Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1943-10-15
.M-1-M
Musicals

sued through the Leo Feist office,
is something to make that famed
one-armed paper hangers job take
second place.
There are all the elaborate pro-
duction details to be set and, as
everyone knows, musical costs
much more and involves more
scenic ingenuity than the usual
straight play; then it's a question
of "harmonizing' the proper pro
ducer, director, writer and COM
poser, and that's often super
headache. The finest folk in the
world may not hit it off together
as part of musical creating COM
bine, OF a top-notch composer may
not match up with an equally fine
writer. Link estimates that it's at
least five times as hard to find the
right writer-compose team for a
musical as it is to pick any othes
kind of collaborative unit in Holly
wood. Despite this, he has had
great luck in getting the right peo-
pie together, so that he's now re-
garded as number one liaison man
for the shaping Of new screen mu-
sical stories.
"Movie songs are exploited in
very different way from your
Broadway speciality numbers" said
Mr.. Link. "People tend to avoid a
stage show where the music is
stale. One can't get new film
song, however, before the public too
soon. The reason: the relatively
greater but briefer distribution of
the product, and the need of stir
ring up advance interest in the lit
tie hamlets as well as big cities.
The radio, reaching everywhere,
does the trick"
Songs that are likely to score a
big hit should be plugged at least
four to six weeks ahead of a pic
ture's opening. But you've got to
be very choosy. Once in a while
over-eXploitation of a song that
flopped has been a boomerang for
a movie. Usually, it's the other way
and a tuneful number will do. more
to advertise the film and bring
business to the box office than col
umns of publicity.
Its the task of the firm that
handles movie company's music
to be final counsel on what will
click and what won't. Our average
is pretty good. Sometimes we miss
completely, and an obscure song
that is hidden away in a picture
will prove a sensation. By the time
is gets to the stage, the picture is
released everywhere, and the ad-
vance advertising value of plug
ging the number is lost. That sell
dom happens, however.
"These days, it is necessary for
every studio to have a competent
publishers representative on the
lot-that is, a representative of the
house which will publish the stu
dos songs. The producer and di-
rector are experts in their own line,
it is true, but when it comes to
selecting songs for the public, they
haven't the authority an expert has
in picking out writers who have the
power often to make a flop or hit
of the picture. Again, the selection
of the composer who can adapt his
work to the singer is tremendous
Importance, as we'll as the proper
hunch about what the masses will
like in song numbers.
while in the old days of Zieg-
field, songs could not be interpo-
lated after the writer's had COM
| pleted their jobs, in the movies,
songs can be interpolated at almost
an ytime during the films produc-
tion.
What hapepns to old movie
songs is that they either go the
way of the picture-to the morgue
or, if they really have caught on,
the publisher keeps right on plug
ging them long after the picture
is forgotten.
Popular types of songs, in pic
lures, depend upon the picture. If
it is musical comedy type, it must
have excitement and glitter. But
the songs most inclined to be big
smash hits now are melody ballads,
such as "As Time Goes By" espe-
cially if they are so spotted that
the audience has only the star in
closeup to watch during the songs
execution"
The present season represents an
all-time high in production of
screen musicals. In the "big five"
that are now ready, Lucille Ball,
William Gaxton, Virginia Weidler
and Harry James and his Music
Makers are seen in the Technicolor
hit, BEST Foot Forward" Red
Shelton and Eleanor Powell have
the premier places in Il Dood It."
Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland
are reunited in "Girl Crazy" Kath-
ryn Grayson, Gene Kelly, Mary AS
tor and John Boles are in Gas
Thousands Cheer" also filmed in
technicolor, and Kay Kyser occu-
pies a key post in Right About
Face"
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