Evening Star Newspaper, August 4, 1929, Page 55

" ranged and D. C AUGUST 4, 1920_PART 4. MU ITHIN the last couple of weeks it was announced in New York dailies that one of the leading music journals of this country failed. Musical America was listed in a group of six magazines published by Trade Publications, Inc., which has gone into bankruptcy. This group was incorporated in July, 1927, with Verne Porter as pres- ident. After one year and eleven months of operation the corpo- ration listed assets of $59,510.71 and liabilitias of $716,839.25. In addition to Musical America the group of publications includ- ed American Architect, a semi- monthly, founded in 1876; Music Trades, a monthly founded in 1890; Barbers’ Journal, a monthly | founded in 1898; Beauty Culture, a monthly founded in 1919, and Aromatics, founded in 1920. There | were both New York and Chicago offices. Durin 1928 Musical Trade Guide and Musical America Guide were issued. At the time of the initial merger it was stated that the company hoped to econ- | omize in operations, acquiring| new periodicals. The good will| carried on the book was estimated | at $1,200,000. | Mr. Porter, the editor, was a| newspaper man and magazine | writer of wide experience. Deems Taylor, composer of various noted musical works, including the opera “The King’s Henchman,” which won admiring comment at | the performances it has been given at the Metropolitan Opera House in both its initial year and the second season, became editor of Musical America at the time of the merger. Mr. Taylor had, previous to his blossoming into fame as a composer, won marked distinction as music critic of a leading New York daily. When these publications were sold at auction, the American Architect brought the _highest price — $275,000 — from Interna- tional Publications, Inc. The) other four magazines, including Musical America, were purchased‘ by John F. Majeski, 240 West street, for the total sum of $45,200. | * Xk Xk X T will be interesting to see what happens to Musical America_under this new owner- ship. The magazine was origi- nally founded in 1898 by John C. Freund, a man who established a vivid individuality as well as a leading publication in New York. Both became popular. After Mr. Freund's death Irving Weil was editor of Musical America for a short period, and then, with the above mentioned merger, Mr. Taylor accepted that post. Until Deems Taylor’s editorship, Musi- cal America was one of several trade journals which combined the stating of musical news with many items sent in by studios, | as is still the custom of some other journals. With the advent of Deems Taylor .the magazine changed perceptibly. Smaller in | size and smarter in type of ma-| terial used, Musical America lost its trade journal appearance and gained a most cosmopolitan type of reader. Alas! at the same time | that the magazine refused to publish any longer the obvious studio style of publicity, it lost many of its musician subscribers and advertisers. Even more sur- prisingly, it was professional artists in many cases who turned aside from the new magazine with its well set up articles of more_ literary value and attrac- tive illustrations. The writer of this column was told by a member of the edito- rial staff of Musical America that one well known pianist—noted, too, as a leading American com- | poser—said he had no interest in | a magazine that tried to appeal to others than those in the mu- sical profession. “All that I am interested in” he is quoted as having stated, “is seeing my picture and the publicity written by my own rep- resentafive about my activities in the magazine in the issues when I want it there. Give me 30 copies of that issue for myself and my menager and you can dump the rest of it in the East River as far as.I am concerned.” Moreover, he is not the only[ one who has expressed just such| opinions quite frankly. { This is amusing and somewhat disconcerting. Especially as the Musical Digest made a departure from the old-fashioned type of journal along not unsimilar lines to those later attempted by the Musical America, and succeeded, apparently, very well indeed. It is an aftractive magazine, with aim to appeal to those who make up the audiences as well as the members of the profession. Just recently the Musical Digest pub- lished its annual International Music Year Book. It is unusually well compiled with every interest of the moment as well as all es- tablished musical institutions and individuals given under well ar- logical headings. Pierre Key, the editor, even in- cludes the “talkies” in his “Sur- vey of World Music Conditions,” which is preface to the volume. Alfred Human, editor of Sing- ing and Playing, also has made a departure Jfrom the old ideas, and apparently with success. It seems rather ridiculous that in this day of increasing subtlety in the matter of publicity, any established artist should fail to recognize the signs and still cling pathetically to the old ways of obviously —home - manufactured “notes” about himself and his activities. Certainly the greatest of artists, in the very first rank, do not bother with such material. Also, the greater the artist the easier he is to interview, the more simple and dignified is his atti- tude during an interview. The writer remembers a few moments with Paderewski after his latest concert in Washington several years ago when he and Mme. Paderewski both patiently and courteously answered a few ques- tions before he found it neces- sary to go back on the stage and play still another Chopin encore. F};cdor Chaliapin, the basso, has unusually canny publicity BY HELEN SIC FETTER. Rosa Ponselle is a charming person to . interview. Rosa Raisa also is an attractive particularly person to talk with. Maria Jeritza, seen in short interviews behind stage after her concerts, is an effervescent personality with almost child-like pleasure when she feels her audience has liked her. She has the true Viennese sunshine in her response. Amelita Galli-Curci is particularly gra- cious when one has the opportu- nity to talk with her in the Italian setting of her New York home and she, like Chaliapin, has good sense of news value. Josef Hof- mann, Harold Bauer, Eugene Goossens, Carlos Salzedos, Fritz Kreisler and, in fact, most of the great musicians are courteous and simply human in their re- sponse to the newspaper inquirer. In the case of the remarkably gifted child violinist, Yehudi Menuhin, the father, Moshe Menuhin, has as his particularly dominant responsibility the keeping of people from Yehudi until he has carefully and ear- nestly requested that the inter- viewer “please just treat Yehudi as though he was any small boy and don't tell him he is wonder- ful and other things that might turn his head and ruin him.” Such is the attitude of the great musician. He works hard at his gartlcular art just as any other uman being works hard in any other trade or profession. When the musician is truly great he knows his own limitations and is unperturbed and dignified in an interview and in his whole atti- tude toward publicity. Musigraphs THE first service of the second half of a series of 12 union services being conducted by the All Souls’ Uni- tarian Church, the National Memorial Universalist Church and the Mount Pleasant Congregational Church, will be held this morning at 11 o'clock at the Mount Pleasant Congregational Church. The services in the first half of the series were held at All Souls’ Church. The music this morning will be given by the Mount Pleasant solo quartet, composed of Elsie Schulze, soprano; Mary Apple, contralto; Willlam P. Shannahan, tenor, and Herman Fak- ler, bass, with Claude Robeson at the orgal Elvina Neal Rowe, popular young ‘Washington soprano, left the city last Monday for a month's motor trip. Mrs. Rowe began a two week's stay at the Oscar Seagle Music Colony yesterday, where she expects to study with Mr. Seagle. To an Invisible Audience. “HOW do I like broadcasting?” Esther Dale repeated the inter- viewer's obvious question with a twinkle in her eye. “Instead of replying to your query, I.think I shall answer the one that is so often addressed to me by my friends: How ‘do you feel and what do you think about when you are singing to the microphone? “Before I had done any broadcast- ing I fancied that the thought upper- most in the artist'’s mind must be that of the immenfe, invisible audience in thousands of homes, and that before the eye of imagination there would spread a vast panorama of citles and countryside. But to my surprise I have found that it is utterly impossible for me to visualize my auditors in the slightest degree. As far as sensation is concerned, I am conscious only of & vague, indefinite space—an abysmal void into which I am projecting my voice. ‘There is something strangely impersonal about the whole process; not only am I unconscious of the per- sonalities who may be hearing me, but I forget my own individuality and be- come completely absorbed in what I am doing. When I have finished a song, I return to reality as though coming out from a day dream. “That does not mean that my wits are wool-gathering. One can concen- trate intently in a reverie, and that is what I do. The sense of isolation and absorption leaves me free to think ex- clusively of singing—not so much of tone production as of emotional ex- pression. I find that I must project much more vividly than in recital the atmosphere of every song; each nuance of mood must be given its right value, and every dynamic stress exactly placed. In the concert hall the auditor receives a complex impression in which voice, style, faclal expression and the mag- netism of the artist are compounded; in radio singing everything must be conveyed by the voice alone. “This concentration ,sharpens one's self-criticism, stimulates the facuities, and calls upon all the resources of technigue and expression. My ex- perience leads me to belleve that broadcasting cannot help but prove beneficial to the public recital work of any artist.” All-Star Ca;t of Extrna: RESENTED with an “all-star” cast of players, even to the extras and bit players! That line fits like a glove the fillming of one scene in “Frozen Justice,” Len- ore Ulric's first Movietone picture. It's a story of the snow country and one of the big scenes 4s laid in a dance hall in Nome, Alaska, in 1889. Allan Dwan, director, and Archie Buchanan, production manager, decided to make it a really big scene, with more than 500 types assembled for the dance hall, and each of the 500 was hand picked. More a dozen “bits,” as small roles are called, had a vital in the ensemble and they were played by present-day and -former stars of vaudeville, musical comedy and soreen. ‘Tom Patricola does a variation dance of his “black bottom” in this dance hall scene. A sister team of enter- tainers in the dance hall were none other than the Meyers sisters, who have headlined the Orpheum many times. Alice Lake, one of the most success- ful comedy stars of a decade ago played the role of Moosehead Kate; Ger- trude Astore, who has played vamp leads in many screen productions, was Little Casino; ‘Neyneen Farrell, an- other lead, - pla; Lady Lou; Joe Brown of “In Old Arizona” fame was again a bartender; El Brendel, famous musical comedy and vaudeville star, had a funny bit, and Warren Hymer, who has just played a leading role in “Tbel Girl from Havana,” was another ayer, bit les Judels, famous French char- acter player and producer of Winter Garden shows, and George MacFar- lane, ogefluc baritone, were also prom- inent bit players, and among the non- descript crowd of gamblers, dance hall rs-on, miners and ‘the like were Leonard, who toured the country in his vaudeville playlet, “When Caesar Her"; Lou Meehan, famous screen ‘Ted Oliver, sense. 1 Pascha Heifetz is rather non- committal and has his usual bored air even in an interview until the interviewer mentions some particular subject in which.| he is interested, when he will be- come quite an enth menace: Jead; Jane Talent, who was once popu- lar as a Western lead; Tod Brown, vaudeville s Croft, sister of Alice Terry. Verlly, cast of , one un,upggt‘n all-star The Rarest Voice. CONTEARY to general belief, the tenor s not the r voice in the musical profession in country, but vields place to the true bass, the voice that can sing a good low F. more sopranos than all other profes- sional voices (male and female) to- gether. Good altos are rare, Harold Vincent -Milligan, executive director of the National Music League. is authority for these facts. His find- ings are based upon .a total of 1,922 auditions granted during the past four years to candidates for management by the league. The judgments were madc by well known musical artists and edu- cators who served on the league’s audi- tion committee. “A low-range voice in a man, even though it is a good one, is not apt to attract sttention, being taken as a matter of course in a man,” said Mr. Milligan, “On the contrary, a high tenor voice is regarded as unusual, and its possessor is generally urged to be- come & singer. It is the popular though erroneous belief that tenors are the rarest voices. “There are lots of baritones. Altos are rare and much needed in choir and choral singing. Sopranos in the mu- sical world outnumber all other voices (male and female) put together. A really fine soprano is, of course, rare, as are all superlatively good things. Sopranos differ greatly in quality, ac- cording to the age, quality, personality and other varying characteristics of the singer.” The Bard in"Heidelberg. “ MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.” played on a beautiful Summer evening in the open courtyard | of what many consider the most inter- | esting and most grandiose medlevnl, castle ruin in Europe—Heidelberg. The | idea is just now again becoming a reality. In the latter part of July and the first half of August the Heidelberg festival plays, which have now become | & firmly established feature of the Ger- man Summer theater, are taking place under Gustav Hartung, one of the most important of German theater directors. ‘The program of this year's Heidel- berg festival plays include two plays by Shakespeare—“A Midsummer Night's Dream,” already a traditional part of these festival performances, and the | seldom played, “Trollus and Cressida.” Both are given in the courtyard of the Heidelberg Castle. Gerhart Haupt- mann’s “Florian Geyer,” with Heinrich George in the title Tole, is played in the so-called Bandhaussaal, a wonderful old Gothic hall, under the direction of Ru- dolf Ritter, who first created the role of Florian Geyer, under Otto Brahm. Everything connected with these dra- matic productions gives them a magical effect. “A Midsummer Nights’ Dream” takeg on a new and entrancing romanticism in this romantic_valley of the Neckar. The scenery has been sup- plied by Nature herself, including even the dim illumination by the fireflies. The background is furnished by the Otto Heinrich building of the clsflt.! through whose empty windows come the voices of the night. At midnight torches light the way from the castle courtyard across the old drawbridge into the castle park. But the Midsummer night's dream is not ended when the autos or the street car bears the visitor away from the scene. For one is still in Heidelberg, and above one is the Philosophers’ Way, with the Chaminade’s Washington Visit in 1908 Recalled MME. CECILE CARBONEL CHAMINADE. THERE is no woman composer who has won higher honor and recogni- tion than Mme. Cecile Carbonel Cha- minade of France, who will celebrate her sixty-eighth birthday anniversary Thurs. day of this week. Her songs in partic lar are famous all over the world and she also has many instrumental compo- sitions, frequently performed. There are sev- eral clubs of music lovers scattered throughout the world that are named in her honor. One such is the Cha- minade Glee Club in Washington, of which Miss Esther Linkins is director and organizer, with Miss Mary A. Cry- der, an intimate friend of Mme. Cha- minade, as its chief sponsor. Cecile Louise Stephanie Chaminade, who at present uses the surname of her late husband as her middle name instead of the above with which she was christened, was born in Paris, Au- gust 8, 1861. Her family was quite stars overhead and the beautiful Neckar below. musical. Her father was an excellent violinist and her mother was noted both Color Humanized OT to be outdone in the matter of the increasing use of color in mo- tion pictures, Al Christie, under the aegis of Paramount, will release during | the coming season 24 talking plays, no | less than six of which will be “all col- ored.” What is most unusual about all this is that the Christie organization is blissfully free of the tribulations which have assailed the industry in con- nection with chromatic film, for, under Christie's happy plan the color comes already applied. Which is to say that the six piclures aforementioned will be based on Octavus Roy Cohen’s stories of darktown Birmingham, and will be made with players provided by nature with the requisite make-up, We have had “Hearts in Dixie,” in which there was only one white char- acter, that of the doctor. Another pic- ture of similar nature (Hallelujah” is the title, is it not?) is now in produc- tion, and Buck and Bubbles, dark- skinned vaudeville stars, have for some time been going through the antics called for in scenarios made from Hugh Wiley's “Wildcat” tales. In so far as this department knows, however, Christie’s is the first an- nouncement of such a series to be made with all-colored casts. Broadway has had its “Harlem,” Chocolate Drops” and “Blackbirds” (which Washington will see in the Fall); Josephine Baker has stormed Paris, Berlin and Rio with varying degrees of success: Los Angeles has a colored stock company whose itted colored works “au naturel” with the enthusiasm that Christie shows. It should prove an interesting projfect. One wonders meanwhile if Mr.| Christie has put into moth balls the bathing suits which formerly adorned his principal players when they romped across the screen in sportive abandon. What, in brief, will become of the Christie Bathing Queens? Silent but eloquently formed, they were popular. Where, oh, where, will their beauty come to rest? Caught on the Fly. 'NDOUBTEDLY the first motion picture synopsis to be written in a seaplane is the one in which Victor McLaglen of “What Price Glory” fame and more recently “The Cuck-Eyed World” will be featured. Raoul Walsh flew to Catalina Island to get away from the studios and evolve a story idea. Three days were spent on the island and no idea that suited Walsh came to his mind. On his seaplane trip back from Cata- line_he had hardly left the landing field when an idea came to him that was in- triguing. He hurriedly jotted down a few words on the cuff of his white shirt and then on the front of the shirt. Sud- denly he remembered that he had placed a blank check to pay for the plane ride in his helmet. He covered that and his last notation was on the linen flap of the inside ear covering of his helmet, altogether 60 words, a com- plete synopsis, and it. is said to be a corking story. Dudley Nichols, famous newspaper writer, is evolving the sce- nario. luction is due to start within the coming month. including works for chamber | music and orchestral rendition that are | I as a remarkable singer and pianist, At an early age the little Ceeile de- voted herself to the study of the piano. She was only 8 years old, when she attracted the attention of Bizet with her compgsitions. At 18, she gave her first public concert with great success. At 20 she composed her first work, “Les Amazones,” which was given premier production at Marselle in | 1888. She won fame first as a pianist. She had studied in Paris under Le Coupey, Savard, Marsick, and Benjamin Godard. She soon achieved a fine repu- tation as a performer and appeared in concert programs in Paris, Berlin, Vien- na, London, Constantinople and other cities. Mme. Chaminade visited the United States in 1908, having a very success- and several private appearances in ‘Washington under the supervision of her friend, Miss Cryder. only American tour. She played 15 programs and had packed houses in New York as well as elsewhere, in- cluding an immense audience in Wash- iny gton. An amusing incident occurred in con- nection with this visit in Washington. After Mme. Chaminade had lunched at the French embassy and had been pre- sented to the then President and Mrs. Roosevelt at the White House, she was left at her hotel, the Willard, where it | had been pre-arranged that she was to | meet Miss Cryder. After a very long | wait at the appointed place, Miss | Cryder went to the desk and asked for Mme. Chaminade. She could not be found. Boys were sent all over the hotel, No Mme. Chaminade! Miss Cryder telephoned the embassy and was informed—“No, she is not here, she was left safely at the hotel.” Finally an elevator man mentioned that he had seen a foreign lady wan- dering about at the top of the hotel. It was Mme. Chaminade. She said to Miss Cryder, in French, upon her finally being rescued: “I ‘am nothing but & package, left here and there, and I know not where I'am.” Having a keen sense of humor, the composer enjoyed the little episode very much. Mme. Chaminade also told Miss Cry- der that she thought that Mr. Roose- velt was & wonderful man and he had talked to her in very good French most entertainingly on the subject of wild animal hunting. he told Miss Cryder at a subsequent meeting that he considered Mme. Chaminade a wonderful woman. In- cidentally, it was partly due to the high recommendation of her artistry as a pianist given Mme, Chaminade by President Roosevelt that she won the much-coveted “ d'Honneur” medal in France. She is the only famous woman musician to have re- received cluding the students of the Conservatory at Athens, the order of Chefakat from the Sultan in | concern. ful tour, including a public concert ‘This was her As for the President, | draggi Navy Band Concerts. ’rfll United States: Navy Band, Lieut. Charles Benter, leader, will y at the Capitol tomorrow evening. program opens with Mendelssohn’s overture, “Fingal's Cave,” and includes the “Bacchanale” from * “Samson and Delilah” (Saint-Saens), from “Die | a selection ‘Walkure” (Wagner) ‘and ex- from the musical comedy, “Hit ) ‘Tuesday night the band Montrose Park, Thirtieth and R streets. Grossman's overture, “The Ghost of the Warrior,” Rachmaninofi’s “Prelude in C-sharp Minor” and the fourth move- ment from the symphonic suite, “Sche- herazade,” by Rimsky-Korsakow, are! among the numbers on this program. Of special interest on the program be presented at the Navy Yard Wednes- day night are “In a Chinese Temple Gar- den, iptive number by Ketelbey, and a duet for oboe and clarinet, “Villa~ nelle,” by Eva Dell’Asqua. ‘The soloist this week will be Musician Ralph Ostrom, cornetist. . Opera in Rehearsal. ’[‘}u: American Opera Co., which is to fulfill an engagement in Wash- ington in the coming season, is rehearsing at Magnolia, Mass,, a notice this week states. Viadimir Rosing is directing. ‘The company begins its Fall tour of 20 weeks at Milwaukee on Septem 30. Other cities to be visited include New York, which will have a season of two weeks; Chicago, with a three weeks’ engagement opening on October 7, and Washington, Boston, Atlanta, Richmond, Memphis, Chattanooga, To- ronto, Montreal, Baltimore, Rochester, Buffalo and several others. . A Russian “Break Fast.” ‘The Russian fasts religiously when | his religion calls for it, but immediately | after the fasting period he plunges into an orgy of food. Elaborate preparations | are made in advance for the break and tables are groaning under the weight of whole hams, ducks, turkeys, geese, | chickens, sausages, walnut cakes, cath- | edrals made of sour cream, tall kulitch | cakes, curd cakes, :lro)kln, bortsh, bot- | .2“" at | {tles of kvass and champagne. The gathering surrounds this array of comestibles and struggle unably to con- | quer it entirely. of Turkey, the purple ribbon from the French Academy in 1888, and Rhe “Officier d'Academy” honor in 1892, After her American tour Mme. Cha- | minade lived in England for a number of years. Her present home, however, |is at Villa Provencale in Tamaris-sur- |Mer (Var), Prance. In the above pic- ture she is shown in her garden among some of the flowers that she loves so much. Mme. Chaminade tells most amus- | ingly of her first appearance in a recital at Manchester, England. She had been under contract to play only on a piano manufactured by a leading German ‘When she got to Manchester no piano of that make could be located. Her own instrument had not arrived, and the hour of the concert was rapidly approaching. At last the good news was brought to the anxious pianist that an instrument of the necessary ‘make had been found. Mme. Chaminade dis- covered, to her horror, upon sitting down at the piano that the pedals were tied to it with a string and four keys 'i‘mfl% ;;:zhunn Nothing daunted, she pla; er program and had a great reception. Mme. Chaminade has played many times since in England, where she is a great favorite. She also likes the English people very much and thinks they make audiences. Personally, Cecile Chaminade is a striking-looking individual. Her au- burn hair is very curly and she has always worn it short, even long before the days of “bobbed hair.” Her sense of humor is broad and she has a spar- kling wit. Her manners are charming and her personality gracious. Her hus- band was M. Carbonel, a music pub- lisher of Marseille. They were a most devoted couple until his death, two years before her American tour. At present Mme. Chaminade lives in her charming villa in France, and is still busy composing in response to unend- ing demands from her publishers. Although her success as a composer was assured after the production of her first work, “Les Amazones,” she be- came really famous through her songs, of which she has written more than 60, all of great beauty. “The Little Silver Ring” is one which has been sung in Washington by Jofin McCormack and several leading local singers within the past couple of seasons. It is a lovely song, with much emotional appeal, but the majority of singers insist upon over- emphasizing that appeal and also in ing the tempo. Mme. Chaminade If has expressed a total lack of patience with such interpretations. *“I want the tempo of my song kept up throughout to the very last phrase as I wrote it, and I certainly don't want to hear it made mawkishly sentimental,” she is reported to have said on more than one occasion. l,;!:N.her icularly well known Chaminade are “Madrigal,” “Chan- son Slave,. “Ritournelle,” ‘“Fleur de Matin” and “Sans Amour.” There also are many beautiful piano pieces, or- chestral numbers and works for violin and violoncello. H. F. songs Photbplays at Washington Theaters This Week Avatst Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Ambassad’r ?"fi e Face ?"":’,,f@?fl'g ere o G e TR o el e AT '‘aramount _reel. Dolore: George O'Brien Apollo T} ‘Georse, O 'Brien o in ‘Noal's_Ark.” “Noal's Ark." Vitaphone re Mortor Mother's Bo Xrany Kat cation. ra Vitaphone_reel. Vitaphone._reel. Raquel “The_ Bridge e Brdse of Su Eddie Dowl ling 1 N Vortage Avalon Luis Rey. “Luly Reve T Tie Raimpow M “The Raimbow Han.” Laurel-Hardy comedy. i Vitaphone Vitaphone reel. me hone_subj hone._ sub T~ Morton Downey Morton Downey Raduel Torres 1o Raquel Torres 1o Emil Janning Jean Hersholt in - her Ralsi e Y Gen- i Ave.Grand ol sers el mors TSveg s HaBAE st By PN e Cartoon. Cartoor Vitaphone_sithject. Vitaphone_subject. dy. Paramount’ reel. Vitaphone_recl. Dark. ines 1 Willism Powell in Jeanne Eagels 1 Conrad Nagel in Bethesda : NSNS BAOWIR WMEEARRY LOINShOETbEe CUEOEREY SURbIEd- TLols Wilson and Tols Moran and Ramon Novarro and William Haines § Vilma Banky f Huntl ‘Stuart Farrell MacDonald In Warner Baxter fn Renee Adoree Carolina A Man's Man." “The Awakening." bt~ o) Eord i "Riley the Gop.” “Danger Strest.” cormio [ Bapan “Sally’s_Shoulders.”” “Joy_Sirest.” “The Pegas Contral bl TRUGERGT piorbowser tn Mgion Downern | kR ntral % ¥ *Nothers Bov." g % Boy." Al St. John chmed Luls Res." : : Vitaphone Sublect. _ Vitaphone mubleet. e Siothers Nitaphone. subject. Cartoon. Vita. reel. 5 Ben Lyen and en Lyon and Mary Brjen and Richard ?:H,S'elnu- Richard martheimess Tom Mix o ntonio Moreno ard ‘At Cirel in n in “The Patent Leather “The Patent Leather “Son of the Golden “The Alr Legion.”, _ “The Air Legion” __ ‘“The Man T Love.” Kid.” e hien Wk eorge O'Brien and ‘George o'lrlov and Mary Pickford Mary Pickford Emil_Jannf In Dolores Costel Dojgres Costella, in “'Betr “Arthur In, lon: z Do) stellg, . < onier R et enetiin. +"of Sand Colony v{:fi:\; Seei, Variety Teei. warmous reel. Parsmount. reel. Vitaphone. Teel: tor Comedy,_Vita. Teel. Milton Sills_n Dtk Do Tax Ren Masnard Jeanne Eagels 2 “Love and the Devil.” k. Dark | Dark. Tk, n L Elit “Cod . . ‘“The Letter! . T smady. 1“'50‘? ?“"" Novelty reel. News. William Powell T William Powell in POSI MO mnfe ghiiis, “A ““Thres Totgh Onions. ree To s> xnowing lhe Roose? Cool Bacl: d Claudette Colvert in Georze rehur ai H O ire Vs Glive Brooke™in | CHole.im the Wall." “Karl Dane in, me -4 Tou: 5 Found. o Patamount Teel. %8 Vitaphone subject. __Comedy. _Vita. ree & John Gilbert in, v William Haines in “Desert, Nights."” “Alins Jimmy Valen- Leader Serial. | Comedy. Anapshots. | tine.” Ser Sport_reel. n “Hot_Puppies. - ‘::.r!_ 3 3 Dorothy Bebastian Audrey Ferris Banc) Conrad Nagel in Ted Wells N Liberty Remgk Tonas "n%fi'élx‘m of “Bemits of RI2? loves “Beauty and 2. Tne ot of wall Seirtt of E b, A N Victor McLesien Reed Howes Phylils Haver n-Comiug_and Goims. ew “strong’ Boy." “Romantic Rogue.” iLh Ave “Growing Fains." “Motor Boat Movies." Zalle aer ‘Shamsock Alles. pece George Janet Princess ol o Wall “The w:l&-,;'w . Geoy o I %fl_ n In “Adolphe Menjou mhll Love.” “On With the Show.” “On With the Show.” “On With the Show.” O indensany Music in America. BY FREDERICK OECHSNER. HE traditional idea that America is not a musical nation—as we think of Italy and Germany, for example, as musical na- tions—has less foundation in fact than is generally realized. With the increasing facilities for having music in this country, with the steps being taken to educate the public in the appreciation of music and to train the youth of the land in making music (most important of all), America in 25 years or less will probably enjoy an established- pre-eminence in the field. ‘The author of these opinions is Ken- neth 8. Clark of the National Bureau for the Advancement of Music, whose book, “Music in Industry,” was exten- sively reviewed last week in the leading article on this page. Mr. Clark has since come to Washington under aus- pices of the Playground and Recreation Association of America, which for the past month has been holding a confer- ence for colored recreational workers at the Garnet-Patterson Junior High School in co-operation with the com- munity center department of the Dis- trict public schools. The conference was concluded Priday evening. At its sessions, attended by repre- sentatives of various communities in ber | this section of the United States, Mr. Clark conducted classes of instruction in the propagation of music along com- munity lines. As one of the first three leaders to popularize group singing in Army camps and in France during the war, and with a subsequent wide ex- ience in the distribution of music information and propaganda to all parts of the country, he is felt to be qualified to discuss the subject in its national aspect. He is the author of two com- prehensive books on the relation of music to social and economic organiza- tion in Americ ‘The essential spirit to combat in the dissemination of music in the United States, Mr. Clark feels, is the “Let do it” attitude. Mere “specta- torship,” he says, will militate against the development of a musical spirit. mb:t is actually needed is participa- n. “One does not need to be an alarrf- ist,” Mr. Clark declares, “to be seri- ously disturbed by the trend in our national life which is so increasingly putting a premium upon self-expres- sfon. It is not merely that self-expres- sion is good for the individual; there is also & negative aspect to the situation. Tendencies which in this mechanistic age lead the individual away from ex- pressing himself creatively in his leisure hours are thereby withholding from him a_very necessary enrichment of life. They are thus making him less of a free- souled individual and more of a stand- ardized, regimented cog in a machine. “Those who have recognized the seri- ousness of this danger have, by the same token, cast about for remedial measures. Through these they seek to counteract the evil effects of the above tendencies without injury to any con- structive by-products thereof. As ap- plied to music, those measures consist of stressing the importance of personal participation without detriment to the process of listening, which is such a necessary element in the scheme. Such an increase in active music making was chosen as the keynote of the 1929 National Music week, with its rallying call 10! ‘Hear music—make music—enjoy music.’ ‘Those factors which most vitally af- fected the status of music in the home (which s, after all, the spiritual unit in music, as in other things) were the automobile and the motion picture, Mr. Clark says. They took people away from the home, and incidentally away from the piano and the violin and the mandolin, and, with that divorcement, away from the impulse to music. While the phonograph served an ad- mirable rlrpole in keeping music before ple, it was the radio which actually rought it to them in an inexpensive and easily controlled fc-m, Mr. k dec] Yet the very facility in hat- ing music thus performed in the home tended greatly to increase the evils of the “Let George do it” attitude. As long as that attitude prevailed it was hardly to be expected that people wouid be very much concerned with making music themselves. Since musicians may be either “nat- ural” or “made,” in Mr. Clark’s opinion, it became the function of certain or- ganizations, he pointed out, ‘to foster the interest in music in this country-— some of them devoted to “making” more musicians, others to help the education and careers of the “natural” musicians, the students. Those who have concen- trated upon instilling in the public con- sciousness an appreciation of music accustom people to the presence of music, the enjoyment of music, and, finally, the participation in music. As one example, he gives the system of group teaching in piano study. “In the past,” as he puts it, “Nellia might have objected strenuously to hav- ing to leave her friends to take a piane lesson, and it has been the unhappy experience of many a small boy to called from his games by the despotia requirements of his scales and exercises. The situation has been changed, how- ever, in some quarters at least. Now Nellie may take her lessons in company with her friends. When all the smail | boys foregather at the keyboard there is no more game outside. The element of comradeship is carried over into the art; the element of competition enters, h‘)g. and makes the practice more ex- citing Many old bugbears associated with music—one, for example, being that it was an effeminate occupation, ill-be- fitting the masculine dignity—have been overcome. That such a false concep- tion does not hold today is clearly evi- denced, Mr. Clark asserts, by the num- ber of men engaged in playing in or- chestras or as soloists, and by the great number of male singing groups (superior in most instances, he confides, to the feminine groups). It has been found necessary, Mr. Clark notes, to keep people provided with the opportunity of creating music in com- pany with others, and to apprise them constantly of such opportunities. A student at college, for instance, has such opportunities as a member of the glee club or the mandolin and guitar club, but often finds himself lack- ing in such associations when he leaves the university. Community organiza- tion work then assumes importance. Singing groups, not only from universi- ties but from factories and towns as well, have been provided cohesion and community of interest in the Associ- ated Glee Clubs of America, for ex- ample, which now numbers 4.000 per- sons. ‘Throughout the country there are many thousands of bands, small orchestras and singing societies which are maintaining local interest in music, Mr. Clark observes. Such groups as these are tremen- dously helpful, he continues, in the | transition in musical interest from the | school period to the adult. The public schools, with facilities for training the impressionable child such as are not exceeded in any other country, and which have never been as great in the United States as they are now, are doing splendid work. Combining these early influences with the increasingly widened scope for musical expression in succeeding years must result, Mr. Clark believes, in the establishment of & musical tradition in America which we have long considered to be the pecu= liar property of European countries. Two things—impulse and opportunity— being present, progress cannot fail. full-length choral works, sev- eral of them revivals which heve not been heard in New York in years, with six programs of instrumental music and shorter choral compositions, will be presented by the Society of the Friends of Music in' New York next sea. son, it has been announced. Five of the longer works will have two per- formances, giving 15 distinct programs and 20 concerts, which will constitute the seventeenth and most ambitious season in the history of the soclety. Artur Bodanzky, conductor of the Friends of Music, prepared the pro- grams before he sailed for Europe after ending his 14-year career with the Metropolitan Opera and closing his eighth season as musical director of the society, to which he is to devote his entire energies hereafter. Here are the major choral works which will be given, the first five being new to the Priends of Music repertoire: Bach: “Christmas Oratorio.” Haydn:® “The Four Seasons.” Hande! lexander’s Feast.’ Mendelssohn: “Elijab” (with eight ‘Requiem Mass, ists). ido and Aeneas. solof Cherubf Purcell Gluck: [eo.’ Brahms: “A German Requiem.” Bach: t. John Passion.” ‘There will also be instrumental music for piano, cello, organ, etc., and & num- ber of briefer choral works, notably four cantatas of Bach, including “Phoebus and Pan,” the “Wein, Weilb and Ge- sang” of Johann Strauss, the “Morgen- hymne” and “PFeuerreiter” of Wolf, and Brahms’ “Parzengesang.” 1In these di- versified programs there is necessarily much that is tentative, depending part- ly on the soloists’ own choice, and also because y is still on”the look- out for new compositions. suitable to| Orato: the Friends of Music concerts. Among the singers who will be solo- AT is declared to be the first wedding ceremony ever to be photographed and recorded on sound film will be that of Harry Langdon, nll’(‘ll'rledlll’l. and Miss Helen Walton, his ncee. Hal Roach has offered Langdon the studio sound equipment for the event, with the stipulation that Harry be re- sponsible for any damage to the delicate light valve when he says the famous “I do!” Too much voice volume has been known to completely destroy this sensi- tive apparatus, and Mr. Roach is no chances in Harry's present state of ecstasy. Ambitions Choral Program ists are Margaret Matzenauer, Editha Fleischer, Elizabeth Rethberg, Ethyl Hayden, Marion Telva, Queena Mario, Dorothea Flexer, Louise Lerch, Law- rence Tibbett, Meader, Alex- ander Kipnis, Praser Gange, Friedrich Schorr, Paul Althouse, Carl Schlegel and Max Bloch. In the concerts of instrumental music the soloists will include Harold Bauer, Benno Moiseiwitsch and Kurt Ruhr- seitz, pignists; Felix Salmond, cellist, and Lynwood Farnam, organist. Altogether there will be five Bach concerts, including two performances of the “St. John Passion.” This work, re- vived by the Priends of Music in 1924, has been given each year as a Lenten performance. This Spring it was given twice, once in St. George's Church. Of the other large works in next season’s list which have been given be- fore by the society, its records show, that Gluck’s “Orfeo” has been per- formed three times, April 12, 1925; No- vember 8, 1925, and November 6, 1927. ‘While opera is not heard nowadays at the Metropolitan, it-has been highly ular in concert form with the lends of Music audiences. Another opera, England’s first, the “Dido and Aeneas” of Purcell, has also been given three times by the soclety. With its score, for string quartet and cembalo, orchestrated and edited by Bodanzky, it was first performed by the Friends of Music Jamuary 13, 1924, and _subse- quently February 8, 1925, and Decem- ber 18, 1927. The Brahms “Requiem” was given by the Society April 1, 1928, and December 2, 1928. Of the choral works to be given next season, then, a good half are an addi- tion to the Friends of Music repertoire, and of the five large works which are added at least three —the “Christmas rio,” “Alexander's Feast” and _ “The Four Seasons"—are unfamiliar to New York concertgoers, His Own Wedding Film ‘The place of the ceremony has not been determined owing, it is said, to & disagreement between the engaged cou- ple. Miss Walton wants & church wed- ding, and Iangdon wants some incon- spicuous spot in which he can wear bis pants and easy shoes. “So I won’t have to play it straight,” explains Harry. The sound picture of the wedding is for future references, according to Langdon, so that it can be produced in- taking | stantly by either party in the event one of them needs to be reminded ot certain promises made on a certain occasion. IC INSTRUCTION dolin, Tenor Ba: i s by Teleohone. * © BESSIE N. WILD m:fl”nfi'}‘:&':‘a'. "ru.‘.':‘;m"m o. SUMMER MASTER ES VOICE ; LOUIS THOMPSON VIOLIN WLADIMIR LADOVITCH PIAN FICKLEN-ECHOLS . WASHINGTON CON- SERVATORY OF MUSIC ¥ comeds, WALTER T. HOLT School of Mandolin, Guitar and Banjo, Hawaiian Guitar and Ukulele Established 1804 Ensemble practice with the Nordies Clubs 1801 Columbia Rd. N.W., Col 0946 Sophocles T. Papas J PIANO PLAYING SAXOPHONE, BANJO, GUITAR Positively Taught Any Person IN 20 LESSONS Garinet, . K