Composer of ‘Bei Mir’ Tells How He Had to Split $30 Fee’ Got. Only ‘That Sum for Rights to Old Song That In! ee ey Sweeping U. S.—And 55% =| ' Went to Lyricist! bes 27 “By “MICHEL, MOK, '” “New. 'York, Jan, 4. 2B. 2 holo Secunda, “eotnposer|.. of (Bet “Mir Blat;; Du Schone (TS: Me. You \Are- Beautiful), ‘ourrent radio ‘me ace; WwW Having his shoes shined at a ' Hellenic) satablahineht ion ‘Broadway. es The’ Pogtblidese.” whistled at’ rt work. “Like 86, many, othér.. boot- blacks,.as well. as bankers, barbers and bookkeepersa ‘whistling at+ their work: nowadays, he whistled’ “Bel Mir Bist Du Schoeén.' : Secunda: That song Is making quite a hit mow Ian't it? ‘ Bootblack:. Hit ain’ t the word, It's a riot, Secunda: I guess the guy who’, wrote that must be making plenty * ,of dough. 7 ‘. Boptblack: Not him. That dope.’ sold his song for 30 bucks,, “And that?! eald Secunda today, after .telling*the story, “ian't the hdif of it, and when I say oe ee I mean the half. “ Then He Had To Split,’ “IT had to split the money with the nie, wha, wrote the original Yiddish lyrics, So "Bel Mir Bist Du tare lye the bel) mir vonly 15 dol- rs Pe ‘The tale ‘ot Secunda, and‘ hia 30, or, rather, 15, pleces of allver should really be told ‘at the helght of Sum- mer. It makes your blood run cold. Tho song (pleasa don't call it “My Beer, Mr, Shane,” no matter what seems to come from your loudspeak- er) is): wowlng - Brooklyn and, the Bronx. That, says Sam’ Serwer, gens éral field manager of Harms, Inc., the publishers, was ‘to be expected. ner‘But it's wowlng Manhattan, Quéens and Richmond as well. Up in. Yorkville, .the Nazi bleratuben patrons yodel It. religiously, under the Impression that it’s a Goebbels- approved "German chanty.. And it's wowing the rest of the country, ‘too. They're singing !t in Camden, Wilkes-Barre, Hamilton, O., and’/Kenosha, Wis. The cowboys of the Weast.are warbling the un- dulating melody and so are the hill- billlen of the South, the lumberjacks of' the Northwest, the fruit packers of California, the salmon cansers of Alaska.’ .. : _ Way Up On List In ‘its Nst of the 15-best-selling songs, Varlaty, show bualness_trade paper, placed it fifteenth a few weeks ago. This week it stands second. “Two weeks ago the song was No. 14 in Variety's box of the 15 hits played most on the radio. This week It ls No. 3. .° Records of thé ditty are selling ike ‘aspirin tablets at a’ Legion con- ventlon-from: 2000 to’ 2500 a day. It jumped’) the ‘night club salary of’the Andrews ‘sisters, who sing, it on a Fecord, from $200 to $650 a week, Band ‘leaders are growling because’ the publishers can't ‘print orchestral parts fast’enough to meet thelr need. + |” fea on Serwery says he can't give out figures oh the sheet music sale, but. it: Is- Understood. his firm | received’ orders for more than 18,000 ples: over, jast° week-end. “Those fn the known believe’ it's outselling “Yes, We, Have No Bananas" and “The Musiq. Goes “"Round, and Around" when those, hymns ‘were at their helght., ae :' “Bei Mir’ ‘will be -the theme song. of a movie—“‘Love, Honor and Be- haye'!—which Warner Brothers (who own Harms, Inc.)-:will--release’ the end of this month. = = * rR yi e Whe Geta the, Royaltlest = 51 Ana “who ‘will: packet the \royalties on the’ day of reckoning af the end: of Rebruary, when!the plece, in ity present) English | version,.; will ,.be three months old?- | “Wag 2". OP "Phat harvest, (hundreds of, thou- gands.'.of, dollars) , will ,bé- reaped chiefly by’ Saul Ghaplin and ‘Sam Cahn, the lads - who’ wrote the English lyrics and put a little awing into the musical arrangement (they didn't change a note of the‘tune); the publishera and the record mak- ers. Latest reports have it that Secunda will be given a share of royalties, however. Secunda wrote the melody In 1932, Yiddish words were supplied by Jacob Jacobs, an actor-dlrector con- nected with the Parkway Theatre, at Eastern Parkway and St. John's ‘place, Brooklyn, — wees : Tt was part of the score of.a Yid- dish musical comedy called “I Would If I- Could," produced at the Park Theatre, then the Holland. Aaron Lebedeff and Lucy Levine introduced it, It was’a hit, sold in the neigh-' borhood of 10.000 copies and was sung and played for several seasons in lower East Bide night clubs. vote “