Alphabet Song

_ To Tin Pan Alley's Jules Leonard Kaye, 31, "a songwriter is a one-man factory. You manufacture the song, advertise it, peddle it--no one can do it for you."

It has taken "Buddy" Kaye a long time to come to that summary. He started grinding out lyrics soon after he graduated from Brooklyn's James Madison High School, but in his first ten years at it he netted only pretzel money from his 150 songs. He lived by playing the saxophone in Chinese restaurants and beer parlors. In 1945, after he had peddled and pushed Till the End of Time into a hit (with help from Chopin and Tunesmith Ted Mossman), he decided that he had the formula: "Writing the song is only 10% of it; the rest is purely business."

Last year Kaye dug into his trunk for a song he had worked on seven years ago with Lyricist Fred Wise (Misirlou) and Tunesmith Sidney Lippman (Chickery Chick). They had never been able to sell it. Growled publishers: "Sounds like an old-fashioned tap routine," or "Who wants to sing the alphabet?" His collaborators almost lost hope, but Buddy kept plugging. He persuaded M-G-M Records to record it just before the Petrillo ban; when M-G-M finally released it last December, Buddy spent $1,000 carting the record around to half a dozen cities, badgering disc jockeys, record shops and department stores. Finally, when Crooner Perry Como sang it on his Supper Club program Buddy Kaye hit the jackpot.

Almost overnight, with Victor, Columbia, Capitol and Decca waxing it fast, "A" You're Adorable ("B" you're so beautiful, "C" you're a cutie . . .*) was a case of "H" you're a hit. In two weeks, Como's dreamy, dulcet disking (Victor) alone has sold a quarter of a million records. Says Businessman Buddy: "The other two guys just can't get over it."

* Copyright, 1948, Laurel Music Co.

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