Brownsville Weekly News

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FLINT BROWNSVILLE NEWS, FLINT, ~MICH.

PHILADELPHIA, Pa:~It was a proud day for MARIAN ANDER
SON,
Bok Award 4s
_mother, MRS.
famous daughter.

Pajladelphia~s

arg

well known Negire singer, when she was presented the $10,000
Citizen No. 1. Yet, a prouder day for
ANNA ANDERSON,

who is getting a kiss from her

Anderson Award Is ~
Praised By

PHILADELPHIA~(ANP)~ This
endorsed the
high honor paid Marian Anderson
by her home town last week, when
she was given the much | coveted
Philadelphia. award, more popularly called the Bok award.

From the 2,000 people present at
the Philadelplia. forum when the
gold medal) and $10,000 check were
given the.worlg: renowned.conixal~to, to the fewspaper editors, no
voice has been heard that did. not
enacrse the choice of the award
committee.

One indication cf. the temper of
the committee is shown in the fact
that the daily newspapers have

all ~raved~ editorially about the
award, commending the committee, and paying the warmest

tribute to Miss Anderson as ~singer, charming lady, and outstanding citizen~.

- TO HELP NEEDY

|

4

i

~;
j

Miss Anderson has promised to
use her $10,000. to help other needy
people of talent. Already a generous giver to charity, Miss AnGerson last Saturday before she
received the Bok award, contributcd $250 to United Chaities cam~paign~the community fund of
Greater Philadelphia.

The editorials praising the award
appeared in the staid Evening
Bulletin, the liberal Record, the
Jnquiter of wide morning circulation, and the Evening Public
Ledger. The editorials were as
follows:

MERITED RECOGNITION

Through a supremacy in her
art and a gracious and unaffected
~ personality, Marian Andersen has

for some time belonged to the
world at large; but Philadelphia.
4s her home, and Philadelphia

heights and bring fam?

takes special pride imher. It was
altogether fitting that: she should
receive the 20th Philadelphia
award. a

Girls ~and boys rise to hefoic
to their
cities in many ways Not ~ the
least of them in music. Miss An_ derson, the second woman to re
a seh the award, is the second mu
' sician. The very first award, the
for 1921, went ta Leopold Stow
owski.

ly
- Marian Anderson is gréat, but also
~pecause she~had achieved greatness

The present award will be wideecclaimed inot only because

4m circumstances of more~ than
_ usual difficulty. Her ig voice
Was a eift rarely bestowed but
without capacity to persevere in a
Ward struggle from humble begin
~pings, gift would have come to
jittle or nothing. Hers is a well
deserved ~tumph.

- ~Philadelphia Evening ~Bulletin.
OR WELL DESERVED

ore thah the customary deof
- the hiladelphia award, on
mday evening, to a famous sing~who accepted it with a charm_ modesty and dignity. Miss
ian Anderson, throughout the
ftraordinafy creer which took
fron? a church choir in South
adelphia to the heights of sucon the operatic and ocncert
stage, has done honor to her
~as well as to this city. The
st of her selection for the
~was ~well kent. so the apwhich gfeeted its announce
~the Philadelphia ~

ma attended the giving.

The Press

ment Was spontaneous and a sincere tribute.

It is sometimes diffecult to at
a winner of the Philadelphia award

whe actually represents the) purpose or its founding. That) pur
20se. Was to Honor true Phile,lelphians who do. distinguished seryice to their city either by, their
nctual work in and for PhiladelFhia or by increasing its prestige
and renown. Few names in vocal
musie of today are better known
than that of the newest winner of
award. It was
here she first was taught to sing
and from her she made her way to

mg = RON

Asserts Dance
Arrangements.
Insult To Race

* CLEVELAND, Ohio~(S N S)~
Worth Kramar, ccnductor of | the
popular *~Wings Over Jordan,~ Columbia; Eroadeasting System program, this week appealed to a num
| ber of top-flight band leaders re
questing them to please regard Negro spirituals as sacred music.

Kramer has received nation-wide
recognition for his arrangements of
Negro spirituals in connection wita
~Wings Over Jordan,~ heard on
the Columbia network each Sunday
morning from 9:30 to 10 (EST).
By many music critics, he is considered one of the-outstanding authorities in the realm of Negro
spiritual music which he arranges
and conducts for ~ Over
Jordan.~

Kramer based his appeal on the
fact that Negro spirituals are the
hymns and liturgical music of the
Negro religious service and that, ~jive~ or swing presentations of the

numbers are a direct insult to the

vast Negro population of the
country.:
In connection with Rev. Glenn

T. Settle, prominent Negrs clergy- 4

man of Cleveland, Ohio, Kramer~
has piloted ~Wings Over Jordan~
from a position as a local sustaining feature of radio _ station
WGAR, where he formerly served
as progam director, to a coast-tocoast CBS spot, and, during the
past 12 months, has conducted over
150 concerts in principal cities of
31 states.
~Wings Over
Negra spiritual

with
talks

Jordan,~~
music,

its
by

|, Prominent Negro pastors, educators,

lsProtestedB

SE

Sounds Protest

ri

business

WORTH KRAMER~Director of
the famed ~Wings Over Jordan~
choral ensemble, who this week in
letters addressed to several prominent orchestra leaders, ~ protested
against their use of ~swing~ arrangements of Negro Spirituais on
radio. He termed is a sacrilege.

and professional leaders,
and its plans for the establishment
~of college scholarship fund for
the betterment of interracial resone ps, is a eo cor porn

Duke Ellington Booked
For Delta Cotton Fete

GFREENVILLE, Miss. (SN) ~
Announcement ~was Made _ this
week by Levye Chapple, director
of Public Pelations of the Delta
committee that. final arrangements
had been completed with Duke
iS Be and. his. world-famed
orchestra. to play in Greenville on

April (30th, climaxing the gala
Delta Cotton Makers~ Jubilee
which will open in Cleveland,
fame.

Phla.. Public Ledger.

Miss, April 2%.

Ellington had. a preference of
two other engagements, bhit selected Greenville because of a
iite-long desire tc appear in the
Delta,

Aside from playing. here the
Duke will officially crown the
~Queen of the Delta Cctton Maker,~ who will be selected at the
close ofthe contest nuw in progress. Participants from i0 counties have already registered for the

contest, ~

By NELL DODSON

NEW YORK~(A N P)~Negro
musicians pessimistic about the firture band business holds for them
are reckoning without the influence
of Jchn Henry Hammond, or,
wealthy white young New Yorker
and executive of Columbia Recording Corporation.

Untiiy recently, fighting almést
single-handed, Hammond has donc

bands than any other individual]
n the music game today. The teal
story of his crusade hasn~t ~ been
old before perhaps because he has
ilway been reluctant to ~toot his
gwn horn,~ or even to let the public
snow the strides he has been making in a long, uphill batile. Even
musicians working with bands): in
close contact with Hammond have
jeen ignorant of what he has been
doing.
GET RADIO JOBS

Lately, he has been able to) get
the executives of New Yerk~s

executives of the NAACP to join
him. in the fight to hire Negro
musicians in radio broadcasting
house bands. Already on the executive board of the NAACP and! a
lifetime inember of the organization, Hammond has made ~his / influence felt in the fight for social

Lion for the race.

But right along with it, Hammond was writing for the English
magaine, Melody Maker, and: was

jAmerican recording director for
the English Columbia and the
Parlophone Record companies. it

Was also along through this period
that Hammond got Benny Gpodman~s band started for reccrdings.
He rounded up such musicians es
the great drummer, Gene Krupa
and Jack Teagarden, but I don~t
think any of them realized it) was
the beginning of an outfit destined to be one of the greatest maneymakers of future years. ~ |
~About this time,~ Hammond
reminisces, ~I heard a kid named
Billie Holliday singing in a Harlem
joint. She was terrifie~and so I
brought. Bennie Goodman uptowa

to hear her. Benny was so impress
more to better the lot of cclored;

powerful musicians~ local, 802, and the~

justice as well as musicai recogni-'

Sells Goodman
Idea Of Negroes
With Orchestra

ed he used her for recording; they. 16 at the time.~
HIRES HENDERSON
A few months later, Benny used

for the first time, a colored arranger, Fletcher Henderson.
~I was always hammering ~ at

Benny about using colored musicians. He was in favor of it, but
the idea was,so unique at the time,
he had to take a little time to get
used to it, I guess.~

In the fall of 1934, the band thai
Fletcher Henderson had at the
time, broke up. Benny was getting

jen outfit together to go into Billy

Rose~s Music Hall. Hammond had
heard Teddy Wilson out in Chicago, and he persuaded Goodman
to hear him when he came to New
York. The day Wilson arrived, he
made records for Columbia, and
climbed to the top from then on.
Goodman signed with Victor a
year jater, and in the summer of
1935, Benny used Teddy, Gene
Krupa, and-himself as a recording
trio. Tire three were a sensation
on the discs. Teddy was under
contract to Brunswick, so in return for recording with Benny,
Goodman hopped over and did
some recordings with Wilson. It~s
the King of Swing~s clarinet you
hear on.some of Teddy Wilson~s
early Brunswick recordings!
WILSON JOINS GOODMAN. Wilson was doing very well for
himself. He was piano player for
the Charioteers during the time he
wasn't ~busy recording. Finally
Hammond got Benny to bring Wil
Hot Club at the Congress Hotel in
the Windy City, and as a result,

ular band trio.

Hammond, dashing around the
country looking for talent, stumseregrewrec a mmiraginn ome 4 a

Los Angeles night spot, the Para
were her first. I think Billie was~

son to Chicago for a concert of the.

Goodman hired Teddy for his reg:

John Hammond Waging One-Man
Battle For Negro Musicians

dise. Again he told Goodman he
had a discovery, and three months
Jater Hampton joined Benny~s band
at the Hotel Pennsylvania in New
York, and the Goodman trio became a quartet. It was Hammond
who verified the fact that Goodman~s present guitar ace. Charlie
Christian, was as good as reported
and flew clear to Okiahoma to get
Chariie for the Goodman crew.

~The trio and quartet are responSible in a great measure for Benny~s climb to fame,~ Hammond will
tell you. ~And I think Benny is
the first to admit it!~

HELPS UNKNOWNS

In his unpretentious offices at
799 Seventh Avenue at Columbia
Recording, John Hammond quietly
but eifectively fights for the rights
he believes colored. musicians are
deserving of. The day I talked to
him, he was fighting for a recording session for an unknown band
from out-of-town. He had promised the leader and he wasn~t going
back on his word. He didn~t bluster
or argue, but the recording date
went through, a tribute to the influence of this young fellow, not yet
cut of his twenties. He~s friendly,
easy to meet, and always has time
for those he believes in; in fact,
his one failing seems to be that he
sees and talks to more people than
he actually has time fol~ His_ telephone jangles constantly.

~There are ali-Negro orchestras

for the simple reason that mixed
bands are rareties at present. Do
you realize there isn~t a Negro
musician employed in a regular
radio station house band or theatre
pit? I blame musicians unions in

many instances because they set up -
jtm-crow locals!~ (This doesn~t re- |

fer to 802, the New York local.)

Dorothy Maynor

One stride has been made _ to-~

-wards remedying the _ situation.
White singing stars like Buddy

Clark, Ginny. Simms, Eddie How
ard.and Mildred Bailey are using
colored musicians in recording

many colored arists as he can in

hig Old Gold air show.

L

Planning Trip
Thru The South

NEW YORK~(A N P)~Explain
ing the difference between Nordic
and Negro réaction to hearing a
spiritual Dorothy. Maynor says,
~The average white listener feels
the rhythm, the divided beat, when
he hears. a Spiritual. But we Negroes feel jalso the pulse! of the
music.~

~

The nected singer whose meteoric
rise to fame following her discovery by Serge Koussivitsky at the
Berkshire festivai a year agu last
summer, plans to take her first
vacation next summer. With two
cf her friends and a recording machine she will go south to. collect
spirituals.

~We want to record native arrangements,~~) sive says, ~~~which you
can~t put into musical notation.
Some Negro harmonies} are so
stvange there is tho way to express
them on* the staff~the quarter
tcne, for example. often~ used by
the Negro to embellish his singing.?

The search party this summer

plans to stiek close by the coasi
and on the islands, there are
numbers of Negroes who know the
spirituais and sing them they~
were meant ito be sung.

as

NOBLE SISSLE A FATHER
NEW YORK +-(ANP)-=~ Woble
Sissle, the well-known bandleader,
was presented with a bany girl
weighing.3) lbs., ~ oz. last week
by his~ wife, Mrs. Ethel Watkins
Sissle. The baby was born = at
Wickersham hosriial and wili be
named Syntthiag Scott.

tion under*the state laws of Ohio.
Kramer addressed his appeal to
the band leaders Wednesday, just
prior to departing on a concert tour
extending into-Florida and a number of other scuthern states.
Among the leaders receiving letters from Kramer were Fred War
ing, Glenn Miller, Sammy Kaye,
George Duffy, Horace Heidt, Gene
Krupa, Artie Shaw and Bobby

Byrne.

still |

Haitie McDaniel, cclebrated stage, screen and
who last Friday tvok marriage vows
for the third time in Tucscon, Arizona, where she

radio star,

became the bride of James F. Crawford.
the first matrimonial trip for ~Crawford...

the Wind, ~ and

It was
Miss Me
in. that picture.
award, (IEIN)

y > oe:: Tete: ss: i
Wanie} jumped to fame in her role in ~Gone With

incidentally was awarded the

Academy Award in 1939 for her great performance

She is shawn here heiios -the

DocumentaryFilmOnNegro
Life In The South Released

~One Tenth of a Nation~. To be Shown Throughout Country

NEW YORK-~(ANP)~The Neave both actors ane the

gro people

subject of ~One Tenth of a Nation,~ an authentic documentary
film on Negro education in the
United States which has just been
released in New, York ~and which
will soon be seen in motion picture theatres throughout, the coun
ivv. ft hac it~s world premiere at
the American Negro Exposition in
Chicago last summer.

Considered one of the outstanding documentary films made dur-*
ing the past year, this. 26 minute
movie is considered a true and
eloquent story of the Negro in the
South, with the emphasig placed

upon their need for greeter educationai advantages and wider ~opportunities to contribute their talents to. our economic life.

Of One Tenth of a Nation, Dr
Charles S, Johnson of Fisk University, says: ~The story is factually
sound. <The narrative is excellent
snd the music. is by. one of. the
most competent composers in the
field, Roy Harris.. The film as.a
whole accomplishes its purpose of;
being a social study. artistically
told. 3
SHOWN AT EXPOSITION.

It was produced by. means of
a grant from the General Educe-;

tion board of the Rockefeller

RATING THE

By FRANK MARSHALL DAVIS

econ

L

SWING BY ANTHOLOGY.

To keep company with its Anthology of White Jazz, Decca has
issued an Anthology of Colored
Jazz consisting of 12~ sides waxed

>

Fred Teleak better.
colored veteran of marty ~western films, is ~back in action in a new

range thriller, ~Twd-Gun Sheriff.~

cowboy star heads the cast,

Two-Gun ManFrom The West

5 movie ~audlesce as ~Snow-Fiakes,~

Don ~Rea~ Berry, popular action

~ ee Seetrerenresse

| 3LUES. Albert. Ammons,

R tion.

Chorlic Pieree; CHINA BOY~

| between 1934 and 1939. Titles and
bands are SAVE IT PRETTY MAMA-, Louis Armstrong, and AIN~T
MISBEHAVIN~ Duke ~ Filinston:

~Rosetta, Earl Hines, ain MOTEN
SWING. Andy Kirk, HOTTER
THAN ~ELL, Fletcher Henderson

end JOHN'S IDEA, Count Basie:
WILD MAN. BLUES, Jimmie
Lunceford: VIPER, MAD, Sidney
Bechet, and EARLY MORNIN~

With such a galaxy. of _ stars,
grade-g tunes and sterling performences, it~s difficult and unfair to
single out any one for special menHowever, it should be
pointed~ out that ~Meditation~ is
the Bean~s greatest recorded solo
in rhapsodic vein and ~Blue
Heaven~. is recognized as one of
ihe finest. Lunceford~s ever. cut.
Isut there I go: I. could easily,
mention. soMe unusual quality
about each side. t's enough to
say that this album has my unhqualified endorsement and has
hot jazz no enthusiast can afford
to be without.

Al) collectors know about Frank
Teschemacher, white Chicago style
clarinetist who died in 1932. Some
authorities consider him the greatest clarinetist in jazz history; ~ all
concéde his senius, Columbia
hag reissued in a special album
cight of his most famous sides
wexed in 1927 and 1938. Titles
end hands are NOBODY~S SWEETHEART and SISTER KATE. by
and

SUGAR, LIZA and NOBODY~S,
SWEETHEART. McKenzie an a
condon: SHEM-ME-SHA-WABBLE
atid ONF STEP TO HEAVEN, |
Mif~ Mole.

Chicago style has often been
mentioned before in these column.
It produced some of the most. famous white.stars, among them. Gene
Krupa. Bud. Freeman. Mugsy
Spanier. Ped Nichols ard Jimmy
McPartland. all of whom are
heard jn this collecticn. Benny.
Goodman himself was a-disciple of }.
~Teschemacher. Of the bands
heard here, Pierce~s is the only
peor me.. But or Tesch, that~s;
different. While I personally can
name 2 half dozer or more whom
I would rather hear. that detracts
net all from his ability. ~ The
man~. ndlavine had burning vitalitv. a fierte drive and breath-taking ideas. His chief fault was

+ yun down,

~high explosive shells.

~foundation in ~eonnection with the

American Négro Expositicn~s celetration of 73 years. of achievement,
of the Negro race.

A committee. including Dr.
Channing Tobias of the YMCA;
Dr. Rufus Clement of Atlanta University; Elaude A. Barnett ~of the
American Negro Exposition; Dr. F.
D, Patterson of Tuskegee and Dr.
Arthur Wright of the Southern
Education foundation played. an
active part in the ~ preliminary
work on the picture.

The early scenes of the picture

show the South~ as it exists to-.. |)

day. The voice of Maurice Ellis

the history of the race startirg

with the first settlers who came

to the South over 300.years ago,..

and how their contribution to its
creation made it a land of plenty.

The scene shifts tothe rural
districts and the picture shows the
over-crowded school
rooms where the Majority of the
Negro children recieve their only
education; their meagre life at
home is~ depicted in honest detail.

SCHOOLS ARE SHOWN

There is shown the other side,
too~institutions of higher learning,
vocational and service training
schools, colleges and universities
such as Tuskegee and Atlanta; and
eraduate schools such as Meharry
Medical college where future ~men
in white~ are seen in the aperating room,

The picture ends with the young
farmer behind a pair of mules
saying ~We-in this country watch
the bitterness and. strife abroad,
end we know that differences of
opinion of race and color never
will be sloved by using bombs and
We know
there is a better way, and thought
ful men must find it if we are to~

show the werld that our democracy can work without injustice.
We- want our children to be part
cf that democracy so they -can
take from it~and give to it~like
other men.

The film was produced for the
American Film_Center in
York and is being ditributed to
moticn picture theatres by Mary
Warner, a New York distributor.

his technique, inadequate, end ~ his
tone. far too shrill. But if you
overlock these debits, you'll get
plenty of kicks from this album
for there~s a wealth of energetic
j2zz here on wax.

SINGLI DISCS

Che of the top platters of the
week js by Lil Green on Blues
~bird's race list. I turned thumbs
down. on her ~Romance in the
Dark~ and now turn around _ to

em mem

applaunq GIVE YOUR MAMA ONE >

SMILE and MY MELLCW: MAN.

Her singing on these is a revela
tifin and she has the true blues
feeling. Her gorgeous accomnaniment is obvicusly Lonnie
Jcbnson on suiter. a pianist wha

~sounds like Parl Hines and a bass- ~

ist. _. Utilizine his rhythm style
mnderlining ~Casbah Bines.~ Wooex Harman ttrns slow heat on

RITE FLAMPS far Necea couvied.

with FIT TRAPPERS BALL; a
inmn special with octave changes
thof~. - POMNANIon Tiere ta

~Wood Choppers~ Rail~
top drawer,

This ir