Radio show music

I have posted to my Google Drive a PDF file titled "Tables of Contents for Radio Show Music Collections": link. [Link updated 3-01-2024.]

As of March 20, 2024, the remainder of this post, including the tables of contents named in the title, has been moved to a file published on the Texas ScholarWorks platform: Film Music: Some Posts from Blogs. 

Theatre and radio organists: John Gart

As of March 20, 2024, the content of this post, including a list of musical topics and some musical examples, has been moved to a file published on the Texas ScholarWorks platform: Film Music: Some Posts from Blogs. 

Wurlitzer, Sound Effects, and a Letter from Columbus

Sinn's column appeared only sporadically during the summer months, and this particular column seemed to serve primarily to drum up reader interest in the column. For whatever reason Sinn would place only two more columns in Moving Picture World before the end of September.

Here, Sinn spends the first part of the column on the Wurlitzer Hope-Jones Unit Orchestra, which had made a very big impression at the summer trade show in New York. This instrument is indeed the forerunner of the mighty Wurlitzer that would become legendary during the picture palace era. Wurlitzer had long advertised in the Moving Picture World, but their ads, as the one to the left, had generally sold their cheaper automatic instruments, with the promise that its automatic instruments would "furnish better music than musicians and reduce expenses." Wurlitzer did not, for the most part, advertise the Unit Orchestra directly in Moving Picture World—though it did receive fairly extensive coverage in news items.

Sinn then turns to Lapin's (Excelsior) "Dramagraph" sound effects cabinet, which had likewise impressed at the trade show, before printing a long letter urging musicians to play appropriate music. He ends with a short item announcing a collection of music written specially for "motion picture work."

Come Right In; Don’t Stop to Knock.

The editor of this department has been a few weeks vacation and in consequence the page has been neglected somewhat. Now that we are back in the harness we are going to try with your help to make the music department more interesting than before. Those having new ideas, worries, questions or answers—anything in fact which may be of interest to your fellow musicians—please come forward with your offerings. It says “Welcome” on the door-mat and we are always glad to hear from you.

To the exhibitor who contemplates the installation of a pipe organ in his theater, I would respectfully suggest that before deciding he will give a thorough inspection to the Wurlitzer-Hope-Jones Unit Orchestra. (The manufacturers object to its being styled an organ, tho it is played the same.) Exhibitors who attended the convention in New York heard this instrument among other exhibits, of course; they could not very well help it, but amid all the confusion, bustle and many-voiced sounds, the Unit-Orchestra had little or no opportunity of demonstrating its value as applied to picture-music. To appreciate its worth, one must see and hear a practical demonstration and I found one at the Astor Theater where “Quo Vadis” is being shown. Many of the visitors attended this performance, no doubt. Those who did not, missed a treat. I saw it three times this week and enjoyed Mr. Clarence W. Dow’s masterly accompaniment upon a Wurlitzer-Hope-Jones Unit Orchestra. I wish to remark in passing, that Mr. Dow is an artist, an experienced picture-musician and one of the very few I have been fortunate enough to hear, who can improvise appropriate and musical music to moving pictures.

The instrument at the Astor Theater is only one of their many styles and, as the manufacturers justly say, is destined to become very popular. So again I suggest before you decide upon that pipe organ inform yourself regarding the Hope-Jones Unit Orchestra. The Rudolf Wurlitzer Co. will gladly give you details in case you are so situated that a personal examination is impossible.

Sound Effects.

Lapin’s “Dramagraph” was another exhibit which attracted much attention. This is purely a “sound-effect” instrument and its inventor claims that it can be made to produce “any conceivable sound known and used in dramatic or photoplay portrayal.” As that will cover theoretically every sound known to art and nature, you can see it is a pretty big proposition. At that I think they made all of them and added a few original noises during that week of July 7th. It is “some sound box” all right.

A Few Remarks From Columbus, Ohio.

“So much has been said about music for pictures in your valuable magazine that I feel as though I might add a few words of advice to picture-pianists. First of all, play the picture as it should be played, if you know how. If not, give up your position to one who does know how and save your credit. Not every pianist is qualified to play pictures. I have known the very finest performers of piano to be utterly lost on a picture as far as appropriate music for the picture goes. First of all study your picture thoroughly before you touch the piano, know just what you are playing for and play it. If you played a song for a singer you would have some feeling about that song, wouldn’t you? I am sure no piano player, no matter how brilliant or what amount of knowledge of music he may have, would play ‘Il Travatore’ in the same rambling time and tone as he would ‘Grizzly Bear.’ If some of the old authors who spent the best of their lives in writing such pieces as ‘Melody in F,’ ‘Sextette from Lucia,’ ‘Il Travatore,’ ‘Poet and Peasant,’ or any of the higher class of music, could hear how it is being literally butchered by the ragtime banger, they would week with mortification if they at all recognized their composition. Now, piano player, for sake of poor suffering humanity, please play as though you enjoyed your work and were not doing it simply because you had to, to buy a new frock or that it was more of a task than a pleasure. It is a task for an intelligent audience to sit through, probably, the very finest set of pictures, when they are poorly played. Play all the latest popular airs, of course, and, as much lively ragtime pieces as you like, but for your own sakes play them at the right time and in the right places. It is always best with a three (3) reel subject to carry the feeling of one reel straight into the next one, then play a rag or poplar air at the close of the picture. I was in a picture show in my own town just a few nights ago. The picture was ‘In Slavery Days,’ a Southern drama. The pianist was an exception; she played All the old Southern airs, I believe, that was ever written from ‘Kentucky Home’ to variation of ‘Mocking Bird’ and between the reels she played variations of ‘Massa’s in the Cole, Cole Ground,’ and, to tell the truth, there was not a dry eye in the house and scarcely a breath drawn between reels, simply because that girl got her audience and she held them. One more word, pianists throw your whole life and soul into your picture. Just make yourself fit in and put feeling into your playing. I believe that the time will eventually come when the ragtime junk will be thrown out altogether, and the higher class of compositions used. Pianist should remember that no matter where the theater is located, there is bound to be a musician at some time or other visit it. And they should also remember that his or her manager is depending on them for exactly one-half of his entertainment. If the pianist is no part of the entertainment and cannot hold up his or her end of the entertainment, the sooner the music is dispensed with the better. I have played in picture shows for seven years and the best way to play for pictures is to get the ‘Moving Picture World’ and the moving picture stories each week and read all the stories of the picture your exchange furnishes. Then you are familiar with the thread of the picture before the show. And until pianists do acquaint themselves with the different subjects of the pictures, the managers are bound to have poor music.

“The pianist alluded to in the above is Mrs. Ethel London at the Oakwood Theater, Columbus, Ohio, and I believe her to be one of the best in our City.

“Mrs. I. B. Sneed.”

New Music.

I notice Mr. J. Bodewalt Lampe, the well known American composer, is about to launch a collection of music designed for motion picture work. Mr. Lampe expects to have it on the market in a few weeks and you will doubtless see his announcement in these pages when the work is ready. It will be for piano and orchestra and can be used for any combination of instruments, and will, I am sure, be a welcome addition to the meager selection of music designed especially for picture work which is now on the market.

Clarence E. Sinn, “Music for the Picture,” Moving Picture World 23 August 1913, 833.
Image Sources: Excelsior Sound Effect Cabinet Moving Picture World 12 July 1913, 256; Wurlitzer Moving Picture World 9 August 1913, 692.

Opera Selections

This week's "Music for the Picture" column is once again a grab bag. It opens with a letter on using opera selections to accompany the films. The writer also makes a comment that most people in the audience seem unaware of the music, which prompts Sinn to argue that just because an audience seems not to paying attention to the music doesn't mean that the music is not affecting them, even deeply.

The remainder of the column is taken up with a plug for a collection of appropriate numbers for organ (Moving Picture World had been carrying an ad for the collection) and suggestions for music to three war films.

The following was crowded out of my last letter through lack of space: “Dear Sir: I always find your articles and department in general a great help in settling the question, ‘What shall I play for the picture.’ Even though I know for a certainty that three-fourths of the patrons of our theater are utterly oblivious to the music, for the other fourth, I feature every possible situation and climax in each picture as much for my own satisfaction as anything else.

“I agree with Miss Ditmar, in the February 1st number, in regard to opera selections; they are my especial hobby. I might suggest that in addition to those Miss Ditmar cites, the most of which I have used to advantage, the following are equally excellent: Little Boy Blue, Rose Maid, Spring Maid, The Firefly, The Love Cure, Oh, Oh, Delphine, Under Many Flags, Hanky Panky, Count of Luxembourg, He Cam From Milwaukee, Mlle. Modiste, Lady of the Slipper, and The Red Rose. Also the overtures, Pique Dame, Jolly Robbers, La Boheme,and Madame Butterfly. Fraternally, G. Warner Metcalfe, Grand Theater, Holyoke, Mass.”

Mr. Metcalfe says that though a majority of his audience may be oblivious to the music, he plays for the minority as well as for his own satisfaction. This is the right spirit. But very often a great part of the oblivious majority may sense the fitness of the musical accompaniment without being aware of it. Anyhow it is pretty generally understood that the music should never be so prominent as to detract from the picture, but should at all times be made subservient to it. For that reason many patrons may not always notice the music in particular unless there is something wrong with it. And, after all, a musician’s greatest satisfaction is found in his own approval of his work.

* * *
Organists, of whom the number employed in moving picture theaters is constantly increasing, will be delighted with the new book of organ music published by Meyer & Bro., 77 W. Washington Street, Chicago, Ill. I have examined this book and can vouch for the excellent quality of its musical contents and their adaptability to moving picture work.

* * *
The militant spirit seemed to predominate among the feature films viewed last week. Here are suggestions for music to three most excellent war pictures—every one a feature:

“The Woe of Battle” (Kalem).

1. Heavy hurry (for battle), p. and f. until title: “General Green Makes Headquarters, etc.”
2. “Flight of the Birds” (by Rice, pub. Walter Jacobs) until title: “You Are My Brother’s Murderer.”
3. Short sentimental—one scene.
4. Short march until title: “A Broken Heart.”
5. Pathetic music for one scene.
6. Long heavy, hurry (for battle) until hospital scene.
7. Plaintive until title: “Love’s Last Farewell.”
8. “The Vacant Chair,” very pathetic until close of picture.

“The Retreat From Moscow” (Pathe).(Courtesy William E. King.)Part First.

1. “Russian National Hymn” until title: “Napoleon, To Inflame the Courage, etc.”
2. “Marsellaise” (short) until change of scene.
3. Hurry (for battle) until man is brought to general; then subdue until change of scene.
4. Agitato p. and f. until title: “After the Battle.”
5. “Reine de Sabe” (March by Gounod) once through, then:
6. “Festmarsch from Tannheuser” [sic] until end of reel.

Second Part.

1. Storm scene from “William Tell” (long) until officers come out of the Krimlin [sic].
2. “Partant Pour la Syrie” (French song) until change.
3. Agitato p. and f. until title: “The Incendiaries.”
4. Solemn (for execution) until title: “Napoleon, Fearing the Russian Winter.”
5. “Marsellaise” until title: “The Grand Army Pursued by the Russians.”
6. “Partant Pour la Syrie” until title: “The Cossacks harass the Retreating Army.”
7. Second movement “Halka” overture until peasants attack straggling soldiers.
8. Short agitato until change of scene.
9. “Partant Pour la Syrie” until title: “At Last Getting the Remnant of His Army.”
10. “Marsellaise” until end of picture.

* * *
“Pauline Cushman, the Federal Spy” (Selig).Part First.

1. Third Movement of “Raymond Overture” pp. until title: “The Toast.”
2. “It Is Better to Laugh Than Be Sighing” (from “La Traviata”) until title: “Here’s to Jeff Davis and the Southern Confederacy.”
3. “Dixie” until change of scene.
4. Introduction to “Pique Dame” overture pp. until title: “In the South.”
5. “Bonnie Blue Flag” until title: “Pauline is Overheard.”
6. Short agitato until back to camp scene, then:
7. “Bonnie Blue Flag” again pp. until change of scene.
8. Semi-mysterious (similar to No. 4; long) until “Holmes Informs Rosecrans.”
9. “Military March” mf, and p. to action until she crawls out from under tent.
10. Agitato p. and f. according to action until she discards drum and rides away.
11. Hurry; begin p. and increase with action until she enters Union camp.
12. “Yankee Doodle” until end of Part First.

Part Second.

1. Short March until she is left alone in second scene.
2. Mysterious through next three scenes until she takes officers arm and exits.
3. Ling semi-mysterious with military suggestions; similar to second movement in “Halka” overture or “Lady Moon” song from Bohemian Girl played in march tempo until old negro left along in room.
4. Mysterious semi-agitato until title, “The Confederate Ambush.”
5. March, “Gate City” (Weldon); subdue while writing is seen; play until she is seen in cane brake.
6. Agitato p. and f. At tinted scene change to:
7. Hurry (for battle) p. and f. until title: “General Rosencrans Honors Pauline.”
8. March, until end of picture.

Source: Clarence E. Sinn, “Music for the Picture,” Moving Picture World 5 April 1913, 56.