A WAITER COMPOSER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14925, 24 February 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

A WAITER COMPOSER.

MAKES £15,000 A YEAR. A composer who cannot read or write a singlo note of music is responsible for a tuno which is being played, whistled, and sung all over America, and which, judging by the vogue it has attained, should very soon bo plaguing New Zealanders. Tho composer is Irving Berlin, and the song' is ".Alexander's Ragtime Band." Despite the fact that it has only- been, out a few months, over 1,000,000 copies of the song have been sold, and " Alexander's Ragtime Band " looks like beating all publishers' records. Two years ago Mr, Berlin was a waiter in a Chinatown restaurant, and he used to drum on tho piano with his own tunes for tho benefit of the customers. Somebody suggested that ho should get a friend to put them into music for him, and ho did so. After the famous Marathon race in London which resulted in the disqualification of Dorando Mr. Berlin wrote a song named after the little Italian, and played it for tho first timo in his restaurant, where it made a big hit. Ho sold it for £5, and the publisher made £4000 out of it. Naturally ho now gets better prices for his work, and he is earning an incomo of £15,000 a year.