEY
IN RECORDING
The same impetus that the discs
can give to bandleader goes
for a song as well. That current
mania, Beer Barrel Polka" is a
hit-tune sculptured in wax. Com
posed by a wholly unknown Czech
tunesmith by the name of Jaro-
mir Vejvoda, it originally was
recorded in Prague by an undis-
tinguished brass band led by a
fellow named Will Glahe. The
record was brought here as a
matter of routine, copies made
and sent out to the drop-a-nickel
monograph operators.
In Chicago and Detroit, the
song caught on with unpresedent-
ed speed. The word was passed
around to other cities and there
were similar repercussions Beer
Barrel Polka" has outsold any
other record this year. has be-
come a hit tune on the ether
lanes and has earned consider
able fortune. Unfortunately, the
Czech composer and bandleader
don't have too much use for mon
ey in their homeland at this mo-
ment.
A lucrative commodity, waxed
music brings money, as well as
fame, to the orchestras that play
their tunes for it. They say that
Benny Goodman spends two or
three hours before the recording
apparatus, plays four songs, and
walks out with gross earnings of
four thousand dollars-not hay in
anyone's pocket.
A thousand dollars for a rem
dition of swing number is just
about tops, but it illustrates how
the record mart has come back
into its own. Popular music IS
the photographic peak in supply
and demand, but the disc-makers
here in New York declare that
there has been a renaissance of
interest, also, around the coun-
try in classical music. can recall
when a home was virtually bare
without a complete album of En-
rico Caruso, Geraldine Farrar and
Galli-Curci!
WAR JITTERS
LINGER ON ..,..,
I have talked to many refugee
Americans who thankfully alight
from boats that make port here
and their expressions are uniform
ly those of folk who have been
saved from CHASTITY, night-mar-
ish ordeal.
Here is a melodramatic illustra-
ton of it. Among the war fugi-
tives on the S. S. Washington the
other day were the film actor.
Robert Montgomery and the di-
rector. Richard Thorpe, Mrs.
Thorpe and their small son. A
few hours later. the Thorpes were
comfortably billetted at the WAL
dorf-Astoria, discussing the scene
abroad with friends.
On the street. in Park Avenue.
a fire engine Changed by and the
siren screeched. Almost instinc-
lively. Mrs. Thorpe glanced in
alarm at her husband and then
her son, and he arose from his
chair almost automatically. The
filters are hard to overcome soon
after return from the war zone.
And yet there are many incon-
gruities. A man who owns a IA
nous cafe in London and who
came here before hostilities open
ed. showed me a telegram the
other night from his London man.
ager, sent two weeks after the war
was declared. CAFE CROWD
ED" said the cable, CAN YOU
SUGGEST A NEW BAND-OR
BRING ONE OVER FROM NEW
YORK" Just as if nothing had
happened.
rA