HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1948-5-19, Page 2He Makes Money By Wrecking Musics
By PETER RONALD
If you should happen to Mention
some evening that you're going to
et Performance by a musician named
Lindley Armstrong Jones, very
probably your listeners would stare
at you In blank amazement, saying
they'd never heard of the gentle-
man.
But just say that it's "Spike"
Jones who's in town, chances are
they'll want to come along with you
— and find it utterly impossible to
secure tickets.
* * *
For Spike Jones — we might as
well drop the quotation marks —
in just a few years has risen from
obscurity to a position where he is
one of the most sought-after attrac-
tions, also one of the biggest money-
makers, in all the vast entertain-
ment world, And all just by what
seems like a fairly simply process
of taking good, melodious tunes,
wrecking them, then tossing the
pieces around to fall where they
may.
With most entertainers, one great
problem is attracting a sufficient
number of paying customers Into
the theatre or hall. But with Jones,
it is just the reverse, his chief
trouble being to induce the audi-
ence to leave when a show is finish-
ed. When he plays at moving -pic-
ture houses of the continuous sort,
his younger fans flock in for the
first performance, then try to stay
for the entire day. In order to emp-
ty the place—so that "fresh money"
may pass into the box office —
Spike usually has to offer stage
door prizes — souvenirs for the
Arst four kids showing up at the
back -alley entrance.
5 * *
Born at Long Beach, California,
in 1911, Spike felt his initial urge
"Spike" Jones
along the musical path when, as a
boy, he received a pair of drums as
a Christmas gift — which might, or
might not, be a warning to fond
parents. In no time at all he was
drum major in his Ifigh School
Band; and shortly thereafter form-
ed his own six -piece unit which
sought engagements under the name
. of "Spike Jones and his Five Tacks.' -
Later on he played drums with
various professional bands, and had
a semi-permanent engagement as
hpuse drummer for a record -mak-
ing concern. Here, after regular
sessions of cutting records were
over, he and a few of the other
musicians used to get together and
play as fancy dictated, introducing
sundry weird and novel effects.
* * *
Records of some of these num-
bers were made, just for the plays
ers' own amusement, and the first
of these to be offered to the pub-
lic was a version of Red Wing.
This was followed by items such
as Behind Those Swinging Doors,
Pass the Biscuits Mirandy and
others — none of which attracted
much attention or piled up any
•
profits, although shay ars all now
"caecters items."
The first real hit came more or
less by chance. A number was
wanted to go on the other side of
a disc of I Wanna Go Back to
West Virginia, so Spike and his
bunch were hastily assigned to do
Der Fuehrer's Face, They made
not just one, but two, the second
containing the now -famous "Bronx
cheer" effect.
Somewhat to Jones' surprise this
second version was the one select-
ed by the record company—and
that's how the whole thing start-
ed. The public: went wild over the
"razzberry" effect following each
"Heil" and bought over a million
copies of Der Fuehrer's Face.
Jones and his outfit were imme-
diately offered juicy motion pic-
ture radio and recording contracts
with the result that soon Jones
was — as one writer put it—works
ing 23 hours a day, making all
the money in the world, and find-
ing no time to spend any of it.
* * *
Last year, thinking he could
sense a souring of public taste to-
ward straight "name" bands, he
formed what he calls his "Musical
Depreciation Revue." This is a
travelling show that carries sotne
forty people, only a dozen or so
of whom are in any sense musi-
cians. The show travels in two
Pullman cars, and iacluded in the
outfit are, among other things, a
couple of small pigs, a midget, a
giant, a lady harpist who plays but
one number and smokes a cigar
while doing so, -Ick curtains in-
cluding one which shows Beetho-
ven sticking out his tongue at a
criticism of what they are doing
to his melodies and, last but by no
means least, a collection of over
200 noisemaki g gadgets of every
description.
Just as an example of the strenu-
ous life Jones leads, during just
one week in Los Angeles his Res
vue played eight shows at the
Philharmonic — and Spike also
made a short moving picture, did
his regular weekly broadcast, and
found time to cut a few records
on the side. It is said that his
Income runs as high as $165,000
gross per week—but it is also
generally and freely admitted that
he works hard for the money.
The whole show is built around
the formula of taking a well known
piece, such as Liebestraum or
The Old Black Magic — then pro-
ceeding to wreck it by tossing in
everything from old tin carts to
police sirens. Anything can happen
during a Spike Jones number, and
usually does — like the one in
which Spike suddenly fires a revol-
ver shot into the air, and a flock
of dead ducks falls to the stage,
followed by a live specimen
descending by means of a para-
chute,
* * *
It all sounds crazy, you say. Well
it probably is. But anyway Spike
Jones has already made over a
million dollars out of it, with every
prospect—unless the public should
suddenly tire of the whole thing
—of making a heap more. He owns
a big limousine, which he never
has a chance to drive — a costly
house with swimming pool and alt
the accessories, which he never
can find time to visit — and al'
though he thinks more of his
eight-year-old daughter than of
anything else in the world, he only
sees her about once every six
months.
Spike says he'd love to settle
down and get some fun out of
the money he's made. Maybe, some
day, he will. In the meantime his
home is the drawing -room of a
gloomy Pullman, coupled onto
slow trains, travelling about the
country playing as many as 130
different cities in 150 nights.
CROSSTOWN
By Roland Coe
"We don't NEED an umpire, tank you. The way WE play
E'VERYBOD umpires!"
Operation "Mosquito" Is On at Camp Borden—Commander of this u10(111iedl Wasp Il.unc-thruw-
er, Sgt. D. J. Read, fires a burst of insecticide into one of the mosquito breeding grounds on
low-lying fringes of Camp ]Borden. It's part of a spring offensive to curb the winged terrors
with a mixture of DDT, kerosene and waste oil. This prevents adult mosquitos emerging
from their breeding grounds.
rev
�G!
That Sme99y
Old Pipe
By
FRANCES DAVIDS
With the air of a deeply wound-
ed man, Henry Little put on his
coat and hat and stalked out of
the house, slamming the door. He
could take slurs on Isis person, but
there was one thing on which he
drew the line. He couldn't take in-
sults to that faithful old compan-
ion, that sympathetic friend, that
trusted comforter and unfailing
cheerer -upper, his pipe.
Up to now Sarah's hints hadn't
bothered hint, but this morning she
had ceased to hint. "How long,"
she had demanded tartly, "am go-
ing to have to stand it?"
Henry's small, , buttony brown
eyes behind the pale plastic -rimmed
spectacles noted the headlines with
interest. "Bandit Holds Up An-
other Local Store." Well, well.
silt Il ln.ofI 111 �� jl li l �!,,►,1411"
Sarah sniffed disapprovingly.
The police still hadn't caught the
fellow, and this was the third hold-
up he had pulled,
and when I saw that hole in
the rug, I wanted to scream,"
"What?" he asked guiltily, con-
scious that he had heard only part
of Sarah's remarks.
"I said," she repeated exasper.
atedfy, "I found a hole in the rug
and ashes all over the sofa last
night. Now, what are you going
to do about it?"
Rain To Order
In 25 Minutes
Results front Australian experi-
ments in "rainmaking" are generally
regarded to be more significant
than those achieved elsewhere in the
world, according to chief of the
radio physics division of the Aus-
tralian Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research, Dr, E. G.
Brown,
Dr. Brown said -that he was cau-
tiously hopeful that rain -making
would be successfully developed by
artificial stimulation of clouds. Ex-
periments had been made with eight
different types of clouds, The most
sessful experiment occured al-
huccost 12 months ago when 300
pounds of dry ice, dropped from an
aircraft into a cloud, produced a rain
$lar covering 20 square miles In
AS minutes.
Latest experiments will involve
the use of liquid substitute for dry
ice. The plane, to be specially fitted,
will carry several hundred gallons
of the substitute which will be
sprayed on selected clouds.
;491'1,, , 1
"Me? Why, er—nothing, I guess,"
he said lamely.
"You certainly are," she cried an-
grily, She wagged a threatening
finger, "I'm sick and tired of find -
in ashes all over the place. Now you
get rid of that smelly old pipe,
Henry Little, or 1'11 get rid of it
for you!"
Reaching the store he unlocked
the door and went ill, put on his
sweater and lit up his pipe. The
brightly -labelled cans on the shelves,
the fresh fruits and vegetables, the
dairy products, the household
items, all stood in their appointed
places, like old friends, Today he
would have to go through the stock
and reprice some of the canned
goods,
The door opened and a stocky
young man came in, dressed in
a Clark coat with the collar up
about his ears and a slouch hat
down over his eyes, Dressed rather
warmly for such a day, Henry
thought. "Yes, sir, what can I do
for you?" he asked pleasantly.
"Quiet in here today, isn't it?"
the ratan said.
"Very," Henry agreed,
""1 -hen put up your hands, bud,
and open up that cash register,".
the elan snarled, levelling 'a gun
at Henry.
Henry almost fainted with sur-
prise and shock. His knees rattled
against each other, and he was pow-
erless to move. "Come on, hurry
up," the man said brusquely. The
roof of Henry's mouth was so dry
and parched he thought he would
choke. What should he do? He
couldn't fight with the man, who
was younger and stronger—and be-
sides, there was that ominous gun
pointed at hint.
With -this terrible predicament
faring him, he somehow noted
that on the shelf a little beyond the
bandit a can of pineapple juice was
balancer] precariously on another
can and almost looked like it was
going to fall. Henry watched it
hopefully, and a wild, crazy idea
formed in his mind,
Crash1 The can fell to the floor,
startling the thief so that he made
an instinctive half -turn, and as he
did so, Henry pulled out the pipe
from his pocket and stuck it in
the man's back, "Now put your
hands up," he said hoarsely, and
with as much menace as he could
muster, The gun fell to the ground
with a thud and Henry dragged it
over with his foot and picked it
up. "Go out the door and into the
store next door," he ordered, his
hand trembling. In the barber
shop next door he told the as-
tounded barber to call the police
It was on the front page of the
Evening Clarion:
"LOCAL MERCHANT FOILS
BANDIT, USES PIPE AS GUN."
All evening long people kept call-
ing and telephoning to congratulate
Henry, and lath that night he sank
gratefully onto the sofa and took out
his pipe. Sarah, who had just come
in, sniffed disapprovingly. "Henry,
I—" She stopped short,
"Let me light 1t for you, dear,"
she said sweetly.
Output of Steel
In Britain Soars
in the first quarter of this year
the British steel industry has beaten
the all-time output record set up in
the Dunkirk period of the Battle
of Britain in 1940,
From January to March, produc-
tion ran at an annual rate of 14,933,-
1100 tons. During March it was
stepped up to 15,117,00 tons.
The news also has just come from
the works of the steel company of
'Wales at Margam that the British
and I?uropean pig iron production
record was broken during the week
of April 12-18, More than 5,400 tons
of pig iron were produced from a
single blast furnace -3811 torts more
than ever has previously been produc-
ed by any one blast furnace in
Europe,
.., THE
GREEN THUMB...
By Gordon
No Rush
A few clays cf [caro[ sunshine
50e111 to put a lot of people into a
fever to get all their garden planted.
'rids is a mistake.
Seed and plants
are rushed in too
hurriedly and
there is lialdc to
be neglect later
on. In practically
every section of
`v4D
the country bosh
vegetal,' es a n dl
flowers, ran he
planted] successfully at regular in-
tervals right up to the end of
June, It is far better to have things
• .cluing .rat periodically with a con-
tinuous supply of fresh vegetables.
and fresh flowers titan to rush the
whole garden in on a single after.
noon. Go at the inh gradually, ad-
vise those you know, get the soil
properly prepared, and enjoy a sue-
rssion of bloom and fresh vege-
tables,
fleets, carrots, beans, spinach, let•
trice, radish, etc., ran he planted
every other week or so right up to
late June, Flowers too, can be
spread over several [seeks. Bedding
plants Ike petunias, zinnias, stocks,
spider plants, tomatoes, cabbage,
etc„ should not be set out until all
danger of frost is over. Tendcr
things like gladioli, mannas, melons,
squash, corn, etc„ also come in this
category,
Double Checic
\\'ith certain things like potatoes,
gladioli anal other plants subject to
soil carried disease, treatment just
previous to planting in advisable.
This kills, spores of diseases, C11.
Diplomacy
Little I-Ierman often visited his
Uncle's store, where he had easy
access to streets, and, at times,
innocently yielded to the tempta-
tion to help himself. Mother be-
came aware of this, and remonstrat-
ed: "Mow, you mustn't ask for any-
thing, nor take anything, but wait
till Uncle gives you something."
The next time Herman obeyed
and waited is little and then said;
"Uncle, 1 don't ask for anything,
and I don't take anything, I just
wait till you give me some." It
worked.
L. Smith
mirages quick growth and guardp
ltgninst rot and other diseases that
may have wintered over in the
sof I,
For Autumn Salad
For autumn use, no salad green
surpasses 1'e-tsai, or Chinese cab-
bage as it is inaccurately called.
It should not h^ sown until June
or ,lnly, and then in the row. ft
is difficult to transplant. A lath or
cheesecloth frame to shade it from
intros, 't may be advisable when
the plants are still small.
Winter has a special salad, Wit-
loof chicory, A rest delicacy, it is
well worth the space it occupies
in the garden all season and in
th house later. It is sown early,
uhcn the soil has been smoothly
worked ;le if for carrots. After
tl.c seedlings bare been thinned to
stand about nine itches apart, they
will require little attention until the
sprint', end. They do need weeding
though, until plants are big enough
to shade these competitors.
In the fall the roots are dug up
with a spading fork, trimmed of
rootlets and cut back at the top
to within an incl of the crown.
Stored] in the garden shed, a few
at a time are taken into the cellar,
replanted in soil and covered with
light -excluding boxes or pots un-
til they send up the compact little
heads,
16.46
Is. Apply freely, and rub.
That's all. It's greaseless,
fast -drying• has no strong
odor. And it brings quick
relief to muscle and joint
soreness, stiffness, ache.
LARGE ECONOMICAL SIZE 65C
Great Britain's King and Queen at Home
Their Majesties, The King and
Queen, are shown its photographs
talcen for their silver wedding anni-
versary which was celebrated on
April 26. In the tipper picture His
Majesty reads a magazine while the
Queen plays solitaire in their pri-
vate apartments in Buckingham Pal-
ace, Their engagement was an-
nounced Jan, 15, 1923 in the Court
Circular: "It is with greatest pleas-
ure that the King and Queen an-
nounce the betrothal of their belov-
ed son, the Alike of Yorlc to Lady
Elizabeth Bowes -Lyon, daughter of
the i?arl and Countess of Strath-
more and Kfnghorne, to which un-
ion the King has gladly given his
consent." At the age of 23 the future
Queen was the first of Princess
Mary's bridesmaids to become a
bride, In the lower picture, taken
in the blue drawing room of the
Palace, Her Majesty is playing the
song "'The Toast".
SOME DAY IM COIN' To MARgH INTO
C.P."S OFFICE' AND SAY"L1syuN,You
SLAVE DRIV"ER't',"You CAN'T CRACK THE
WHIP AND NwkE ME JUMP T reotioN
A 110oP ANY MORE... I'M ONTO you....
UV?!
:WAS attar
JoSCING
r(S(E.