In Foster’s heyday, the music industry was a scattershot proposition, dominated by hymns and light, classically inflected numbers. Tin Pan Alley’s songwriters, song pluggers, and song publishers made their living making music make money, and besides creating a vast body of unforgettable tunes they established what became the American recording industry.Īmerica has always had popular songwriters–in the mid-1800s Stephen Foster had fans humming and singing tunes like “Oh, Susanna,” “I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair,” and “Beautiful Dreamer,” among more than 200 others that he wrote. However, Americans were crazy for pianos, and the music they played and listened to on pianos at home, in church, in saloons, and onstage at vaudeville houses and music halls came packaged on paper printed with a number’s key, chords, and, if there were lyrics, words. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, recorded music existed, first on carnauba wax-coated tubes, then on fragile lacquer disks, but playback equipment was costly. Tin Pan Alley came into being to serve a market for sheet music, sales of which were indicators of songs’ popularity. Ragtime, which was named for its “ragged” syncopated style, evolved in the late 19th century in Midwestern saloons, dance halls, and brothels. Nevertheless, in the tradition of stories too good to check, the phrase “Tin Pan Alley” caught on, first referring to the street along which Von Tilzer and rivals toiled and eventually as a synonym for the popular music industry that sprouted in New York around 1890 and blossomed in the first few decades of the 20th century. Gotham newspaper legend holds that Rosenfeld, who wrote for the New York World, had a column called “Tin Pan Alley ,” but no supporting evidence has ever surfaced. Several versions of this anecdote exist, and both Rosenfeld and Von Tilzer took credit for the nickname thereafter associated with that stretch of West 28th Street. “Well,” Von Tilzer replied, “I guess this must be Tin Pan Alley.” “It sounds like a bunch of tin cans,” Rosenfeld cracked. Entering Von Tilzer’s office, Rosenfeld greeted his pal. Through open windows along West 28th blared a cacophony of pianos being pounded in a raucous range of keys and states of tune. On every building along 28th Street signs advertised the music publishers operating within: M. Von Tilzer kept an office in that locale, and for good reason. Rosenfeld, a songwriter and journalist, had come to that neighborhood to call on fellow tunesmith Harry Von Tilzer, one of the day’s best-known songwriters. ![]() One day in 1903, Monroe Rosenfeld paid a visit to the block of Manhattan’s West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands (USD $).With Joan Crawford and Gary Cooper.Īn American serving in World War I falls for a spirited nurse.Ī new bride disappears the same night as a dead body pops up.Ī monarch thinks he can find a simpler life with his former wife. Two friends decide to attend a convention against their wife’s wishes.įour soldiers reflect on their reasons for enlisting.Īn aristocratic English girl’s tangled love life creates havoc. With Douglas Fairbanks and Loretta Young.Ī Broadway tunesmith uses woman as his inspiration.Īn Englishman’s efforts to save three young women from eviction land them all in jail. Two tramps turned fortune tellers try and solve a kidnapping.Ī bookworm turns himself into a romantic adventurer. To watch TCM online, check out their TCM Watch site. Check ’em out! Pre-Code Hollywood Movies on TCM in September TCM’s September schedule is a lot lighter on pre-Codes than Augusts, but there are some gems, as well as a few movies I’d never even heard of. Otherwise, thanks to Summer Under the Stars, I’ve been watching way too many Robert Montgomery, Angie Dickenson, and Brigette Bardot movies. ![]() September will (mostly) be dedicated to exactly whom I wished I’d been able to cover a lot in August– Fay Wray. Well, I hope your August was good! You may have noticed that I added a few more reviews than expected– I’m just cool like that. Pre-Code.Com Site News for September 2016
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