Show DEAN OF OPERETTA A Romberg Has Composed Over Seventy Oper Operettas and Musicals Sigmund Ro Romberg berg whose whose life Ute story soon will be shown on the worlds world's movie screens is the kind of ot man who makes maltes highbrows unhappy He insists he is a middle brow composer and that he is happy beIng being being be be- ing just that For a man who bears the impressive label of ot Dean of ot American operetta it is a startling admission ion Most Americans have middle middlebrow middlebrow middlebrow brow tastes in music What's wrong with that he says In support of ot his statement that hed he'd rather write melodies with a sentiment and a tune that people can remember and whistle than heroic arias that almost almost almost al al- al- al most no one can sing without weeks of ot hectic practice Since Romberg exiled himself to America 43 years ago to escape his parents' parents determination to make a abridge abrIdge abridge bridge builder out of him he Is quite content to have the same tastes as most of the rest of ot the people in the United States Besides he asks what highbrow highbrow highbrow high high- brow achieves enough importance during his own life liCe to merit a Hol- Hol II n SIgmund dean of American Amen Ameri can onn operetta who has composed more than 70 O state and screen operettas operettas operettas op op- op- op and musicals musical III Ills most popular pop slat ular include tIny time Student Prince and the Desert Deser Son Song lywood movie treatment of ot his career while he is still around to see it Romberg will be able to see it as soon as Hollywood finishes the moxie it is now making S S S SS S SIGMUND I G M 1 U N D ROMBERG really might have built some beautiful bridges if it his parents had their way and he had become a construction construction construction tion engineer But Instead he has turned out more than 70 stage and screen operettas and musicals among them standards like Maytime Maytime Maytime May time Student Prince and the Desert Song one ont or the other of ot which is still touring somewhere at almost any time He has written written writ writ- ten a magnificent total of at 2000 songs like Lover Come Back to Me And he isn't finished yeti yet There is lots more music to be written written lots lots of ot it in irs me and me-and and I am writing it he explains Rio nn nat r Vira un lo Ic 0 r r mr r nn on- 0 b b u.- u. other musical which he expects to have on Broadway this winter Some composers compose their songs on a piano some in their head Romberg composes most of ot othis his music on a Hammond organ so that he can get the effect of ot the entire orchestra as he tests a melody melody melody mel mel- ody on the Hammond He used to todo todo todo do It on a pipe organ sitting in solItary solitary solitary sol sol- sol sol- majesty before the gigantic instrument When the Hammond organ was invented he got one of ot the first made Since then he has been using it to turn out the kind of music that fits in with Americas America's Americas America's Ameri Amen cas ca's heart beat IT WAS IN VIENNA that he got his first formal music education Finishing his schooling in Vienna he had to serve his term in the army When that was finished the crisis came His father though very musical himself was determined determined deter deter- mined his son was going to be an engineer and build bridges The peace maker in the dispute that arose was his mother who suggested suggested suggested sug sug- that he spend a year in America before making a decision America had a lot of fine bridges she figured and maybe her son would learn to love bridges over rivers more than musical bridges It didn't work Romberg came to the United States went to work packing pencils in a pencil factory for tor a brief period and then got a ajob ajob ajob job as a pianist in a restaurant he had stopped at to satisfy his craving for Hungarian goulash That Tha t was the beginning The next steps in his career came in rapid succession He organized his own orchestra played at a fashionable New York restaurant and began composing in earnest He never got around to thinking of at the bridges again Let the highbrows highbrows highbrows high high- brows build the bridges he decided Instead he wrote enough music to tomake tomake tomake make him probably the most prolific prolific pro pro- hue of ot the time big-time composers inthe in inthe inthe the theater |