HOW MUCH FOR A SONG?

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11126, 27 July 1907, Page 3 (Supplement)

HOW MUCH FOR A SONG?

How much for a single song? Record has just been broken by the astounding profits made out of the favorite pantomime sdng of last year, "By Uie Side of the Zuyder Zee." The publisher announces that he has cleared almost quarter of a million— to be exact £200,000— by its sale^ When questioned further on the matter* Mr Bert Feldman said : — v Tlie Zuyder Zee conjures up the recollection of the recent struggle with the Boers together with the newly-formed ties of friendship that have sprung out of the embers of that war. And so the song succeeded m touching tiie warmest spot imaginable m the British heart. When, therefore, A. J. Mills, who wrote tlie words, and Bennett ■ Scott, the composer of the melody, submitted tbe song to me, I at once foresalwjjreat possibilities as have since been realised. . Within an "incredibly short time all England was singing the song, Miss Annie Purcell, the actress, having first sung it m London.

Even more than "Au Revoir, My Little Hyacinth," which Miss Ellaine Terriss introduced m England and set the English heart on fire with, "By the „ Side of the Zuyder Zee" has been concreted m pantomime performances . all over the British Enipire.. >! And so the result, at least from a" financial poirit of view, may safely be said to be tne most astounding that ever fell to the lot of a publisher. . This is the more remarkable when one 'fforisiders , tlie extreme simplicity of the words pf these two songs. .. ;