Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-06-04
Good SONGS
Helpful to
Dance Bands
N city Tunes Boost
Many TO Success
BY DAMON RUNYON

IRVING HOFFMAN chucks a
L bundle of posies to the song
writers when in commenting on
my articles about the bands he
stresses the Importance of mate
rial to bands popularity, which
ought to make Ascapers feel
good.
He says the virtuosity Of the
musicians, the personality of the
leader and the cleverness of his
press agent cannot be discounted
but that behind the success of
almost every band you will find
an arrangement or a novelty
tune that caught on.
Benny Goodman was actually
slipping from his pinnacle when
The Jersey Bounce bounced
him back TO the top" says Irv-
ing, Broadway young man who
has all things pertaining to the
big street at his finger ends.
Tommy Tucker was Just q
name In Mother Goose rhymes
until he and his band introduced
a ditty called Il Don't Want to
Set the World on Fire and did
Just that.
Jimmy Dorsey was heading
for trouble when he came up
with an arrangement of Anna
pola' that swept the country.
Right now he's doing IL with
Tangerine.'
"Glenn Miller and his sliding
trombone were sliding from the
upper brackets when ne boarded
Chattanooga Choo Choo' and
rode right back TO the top and
Tommy Dorsey pulled himself
up, not by his bootstraps, but
with an arrangement and record
Ing Of TIL Never Smile Again
Smart band pilots like Jimmy
Dorsey and Fred Warning. unlike
some music-makers, never bother
to look at the name of the song
writer or publisher. They're con-
cerned only with the sharps and
fats and the notes."
DUT Irving thinks I ought to
~ warn my readers that the
band business is not always en-
trancing, least they drop what
ever they are doing and form
bands with the idea that I have
pointed out the path to quick
fortune.
He says backing a band is a
big gamble and that few name
bands ever get to the top with
out financial backing. adding
that for every big-time money
maker in the business he can
name 10 band pilots whose or
CARNATIONS are in the red.
Well, of course, that is a phase
OF which I was not informed.
Nor had I heard of the harrow
ing experiences that Irving re-
counts as part Of the racket,
such as the endless bus rides,
auto wrecks. union taxes, 16-
hour-a-day sessions. loss of
sleep. stomach ulcers superin-
duced by quick hamburgers,
rain, hail, snow, sleet and things
like that.
He tells about how Jimmy
Dorsey, now setting up new
record crosses in New York,
played SO one-nighters in a row
in cities and towns and villages
and hamlets throughout the
United States when he first went
out on his own, just to make the
folks Jimmy Dorsey conscious.
With Is musicians he travelled
by bus an average of 1000 miles
per week. grabbing few winks
OF sleep between bumps on the
road.
IRVING says he shudders 10
l. think of the number of other
bands that have gone through
the same ordeal but lacked
Jimmy's luck in catching on.
IT seems the element of risk
enters into the band business
most strongly when a leader
takes an engagement at hotel.
He does this only because Of the
radio outlet and the proximity
to recording studios. both Of
which are calculated to build up
a big demand for the band on
the road.
To build UP this demand. the
leader sometimes loses from
$1,000 to SIS, 900 on a hotel date.
Then when he goes on the road
to cash in on his investment he
runs into the various hardships
1 have enumerated, of which
Irving Hoffman seems to think
the quick hamburgers the most
trying.
have decided not to organize
a band.
Copyright. 1e42. by King Features
Distributed by International News Service
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