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This final section about the music on 20-note roller organ cobs deals with cobs in the #1201-1298 numerical range, which were originally issued over a period from about 1915 to about 1923, with the majority of them dating from 1920-1923, the very last years cob roller organs were made (see discussion below). They once again contain an interesting variety of music. The tunes on the cobs in the #1201-1224 numerical range are primarily then-decades-old classical and semi-classical instrumental pieces, a number of which were, at the time, used as instructional works for home piano players, with just a sprinkling of newer popular songs and two florid “descriptive” marches, “Midnight Fire Alarm” on cobs #1201-1202 and “Ben Hur Chariot Race” on cob #1211. The pieces beginning on cob #1225 and continuing right through the end of the range, by contrast, are nearly all American popular songs that were new or at least recent at the time they first appeared on cobs. The Ragtime Era, represented by the music on many of the cobs with numbers from the high 1000s through the high 1100s, gave way to the Jazz Age, and many of the pieces on the very highest-numbered 20-note cobs, although they had lyrics, were also recorded in instrumental versions by dance bands such as those of Paul Whiteman, nicknamed “the King of Jazz”, who made a very successful 1920 recording of “Whispering” on cob #1248, and Isham Jones, who made a comparably successful 1921 recording of “Wabash Blues” on cob #1279. While the Autophone Company continued to issue new cobs with tunes like these down to the very end, competing not only with recorded versions of them but also with versions on player piano rolls, some such tunes, to be frank, sound primitive and circumscribed when played on a twenty-note roller organ.

Most of the popular songs in the #1201-1298 numerical range, like those in the #1101-1200 numerical range, were products of the same group of New York-based music publishers that had come to be known as the Tin Pan Alley musical establishment, and many of these songs were written or composed by a relatively small group of individuals, collaborating with one another in different combinations. A number of these individuals were from similar backgrounds and followed similar career paths: in tracking down the details of a songwriter’s life, we repeatedly learn that he was a musically-talented boy from a poor immigrant family, often a Jewish family living on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, in some cases had little or no formal musical training, began at an early age performing as a singer or working as an accompanist in vaudeville, then joined a Tin Pan Alley sheet music publishing firm as a “song plugger” or in-house pianist, and after writing or composing a successful song or two graduated to become a songwriter, thereafter repeatedly generating individual hit songs or pieces for Broadway musical productions during the 1920s, and then, in many cases, moving from New York to California at about the time of the beginning of the Great Depression to write songs or screenplays for Hollywood movies and in a few cases even ultimately for television, and sometimes, along the way, becoming a music publisher. Some of these songwriters were colorful figures who became familiar to the public, sometimes as performers, and even achieved a sort of celebrity status, and in a few cases movies were made about their lives that included their songs and introduced them to a new generation.

A few of the popular songs in this range, however, were written and/or composed by obscure figures who were not part of the musical mainstream and in some cases did not even pursue careers in music, such as E. Austin Keith, the lyricist and composer of “When I’m Gone You’ll Soon Forget” on cob #1249, who was a house painter who lived in a small village on Buzzards Bay about fifty miles south of Boston and dabbled in songwriting and composing; Eva Fern Buckner, who was paid a flat fee for her lyrics to “Where the Sunset Turns the Ocean’s Blue to Gold” on cob #1203, subsequently worked as a stenographer in Kansas City for two decades before marrying a former streetcar conductor who worked as a tile setter, and very likely did not see any of her other lyrics make their way into print; and H. Pitman Clarke, a theatre pianist and dance orchestra musician in upstate Johnstown, New York who also worked in a leather tannery and likewise sold his song “Swanee River Moon” on cob #1272 to a music publisher for a flat fee and spent the remainder of his life in his home town, achieving a certain local fame because of his one great composition. Apparently nothing has ever been written about some of these figures and to the extent that they are remembered at all it is only through their names appearing on the covers of now century-old sheet music. Fortunately, in recent years, copies of census, military, birth, baptismal, marriage and death records, city directories, obituary articles and other newspaper pieces and advertisements have all been made available online in searchable form on websites such as ancestry.com, familysearch.org and newspapers.com, and it is now possible to begin with just one or two scraps of information about an obscure songwriter and with some persistent detective work put together a reasonably complete picture of his or her life from different sources as one detail leads to another. I have enjoyed this type of research and my paragraphs about some of the pieces of music in this numerical range are considerably longer than those about pieces in the lower numerical ranges because I have included numerous scraps of biographical information I have found about some of the figures about whom little or nothing has been written, in the hope that my preserving these scraps in one place might be helpful to someone who wishes to do further research about these figures in the future. I should add that additional reasons for there being more scraps of information available about figures who wrote songs during this later time period than there were about similar figures who wrote songs during the pre-1900 era are that (1) the U.S. Census records beginning with the year 1900 included many more details about a person than previously, (2) World War I and World War II Draft Registration Cards for many of these later figures are also available as an additional source of such details and provide the person’s exact date of birth and where the person lived and how and where he was employed both at about the time his piece on the roller organ was written and then about twenty-five years later, and (3) in general, the recording and preserving of records of births, deaths, marriages, etc. was better and more widespread during the later decades of the roller organ era.

If, as is almost certainly the case, the cobs in the #1201-1298 range were issued in numerical order as a continuation of the cobs issued in numerical order in the #1101-1200 range, it is again possible to determine from the copyright dates of the sheet music for the then-new American popular songs and instrumental pieces on cobs in the #1201-1298 range the approximate years during which those cobs were first issued. Since, as previously noted, the latest copyright date of any then-new American popular song or instrumental piece in the #1101-1200 range is 1915, the date of “I Didn’t Raise my Boy to Be a Soldier” on cob #1197, no cob with a higher number could have first been issued any earlier than that year. This means that all of the cobs in the #1201-1224 range, all of which contain tunes dating from before 1915, must have been issued no earlier than that year. If you then list the cob numbers for all of the then-new American popular songs and instrumental pieces on cobs in the #1225-1298 range that had a copyright date of one of the years in the period from 1915 through 1923 and then arrange them in order of copyright date, it becomes clear that the cobs in the range must have been issued gradually over roughly that period with a much larger number of new cobs issued in or shortly after both 1915-1916 and 1920-1923:

1915: #1225 (new version), 1232, 1233, 1234, 1236, 1241
1916: #1226, 1229, 1231, 1238, 1239, 1240
1917: #1245
1918: #1257, 1263
1919: #1247, 1250, 1265, 1287
1920: #1246, 1248, 1252, 1253, 1254, 1255, 1256, 1262, 1268, 1269, 1271
1921: #1258, 1259, 1260, 1261, 1264, 1266, 1267, 1270, 1272, 1273, 1274, 1277, 1278, 1279, 1280, 1294
1922: #1275, 1276, 1283, 1284, 1290
1923: #1281, 1282, 1285, 1286, 1288, 1289, 1293, 1295, 1296, 1298

As for the relative scarcity of the cobs in the #1201-1298 numerical range, they are as a group scarcer than lower-numbered cobs because (1) they first appeared in 1915-1923 and they were therefore available for purchase for only a short period of time before the manufacture of roller organs ended, (2) by the final years of production, sales of roller organs and cobs had substantially declined, and (3) in addition, quality control standards at the Autophone Company had also declined, so that it is common to find cobs in this numerical range that were poorly made, with bunched, loose, or missing pins; with labels that would curl up at the edges and become detached easily; and in some case even without ferrules in the ends, and cobs like these were more likely to be discarded and not survive. Therefore, there are no cobs in this numerical range with a scarcity rating of MC (“most common”), VC (“very common”) or even C (“common”). Instead, about half of them (45) have a scarcity rating of LC (“less common”) and another 48 have a scarcity rating of S (“scarce”). Only three, however, have a scarcity rating of VS (“very scarce”), and there are two cobs in the range with a scarcity rating of “N” (“no known copy”), #1262, “Old Pal, Why Don’t You Answer Me?”, and #1283, “Under the Mellow Moon”.

#1201 - Midnight Fire Alarm No.1, Scarcity: LC
#1202 - Midnight Fire Alarm No.2, Scarcity: S
Like John Philip Sousa’s “El Capitan March”, which was divided into two parts on cobs #1125 and 1126, the lively 1900 instrumental piece “The Midnight Fire Alarm” was divided into two parts on these two cobs. The piece is intended to call to mind the frenzied action when a fire breaks out in the middle of the night, and there is a copy of the sheet music for the piece in UM with a colorful illustration on the cover of a fire engine drawn by three horses racing to a fire. The composer was Harry J. (James) Lincoln (1878-1937) and the arranger as well as publisher was E. (Edward) T. Paull (1858-1924). On the cover the piece is described as a “March & Two Step”, but inside it is subtitled “Descriptive March-Galop”, and at the top of the cover it is called “Companion to the Celebrated Ben Hur Chariot Race March”, composed by Paull, which was on cob #1211. Lincoln was born in Shamokin, about fifty miles southeast of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, later lived in Williamsport and still later in Philadelphia, and was at various times a church organist, choirmaster, pianist, orchestra manager and music teacher as well as a composer, arranger and music publisher. Paull was born in Gerrardstown in what is now West Virginia and was a New York-based music publisher known for the colorful and dramatic images on the covers of his sheet music. The tune on cob #1201 appears on the first two pages of the sheet music (numbered as pp. 3-4) and the tune on cob #1202 appears on the third page (numbered as p. 5). References: HE (calling the piece “[o]ne of the most celebrated descriptive marches ever written”); 1880 U.S. Census record showing Lincoln, age 2, living with his father, a coal miner, mother and siblings in Shamokin; 1900 U.S. Census record showing him, age 22, born in April 1878, living in Williamsport with the occupation “Music Teacher”; 1910 U.S. Census record showing him, age 32, again living in Williamsport with the occupation “Composer—Music”; World War I draft card dated September 12, 1918 signed by “Harry James Lincoln”, age 40, born on April 13, 1878, living in Philadelphia, occupation “music publisher, composer and printer”; 1920 U.S. Census record showing him, age 41, living in Philadelphia, again with the occupation “Composer—Music”; 1930 U.S. Census record showing him, age 51, living in Philadelphia, occupation “None”

#1203 - When the Sunset Turns the Ocean Blue to Gold, Scarcity: LC
There is a copy in UM of sheet music for this sentimental song with a copyright date of 1908 published by Frank K. Root & Co. in which the title appeared as “When the Sunset Turns the Ocean’s Blue to Gold” on the cover and “Where the Sunset Turns the Ocean’s Blue to Gold” inside (“Where” rather than “when” was also the word used in the two places where the phrase appeared in the lyrics). There was also an earlier edition with a copyright date of 1902 published by Jos. W. Stern & Co. with the same difference between the title as it appeared on the cover and as it appeared inside. References to the song over the years have accordingly begun with either “When” or “Where” and sometimes, as in the title of the roller organ cob, substituted “Ocean” for “Ocean’s”, with no real consistency. Both the 1902 and 1908 copyrights were in the name of the H. W. Petrie Music Co. of Chicago, the firm of the composer of the song, Henry W. Petrie (1857-1925), whom we have previously encountered as the composer of the tune to “I Don’t Want to Play in Your Yard” on cob #1050 and Grand cob #2091 (see the notes to that cob for further information about him). The lyrics, by Eva Fern Buckner, once again involve the themes of separation, death and the remembrance of happier times in the distant past. In the first of the two verses the singer thinks back at sunset to his childhood home and his mother, now old and gray, who is waiting for him far away, while in the second verse he thinks instead of his sweetheart and the nook in the dell where they used to meet, and we learn that she has died and was buried earlier that day. Buckner (1876-1954) is an obscure figure who did not pursue a career in music and her lyrics to this song may be the only song lyrics written by her that were ever published. According to an article in the April 25, 1905 edition of the Oshkosh Northwestern, a newspaper published in Oshkosh, Wisconsin (where Petrie then lived, according to an article in the January 21, 1905 edition of the same newspaper), Buckner was paid $1,200 for the lyrics, the first song lyrics she ever wrote, and sheet music for the song was then selling at a rate of 8,000 to 10,000 copies per month with over 300,000 copies already sold. When the song was first published in 1902 Buckner, described in the 1900 U.S. Census record as “sick and weak”, was a woman in her early twenties living with her disabled father, her mother and a younger brother in Fredonia in southeastern Kansas, where, according to pieces in local newspapers, she had been one of the four graduates and one of the speakers at the Fredonia High School graduation in 1895 and had been notably successful in winning prizes for solving newspaper puzzles in 1903. She subsequently worked for about twenty years beginning in 1909 as a stenographer in Kansas City, Missouri, married a tile setter and former streetcar conductor, farmer and Lutheran pastor named Harry Adkins in the late 1920s and they remained in Kansas City until his death in 1949 and hers in 1954. References: 1880 U.S. Census record showing Eva Buckner, age 3, born in Illinois, living with her father, a farm laborer, mother and two older siblings in Yatesville, Illinois; notice in the April 19, 1895 edition of the Fall River [Kansas] Citizen about the upcoming Fredonia [Kansas] High School graduation listing “Fern Buckner” as one of the four graduates; article in the June 7, 1895 edition of the Wilson County Citizen [published in Fredonia] about the Fredonia High School graduation ceremony at which “Miss Eva Buckner” was one of the speakers; 1900 U.S. Census record showing Eva Buckner, age 23, single, born in November 1876 in Illinois, listed as “sick and weak”, living in Fredonia with her father, W.T., a “cripple confined to the house”, mother and a younger brother; note in the July 4, 1902 edition of the Fredonia Herald that “Miss Fern Buckner, formerly of this place has composed a very pretty song entitled “When the Sunset Turns the Ocean’s Blue to Gold,” and dedicated it to her friend and schoolmate, Miss Susie Smith, of this city”; article in the August 7, 1903 edition of the Fredonia Herald noting the success of Eva F. Buckner of Fredonia in winning prizes for solving newspaper puzzles; review in the October 24, 1903 edition of the Indianapolis Journal of a performance by Dockstader’s Minstrels in that city in which the song was sung; 1909-1929 Kansas City, Missouri directories in each case listing “Eva Fern” or “Eva F.” (in 1916 “Ava”) Buckner as a “stenographer” or “public stenographer”; 1910 U.S. Census record showing Eva F. Buckner, age 30 [sic], single, born in Illinois, living with her widowed mother in Kansas City, occupation “Stenographer”; 1920 U.S. Census record showing Eva Fern Buckner, age 42, described (presumably incorrectly) as widowed (the entry “Wd” is written over a previous entry of “S” for single), born in Wisconsin (also an error), living in Kansas City with the occupation “Stenographer—Public”; 1930 U.S. Census record showing Eva F. Adkins, age 44 [sic], born in Illinois, married two years earlier to Harry W. Adkins, age 58, a helper in a tile works; 1940 U.S. Census record showing Eva F. Adkins, age 63, born in Illinois, married to Harry W. Adkins, age 68, a laborer; obituary article in the November 4, 1949 edition of the Kansas City Times reporting the death of Harry W. Adkins and noting that he had been a farmer and a Lutheran pastor in Tescott, Kansas before moving to Kansas City in 1912 and retired as a tile setter in 1939 but had previously been a streetcar conductor for 20 years; Missouri death certificate showing the death on October 6, 1954 in Kansas City of Eva Fern Adkins, age 77, born on November 22, 1876 in Chatham, Illinois, daughter of William Buckner and Martha Stubbs, widow of Harry W. Adkins

#1204 - Convent Bells, Scarcity: LC
There is sheet music once again in UM for the piece on this cob, with the title “Convent Bells: Reverie”, by Henry Bollman. It has a copyright date of 1895 and on the cover is a dedication to the Sisters of Visitation in St. Louis, Missouri, and a photograph of the Sisters’ then-nearly-new enormous 1892 building there in the style of a French chateau. Bollman was no longer living in 1895, however, and the piece actually dates from several decades earlier; there is also a copy of sheet music for it in LL with the French title “Les Cloches du Couvent”, other cover details in French and a copyright date of 1867, again giving the composer’s name as Henry Bollman and including the dedication to the Visitation Sisters, and published by Bollman & Schatzman, also in St. Louis. Bollman (1823-1890) was a Prussian-born composer, musician and music publisher who operated a music store in St. Louis and was involved in the manufacture and sale of pianos. His many compositions included light salon pieces like “Convent Bells” as well as Roman Catholic masses and other religious music. References: 1850 U.S. Census record showing “Henry Bollman”, age 27, born in Germany, living in Cincinnati, Ohio with his 17-year-old wife, occupation “Proffsr [sic] Music”; 1860 U.S. Census record showing “Henry Bollmann”, age 37, born in Prussia, living with his wife and four children in Bardstown, Kentucky, occupation “Professor of Music”; 1870 U.S. Census record showing “Henry Bollman”, age 45, born in Prussia, living in St. Louis with his wife and four children, occupation “Music Publisher”; 1880 U.S. Census record (dated July 14 of that year) showing “Henry Bollman”, age 55, born in Prussia, living in St. Louis, occupation “Music Publisher”; alternate 1880 U.S. Census record (dating from November of that year) showing “Henry Bollman”, age 56, born in Prussia, living in St. Louis, occupation “Keeps Music Store”; obituary article about Bollman in the December 27, 1890 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch stating that he originally came to St. Louis in 1845, subsequently moved to Cincinnati and then Kentucky, and returned to St. Louis in 1864; tombstone of Bollman in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis giving his date of birth as February 16, 1823 and date of death as December 27, 1890

#1205 - The Dying Poet, Scarcity: S
The tune on this cob is the only one on the roller organ by the celebrated New Orleans-born composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869) and, like the tune on the preceding cob, is a salon piece that was already five decades old at the time the cob was issued: there is a copy of sheet music for it in MN with a copyright date of 1864. Gottschalk was a child prodigy on the piano, studied in Paris and became a great showman and indefatigable and extraordinarily popular performer who toured widely both in and outside the U.S. Some of his compositions are notable for uniquely reflecting Creole, Spanish, West Indian and Cuban influences; his mother was of French Creole ancestry and at various times he visited and heard the indigenous music of Spain, the West Indies, Cuba and South America, where he died at the age of only forty. OC cites “The Dying Poet”, however, as an example of the type of piece in which he “would slip back…to the platitudes of the Victorian drawing-room”. It was nevertheless one of his most popular works. Additional references: GD, BB

#1206 - Daisies Won't Tell, Scarcity: LC
The piece on this cob is a slow, dreamy waltz song with both words and music by Indiana-born composer Anita Owen (1873-1932). There is a copy of the sheet music for it in CC with a copyright date of 1908 and a photograph of Owen on the cover along with the words “Companion Piece to “Sweet Bunch of Daisies””, which was a similar and extremely successful song dating from fourteen years earlier also written by Owen that appeared on cob #1210 (see also the notes to that cob). “Daisies Won’t Tell” is a pretty, romantic song in which the singer (if it is sung by a woman) professes her love for her sweetheart while they are among the daisies and invites him to kiss her. The lyrics could equally well be sung by a man, however, and in fact, shortly after the song appeared, it was recorded by two different male tenor soloists. Owen attended a girls’ convent school near Terre Haute, Indiana, began writing and selling songs when she was still in her teens, wrote both the words and music to “Sweet Bunch of Daisies” and published the song herself in 1894, when she was only 20. It became an enormous hit, with sales of the sheet music exceeding a million copies, and her earnings and reputation from writing this one song launched her career as a songwriter, living first in Chicago and later in New York. She wrote a number of other flower-themed pieces which also achieved some popularity and one of these was “Daisies Won’t Tell”. In 1917 she married a Bridgeport, Connecticut dentist named Arthur Jones and the couple lived in Bridgeport and then New Haven, Connecticut until her death fifteen years later. References: 1900 U.S. Census record showing Anita Owen, age 26, born in November 1873 in Indiana, occupation “Song Composer”, living in Chicago with a woman named Hattie von Bulow, listed as her “Partner” with the occupation “Private Secretary”; article in the January 8, 1901 edition of the Indianapolis News about a defamation lawsuit Owen brought in Chicago, quoting her as stating that she had moved to Chicago ten years earlier from the Academy of St. Mary’s-of-the-Woods near Terre Haute; 1905 New York State Census record showing Owen and von Bulow living in Manhattan, with Owen listed as the head of the household with no occupation and von Bulow listed as a boarder with the occupation “Secretary”; articles in the August 4, 1909 and January 9, 1911 editions of the Brazil [Indiana] Daily Times reporting that Owen was born in the living room above her father’s music store in Brazil, “which at that time was not much more than an overgrown village and mining camp”, and that both of her parents were musically inclined, her father having been a composer and teacher of music in his native Wales and her mother a fine singer who was adept at improvising accompaniment; article in the July 7, 1916 edition of the Nashville Banner titled “Anita Owen, Song Writer” reporting on an interview with her at her apartment on West 51st Street, Manhattan, where she lived with “her companion, Miss Hattie von Buelow”, and noting that she began writing songs when she was 15, two years before graduating from school, and that although a million copies of the sheet music for “Sweet Bunch of Daisies” were sold, she netted about $10,000 from the “companion song” “Daisies Won’t Tell”; New York City Marriage Index listing the marriage of Anita Owen to Arthur G. Jones on February 19, 1917; articles in the February 21, 1917 edition of the Bridgeport [Connecticut] Times and Evening Farmer and the February 22, 1917 edition of The New York Times reporting that Jones, a Bridgeport, Connecticut dentist, had met Owen at a soiree in New York City, proposed to her two days later and they were married two days after that at the Little Church Around the Corner in Manhattan, after which he brought her home to Bridgeport; obituary articles about Owen in the October 26, 1932 editions of the New York Herald Tribune and The New York Times

#1207 - Rainbow, Scarcity: LC
“Rainbow” is still another of the Native American-themed songs that became popular during the first decade of the twentieth century, along with “Hiawatha” (1901; cob #1139), “Laughing Water” (1903; cob #1141), “Silver Heels” (1905; cob #1152) and “Red Wing” (1907; cob #1173), and the parody of such songs, “Tammany” (1905; cob #1168). “Rainbow” dates from 1908, there is a copy of the sheet music for it in CC, the lyrics were by Alfred Bryan (1871-1958), the music by Percy Wenrich (1880-1952) and, according to TG, “[i]t came within an ace of being a million-copy seller”. In the lyrics, a Native American chief in a “forest glade/Beyond the prairies far away” (who, incongruously, is standing under a “palm tree”) spies a pretty maid, professes his love for her and invites her to “Come be…[his] Rainbow”; a rainbow then appears in the sky, he cries out that this is fate, the lovelight in her eye shines brighter than the rainbow and the two wander home together. Bryan was a very prolific Tin Pan Alley lyricist who reportedly wrote the words for over 1,000 songs, sometimes completing as many as five songs in a single day. He was born in Canada, moved to Chicago to become a bookkeeper for a leather business, and on the basis of poems he submitted was hired as a poetry columnist for a Chicago newspaper. He then moved to New York in 1905, became a lyricist, collaborated with many prominent Tin Pan Alley composers and wrote words for numerous hit songs and show tunes and, later, lyrics for film scores. It is interesting that he himself did not sing or play any musical instrument. We have previously encountered him as author of the words to “I Didn’t Raise my Boy to Be a Soldier” (on cob #1197). Wenrich was a ragtime pianist who performed in vaudeville with his wife Dolly Connolly as well as a composer and he also wrote the tune to the “Red Rose Rag” on cob #1183 (see also the notes to that cob) as well as the tunes to “Moonlight Bay” on cob #1227 and “When You Wore a Tulip” on cob #1228. Additional references: OC; RR; TP; 1871 Canada Census record showing “Alfred J. Bryne” [sic], 7/12 of a year (seven months) old, living in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, the youngest of five children of John Bryne, a butcher, who, it was noted, was unable to write, and his wife Mary, who was unable to read or write; 1881 Canada Census record showing “Alfred Bryans” [sic], age 10, again living in Brantford, the fifth of six children of John Bryans, a butcher, and his wife Mary; 1892 Chicago Voter Registration Record and Index listing “Alfred Bryan”, born in Canada and a resident of the state for 6 years; U.S. Passport Application dated July 26, 1912 for “Alfred Bryan”, occupation “composer of music”, residing in New York City, incorrectly stating (presumably to avoid immigration issues) that he was a U.S. citizen born in Buffalo, New York and also incorrectly stating his date of birth as September 15, 1872 (which cannot have been correct in light of his inclusion in the 1871 Canada Census); U.S. Immigration Service list of passengers arriving in New York from Cherbourg on July 30, 1913 on the S.S. Olympic including Alfred Bryan of 167 West 129th Street, New York City, stating his age as 42 and his date of birth as September 15, 1871, and again incorrectly stating (presumably to avoid immigration issues) that he was a U.S. citizen born in Buffalo; 1915 New York State Census record showing Alfred Bryan, age 43, occupation “Composer”, living as a boarder at the same address on West 129th Street in Manhattan and again misstating his place of birth as “U.S.”; U.S. Naturalization Service Declaration of Intention to become a U.S. citizen dated May 24, 1917, completed in another handwriting and signed by “Alfred James Bryan” stating that his age was 46, his occupation was “Writer” and that he was born in Brantford, Canada on September 15, 1870, that he then lived in Los Angeles, that his last residence in Canada was in Toronto, that he was a widower and the name of his deceased wife was Helen, and that he arrived at the port of Detroit, Michigan in 1901 (It is not clear whether this was intended to mean the year of his first immigration to the U.S., but if it was, this is inconsistent with (1) his having been listed in the 1892 Chicago voter records as of Canadian birth but at that time having lived in the U.S. for six years (assuming that the entry in those records was for the same Alfred Bryan) and (2) the year of his immigration (1885) that appears in the 1920 U.S. Census record, which shows Alfred Bryan, age 49, born in Canada, immigrated to the U.S. in 1885, widowed, living with his son and daughter-in-law in Los Angeles, occupation “Song Writer—Publishing Co.”); New York City Marriage Records entry for the marriage on March 23, 1922 of Alfred Bryan, age 50, widower, parents’ names John and Mary, born in Brantford, Canada, to Gisella Wilhelmina Eichert, age 27, single, born in Budapest, Hungary; 1926 California Index to Voter Registrations listing “Miss Gisella W. Eichert”, a concert singer, living in Los Angeles; 1940 U.S. Census record showing Alfred Bryan, age 68, widowed, living with his son and daughter-in-law in East Orange, New Jersey, occupation “Song Writer—Music”; obituary articles about Bryan in the April 2, 1958 editions of The New York Times and the New York Herald Tribune

#1208 - The Maiden's Prayer, Scarcity: LC
“The Maiden’s Prayer” or “A Maiden’s Prayer” is still another salon piece that was many decades old by the time it found its way onto the roller organ (see also the notes to cobs #1204 and 1205). It was written by a young Polish pianist and composer named Tekla Bardazewska (1829-1861), who composed several dozen pieces for the piano, of which this was her Opus 4 and the only piece for which she is remembered. It was originally published in Warsaw in 1851 under the Polish title “Modlitwa Dziewicy” and was then published in France as a supplement to the September 1858 edition of La Revue et Gazette Musicale de Paris under the translated title “La Priere d’une Vierge”, after which it quickly became extremely popular and was widely published in dozens of other editions in various countries. It appeared in the U.S. with the further translated English title “The Maiden’s Prayer”, “A Maiden’s Prayer” or simply “Maiden’s Prayer” and there are copies of undated but clearly early sheet music for it in CC, DU, TE and UM. It remained in wide use as an intermediate-level practice piece for piano students for many decades, but even though it is a pretty tune that achieved enormous international popularity it has been singled out for especially harsh criticism by a number of “serious” music commentators, who have dismissed it as a salon composition of no artistic merit by an amateur with no musical training, one critic even calling it a “dowdy product of ineptitude”. References: Cyfrowa Biblioteka Narodowa Polona (Polona, the Polish Digital National Library) (includes detailed information about Badarzewska and her music apparently not available elsewhere and reflecting original research by Beata Michalec, author of a biography of Badarzewska; among the important facts provided are (1) “Modlitwa Dziewicy” was first published in Warsaw in 1851, not 1856, the date given in many sources, and this is proved by an announcement in a Warsaw newspaper in 1851 of the availability of sheet music for the piece; (2) Badarzewska’s year of birth was 1829, not 1834 (the year that has been widely reported as her birth year, but Michalec says this resulted from an incorrect statement provided by her husband for her obituary notice in 1861 that she died in her twenty-seventh year) or 1838 (another incorrect year sometimes given that would have made her only 13 when “Modlitwa Dziewicy” was first published); (3) her year of death was 1861, based on the date her obituary notice appeared in a Warsaw newspaper, not 1862 as stated in BB; (4) she was born in Mlawa, not Warsaw as is sometimes stated, although her family moved to Warsaw in 1835 when her father became a police official there; and (5) in 1852, the year after her composition of “Modlitwa Dziewicy”, she married an army clerk who later became a military officer and had three children before her death nine years later, not five children, as is commonly stated based on a misreading of a reference in her obituary notice to her being survived by her husband and “five children and siblings”, which apparently actually meant that she was survived by her three children and her two siblings, a sister and a brother

#1209 - Humoreske, Scarcity: LC
The tune on this cob is a very well-known and lovely piece by Czech classical composer Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904). It was written in 1894 as No.7 in a series of eight pieces titled “Humoresques for Piano”, Opus 101, and, according to GD, was subsequently “arranged for every possible instrumental combination” and became “one of the most popular compositions in the world”.

#1210 - Sweet Bunch of Daisies, Scarcity: S
As noted in the paragraph about cob #1206, the pretty waltz song on this cob by Anita Owen (1873-1932) became enormously popular after its publication in 1894 and established Owen’s name and reputation as a songwriter. A lengthy interview with Owen primarily about her writing of this song and what led up to and followed it appeared in the December, 1915 edition of The Writer’s Monthly. At that time, the article reported, she was under contract to music publishers Jerome Remick & Co. with a drawing account of $300 per month, was required to write one song per month with a royalty payment of one cent per copy of sheet music sold, and was able to work entirely from home. More than two decades earlier, shortly after leaving her convent school and with no knowledge of the workings of the music publishing business, she had walked into the office of a Chicago music publisher and sold her first song, which was complete with words, music and accompaniment, outright for five dollars. She followed this up with sales of additional songs to the same publisher and over time the price for a song was increased to ten and later to twenty-five dollars and she was still later paid on a royalty basis, receiving $160 as her first royalty payment. She then had the idea of writing a simple, romantic love song that would have wide sales appeal and wrote “Sweet Bunch of Daisies”, and when she brought it to a publisher she was offered $100 and then $500 for it but instead, having in mind the enormous financial success Charles K. Harris had achieved with his self-published 1892 song “After the Ball” (see the notes to cobs #600 and 2016), she went to the office of a music printer, had sheet music for the song printed and began selling copies herself. Sales rapidly reached into the thousands, orders began coming in from New York and she rented a safe deposit box to store all of the money she was earning, and even though she spent lavishly in the excitement of her sudden new wealth she still had more than $15,000 left over after six months. There is a copy in UM of the sheet music for the song, published by Owen’s Wabash Music Company in Chicago and copyrighted in 1894 by her individually.

#1211 - Ben Hur Chariot Race, Scarcity: VS
The lively “Ben Hur Chariot Race March” was composed by E. (Edward) T. Paull (1858-1924), who has previously been mentioned as the arranger and publisher of “The Midnight Fire Alarm” on cobs #1201 and #1202. Paull was born in Gerrardstown in what is now West Virginia and worked in his early years as a sales agent for organs and pianos based in Martinsburg, West Virginia and later as a piano and organ store manager in Richmond, Virginia before turning to composing and sheet music publishing and moving to New York City. There is a copy of the sheet music for the march in TE with a copyright date of 1894 published by the E.T. Paull Music Co. The depiction on the cover of chariots racing in a colosseum is typical of the colorful and dramatic images for which Paull’s sheet music is noted and which makes it desirable to collectors. On the cover is a dedication to Gen. Lew Wallace (the former U.S. Civil War General who wrote the once extraordinarily popular 1880 historical adventure novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, in which a well-known chariot race takes place in which the title character, Judah Ben-Hur, defeats his enemy, the cruel Messala) and also a notation that the piece was played by Sousa’s Band (the band led by John Philip Sousa, the American composer and bandleader known as “The March King”, many of whose marches appeared on the roller organ; see, for example, the notes to cob #2003). Paull was called by some “The New March King” and a number of his other compositions were also so-called “descriptive” marches intended to call to the listener’s mind images from events such as Paul Revere’s ride, the burning of Rome and Napoleon’s last charge. References: HE; 1870 U.S. Census record showing “Edward Paull”, age 12, living with his parents and siblings in Martinsburg, West Virginia; many advertisements in 1878-1882 in the Shepardstown [West Virginia] Register and the Shenandoah Herald, Woodstock, Virginia for pianos and organs for sale by Edward T. Paull of Martinsburg; Virginia marriage record for marriage of Edward T. Paull, age 29, on November 9, 1887; Richmond, Virginia City Directories listing Edward T. Paull in 1888, 1889 and 1891 as resident manager, Sanders & Stayman, pianos and organs, and in 1892, 1894 and 1895 as manager, Richmond Music Co., pianos and organs; 1898 New York City Directory listing Edward T. Paull, President E. T. Paull Music Co.

#1212 - Where the Silv'ry Colorado Wends its Way, Scarcity: S
Unlike many of the popular songs discussed here from the closing years of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century that were written and composed by professional songwriters who were part of the Tin Pan Alley music publishing establishment, the 1901 piece on this cob was by two Denver, Colorado mail carriers who wrote songs in their spare time, C. (Charles) H. Scoggins (1870-1927) (words) and Charles Avril (1864-1940) (music), and the sheet music for it was published by a Denver music publisher, Tolbert R. Ingram Music Co. The song achieved broad popularity, however: it was recorded in 1902 by J. Aldrich Libbey, the singer who had popularized the enormously successful “After the Ball” (see the notes to cobs #600 and #2016), and there are a number of different editions of sheet music for it in historic sheet music collections, one of which, in AS, published by Ingram sometime between 1904 and 1910, includes references and photographs on the cover indicating that the piece was introduced by the vaudeville star Lottie Gilson and performed by other notables and also includes a notation at the top of one of the interior pages that it was “the ballad which John D. Rockefeller, Jr. sings and whistles”. On the cover of a later edition in UC published by Chicago music publisher Will Rossiter is the statement “This Song has passed the “Million Copy” mark—and Still Selling!” and at the bottom of the first interior page is a notation that the piece was originally copyrighted by Scoggins and Avril themselves in 1901, the copyright was transferred to Ingram in 1903 and it was transferred again to Rossiter in 1910. The song is another tear-jerker: the singer sadly thinks of and longs for his departed wife Nell, who now “sleeps beneath the lilacs”, and the joy he once felt in their beautiful mountain and valley locale along the Colorado River has turned to gloom. The lyricist, Charles H. Scoggins, remained a mail carrier for the rest of his working life but relocated from Denver to Oakland, California about five years after the song was written, and the composer, Charles Avril, also moved to California about a year after that and made his home in Santa Monica for the balance of his life, working at a number of different jobs, none of them related to music. References: 1870 U.S. Census record showing “Charles Scoggins”, age 3/12 (3 months), living with his father, a farmer, his mother and four older siblings in Grant Township, Dickinson County, Kansas; 1880 U.S. Census showing “Charles H. Scoggins”, age 11, living with his parents and siblings in Abilene, Kansas; Denver city directories listing “Charles H. Scoggins” as a “painter” (1891, 1893, 1896, 1897), “reporter” (1894), “lab.” (1895) and finally “carrier P.O.” (1898); 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Charles H. Scoggins”, age 29, born in Kansas in February 1871 (which was clearly incorrect in light of his having been included in the 1870 Census), living in Denver with his wife Minnie and two children, occupation “Mail Carrier”; 1906 Denver city directory listing “Charles H. Scoggins, carrier P.O.”; 1907 Oakland, California city directory listing “Charles H. Scoggins, letter carrier P.O.”; 1910 and 1920 U.S. Census record showing “Charles H. Scoggins”, ages 40 and 44 [sic], respectively, born in Kansas, living in Oakland, California with his wife Minnie and the two children, occupation “Letter Carrier—Post Office”; obituary notice in the August 13, 1927 edition of the Oakland Tribune reporting the death of “Charles H. Scoggins”, age 57, on the previous day, not mentioning his having been a composer but rather saying only that he was a member of the Oakland Letter Carriers’ Association; 1875 New York State Census record for “Charles Avril”, age 10, one of six children of a German-born tailor and his wife, living in Rochester, New York; 1880 U.S. Census record for “Charles Avril”, age 15, again showing him as living with his parents and siblings in Rochester; 1891 Denver city directory listing “Charles Avril”, “carrier, P.O.”; 1900 U.S. Census record for “Charles Avril”, age 35, born in New York in December, 1864, living in Denver with his wife Anna and five children, occupation “Letter Carrier”; 1907 Denver city directory listing “Charles Avril”, “carrier P.O.”; 1908 California Voter Registration Index entry for “Charles Avril”, age 44, residing in Santa Monica; 1910 U.S. Census record for “Charles Aviril [sic]”, age 4- [illegible], born in New York of German-born parents, living in Santa Monica with his wife Anna and children, occupation “Advertizer”; 1920, 1930 and 1940 U.S. Census records for “Charles Avril”, ages 55, 65 and 75, respectively, again living in Santa Monica, occupation “Repairer—Novelty shop”, “Clerk—Plumbing shop” and no occupation listed, respectively; California Death Index entry for Avril showing his date of birth as December 21, 1864 and his date of death as July 18, 1940

#1213 - Beautiful Star of Heaven, Scarcity: LC
This simple piece in slow waltz time, subtitled “Reverie”, was a favorite choice of performers in amateur piano recitals for several decades after it first appeared in 1905. The composer was Louis A. Drumheller (1854-1936), a little-known figure who spent his entire life in central Pennsylvania and was a music teacher, a leader of cornet bands and a piano tuner as well as a composer, and it was his Opus 48. There are copies of sheet music for it in DU, LL and UM, published by Jos. Morris in Philadelphia, on the cover of which is a colorful depiction of an angel reaching upwards holding a bright star and other angels gathered around her. There is also, in BG, a copy of another edition of sheet music for the piece arranged as a song, also published by Jos. Morris but with a copyright date of 1906 and lyrics by Arthur Longbrake. The cover is different and depicts a young man and woman gazing at one another under a bright star overhead; Longbrake’s lyrics, however, have nothing to do with youthful love but rather describe a barque on rough waters that makes it safely into harbor guided by a bright light. These lyrics are not explicitly religious, but their references to prayer and to souls being saved are reminiscent of the rescue-from-stormy-seas imagery in evangelical hymns such as “Let the Lower Lights Be Burning” (on cob #25) and “Pull for the Shore” (on cob #29). References: 1860 U.S. Census record showing “Lewis A. Drumhellen [sic]”, age 6, living with his parents, Henry and Elizabeth, and brother Charles, age 12, in North Manheim Township, Schuylkill Co., Pennsylvania; 1870 U.S. Census record showing “Louis Drumheller”, age 15, again living in North Manheim Township; article in the February 24, 1882 edition of the Pine Grove [Pennsylvania] Press Herald mentioning that Prof. L. A. Drumheller of Schuylkill Haven was the leader of a cornet band; article in the September 10, 1884 edition of the Lebanon [Pennsylvania] Daily News reporting that Louis A. Drumheller was the leader of the Liberty Band in Lebanon, a cornet band, was one of the best musicians in eastern Pennsylvania, could play 28 different musical instruments and had formerly been based in Schuylkill Haven but was then in Lebanon; article in the March 10, 1885 edition of the Lebanon Daily News about a concert to be given by Prof. L. A. Drumheller in which two items on the program were piano duets by “Profs. Chas. A. and L. A. Drumheller”; advertisements in the April 30, 1885, October 10, 1885 and February 15 and March 1, 1886 editions of the Lebanon Daily News by L. A. Drumheller that he was taking additional pupils and had had twelve years experience in teaching and 1,000 pupils (“I give instructions on piano, organ, violin, bands and orchestras. Also music composed for bands and orchestras”); Harrisburg, Pennsylvania city directories for 1887-1935 listing “Lewis” (1887-1899) or “Louis” (1900-1935) A. Drumheller, “music teacher” (1887-1890) or “piano tuner” (1891-1935) (Although Louis Drumheller is not listed in Harrisburg city directories prior to 1887, there are listings in the 1885 and 1886 directories for “Charles Drumheller” and “Drumheller & Co., pianos, organs, music and musical instruments”. This was undoubtedly Louis Drumheller’s older brother Charles, also a professor of music, who had performed with Louis in his March 1885 concert in Lebanon. According to a notice in the August 25, 1900 edition of the Harrisburg Telegraph, “Prof. Louis A. Drumheller” had composed a new piece of music and inscribed it to his brother, Charlie, formerly of Harrisburg and then in St. Louis. The fact that Charles Drumheller had a music business in Harrisburg in 1885 and 1886 was surely a reason for Louis to relocate to that city from Lebanon); 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Louis A. Drumheller”, age 53 [sic], residing in Harrisburg, occupation “Teacher—Music”; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Louis A. Drumheller”, age 65, residing in Harrisburg, occupation “piano tuner”; 1930 U.S. Census record showing “Louis A. Drumheller”, age 70 [sic], residing in Harrisburg, occupation “Composer—Music”; many notices in local newspapers in central Pennsylvania over many years announcing that Louis Drumheller was coming to a particular town to tune pianos on a particular date and that arrangements could be made in advance through some store in that town for his services; Pennsylvania death certificate for Louis Albert Drumheller giving his date of death as June 13, 1936 and date of birth as December 12, 1854, his birthplace as Landingville, Pennsylvania, his father’s name as Henry and his occupation as “musician”

#1214 - In the Baggage Coach Ahead, Scarcity: LC
We have previously encountered several pieces with either lyrics, music or both lyrics and music by the African-American early Tin Pan Alley songwriter Gussie Davis (1863-1899) (see the notes to cobs #220, 312, 1039 and 1067), including the melodramatic “The Fatal Wedding”, on cob #1039 and also Grand cob #2070, in which an abandoned woman shows up at her husband’s wedding with their infant child, prompting him to kill himself on the spot. “In the Baggage Coach Ahead”, an 1896 song with both words and music by Davis, is an even more extreme tear jerker: a crying child on an overnight train attracts expressions of displeasure from other passengers, and when they ask where the child’s mother is, the child’s father tearfully explains that she is dead and her body is being shipped in the baggage coach on the same train. There is a copy of the sheet music for the song in UM.

#1215 - Black Hawk Waltz, Scarcity: LC
The pleasant waltz tune on this cob is another that was already decades old by the time it found its way onto the roller organ and it continued to be played by generations of piano students thereafter. It was so well-known as a solo for amateurs to play on their home pianos that in a humorous article titled “Mr. Jobson’s Christmas Satire” that appeared in many newspapers just before Christmas, 1899, the cynical curmudgeon Mr. Jobson, grumbling about the presents he would have to give again that year, included in his list a “50-cent pianoforte portfolio, containing ‘Monastery Bells’, ‘The Black Hawk Waltz’ and ‘The Maiden’s Prayer’, for that giggling niece of mine, who’s got about as much music in her as a country-cured ham” (We have previously encountered “The Maiden’s Prayer” on cob #1208, and “Monastery Bells” appears on Grand cob #2129, although Mr. Jobson may instead have had in mind “Convent Bells” on cob #1204). There is sheet music for the “Black Hawk Waltz” in LL with a copyright date of 1877 depicting on the cover couples dancing in a ballroom in the center while outside and to the left is a female figure in a Native American costume including a headdress dancing by herself, reflecting the fact that “Black Hawk” was the name of a Native American chief who led one of the factions in what came to be known as the Black Hawk War in 1832. The piece was written by Mary E. Walsh, about whom it has generally been said that nothing is known about her except for her name. I initially could find no information about her or even pinpoint the part of the country in which she lived, but after locating sheet music in MN for another piece she composed, the “Campaign Polka”, published in Philadelphia with a copyright date of 1864 and including a dedication to the Philadelphia Liberty Cornet Band, I decided to zero in on the possibility that she had a connection to Philadelphia, and in looking for references to her in Pennsylvania newspapers I found an obituary article in the November 18, 1998 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer about the death of a retired Philadelphia Electric Company executive named Vincent J. Walsh Sr. which reported that, according to his son, he was a grandson of “Philadelphia pianist and composer Mary E. Walsh, who wrote “The Black Hawk Waltz””, and an article in the August 31, 1949 edition of the Wilkes-Barre [Pennsylvania] Record which said that one of the selections recently played by then-President Harry S. Truman on the piano was “The Black Hawk Waltz”, which had been composed by Mary E. Walsh, a cousin of the late Ellen McFadden Trapold of Wilkes-Barre, and that both of the cousins were natives of Harleigh, near Hazleton, Pennsylvania. I was then able to piece together family relationships and other information from census records and gravestones and found that Mary E. Walsh was born in 1847, lived all or nearly all her life in Philadelphia and died there in 1884. As is often the case when trying to locate information about a married woman, searching using her maiden name was not fruitful because she was referred to for the latter part of her life using her married name, which was McFadden. Her parents were Nicholas Walsh, a Philadelphia tea merchant, and Mary A. Walsh, both of whom were born in Ireland, her husband’s name was Michael McFadden, her daughter Mary T. McFadden happened to marry a man whose surname was also Walsh (William J. Walsh) and they were the parents of Vincent J. Walsh Sr., so that Vincent’s son’s claim that Vincent’s grandmother was Mary E. Walsh of “Black Hawk Waltz” fame appears to have been correct. Ellen McFadden Trapold, however, having the maiden name McFadden, would presumably have been a cousin of Mary E. Walsh’s husband Michael McFadden, not of Mary herself, and the claim that both Ellen and Mary were natives of Harleigh does not appear to have been correct, because Nicholas, Mary Ann and Mary [E.] Walsh are all shown as living in Philadelphia in the 1850 U.S. Census and Mary [E.] is listed as having been born in Philadelphia in the 1860 U.S. Census. References: Gravestone in Old Cathedral Cemetery in Philadelphia of Nicholas Walsh (giving his date of death as May 15, 1887 and his age at death as 71) and Mary A. Walsh (giving her date of death as September 22, 1896 and her age at death as 77); gravestone in the same cemetery of Michael McFadden (giving his date of birth as August [illegible], 1837 and date of death as January 12, 1884) and Mary E. [Walsh] McFadden (giving her date of birth as April 20, 1847 and date of death as September 12, 1884); 1850 U.S. Census record showing “Nicolas Walsh”, age 36, tea dealer, born in Ireland, living in Philadelphia with his wife Mary A., age 34, also born in Ireland, and six children, one of whom was Mary, age 3, born in Pennsylvania; 1860 U.S. Census record showing “Nicholas Walsh”, age 39, tea dealer, born in Ireland, again living in Philadelphia with his wife Mary A., age 37, and eight children, one of whom was Mary, age 12, born in Philadelphia (not just “Pennsylvania”); 1870 U.S. Census record showing Nicholas (again a “tea dealer”) and Mary A. Walsh living in Philadelphia, ages 50 and 49, with four of their younger children, not including Mary [E.]; 1870 U.S. Census record (regular Census, in June) showing “Michl McFadden”, age 33, “Liquor Business”, born in Ireland, living with his wife, Mary E., age 27 [sic], born in Pennsylvania, and their one-year-old child Charles; 1870 U.S. Census record (2nd Enumeration, in November) showing “Michael McFadden”, age 55 [sic], living with his wife, Mary, age 23, and their two-year-old child Charles, no other details such as place of birth or occupation given; 1880 U.S. Census record showing Mary E. McFadden, age 33, born in Ireland [sic], occupation “housewife”, wife of Michael McFadden, age 43, born in Ireland, “retired”, and their four children, Charles (age 11), Mary (age 8), Celia (age 6) and Michael (age 5), all living in Philadelphia
Note: Allowing for all of the usual misreportings and clerical errors giving rise to discrepancies in U.S. Census records, all of the above information about Mary E. Walsh is consistent, but I have not located any reference indicating that, for example, she was a pianist who gave public performances, a music teacher, or someone who had any other connection with music

#1216 - Leaf by Leaf the Roses Fall, Scarcity: LC
The song on this cob is another that was many decades old by the time it appeared on the roller organ: there is sheet music for it in CI with a copyright date of 1865 crediting it only to “T. B. Bishop” (T. (Thomas) Brigham Bishop (1835-1905)), published by John Church in Cincinnati. The lyrics were, however, actually written in 1856 as a poem by Maine poet Caroline Dana Howe (1820?-1907). She was, at that time, she later said, “under the shadow of a great affliction”, and had been standing among the fallen blossoms in a friend’s rose garden when the thought occurred to her that all life renewed itself in some form, and she wrote the poem “almost without volition” on her part, expressing the hopeful thought that even though the rose blossoms may now fall the roses will bloom again and even though the springs may now run dry they will ultimately gush anew. It was published in a Boston periodical and was then copied in various newspapers as a poem and set to music more than once, in each case with the composer claiming authorship of the words, until Howe asserted and proved in 1865 that she had actually written them. We have previously encountered Bishop, a onetime music teacher and singer in minstrel productions, as the possible writer and composer of the song “Kitty Wells” on cob #241 and, as was noted in the paragraph about that cob, he was described in one 1891 New York Times article as a “confidence man” and “general crook”, and made questionable claims of authorship of a number of popular songs. Bishop said that he had found the poem “Leaf by Leaf the Roses Fall” in an old newspaper and had composed his tune to go with it as early as 1857, although the resulting song was then “afloat for seven years” before the sheet music was published by Church. He also said that when he later learned that Howe was the author of the poem he added her name to the title page. References: Magazine of Poetry, Vol. I, No. 4 (Buffalo, Charles Wells Moulton, 1889) (information about Howe, her writing of her poem and subsequent events); brief obituary article about Caroline Dana Howe in the October 31, 1907 of the New-York Tribune reporting her death at age 87 in Portland, Maine (other sources have given her year of birth variously as 1820, 1821, 1824 or 1825); John J. MacIntyre, The Composer of the Battle Hymn of the Republic (New York, William H. Conklin, 1916) (laudatory monograph about Bishop that accepted as fact all of his claims to have been the composer of the tunes of numerous very popular American songs including the “Glory Hallelujah” tune used for “John Brown” (on cob #399) and “Battle Hymn of the Republic”; notably, BW, by contrast, ends its very lengthy discussion of the origins of that tune by stating that the “best study that has been made” of those origins concluded that claims of Bishop and others to have composed the tune cannot be sustained. According to MacIntyre’s monograph, Bishop even claimed to have had a hand in the writing of Stephen Foster’s classic 1851 song “Old Folks at Home” (on cob #121), even though Bishop would have been only sixteen years old at the time)

#1217 - Träumerei, Scarcity: S
This well-known dreamy melody—“Traumerei” translates from the German as “dream”, “daydream” or “reverie”—was written by German classical composer Robert Schumann (1810-1856) and is from his “Kinderscenen” (“Scenes of Childhood”), op. 15 (1839). A more extended version of the piece appeared on Grand cob #2029. Reference: GD

#1218 - Cavalleria Rusticana, Scarcity: S
The tune on this cob is another version of the lovely “Intermezzo” from the 1890 opera “Cavalleria Rusticana” by Italian composer Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945). This version is longer but therefore more condensed and faster paced than the version on cob #1122. The piece also appeared in a fuller and more extended version on Grand cob #2077 (see the notes to that cob for further information about the opera and Mascagni). In addition, the “Drinking Song” which immediately follows the “Intermezzo” in the opera appeared on cob #1023. References: VB, GD

#1219 - Under the Double Eagle—March, Scarcity: LC
This well-known and familiar 1893 march was composed by J. F. (Josef Franz) Wagner (1856-1908), an Austrian composer and bandmaster sometimes called “The Austrian March King” by analogy with John Philip Sousa’s nickname “The March King” (see, for example, the notes to cob #2003), E. T. Paull’s nickname “The New March King” (see the notes to cob #1211), Johann Strauss II’s nickname “The Waltz King” (see, for example, the notes to cob #209) and Emil Waldteufel’s nickname “The Parisian Waltz King” (see the notes to cob #2024). This is Wagner’s best-known march, it was his Opus 159 and its original title, in German, was “Unter dem Doppeladler”. The “Doppeladler” or “Double Eagle” appears in the Austrian coat of arms, which was reproduced on the cover of the American sheet music for the piece, which was published by the Eclipse Music Publishing Co. in Philadelphia in 1902 and a copy of which is in TE. The piece is sometimes mistaken for a Sousa march and Sousa’s band did in fact play and record it. Reference: HE

#1220 - Falling Star, Scarcity: S
The pleasant and appealing tune on this cob is another piece without lyrics, composed for solo piano. There is a copy of sheet music for it in IU with a copyright date of 1903 giving the composer’s name as “Benj. Richmond” and including on the cover a full-page image of a young Native American woman. Although the piece has no lyrics and, except for the cover image, has no other characteristics that would identify it as Native American-themed, it was apparently intended to be, and it followed closely on the heels of the great 1901 success “Hiawatha” (see the notes to cobs #1139 and 1207). I have seen a different edition of the sheet music which also included under the cover image the words “Princess Falling Star”, indicating that “Falling Star” was intended to be the Native American woman’s name. I was able to locate copies of sheet music for a couple of dozen other pieces by Benjamin Richmond spanning the period from 1902 through the late ‘teens and they also are all compositions for solo piano without lyrics and were published by a variety of publishers. Apparently Richmond’s most successful piece was also his earliest, “Dance of the Honey Bees” (1902), as its title is included as a previous composition of his over and over again on the covers of the sheet music for his later pieces. This piece was dedicated to his brother, Maurice Richmond, who is mentioned several times in TP as a major “jobber” (wholesaler) and minor publisher of sheet music. According to census records, Benjamin Richmond (1872-1953) also worked in various capacities in the sheet music business, but he apparently was never a full-time composer or musician. References: 1900 U.S. Census Record listing “Benjamin Richmond”, age 27, born in November 1872 in Russia, married for less than a year, immigrated in 1887, naturalized citizen, occupation “Salesman—Music”, living in Manhattan with his wife Rebecca, age 23, born in April 1877 in Russia, immigrated in 1891; 1910 U.S. Census Record listing “Benjamin Richmond”, age 37, occupation “Manager—Sheet Music”, living in Manhattan with his wife Rebecca, age 33, and three young daughters; 1915 New York State Census record listing “Benjamin Richmond”, age 42, occupation “Publisher” with the notation “O.A.” (“own account”), living in Brooklyn with his wife “Beckie”, age 38, and four daughters; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Benjaman [sic] Richmond”, age 45, born November 17, 1872, occupation “Assistant Manager, Enterprise Music Sup. Co.” (which TP says was owned by major sheet music jobber Col. A. H. Goetting of Springfield, Massachusetts, to whom Richmond had dedicated his 1902 composition “Dance of the Song Birds”); 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Benjamin Richmond”, age 46, occupation “Jobbers—Music”, living in Brooklyn with his wife Rebecca, age 43, and four daughters; 1925 New York State Census record listing “Benj. Richmond”, age 52, occupation “Shipping Clerk”, living in Brooklyn with his wife Rebecca, age 48, and four daughters; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Benjamin Richmond”, age 57, occupation “none”, again living in Brooklyn with his wife Rebecca and two of his daughters; numerous references in the Catalog of U.S. Copyright Entries during the period from 1935 to 1942 to copyright renewals for pieces by Richmond giving his address at that time as “Yonkers, New York”; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Benjamin Richmond”, age 67, as a patient at the Jewish Guild for the Blind in Yonkers and noting that he had resided at the same place on April 1, 1935; New York State Death Index entry reporting the death of “Benjamin Richmond”, age 80, on June 13, 1953 in Yonkers

#1221 - Waves of the Danube, Waltz, Scarcity: LC
The waltz in four sections with the Romanian title translated into English as “Waves of the Danube” or “Danube Waves” dates from 1880 and is the best-known composition of Romanian composer, conductor and military bandmaster Josif Ivanovici (1845-1902). The first of the four sections remains widely familiar in the U.S. today because it was adapted much later as the tune of the English-language “Anniversary Song”, which was first recorded by Al Jolson in 1946, recorded by many other recording artists almost immediately afterwards and, since then, occasionally recorded by others right down to the present day. The tune on the cob, however, is not this well-known first section but rather the fourth section and while it is a pleasant piece, it is not a familiar one. There is undated sheet music in UM which includes all four sections with the title “Danube Waves”. Reference: HE

#1222 - Farewell to the Pianoforte, Scarcity: LC
This pretty waltz tune is yet another instrumental piece that was at one time popular among home pianists. It was attributed to the great classical composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), although it has been concluded that it was almost certainly not composed by him. It was first published in Leipzig in 1838, more than ten years after his death, under the title “Faith, Hope and Love—Farewell Thoughts for the Piano”, then reprinted in London as his last work, and subsequently published in the United States under the title “Farewell to the Pianoforte” and similar titles such as “Farewell to the Piano: Beethoven’s Last Composition” (MN; no date) and “Beethoven’s Adieu To The Piano: His Last Composition” (also MN; 1880). Reference: Willy Hess, “Beethoven’s Last Composition”, in Music and Letters, Vol. 33, No. 3 (July, 1952)

#1223 - Spring Song, Scarcity: S
This familiar light and pretty piece is by classical composer Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847) and comes from his “Songs Without Words”, Op. 62, first published in 1844. There is a copy in CC of undated but clearly quite early sheet music for the piece as a piano solo under the title “Song of Spring” (the German title was “Fruhlingslied”). A longer and fuller version of the piece appeared on Grand cob #2007. Reference: GD

#1224 - Evening Star, Scarcity: S
The “Song to the Evening Star” is from Act III of the opera “Tannhauser” by German composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883), first performed in Dresden in 1845 and first performed in New York in 1859. We have previously encountered the well-known march from that opera on cob #1200. A lengthier and fuller version of the march appeared on Grand cob #2040 and the “Pilgrims’ Chorus” from the opera appeared on Grand cob #2076. The opera is set in 13th century Germany and Tannhauser is a minstrel who is torn between Venus, goddess of love, representing passion, sensuality and man’s baser nature, and the mortal Elisabeth, representing idealized love, virtue and honor. In Act III, Scene 2, Wolfram, another minstrel, who has himself loved Elisabeth from afar, sings an aria that alludes to her approaching death and asks the Evening Star to greet her as she passes upon her path to heaven; in Act III, Scene 3, the final scene of the opera, her death is closely followed by Tannhauser’s own death after he returns from Rome, having failed to obtain absolution for his lustful sins. References: GD, VB

#1225 - Are You the O'Reilly?, Scarcity: S
With the piece on this cob we move from what has been a long run of mostly instrumental pieces popular with home pianists and familiar classical and operatic works to another long run of what were at the time new or recent popular songs, and with a few exceptions this run continues until the end of this numerical range with the highest-numbered known 20-note cob, #1298. “Is That Mr. Reilly?” was a “stage Irish” song dating from the 1880s and performed by a comic singer and dancer named Pat Rooney (1848-1892), and it was revived with new lyrics when the British became involved in World War I. There is a copy of the sheet music for the Pat Rooney version in MN with a copyright date of 1883 and a copy of the sheet music for the revised version in LL with the title of “Are You the O’Reilly?” and a copyright date of 1915. In the Rooney version the singer says his name is Terence O’Reilly, his mother was Queen of China, ten miles from the Irish town of Athlone, and if he were in charge of things Ireland would be free, there would be no fare on the railroads, St. Patrick’s Day would be on the Fourth of July, etc. and the chorus, in waltz time, simply asks whether that is Mr. Reilly who owns the hotel and whom they speak of so highly and, if it is, he is doing quite well. The sheet music for the revised version included on the cover a copy of an article clipped from The New York Tribune about how the song, as revised, had become a favorite with British troops serving in the war, replacing “It’s a Long, Long Way to Tipperary” (on cob #1193) in popularity (Interestingly, the article went on to report that a Brooklyn public school principal was teaching his pupils to sing “I Didn’t Raise my Boy to Be a Soldier”, the anti-war song on cob #1197, to the consternation of members of the local National Guard who visited the school). The first verse of the revised version is essentially the same as in the original, but the second verse refers to a “Shamus O’Reilly” who kept the hotel but is now a cook working in the army commissary, and the third verse refers to a “Ludwig O’Reilly—that may be his name” in the trenches on the German enemy’s side. References: Article in the January 26, 1883 edition of the Lancaster [Pennsylvania] Daily Intelligencer reporting on a performance by Pat Rooney, describing him as “one of the funniest men living” and “the most popular Irish comedian” and relating how his little daughter Katie imitated him in singing “Mr. Reilly, Who Keeps the Hotel”; detailed obituary articles about Rooney in the March 29, 1892 editions of the New York Evening World and the Brooklyn Citizen reporting his death in New York at age 44 and noting that he was born in Manchester, England, his real name was Patrick James, he could not read or write, in impersonating an Irishman on stage he was “grotesque” and a “buffoon” but was “the neatest dancer” and “probably popularized more songs than any other performer”, and he reportedly was paid the highest salary of anyone in the business, $600 per week

#1226 - There's a Quaker Down in Quakertown, Scarcity: S
There is a copy of the sheet music for this 1916 song in CC showing the lyricist as David Berg and the composer as Alfred Solman. The singer sings the praises of a woman in “Quaker Town” (not “Quakertown”), a “Two hours ride from old Broadway”, and it is clear from the lyrics that he is referring to Philadelphia, not the small town of Quakertown, Pennsylvania about 35 miles northwest of there. Solman (1868-1937) was born in Germany and emigrated to the United States while in his twenties, living first in Chicago and later in New York. He was a reasonably prolific Tin Pan Alley composer who collaborated with a number of different lyricists. The lesser-known Berg (David Weisberg, 1892-1944) was a New York native who did not work exclusively in the music field for very long after writing the lyrics to this song, which was his greatest songwriting success. References: AB (Fourth Ed., 1980); Cook County, Illinois birth certificate for Alfred Solman’s daughter Lucy, born in Chicago on December 13, 1895, showing that Solman was living there at that time; 1900 U.S. Census record showing “Alfred Solman”, age 33, born in May, 1867, in Germany, immigrated in 1894, living in Chicago, occupation “Music Publisher”; 1910-1911 New York City directories listing “Alfd Solman” in Manhattan, occupation “music”; 1915 New York State Census record showing “Alfred Solmon [sic]”, age 45, born in Germany, living in Manhattan, occupation “Composer of Music”; 1915, 1916 and 1917 New York City directories listing “Alf Solman” as living in Manhattan, occupation “mus comp Joe Morris Music Co.” (the firm which published this song) (1915), “song writer Joe Morris Music Co.” (1916) and just “music composer” (1917); 1925 New York State Census record showing “Alfred Solman”, age 52, born in Germany, living in Manhattan, occupation “Composer”; 1930 U.S. Census record showing “Alfred Solman”, age 61, born in Germany, living in Manhattan, occupation “Music Composer”; 1933 New York City directory listing “Alf Solman” living in Manhattan, no occupation listed; obituary article about Solman in the November 24, 1937 edition of the New York Herald Tribune reporting his death at age 69 in Manhattan and noting that he had composed the tunes to countless songs, of which Edward B. Marks alone published fifty-two, and listing the titles of many of his songs but not this one; 1910 U.S. Census record showing David Weisberg, age 20 [sic; see below], living in Manhattan with his parents, Joseph, a Russian-born tailor, and Hanna, and four siblings, occupation “Shipping Clerk—Millinery”; 1915 New York State Census record showing David Weisberg, age 23, living in the Bronx with his parents, Joseph and Hanah, three sisters and a brother-in-law, occupation “Publisher”; World War I Draft Registration Card for David Weisberg giving his date of birth as November 20, 1892, his then residence as the Bronx, his occupation as “Author” and his employer as Joe Morris Music Co. on West 45th Street, Manhattan, which, as noted above, published this song; 1920 U.S. Census record showing David Weisberg, age 28, living with his mother Hannah, three sisters and a brother-in-law in Manhattan, occupation “Author”; 1925 New York State Census record showing David Weisberg, age 33, living with his mother Hanna and a sister in Manhattan, occupation “Stock Clerk”; 1930 U.S. Census record showing David Weisberg, age 38, living with his mother Hannah and two sisters in Manhattan, occupation “stock clerk—silk house”; World War II Draft Registration Card for David Weisberg dated April 26, 1942 giving his date of birth as November 20, 1892, his place of birth as Brooklyn, New York, his then residence as in Manhattan and his employer as Circle Wire & Cable Co.; brief obituary article in the February 21, 1944 edition of the New York Daily News reporting the death of David Weisberg in Manhattan on February 19 and noting that he was recently employed as a defense worker, that he wrote songs under the name “David Berg” and that “There’s a Quaker Down in Quakertown [sic]” was his best-known song; New York City Index to Death Certificates entry giving the same dates as above for Weisberg’s birth and death and giving his occupation as “Song Writer”

#1227 - Moonlight Bay, Scarcity: LC
This once very popular pretty love ballad dates from 1912 and there is a copy of the sheet music for it in CC. The lyrics were by Edward Madden (1878-1952) and the music was by Percy Wenrich (1880-1952), two Tin Pan Alley regulars whom we have previously encountered, Madden as the author of the lyrics of “Starlight” on cob #1159 and “Red Rose Rag” on cob #1183 and Wenrich as the composer of the tunes of “Red Rose Rag” and “Rainbow” on cob #1207 (see also the notes to those cobs). “Moonlight Bay” was, like “Red Rose Rag”, performed and recorded by Wenrich’s wife Dolly Connolly, with whom he appeared on stage. As in the case of some other songs that have both verses and a more familiar chorus, the tune on the cob is only the chorus, played through twice. It is recognizable but includes a couple of unusual substituted notes where the correct notes were not available on the 20-note organ. The singer longs for the girl he left behind on Moonlight Bay and remembers the sounds of the voices and banjos and the gleaming candles on shore as they sailed along together in the moonlight. “As we sang Love’s Old Sweet Song” in the last line of the chorus is a reference to the earlier (1884) popular song by that title, on cob #329. BU numbers the song among those for which at least a million copies of the sheet music were sold.

#1228 - When You Wore a Tulip, Scarcity: LC
This is still another once very popular song with music by the great ragtime pianist, vaudeville performer and Tin Pan Alley composer Percy Wenrich (1880-1952) (see also the notes to cobs #1183, 1207 and 1227). The lyrics were by Jack (John Francis) Mahoney (1882-1945) and a copy of the sheet music for the piece is once again in CC, with a copyright date of 1914, a photograph of Wenrich’s wife Dolly Connolly on the cover and the words at the top “Dolly Connolly’s Big Hit”. The singer reminisces to his love about how he met her many years earlier in a garden in an old Kentucky town, kissed her and placed a yellow tulip in her hair, and she pinned a red rose on his coat, and he says that their love has not faltered through the years and she is still the sweet girl she was then: although her hair is now silver, her heart is gold. BU again numbers the song among those for which at least a million copies of the sheet music were sold and calls it “one of the biggest hits ever written”. It is once again a song with verses and a more familiar chorus, and only the chorus is on the cob. Some sources have reported, and others have repeated, that “Jack Mahoney” was a pen name for someone named “Ruben Kusnitt”, but I have not found any basis for this assertion or any evidence to support it; U.S. and New York State Census Records and World War I and II Draft Registration records leave no doubt that John F. “Jack” Mahoney was a real person who was born in Buffalo, New York in 1882 to parents named Daniel and Bridget Mahoney and who came to New York City during the first decade of the twentieth century, pursued a career there as a songwriter for the rest of his life and was associated with Leo Feist, the Tin Pan Alley music publisher that published the sheet music for this song. References: TP; 1892 New York State Census record showing “John Mahoney”, age 10, one of five children of Daniel, an Irish-born seaman, and Bridget Mahoney, living in Buffalo; 1900 U.S. Census record showing “John F. Mahoney”, age 17, born in October 1882, son of Daniel and Bridget, living with them in Buffalo, no occupation listed; 1905 New York State Census record showing “John F. Mahoney”, age 22, son of Daniel and Bridget, again living with them in Buffalo, occupation “R. R. Clerk”; 1910 U.S. Census record showing “John F. Mahoney”, age 27, born in New York, living in the Bronx with his wife “Elizabeth L.” who was born in Pennsylvania, occupation “Song writer—Mus. Pub. Co.”; World War I Draft Registration Card for “John Francis Mahoney”, born on October 10, 1882, living in the Bronx with his wife Lillian, occupation “Song Writer”, employer’s name “Leo Feist”; 1920 U.S. Census record showing John Mahoney, age 37, born in New York, living with his wife Lillian, born in Pennsylvania, and young son John in the Bronx, occupation “song writer—music”; 1930 U.S. Census record showing John Mahoney, age 45 [sic], born in New York, living with his wife Lillian and two children in the Bronx, occupation “Composer—Music”; World War II Draft Registration Card for “John Francis Mahoney”, born on October 10, 1882 in Buffalo, New York, living in the Bronx with his wife Lillian, employer’s name “Jack Mahoney (Songwriter self) c/o Leo Feist, 1629 Bwy. NY”

#1229 - Ireland Must be Heaven, Scarcity: S
This piece (with the full title “Ireland Must Be Heaven, for my Mother Came from There”) and the piece on the next cob are sentimental songs in which the singer expresses his great love for his Irish mother. In this first one, the singer has never been to Ireland but has heard his father’s descriptions of its beauty and feels that it must be like heaven because his angelic white-haired mother came from there. There is a copy of the sheet music for it in UM with a copyright date of 1916 that says it is “by Joe McCarthy, Howard Johnson and Fred Fischer”, with no differentiation as to who wrote the lyrics and who wrote the music. We have previously encountered Tin Pan Alley lyricist McCarthy (full name Thomas Joseph McCarthy, 1885-1943) as the writer of the words to “Honey Man” on cob #1181; as noted in the paragraph about that cob, the idea for this song came to him when he overheard his mother respond to a U.S. Census taker “I came from Ireland, and it’s heaven to me”. Howard (E.) Johnson (1887-1941) was another Tin Pan Alley lyricist and also wrote the words to another sentimental “mother” song, “M-O-T-H-E-R” on cob #1234. He was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, grew up in nearby Torrington, showed talent on the piano at an early age, started out as a theatre pianist and subsequently became a professional songwriter, first in Boston and then in New York. Fred Fischer (birth name Albert Breitenbach; 1875?-1942), the best-known of the trio, was born in Germany, came to the United States as a young man, became a composer and music publisher, first in Chicago and later in New York, and still later moved to Hollywood and wrote musical settings for silent films. In his songwriting, he collaborated with a number of Tin Pan Alley lyricists, especially Alfred Bryan (see the notes to cob #1207), and in some cases wrote or revised lyrics himself. His competitor in music publishing, Edward B. Marks, in TA, called Fischer “the funniest man in Tin Pan Alley” and Jack Burton, in BU, said of him “Tin Pan Alley has known many eccentric characters, but Fred Fisher was something out of this world—a candidate for Ripley’s ‘Believe It or Not’”; for example, Fischer claimed to have run away from home at the age of thirteen and joined the Imperial German Navy, and to have later served in the French Foreign Legion. BU lists nine songs of his for which more than a million copies of sheet music were sold. Additional references: TG; OC; 1906-1913 Torrington, Connecticut city directories listing “Howard E. Johnson” as a boarder in the home of his father, Charles, a toolmaker (The 1906 directory lists him (then age 19) as a clerk at Hotchkiss Brothers, builders’ supplies ; in the other years, no profession is listed for him); 1908 Boston city directory listing “Howard E. Johnson” as a boarder, no profession listed (but there is no comparable entry in the 1907 and 1909 directories); 1914 Torrington, Connecticut city directory entry “Howard E. Johnson rem to New York City”; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Howard Johnson” dated June 5, 1917 stating that he was born in Waterbury, Connecticut on June 2, 1887, lived in Manhattan and was also employed there as a “Song Writer” at Leo Feist; 1930 U.S. Census record showing “Howard E. Johnson”, age 42, living in Los Angeles, occupation “Author—Music”; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Howard Johnson”, age 52, living in Manhattan, occupation “Songwriter—Free Lance” and reporting that he had lived at the same address in 1935; obituary articles about Johnson in the May 2, 1941 editions of The New York Times and the New York Herald Tribune; entry in the Cook County, Illinois, Marriages Index for the marriage in Chicago on March 18, 1901 of “Albert Breitenbach”, age 26, and Myrtle Reynolds, age 24; article in the September 29, 1912 edition of the Boston Globe reporting that “Albert Breitenbach, better known as Fred Fisher, writer of songs”, a resident of Manhattan, was seeking an annulment of his marriage three months earlier to the former May McCarthy and was living temporarily in Chicago; New York Marriage License Index entries for a marriage license dated July 7, 1914 for “Albert Breitenbach” and Anna Davis; 1915 New York State Census record for “Fred Fisher”, age 36, born in Germany, living with his wife Anna, age 19, and one child in the Bronx, New York, occupation “Songwriter”; World War I Draft Registration card dated September 12, 1918 for “Fred Fisher”, age 43, born on September 30, 1874 [sic?; other sources consistently give the birth year as 1875], living in Manhattan, occupation “Music Publisher—self”; article in the April 7, 1920 edition of the New York Daily News including a photograph of Fischer and reporting that he had legally changed his name from “Albert Breitenbach” to “Fred Fischer”; 1920 U.S. Census record for “Fred Fisher”, age 38, born in Germany, immigrated in 1897, living with his wife Anna and two children in Manhattan, occupation “Writer—Song”; 1930 U.S. Census record for “Frederick Fisher”, age 50, born in Germany, living with his wife Anna and three children in Beverly Hills, California, occupation “Composer—Music”; 1940 U.S. Census record for “Fred Fisher”, age 65, born in Germany, living with his wife Anna in Manhattan, occupation “Composer—Music” and reporting that he had lived in the same city in 1935 (Note: In a 1949 movie very loosely based on Fischer’s life story, “Oh, You Beautiful Doll” (which is also the title of the song on cob #1188, not by Fischer), the character based on him was named not “Albert” but “Alfred” Breitenbach)

#1230 - Mother Machree, Scarcity: S
“Machree” is an anglicized version of the Irish “mo chroi” (“my heart”), so that the title of this song means “mother of my heart”. It is another sentimental piece in which the singer lovingly and emotionally praises his elderly Irish mother, it dates from 1910 and there is a copy of the sheet music for it in CC which shows Rida Johnson Young (1875?-1926) as the lyricist and Chauncey (Chancellor) Olcott (1857?-1932) and Ernest R. Ball (1878-1927) as the composers. Young was born in Baltimore, first worked as an actress and in the music publishing business and later wrote plays, operettas and musical comedies, collaborating with such luminaries as Victor Herbert (see also the notes to cob #1089) and Jerome Kern (see also the notes to cob #1157). She was the author of the book and lyrics for the 1910 musical “Barry of Barrymore”, in which Olcott starred and sang the song “Mother Machree”. Olcott, from Buffalo, New York, began his career as a singer with minstrel companies and later became a very popular tenor vocalist who appeared in leading roles in a long series of “Irish” musical plays in addition to doing some writing and composing; EM called him “the classic stage-Irish performer of his era”. He had a longtime home named “Iniscarra House” in Saratoga Springs, New York to which he would escape when he was not touring, and he spent his final years in Monte Carlo, where he died. Ball was born in Cleveland and after a short stint as a piano player in a New York vaudeville theatre became a staff pianist and then a staff composer in the Tin Pan Alley music publishing firm of M. Witmark & Sons, which published “Mother Machree”. He wrote the tunes for a number of other “Irish” songs popularized by Olcott, including the very well-known “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” (with lyrics co-authored by Olcott; not on the roller organ). In addition to composing, Ball was a vaudeville performer, and he died of a heart attack while still in his forties shortly after completing a performance of a medley of his own songs on stage in Santa Ana, California. He also wrote the tunes to “Good-Bye, Good Luck, God Bless You” (on cob #1240) and “Let the Rest of the World Go By” (on cob #1250), both of which, like “Mother Machree”, achieved sales of more than a million copies. References: OC; BU; TG; EM; Helen Christine Bennett, “The Woman Who Wrote ‘Mother Machree’”, The American Magazine, December, 1920 (interview with Young including some biographical details); 1860 U.S. Census record dated July 6, 1860 listing “Chancellor Olcott”, age 3, living in Buffalo, New York with his mother Margaret, a saloon keeper, and a younger brother; 1865 New York State Census record dated June 10, 1865 listing “Chancelor Olcott”, age 8, living in Buffalo with his mother Margaret, a saloon keeper, now with the last name Doyle; 1870 U.S. Census record dated June 18 and 20, 1870 listing just “Chancelor”, age 13, living in Buffalo with his mother Margaret Doyle; 1875 New York State Census record dated June 30, 1875 listing “Chancy Doyle”, age 18, occupation “Watchman on the Upper Lakes”, living in Buffalo with his mother “Margareth Doyle”, occupation “Saloon”; 1880 U.S. Census record dated June 14, 1880 listing “Chancelor Olcutt”, age 23, occupation “Travl Singner [sic]”, living in Buffalo with his mother Margret, now married to Patrick Brennan, a “Lake Engineer”; City of Salem, Massachusetts Marriage Records recording the marriage in Salem on September 28, 1897 of “Chancelor Olcott”, born in Buffalo, New York, age 39, son of “Melon W. and Margaret (Brennan)”, occupation “Actor”; 1910 U.S. Census record showing “Chancellor Olcott”, age 50, living in Saratoga Springs, New York with the occupation “Traveling Actor—show business”; numerous Saratoga Springs city directories beginning in the early 1900s listing Olcott, in some cases with the profession “actor”, at his residence, “Iniscarra House”, and listing his widow at the same address following his death
[Note: Olcott’s birth date has been given in various places as July 21, 1858 (OC), 1859 (Olcott’s tombstone in Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York) and 1860 (EM), but even though his 1897 marriage record mentioned above is consistent with a birth year of 1858, the 1860, 1865, 1870, 1875 and 1880 census records also mentioned above were all made just before his July birthday in the respective years and recorded his age as 3, 8, 13, 18 and 23, respectively, all pointing toward 1857 as being the correct year (or even 1856, if the age reported in each census record was his age attained at his birthday in the previous year rather than the age he would attain a few weeks later in the current year). The mere existence of the 1860 record precludes the possibility that he was born in that year.]
[Further note: Rida Johnson Young’s birth year has been reported as 1866 (with a question mark) in EM and 1869 in OC. A 1900 U.S. Census record, however, listed “Rida L. Johnson”, age 25, born in February 1875, occupation “Plawright” [sic], living in Baltimore with her widowed mother, Emma S., and two brothers, Stewart and Samuel, and an obituary article about Rida in the May 9, 1926 edition of The New York Times reported her date of birth as February 28, 1875. Shortly before the 1900 U.S. Census record was made, an obituary article in the May 16, 1900 edition of the Baltimore Sun had reported the death of William A. Johnson, described as “father of Miss Rida L. Johnson, author of the play “Lord Byron”, now being presented at Ford’s Opera House”, and listed his survivors as his widow (Emma S.) and four children, S. M., “Mrs. W. C. Fink, of Harrisburg”, Rida and “George S., ex-City Councilman”. A 1910 U.S. Census record showed Emma S., “G. Stewart” (presumably the son also known as George S.) and “Samuel M.” (presumably the other son, also known as S. M.) all living together in Baltimore, and a 1920 U.S. Census record showed Emma S., G. Stewart and his widowed sister, “W. Emma Fink”, all living together in Baltimore. The 1870 and 1880 U.S. Census records for William A. Johnson’s family had listed a daughter named Emma born in about 1868 but had not mentioned Rida, and the 1920 U.S. Census record, because it includes this Emma, makes it clear that this Emma and Rida, who was at that point no longer living with the family, could not be the same person. Whether Rida was born during the 1860s or in 1875, it is not clear why she was omitted from the census records for her family in both 1870 (if she was born before then) and 1880, but this omission precluded one possible means of corroborating her actual birth year.]

#1231 - My Own Iona, Scarcity: VS
We have seen Irish-themed, German-themed, African American-themed and Native American-themed songs on the roller organ, but the 1916 piece on this very scarce cob is the only one that is Hawaiian-themed. There is a copy of the sheet music for it in UM depicting the face of a Hawaiian maiden on the cover and also including the subtitle “Moi-One-Ionae” (apparently a pseudo-Hawaiian phrase) and the words “Hawaii’s Favorite Love Song”. The singer longs to be back with his faraway sweetheart, his “own Iona from old Halona”, a locale on Oahu. The author of the lyrics was L. Wolfe Gilbert (1886-1970) and the composers of the music were Anatol Friedland (1884-1938) and Carey Morgan (1884-1960). Gilbert, who was sometimes called “the dean of Tin Pan Alley”, was born in Russia, brought to the United States as a very small boy, grew up in Philadelphia, came to New York when he was only in his mid-teens and became a singer in cafes, night clubs and burlesque and vaudeville theatres before turning to song writing and later music publishing. Friedland was also born in Russia, was brought to New York as a small boy, and studied architecture at Columbia University before beginning a career as a composer, vaudeville singer (sometimes accompanying himself on the piano in recitals of his own songs) and operator of a New York City night club, “Club Anatol”, during Prohibition. Morgan was a minister’s son from Indiana who also came to New York City to live and whose obituary article in the January 7, 1960 edition of the New York Herald Tribune began by describing him as a “songwriter and retired typewriter salesman” and added that he had worked for the Smith-Corona company for 40 years, during which he had written music for vaudeville acts and musicals as a sideline. Additional references: OC; obituary article about Friedland in the July 25, 1938 edition of The New York Times; 1910 U.S. Census record showing “Carey E. Morgan, Jr.”, age 25, born in Indiana, living in Paris, Kentucky, with his father, a minister, mother, sister and grandmother, occupation “Commercial Traveler—Wholesale Shoes” [? (the last word is scrawled illegibly)]; 1915 New York State Census record showing “Carey Morgan”, age 30, living in Manhattan with his younger brother, occupation “Salesman—Type”; 1920 U.S. Census record showing “Carey Morgan”, age 35, born in Indiana, living in Manhattan, occupation “Composer—Music”; many newspaper articles during the 1920s referring to Morgan as the composer of music for musical comedy productions; 1940 U.S. Census record showing “Carey Morgan”, age 54, born in Indiana, living in Manhattan, occupation “salesman—Typewriters”; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Carey Morgan” stating that he was born on December 25, 1885 in Brownsburg, Indiana, lived in Manhattan and was employed by “L. C. Smith & Corona Typewriters, Inc.”
[Note: Some authorities have stated that Morgan’s year of birth was 1884 and others that it was 1885, and in this regard, in addition to the World War II Draft Registration Card mentioned above, a U.S. Immigration Service list of passengers arriving in New York on a ship that sailed from Hamilton, Bermuda on January 5, 1915 listed Morgan as having been born in “Brownsberg Ind” in “85”, a U.S. Veterans Bureau Mail and Records Form documenting Morgan’s service in the Naval Reserve during World War I listed his birth date as December 25, 1885 and the certificate of his death in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on January 5, 1960 also gave December 25, 1885 as his birth date; however, the birth date of Carey Morgan’s younger brother Walter D. Morgan was given in a 1900 U.S. Census record as July 1886 and in his World War I Draft Registration Card and a U.S. Passport Application dated July 6, 1922 was given as July 27, 1886, only seven months after Carey’s supposed birth date of December 25, 1885, which would indicate that 1884 rather than 1885 must be the correct year for Carey’s birth.]

#1232 - Are You From Dixie, Scarcity: LC
There is a copy of the sheet music for this 1915 song in CC depicting on the cover two men about to shake hands in front of a backdrop of African-Americans working in a cotton field with a plantation house with columns in the distance. The singer greets a stranger, asks if he is also from below the Mason Dixon Line, and says he left his home on a plantation in Alabama in 1889 and longs to return there. The lyricist, Jack Yellen, and the composer, George L. Cobb, were by no means Southerners: Yellen (1892-1991) was born in Poland, brought to the United States as a child, attended the University of Michigan and was working as a newspaper reporter in Buffalo, New York when he and Cobb collaborated on a series of “Dixie”-themed popular songs of which this one became the most popular. Yellen subsequently wrote many other hit songs, in some cases for specific entertainers, and songs for musical comedies and films, and also became a principal in a music publishing firm. Cobb (1886-1942) was born in the small town of Mexico, Oswego County, New York, studied music at Syracuse University, lived first in Buffalo and later worked in Boston for many years for a music publisher that published, in addition to sheet music, a monthly music magazine for which Cobb wrote a column addressed to aspiring songwriters and reviewed current songs. He is remembered as a composer of instrumental rag tunes as well as music for popular songs. References: OC; BU; TP; HE; RR; obituary article about Yellen in the April 20, 1991 edition of the New York Daily News

#1233 - My Little Girl, Scarcity: S
This is another 1915 Tin Pan Alley song and a copy of the sheet music for it can again be found in CC. The lyrics were by Sam M. Lewis and Will Dillon and the music was by Albert Von Tilzer. We have previously encountered Dillon (full name William A. Dillon, 1877-1966) as the author of the lyrics to the song “All Alone” on cob #1185, with music by Albert Von Tilzer’s brother Harry, and Albert Von Tilzer (1878-1956) himself as the composer of the tune to the song “A Picnic for Two” on cob #1156 (see the notes to those cobs). As for Sam M. Lewis (born Samuel Levine, 1883-1959), he was still another prolific Tin Pan Alley lyricist and was born in New York City and lived his entire life there. He started out as a café singer, performing his own songs, and after having his first hit song in 1912 went on to write the lyrics for many very well-known songs, writing both for particular performers and for shows, working for many years in partnership with fellow lyricist Joe Young and collaborating with a number of the best-known Tin Pan Alley composers. References: OC; TP; 1900 U.S. Census record showing “Samuel Lavine”, age 17, born in October 1882, living in Manhattan with his Polish-born father, Max, a tailor, his mother and his younger siblings, occupation “Stock Exchange”; World War I Draft Registration Card dated September 12, 1918 for “Samuel Lewis” (but signed “Sam M. Lewis”), age 35, born on October 25, 1882, occupation “Writer (song)”, employer’s name “Waterson, Berlin & Schneider” [sic]; U.S. Emergency Passport Application for “Sam M. Lewis” and his wife Anna dated December 22, 1921 stating that he was born in New York City on October 25, 1883 and his father’s name was Max (with a section called “Identification” signed by “Joseph Young” referring to him as “Samuel M. Lewis my partner” whom he had known for ten years); 1930 U.S. Census record for “Samuel Lewis”, age 45, living in Manhattan, occupation “Song Writer”; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Samuel M. Lewis” (but signed “Sam M. Lewis”), age 58, born in New York City on October 25, 1884, employer “Self” (Thus, there is once again, with regard to Lewis, a discrepancy as to his birth year, the various sources giving it as 1882, 1883, 1884 or (in OC) 1885)

#1234 - M-O-T-H-E-R, Scarcity: LC
The well-known song on this cob is another sentimental one in which the singer praises his mother, enumerating, in the chorus (the only part that appears on the cob), her virtues that begin with the respective letters of the word “mother” (“‘M’ is for the million things she gave me”, etc.). There is sheet music for the piece in CC with a copyright date of 1915 giving the lyricist’s name as Howard Johnson and the composer’s name as Theodore Morse. We have previously encountered both of these Tin Pan Alley figures, Connecticut-born Johnson (Howard E. Johnson, 1887-1941) as one of the writers of “Ireland Must Be Heaven” on cob #1229 and composer and music publisher Morse (Theodore F. (“Ted”) Morse, 1873-1924) as the writer of the music to “Starlight” on cob #1159 (see also the notes to those cobs). Morse was also the original publisher of the song “Dolly Grey” on cob #1130. References: obituary articles about Johnson in the May 2, 1941 editions of The New York Times and the New York Herald Tribune; OC

#1235 - Meet Me at Twilight, Scarcity: LC
Both the words and music of this pretty 1914 slow waltz song were by Sydney P. Harris (1871?-1944) and there is a copy of the sheet music for it, which was published by Harris, in UM. The cob once again omits the verse and includes only the more familiar chorus. The singer dreams of his “dearie”, longs to see her and invites her to meet him at twilight “in love’s sweet garden, Down where the Roses grow”. Harris is an obscure figure. The sheet music gives a Detroit address for his music publishing concern and Detroit street directories and U.S. Census records show that he lived there as early as 1907 and from then through the time of his death almost 40 years later, although he was born in England and lived in St. Louis in the earlier years of his life and worked as a clerk in the lumber business and a manager in the dry goods business there before becoming a publisher. As is so often the case, there is conflicting information as to the years of his birth and immigration: he was listed in the 1880 U.S. Census, in which his age at that time was given as 9, but his death certificate gave the year of his birth as 1875, the 1900 U.S. Census listed him as having been born in April, 1872, and his age as (clearly incorrectly) stated in later marriage and census records would indicate that he was born in 1880, 1882 or 1885. References: 1880 U.S. Census record listing “Sidney Harris”, age 9, born in England, living in St. Louis, Missouri, with his father, Phillip, a “pudler” (presumably meaning a “puddler”, a type of ironworker), his mother Margaret, and two siblings; 1889 and 1890 St. Louis, Missouri city directories listing “Sidney Harris”, “clerk, The Knapp Stout & Co.” [a lumber firm]; 1891 and 1893 St. Louis directories listing him as “Sydney P. Harris”, “clerk, Stern & Mohlmann” [also a lumber firm]; 1895 St. Louis directory listing him twice, as “Sidney P. Harris, clerk” and also “Sidney Harris, clerk, William Rosche” [still another lumber firm]; 1899 St. Louis directory listing “Sydney P. Harris, dept. mngr. Penny & Genties” [a dry goods firm]; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Sydney Harris”, age 28, born in April 1872 in England, occupation “Musical Composer”, living in St. Louis with his then wife Dorothea and her parents; 1901 and 1903 St. Louis directories listing “Sydney P. Harris, pub.” (also listing him under “Publishers”); advertisement in the January 27, 1906 edition of the Los Angeles Daily Times that composer Sydney P. Harris would demonstrate some of his compositions at a department store there and would be leaving for New York shortly thereafter; articles in a number of newspapers in April and May, 1906, quoting “Sydney P. Harris, composer of music” about terrible conditions he witnessed in San Francisco following the great earthquake there, and an article in the May 7, 1906 edition of the San Francisco Call titled “City Loses its Liars Colony” about exaggerated accounts of the earthquake provided by some who fled the city including Harris, who, the article said, would probably be awarded “First prize in the liars’ division” because of his lurid account, which was quoted at length; 1907 Detroit city directory listing “Sidney P. Harris, musician”; Ontario, Canada marriage record listing the marriage on December 15, 1907 in Windsor, Ontario (directly across the Detroit River from Detroit) of “Sidney Harris”, age 25, a resident of Detroit, born in England, occupation “Music publisher”, father’s name Philip Harris, mother’s maiden name Margaret Russell, to Marie Flanelly, age 25, of Detroit; advertisements in various newspapers in Ohio and Indiana in 1908 and 1909, some with a photograph of Harris, calling him “Sydney P. Harris, the New York composer”, listing some of his compositions and saying that he would demonstrate them at a local S. H. Knox & Co. 5 and 10c Store; Michigan marriage record listing the marriage on November 11, 1908 in Ann Arbor, Michigan of Sydney P. Harris, age 28, a resident of New York City [?], born in Middleborough, England, occupation “Publisher”, son of Phillip Harris and his wife Margaret (nee Russell), to Marie Flanelly, age 26, of Ann Arbor (It is not clear why the couple was married again in Michigan almost a year after their marriage in Canada); 1909 Detroit city directory listing “Sydney P. Harris, pres. Sydney P. Harris Co., music publrs.”; various newspaper articles in 1909 about a lawsuit in which a songwriter named Leo Friedman accused Harris of plagiarism, alleging that Harris’ song “Meet Me in Dreamland” was taken from Friedman’s song “Meet Me To-night in Dreamland”, while Harris, in his defense, claimed he had made his song up from several songs he himself had previously written; 1910, 1920 and 1930 U.S. Census records all listing “Sydney P. Harris”, ages 28, 38 and 45, respectively, born in England, immigrated in 1889 (1910 and 1920 records) or 1898 (1930 record) (both dates clearly incorrect in light of his inclusion in the 1880 U.S. Census), occupation “Publisher—Literature” (1910), “Music Publisher—Own Business” (1920) and “Musician” (1930), in each case living in Detroit with his wife Marie; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Sidney P. Harris”, age 65, born in England, occupation “Proprietor—Publishing”, living in Detroit with his wife Marie; Michigan death certificate for “Sidney P. Harris” giving his date of death as April 11, 1944, his date of birth as April 30, 1875, his place of birth as England and his occupation as “Musician”

#1236 - Memories, Scarcity: S
The pretty and long-remembered sentimental song on this cob once again dates from 1915. The lyrics were by Gustave (“Gus”) Kahn (1886-1941) and the music was by Egbert Van Alstyne (1878-1951), two prominent Tin Pan Alley figures, both of whom we have previously encountered, Kahn as the author of the lyrics to “I Wish I Had a Girl” on cob #1177 and Van Alstyne as the composer of the tunes to “In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree” on cob #1145 and “Cheyenne” on cob #1162 (see also the notes to those cobs). A copy of the sheet music for the song is once again in CC.

#1237 - A Perfect Day, Scarcity: LC
Both the words and music of the sentimental 1909 song on this cob were written by Carrie Jacobs-Bond (1862-1946), who was born in Janesville, Wisconsin and turned to songwriting as a means of making a living when she was in her early thirties after her husband died, leaving her nearly destitute with a young son. She began publishing her songs in her small apartment, which she called “The Bond Shop”, and designed and illustrated the covers of the sheet music for them herself. Several of her pieces became extremely popular and “A Perfect Day” was one of her three greatest successes, with sheet music sales reaching into the millions of copies. There is a copy of the sheet music for the piece in DU, published in Chicago by “The Bond Shop” and including the first verse of the lyrics on the cover followed by the name “Carrie Jacobs-Bond” (that is, including a hyphen between “Jacobs” and “Bond”, although many sources, in referring to her, have not included the hyphen) and a date of 1909, although a copyright date of 1910 appears at the bottom of the first interior page. References: OC, TG, BU

#1238 - In the Sweet Long Ago, Scarcity: S
The lively 1916 song on this cob was written by Bobby Heath, Arthur Lange and Alfred Solman and there is a copy of the sheet music for it in DU. In the lyrics, the singer longs for “the quaint old days” of the past, the melodies his parents knew and the bashful misses of an earlier time. Only the chorus is on the cob and it is played through twice. Bobby Heath (the stage name of Robin James Frear (1888-1952); Heath was his mother’s maiden name) was born in Philadelphia and was both a songwriter and a vaudeville singer and comedian who sometimes appeared in revues with his troupe of dancing girls. Lange (1889-1956) was also a Philadelphia native who first lived in New York City and later in Los Angeles and in addition to writing and composing led his own dance orchestra, which made a number of recordings during the 1920s, and after moving to California became a composer, arranger and music director in the motion picture industry. We have previously encountered German-born Tin Pan Alley composer Solman (1868-1937) as the writer of the tune to “There’s a Quaker Down in Quaker Town” on cob #1226 (see the notes to that cob). References: Baptismal record for Robin James Frear, born in Philadelphia on December 1, 1888, baptized in St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Philadelphia on February 20, 1890; 1900 U.S. Census record listing Robin Frear, age 11, born in December, 1888, living in Philadelphia with his mother Emily, a dressmaker; marriage certificate recording Frear’s marriage on July 18, 1908 in Wilmington, Delaware, giving his age as 21 and his occupation as “Actor”; hundreds of newspaper notices and reviews beginning in 1908 and continuing into the 1930s mentioning vaudeville performances in which Heath appeared, either alone, with various partners or as the headliner of a revue bearing his name, including references during 1910-1911 to “The Monarchs of Melody”, a foursome of performing songwriters that included Heath and Charlie O’Donnell, who together wrote the enormously popular 1909 song “My Pony Boy” (not on the roller organ), the piece for which Heath was most remembered and the only one mentioned in many of the brief obituary articles about him that appeared in newspapers following his death; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Robin J. Frear” giving his date of birth as December 1, 1888 and listing a Philadelphia address and his occupation as “Author”; 1920 U.S. Census record again showing him at a Philadelphia address, giving his name incorrectly as “Robert J. Frear”, his age as 30 and his occupation as “Professional—Vaudeville”; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Robin J. Frear” also including his alternate name “Bobby Heath” and giving his date of birth as December 1, 1889, his residence as the Dixie Hotel in New York City and his occupation as “Artist—Show Business”; Pennsylvania death certificate reporting the death of “Robin J. Frear” on March 3, 1952, also including his alternate name “Bobby Heath” and listing his date of birth as December 23, 1889, his occupation as “Entertainer—song writer” and his mother’s maiden name as “Emily Heath”; baptismal record listing the baptism in the Friedens Kirche (Church of Peace), Philadelphia on August 14, 1889 of Arthur Paul Wilhelm Lange, son of Max and Maria Lange, born on April 16, 1889 in Philadelphia; 1900 U.S. Census record listing Arthur Lange, age 11, born on April 16, 1889, living in Philadelphia with his German-born parents Max and Marie; 1910 U.S. Census record showing Arthur Lange, age 21, born in Pennsylvania of German-born parents, living as a lodger in Manhattan with the occupation “Musician—Theatre”; 1915 New York State Census record listing Arthur W. Lange, age 27, living with his wife and young child in Manhattan with the occupation “Music Composer”; World War I Draft Registration Card for Arthur Lange, born in Pennsylvania on April 16, 1889, a “Composer of Music” living in Manhattan, listing as his employer the Joe Morris Music Co., the publisher of the sheet music for “In the Sweet Long Ago”; 1920 U.S. Census record listing Arthur W. Lange, age 31, born in Pennsylvania, living in Manhattan with his wife and two children, occupation “composer—music”; numerous newspaper advertisements during the 1920s for recordings by Lange’s dance orchestra; 1925 New York State Census record listing Arthur Lange, age 37, living in a lodging house in Manhattan, occupation “Musician”; 1930 U.S. Census records listing Lange twice, once as living in Manhattan, age 41, with his wife and two children with the occupation “Music composer—Moving pictures” and once as living in a bungalow apartment complex in Los Angeles, age 40, with the occupation “Musical Director—Motion Pictures”; 1940 U.S. Census record listing Arthur Lange, age 51, born in Pennsylvania, living in Los Angeles with his second wife and having lived in the same place in 1935, with the occupation “Music Composer—Motion Picture”; World War II Draft Registration Card for Arthur Lange listing him as living in Los Angeles, age 53, and listing as his employer “Free Lance Warner Bros. Studio”; obituary article about Lange in the December 8, 1956 edition of The New York Times

#1239 - Pretty Baby, Scarcity: LC
The once-very-popular and long-remembered lively piece on this cob also dates from 1916 and there is a copy of the sheet music for it in UM which shows the lyricist as Gus Kahn and the composers as Tony Jackson and Egbert Van Alstyne. The singer tells his sweetheart that even though she hates to have him call her “pretty baby”, he calls her this because of her “cunning little dimples”, “baby stare”, “baby talk and baby walk and curly hair” and “baby smile”. Both the verse and chorus were included on the cob—32 bars in all—and it accordingly plays at a pretty quick pace unless cranked slowly. We have previously encountered Tin Pan Alley songwriters Kahn and Van Alstyne as the lyricist and composer, respectively, of the 1915 song “Memories” on cob #1236 and Kahn as the author of the lyrics to “I Wish I Had a Girl” on cob #1177 and Van Alstyne as the composer of the tunes to “In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree” on cob #1145 and “Cheyenne” on cob #1162 (see also the notes to those cobs). Jackson (1882?-1921), a now highly-regarded and venerated New Orleans-born African-American pianist, was credited as co-composer reportedly because Kahn and Van Alstyne heard him perform the piece with other, unsuitable lyrics, paid Jackson for rights to the tune and used it with their own lyrics instead. References: OC, 1900 U.S. Census record showing “Toney Jackson”, age 17, born in October 1882, living with his parents, siblings and two other household members in New Orleans, occupation “Pianist”; 1910 U.S. Census records dated April 22 showing “Toney Jackson”, age 24, living with his parents, two sisters and a roomer in New Orleans, occupation “Musician”, and dated May 23 showing “Toney Jackson”, age 27, living as a boarder in New Orleans, occupation “Teacher—Music”; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Tony Junius Jackson”, age 34, born October 25, 1884, living in Chicago, occupation “Pianist—Pekin Theatre”; 1920 U.S. Census record for “Tony Jackson”, age 32, living with his sister and others in Chicago, occupation “Musician”; Illinois death certificate for “Tony Jackson” reporting his death on April 20, 1921, giving his date of birth as “Unknown”, his age as 32 (which would have made him only 11 at the time his age was reported as 17 in the 1900 U.S. Census) and his occupation as “Musician—Pianist—Pekin Café”; tombstone for “Uncle Tony Jackson” in Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago, which is consistent with the death certificate in giving the year of his birth as 1889; article in the February 17, 1917 edition of the Kansas City [Missouri] Sun reporting that Jackson was paid only $45 for “Pretty Baby” and that “Thousands of dollars have been made off the song by the publishers, while the composer is still pounding the piano every night for a few dollars” (Other sources have said the amount Jackson was paid for the piece was $250)

#1240 - Good Bye, Good Luck, God Bless You, Scarcity: S
There is a copy of the sheet music in UM for this once very popular 1916 song in waltz time in which the singer, sadly and reluctantly, bids farewell to a love who has proved false but whom the singer still loves. The music was by Ernest R. Ball (1878-1927), whom we have previously encountered as the composer, with Chauncey Olcott, of the tune to “Mother Machree” on cob #1230 (see also the notes to that cob); Ball was a vaudeville performer as well as a composer and was employed on the staff of M. Witmark & Sons, the Tin Pan Alley music publishing firm in New York City that published this song (as well as “Mother Machree”). The lyrics were by J. Keirn Brennan (1873-1948), who was born in San Francisco, frequently collaborated with Ball and, BB reports, “punched cows in Texas and panned gold in the Klondike before discovering pay dirt in Tin Pan Alley”. Like many other Tin Pan Alley figures, Brennan relocated from New York City to California in the later part of his life and worked in the burgeoning motion picture industry. Additional references: 1880 U.S. Census record showing “John Brennan”, age 6, living in San Francisco with his grandmother, father, uncle and aunt, all born in Ireland, and his brother Charles (who subsequently became the San Francisco Fire Chief, according to the obituary article about Brennan referred to below) and one other grandchild; 1896 Voter Register listing “John Keirn Brennan”, age 22, born in California, living in Tulare, California, occupation “farmer”; 1898 Voter Register listing “John Keirn Brennan”, age 24, born in California, living in Bakersfield, California, occupation “bookkeeper”; State of Washington record of the issuance of a marriage license on September 23, 1907 in King County, Washington to John Keirn Brennan of St. Michael, Alaska and Kathrine Gould of Mattoon, Illinois; 1910 U.S. Census record showing “John K. Brennan”, age 36, born in California, living in Chicago with his wife Katherine and year-old daughter Olivia, occupation “Clerk—Real Estate”; 1915 New York State Census record listing “John K. Brennan”, age 39, occupation “Music Composer”, living in Manhattan with his English-born second wife Helen and three lodgers; World War I Draft Registration Card listing “J. Keirn Brennan”, age 44, born on November 24, 1873, living in Stony Brook, Suffolk County (Long Island), New York, with his wife Helen, occupation self-employed “Author & Farmer”; 1920 U.S. Census record for “John K. Brennan”, age 46, born in California, living with his wife Hellen [sic] in Brookhaven, Suffolk County, occupation “Actor—Vaudeville”; 1925 New York Census record listing “John K. Brennan”, age 51, again living with his wife Helen in Brookhaven, occupation “Song Composer”; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “John K. Brennan”, age 55, living with his wife Helen in Los Angeles, California, occupation “Author—Motion pictures”; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “J. K. Brennan”, age 67, widowed, living in Los Angeles and having lived in the same house in 1935, no occupation listed; obituary article about Brennan in the February 5, 1948 edition of the Los Angeles Times

#1241 - I'm on My Way to Dublin Bay, Scarcity: S
There is a copy in UM of the sheet music for this lively 1915 song in march tempo with both lyrics and music by Stanley Murphy. A young Irishman named Michael Shea joins the Dublin Fusiliers, distinguishes himself in battle, receives a medal and is promoted to the rank of sergeant, and sings, in the chorus, that he is beginning a two-month furlough by heading back to Dublin Bay and his “colleen fair”, “sweet Molly-O”; in the second verse, they are married by “Father John Malloy”. Murphy (birth name Stanislaus Joseph Murphy, 1875-1920) is probably most remembered as the author of the lyrics to the 1909 song “Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet”, with music by Percy Wenrich (not on the roller organ). Born in Ireland and brought to the United States as a child, he enjoyed only several years of success as a Tin Pan Alley songwriter before he suffered a nervous breakdown, was committed to an asylum and died at the age of 44 in January, 1920 (not in 1919, as other sources unanimously and incorrectly state). References: baptismal record for Stanislaus Murphy, born on November 29, 1875, son of John C. Murphy and his wife Mary Teresa (nee Daly) of Sandycove, County Dublin, baptized at St. Joseph’s Church, Glasthule on December 2; passenger record showing the arrival on October 6, 1884 at the Port of New York of Stanislaus Murphy, age 8, as a passenger on the S.S. City of Montreal; article in the February 9, 1902 edition of The Brooklyn Citizen reporting that Stanley Murphy, who at that time had been playing a role of a Chinese cook in a traveling production of a play titled “Arizona”, had served in the U.S. Navy on the battleship Oregon during the Spanish-American War and then had turned to acting two years earlier; 1915 New York State Census record showing Stanley Murphy, age 39, born in Ireland, living in Freeport, Long Island, New York with his wife and one-year-old son, occupation “Author”; World War I Draft Registration Card dated September 11, 1918 for “Stanislaus Joseph Murphy”, age 42, born on November 29, 1775 [sic], living in Freeport, occupation “None”, with the notation that he was disqualified from military service by reason of insanity (Dementia paralytica) and committed to the Long Island Home in Amityville; New York City Death Index entry reporting the death of Stanley Murphy, age 44, on January 10, 1920; obituary article about Murphy in the January 12, 1920 edition of the New York Tribune reporting that he had been an actor, an author who wrote many short stories, and a newspaperman in addition to being a songwriter and had for many years been associated with the Jerome H. Remick Company, the Tin Pan Alley music publishing firm that published the sheet music for this song

#1242 - Star of the East, Scarcity: LC
The pieces on nearly all of the immediately preceding seventeen cobs have been Tin Pan Alley popular songs dating from the mid-‘teens; by contrast, the piece on this cob is of a religious nature and dates from about twenty-five years earlier. The lyrics invoke guidance by the star of Bethlehem that led the wise men to the birthplace of Jesus and, as such, the piece has sometimes been called a Christmas carol, although it is certainly not part of the body of carols familiar to most people and it has been included in only several hymnals. The tune was composed by a young Boston woman named Amanda Kennedy (later Amanda Kennedy Moore) and was published as a “reverie” in 1883 under the title “Star of the Sea”. The lyrics were written later by New York-born lawyer-turned-lyricist George Cooper, whom we have previously encountered as the writer of the words to a number of popular songs of the 1880s (see the notes to cobs #173, 294, 344, 356, 369, 404, 414 and 424), but who also wrote hymns and children’s poems. Articles about Amanda Kennedy Moore, some with photographs of her, appeared in many newspapers during 1924 and again during 1930 reporting that she composed the tune when she was only 16, sold it for only $1.50 to a music publisher and, despite the enormous popularity of “The Star of the East”, did not receive any further royalty payments for her composition until after the copyright for the song was renewed many years later. This information may be substantially correct, as there is a copy of sheet music for the song in NP with a copyright date of 1890 showing the Tin Pan Alley music publishing firm of Leo Feist as the assignee of the copyright, and there is a copy of essentially identical sheet music for the piece in LL with a copyright date of 1918 also published by Feist but showing the copyright owners as Moore and Cooper individually; baptismal records, however, make it clear that Moore was born in 1860, so that she would have turned 16 in 1876 and would have been 23 by 1883 when, according to an advertisement in the Boston Globe, sheet music for her composition, “Star of the Sea”, was published. Census and marriage records and city directories provide additional details about her life, including her marriage at age 30 to an Irish-born Boston publisher and bookbinder more than twice her age named Alexander Moore who died in 1913 and her giving piano lessons at her home at the same address in Dorchester from at least as early as 1920, when she turned 60, until 1937, when she was 77. The fact that she was a composer was stated in only one U.S. Census record, that of 1910. The copy of the sheet music for “The Star of the East” in NP contains notations at the bottom of the first interior page that the piece was copyrighted in 1890 by Hitchcock & McCargo Music Publishing Co. in New York, that this copyright was assigned to Feist & Frankenthaler, and that Leo Feist was in turn the successor to that firm. There is a notation below Amanda Kennedy’s name on the cover that she was also the composer of four other tunes including one titled “Star of the Sea”, and below the title on the first interior page is the notation, in parentheses, “Melody, Star of the Sea”, thus confirming that her composition by that name was also used as the tune of “The Star of the East”. Additional references: Boston Roman Catholic Archdiocese sacramental records giving October 4, 1860 as the birth date of Amanda E. F. Kennedy, daughter of John H. Kennedy and Mary E. (nee Dee); 1865 Massachusetts Census record and 1870 U.S. Census record both showing Amanda E. Kennedy, ages 4 and 9, respectively, living in Boston with her parents, John, born in Massachusetts, and Mary, born in New Brunswick, Canada; 1880 U.S. Census record showing Amanda F. Kennedy, age 19, again living in Boston with her parents, occupation “At Home”; advertisement in the October 7, 1883 edition of the Boston Globe listing new sheet music including several pieces by Amanda Kennedy, including “reverie, ‘Star of the Sea’”; Massachusetts record of the marriage in Boston on August 20, 1891 of Amanda Kennedy, age 30, occupation “None”, daughter of John H. and Mary, to Alexander Moore, age 61, an Irish-born publisher; 1900 U.S. Census record showing Amanda Moore, age 39, born in October, 1860, no occupation listed, living in Boston with her husband Alexander, age 70, occupation “Publishing and bookbinding”, and his son by a previous marriage, also named Alexander, age 30, occupation “Bookbinder”; 1910 U.S. Census record showing Amanda R. [sic?; perhaps K.] Moore, age 49, occupation “Musician—Composer”, again living in Boston with her husband and stepson, both with the occupation “Binder—Book” and her younger sister Henrietta Kennedy, also with the occupation “Binder—Book”; obituary article about Alexander Moore in the July 10, 1913 edition of the Boston Globe; 1920-1937 Boston City Directories listing Amanda K. Moore as either a music teacher or piano teacher at her home at 16 Fuller Street in Dorchester; 1930 U.S. Census record showing “Amenda [sic] Moore”, age 69, no occupation listed, widowed, living at 16 Fuller Street with a younger male cousin; 1940 U.S. Census record showing Amanda K. Moore, age 80, widowed, a patient at Boston State Hospital
Note: In all of the many paragraphs about previous cobs in which George Cooper was mentioned, his year of birth has been given as 1840. This was based on an article about him by “M. E. T.” (Mary E. Tyson) that appeared in Vol. III, No. 1, of The Magazine of Poetry (Buffalo, New York, Charles Wells Moulton, 1891) that gave his date of birth as May 14, 1840, and many other sources have given his years as 1840-1927. Further research, however, using census records and other sources calls into question the 1840 date: the 1855 New York State Census record showed George Cooper, age 17, living in New York with his parents, John and “H.”, occupation “Clerk”; the 1860 U.S. Census record showed George Cooper, age 21, living with his parents, occupation “Lawyer”; the 1870 U.S. Census record showed Cooper again living with his parents, age 32, occupation “Lawyer”; the 1880 U.S. Census record showed Cooper, age 37 [inconsistent with all of the other age entries in census records and presumably an error], then living in West Hoboken, New Jersey, occupation “Composer of songs”; the 1900 U.S. Census record showed Cooper, age 61, living in Jersey City, New Jersey, with a date of birth as “May 1839” and the occupation “Composer of music”; the 1910 U.S. Census record showed “George Copper” [sic], age 71, again living in West Hoboken, occupation “Writer—Music”; the 1920 U.S. Census record showed Cooper, age 83, living in the Bronx, New York, occupation “Music—Composer”; the New York City death certificate for Cooper gave his age as 89 at the time of his death on September 26, 1927; and his tombstone in Grove Church Cemetery, North Bergen, New Jersey, gives his years as “1838-1927”

#1243 - In the Harbor of Home Sweet Home, Scarcity: LC
There is a copy of the sheet music in UM for this 1910 song with lyrics by C. M. Denison and music by A. J. Holmes. It is once again a song of separation with a sad ending: in the first verse, a pair of young sweethearts are by a stream in a peaceful valley at sundown and, in the chorus, the man takes the woman’s hand, draws her closer to him and tells her that he will return to “the harbor of home sweet home” and to her, and if she becomes lonely she should remember that wherever he is he will be dreaming of her; in the second verse, he returns to the same spot in the snowy winter and dreams of “dear days of old”, but when he arrives at the old farm house the chair by the fireside where she sat is empty and he finds a letter from her that reads “dear Jack, I’ve just gone home”. Only the chorus, in waltz time, is on the cob, and although the song dates from 1910 it apparently was popular at the time of World War I because the chorus includes the singer’s profession of love and pledge to return from overseas; notably, the piece was recorded on a Columbia phonograph record by tenor Robert Lewis in early 1917 and the pieces on the two cobs that immediately followed this one numerically were both popular World War I songs. We have previously encountered C. M. (Charles Marion) Denison (1867-at least 1940) as the author of the lyrics to the similar sad song of lovers who part and do not reunite, “When the Whip-Poor-Will Sings, Marguerite”, on cob #1155 (see the notes to that cob); he lived in Middletown, New York and other places in upstate New York and worked at various times as a telegraph operator, railroad ticket agent, in the milk business, as a bookkeeper and as a stock clerk, but apparently never in the music business. A. J. (Archibald James) Holmes (1863-1919), a blind pianist, was President of the Holmes Music Company in Middletown, which published the sheet music for “In the Harbor of Home Sweet Home” and other songs by Denison. References: 1880 U.S. Census record listing “Archibald Holmes”, age 17, born in New York, a pupil residing at the New York State Institute for the Blind in Batavia, New York; article in the June 9, 1899 edition of the Middletown [New York] Daily Argus reporting on a performance by “Archibald J. Holmes, the blind pianist” at a local church festival; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Archibald Holmes”, age illegible, born in June 1863 in New York, living in Middletown, occupation “Manager—Music Store”; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Archibald J. Holmes”, age 46, born in New York, living in Middletown, occupation “Merchant—Musical instruction”; article on the front page of the July 29, 1919 edition of the Middletown Times Press reporting the death of Archibald James Holmes while on a business trip to Canada, giving his date of birth as June 21, 1863 and place of birth as Downsville, Delaware County, New York, noting that he lost his mother at an early age, lost his sight when he was five and was educated at the New York Institute for the Blind at Batavia, New York, that his proficiency in music enabled him to maintain himself independently, and that he had come to Middletown in 1896 as manager of a music house there and in 1904 purchased the business and established the Holmes Music Company, which later opened branches in several neighboring towns

#1244 - Keep the Home Fires Burning, Scarcity: LC
The well-known World War I song on this cob originated in England in 1914 and later became very popular in the U.S. The tune was composed by Welsh-born British composer, author and actor Ivor Novello (birth name David Ivor Davies; 1893-1951) to accompany the words of a poem by Lena Guilbert Ford (1868?-1918), an American-born journalist in London who was killed there during the war in a German air raid. Sheet music for the song was originally published in London with the title “‘Till the Boys Come Home” and, according to OC, the song “made Novello immediately rich and famous”. The lyrics are an exhortation to maintain things as they normally are and to keep spirits up on the home front until the war is over and the soldiers and sailors are able to return. There is a copy of the sheet music for the piece in CC (the new edition with a copyright date of 1915 for sale in North America; the title appears as “Keep the Home-Fires Burning”). Additional references: BW, which gives Ford’s birth year as 1866, although the two U.S. Census records listing her, when she was 2 and 12, respectively, point to a birth year of 1868 or possibly 1867 (1870 U.S. Census record showing “Lena Brown”, age 2, living in Elmira, New York with her parents, J. L. and M. A. Brown and older brother L. H. Brown; 1880 U.S. Census record showing “Lena G. Brown”, age 12, living in Elmira, New York with her parents, James L. and Antoinette Brown and older brother Louis H. Brown); 1892 New York State Census record listing “Lena G. Ford”, age 23, living in Elmira, New York, with her then husband, Harry H. Ford, a doctor, and her mother, Antoinette Brown; 1911 Census of England and Wales record listing “Lena Guilbert Ford”, age 39, living in London with her mother, Antoinette M. Brown, and son, W. Ernest Ford

#1245 - Over There, Scarcity: S
Probably the best-known and best-loved American World War I song, “Over There” is another patriotic piece by the multi-talented “Yankee Doodle Boy”, lyricist, composer, playwright, producer, director, actor, and dancer George M. Cohan (1878-1942), who also wrote the lyrics and music of the earlier “You’re a Grand Old Flag” (see the notes to cob #1161). There is a copy of the sheet music for “Over There” in CC bearing a copyright date of 1917. The lyrics are a call to arms urging young Americans to join their fellow “Yanks” in the war “over there”, meaning in Europe.

#1246 - Tripoli, Scarcity: LC
With “Tripoli”, subtitled “The Shores of Tripoli”, we move from World War I songs to the first popular song on the roller organ dating from 1920. There is a copy of the sheet music for the piece, which describes it as a “waltz ballad”, in UM, and in the lyrics the singer dreams of earlier days with a sweetheart “floating on the bay at Tripoli” in the moonlight, “‘[n]eath Italian sky”. The words “the shores of Tripoli” also appeared previously in “The Marines’ Hymn”, the official hymn of the United States Marine Corps, and there clearly referred to Tripoli in present-day Libya in North Africa, America’s opponent in the First Barbary War of 1801-1805, in which the Marines participated, although there is also a Tripoli in northern Lebanon that also fronts the Mediterranean; neither one, however, is “‘neath Italian sky”. Once again the piece was the joint creation of three men: Irving Weill composed the tune and Paul Cunningham and Al Dubin wrote the words. Cunningham and Dubin had returned only a year earlier from World War I military service. All three were professionals in the music industry, but they pursued different career paths in the years after writing this song: Weill became a music critic and later worked in live radio, Cunningham was a vaudeville performer as well as a songwriter and Dubin became the best-known of the three after writing the lyrics to a number of very popular and long-remembered songs that appeared in early “talkie” motion pictures. Weill (1894-1983) was born in New York City, worked as a clerk and a salesman before serving in the U.S. Army for less than a year at the very end of World War I, and was listed in the 1920 U.S. Census, the year “Tripoli” was published, as a 25-year-old salesman with a music publishing concern, still single and living with his parents. He was, presumably, the same Irving Weill who wrote a number of reviews of classical and operatic performances that appeared in the New York Evening Journal and articles about the state of American music for the publication Modern Music during the 1920s, and by 1930 he was the accompanist and arranger for a vocal quartet, the “A & P Gypsies”, who were frequently heard on radio. In the 1940 U.S. Census he was listed as a night club musician and two years later, when he registered for the military draft, he gave his employer’s name as “World Broadcasting Co.”. Paul Cunningham (birth name Cunahan, 1890-1960) was a native New Yorker who became interested in songwriting when he was a student involved in staging shows at Manhattan College, joined a music publishing firm after graduation as a singer and staff writer, later appeared in vaudeville with his wife, Florence Bennett, as “Cunningham and Bennett”, wrote the lyrics for over 100 songs and during the final years of his life served as President of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). Al Dubin (1891-1945) was born in Switzerland (or perhaps Russia; see below), was brought to Philadelphia as a boy and first worked in the music publishing business in New York before relocating to California and becoming a very successful lyricist in the movie industry. References: 1900 and 1910 U.S. Census records showing Irving Weill, ages 5 and 14, respectively, born in New York (the 1900 record says in October 1894), living with his parents, Harry and Molly, in Manhattan (the 1910 record gives as his occupation “Stock Clerk—Dry Goods”); 1915 New York State Census record showing Irving Weill, age 20, living with his parents, Harry and Mollie, in Manhattan, occupation “Salesman”; World War I Draft Registration Card for Irving Weill, age 22, born in New York on October 2, 1894, living in Manhattan, occupation “Clerk”; 1920 U.S. Census record showing Irving Weill, age 25, born in New York, living with his parents, Harry and Molly, in Manhattan, occupation “Salesman—musical publishing co.”; 1930 U.S. Census record showing Irving Weill, age 36, born in New York, living in Manhattan, occupation “Musician”; many newspaper references in 1930-1931 to Irving Weill as arranger and accompanist for a male quartet that appeared on radio called the “A & P Gypsies”; 1940 U.S. Census record showing Irving Weill, age 46, born in New York, living in Manhattan, occupation “Musician—Night Club”, having lived in the same place in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for Irving Weill, age 48, born in New York City on October 2, 1894, living in Manhattan, employed by World Broadcasting System; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs record stating that Irving Weill was born on October 2, 1894, died on April 27, 1983 and had served in the Army from May 23, 1918 to February 19, 1919; New York City birth certificate for “Paul Francis Cunahan”, born on January 25, 1890 in Manhattan; 1900 U.S. Census record for “Paul Cunahan”, age 9, born in January 1891 [sic] in New York, living in Manhattan with his parents; 1910 U.S. Census record for “Paul Cunahan”, age 20, born in New York, living with his parents in Brooklyn, occupation “None”; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Paul Cunahan”, born on January 25, 1890 in New York City, occupation “Actor”, employed by “Self—Cunningham and Bennett, Loew Circuit”; Connecticut Vital Records entry of the marriage of Paul Cunahan to Florence Frankish [his vaudeville partner, known as Florence Bennett] in Greenwich, Connecticut on November 12, 1923; World War II Draft Registration Card for Paul Francis Cunningham, age 52, born in New York, New York on January 25, 1890, address in care of ASCAP; obituary articles about Cunningham in the August 15, 1960 editions of The New York Times and the New York Herald Tribune; OC and BB (information about Dubin); 1900 and 1910 U.S. Census records for “Alexander Dubin”, ages 9 and 18, respectively, born in Russia (the 1900 record says in June 1891), immigrated in 1893, living in Philadelphia with his parents, Samuel, a physician, and Minnie (the 1910 record gives her name as “Mina”); World War I Draft Registration Card for Al Dubin, age 25, born on June 10, 1891 in Zurich, Switzerland, living in Manhattan, occupation “Writer of Lyrics” employed by M. Witmark & Sons; Abstract of World War I Military Service for Al Dubin, inducted on April 5, 1918 at the age of 26 10/12 years, served overseas from April 27, 1918 to April 29, 1919 and honorably discharged on August 11, 1919; 1920 U.S. Census record for “Alexander Dubin”, age 28, born in Switzerland, immigrated to the U.S. in 1893, living in Manhattan, occupation “Composer Songs—Publishing House”; 1925 New York State Census record for “Alexander Dubin”, age 33, born in Switzerland, living with his wife Helen and two daughters in the Bronx, New York, occupation “Author (music)”; 1930 U.S. Census record for “Alexander Dubin”, age 38, born in Switzerland, parents born in Russia, living with his wife and two daughters in Los Angeles, California, occupation “Song Writer—Motion Picture”; 1940 U.S. Census record for Al Dubin, age 46 [sic], born in Switzerland, living with his wife and two daughters in Beverly Hills, California, and having lived in the same house in 1935, occupation “composer—music publishing house”; World War II Draft Registration Card for Al Dubin, age 50, born in Zurich, Switzerland on June 10, 1891, living at the Hotel Taft in New York City but also giving his wife Helen’s address in Beverly Hills, California, “unemployed”; tombstone for “Alexander Dubin” and his wife Helen in Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California, giving his years as 1891-1945

#1247 - Alabama Lullaby, Scarcity: S
There is once again in UM a copy of the sheet music for this 1919 piece, described on the cover as “A Unique Dreamy Southern Song”, with both words and music by Cal De Voll. It is reminiscent of songs that were popular twenty or more years earlier: the singer recollects fondly and dreamily “dear old days” and “old Southern ways” in the Alabama of a former time, but he includes slang terms for African-Americans that would be objectionable today. De Voll (Calvin Joseph (or Selwyn) De Voll, 1886?-1970) was born in Nebraska, grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, was a violinist who studied at Chicago Musical College, reportedly sold his first musical composition when he was only twelve and in his later years was a radio writer and producer and a publisher as well as a songwriter. References: Texas death certificate for “Calvin Joseph De Voll”, retired song writer, born in Nebraska on September 19, 1884, died in Fort Worth on July 14, 1970 (Note: This death certificate and the marker on De Voll’s grave at Greenwood Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Fort Worth are the only sources located that give his year of birth as 1884; all other sources located either give his birth date as, or are consistent with a birth date of, September 19, 1886. Also, at different times De Voll used two different middle names (sometimes using just the middle initial)); 1900 U.S. Census record for Calvin S. De Voll, age 13, born in 1886 in Nebraska, living in Fort Worth with his parents; listing of De Voll (separate from the listing of his physician father) in the 1902 Fort Worth city directory with the profession of “composer of music”, even though he would have been only 16 at the time; article in the April 27, 1904 edition of the Belvidere [Illinois] Daily Republican reporting on a wedding and mentioning that a singer there was accompanied by Calvin S. De Voll, whose home was in Fort Worth, Texas but who was at the time studying with a noted violin teacher in Chicago; advertisement in the November 15, 1905 edition of the Chicago Tribune that “Calvin S. De Voll, Violinist (Franco Belgian School)” was seeking students; listing in the 1907 Chicago city directory for Calvin De Voll, “music teacher”; Illinois marriage record of the marriage of “Calvin Devoll Jr.”, age 22, and Ethel Maude Ritchie, age 21, in Chicago on March 19, 1908; article in the July 3, 1908 edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporting that Mr. and Mrs. Calvin S. De Voll Jr. were leaving for Chicago to rehearse their act for about two months before beginning a tour in vaudeville; 1910 U.S. Census record showing Calvin De Voll and his wife Ethel living as roomers in Chicago with no further information about them; article in the April 28, 1911 edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporting that Calvin De Voll, “a Fort Worth boy who has been residing in Chicago for the past eight years”, had become one of the energetic theatrical managers and producers of that city; birth certificate for “Calvin S. De Voll”, born in Chicago on October 31, 1911, son of “Calvin Selwyn De Voll and Ethel Maude Ritchie”; listing in the 1912 Fort Worth city directory for “De Voll Conservatory of Music, C. S. De Voll Jr., mgr.”; listings for Calvin S. De Voll in the 1913 and 1916 Dallas city directories listing his occupation as “musician”; 1920 U.S. Census record showing De Voll’s wife Ethel, divorced, living with her mother and son, age 8, in Racine, Wisconsin and, according to the Racine city directory for that year, working as a pianist at the Palace Theatre there; 1926 record of the marriage of Calvin J. De Voll to Irene Guay in New York City; 1930 U.S. Census record for “Cal De Voll”, a lodger living in Cleveland, Ohio, age 43, born in Nebraska, occupation “Musician—Radio”; newspaper articles from the 1930s and early 1940s reporting that De Voll wrote the two theme songs as well as the scripts for the shows of Cleveland-based network radio personalities Gene and Glenn, who impersonated fictitious characters named “Jake and Lena”; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Cal Joseph De Voll”, age 56, born on September 19, 1886 in Omaha, Nebraska, mailing address in care of a radio station in Hartford, Connecticut and employer the Travelers Insurance Company in Hartford; listings for De Voll, some with the occupation “writer” and some also listing with him his wife Irene, and six including the middle initial “S” and one including the middle initial “J”, in Fort Worth city directories during the period from 1946-1960; obituary article about De Voll in the July 16, 1970 edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram referring to him as “C. J. “Cal” De Voll” and noting that in addition to being a composer he was a producer and publisher

#1248 - Whispering, Scarcity: LC
A 1920 recording of an instrumental version of the lively, unique and appealing piece “Whispering” by Paul Whiteman’s Ambassador Orchestra sold over a million copies shortly after it appeared and propelled Whiteman to the forefront of the world of popular music. The first edition of sheet music for a song version of the piece had been published earlier that year in San Francisco by Sherman, Clay & Co., a firm that sold pianos and other musical instruments as well as publishing sheet music. There is a copy of this edition in CC showing the music as by John Schonberger and the lyrics by Malvin Schonberger. Later editions, however, do not mention Malvin Schonberger but credit both the music and words to John Schonberger, Richard Coburn and Vincent Rose. BW at least partially explains this discrepancy: John Schonberger subsequently said that the lyrics were written not by Malvin but rather by a Massachusetts-born lyricist and singer named Richard Coburn (birth name Frank De Long; 1886-1952); BW does not mention, however, the exact role in the creation of the song of Vincent Rose (1880-1944), a Sicilian-born pianist, band leader and composer based in California at the time. John Schonberger (1892-1983) was a violinist and composer who was born in Philadelphia and moved to California at an early age; from census, voting and death records, it appears that Malvin was his mother. Additional references: OC; TP; 1900 U.S. Census record listing John Schonberger, age 7, born in Pennsylvania in October 1892, living in Nashville, Tennessee with his Hungarian-born parents, Joseph, a “Taylor”, his wife Mulvina (born in September 1875), and two younger siblings (one born in Ohio and one born in Kentucky); 1910 U.S. Census record listing “John E. Schonberger”, age 17, living in Dallas with his Hungarian-born parents Joseph and Mollie and two siblings, occupation “Musician, violin—At home”; World War I Draft Registration Card for John E. Schonberger, age 24, born in Philadelphia on October 1, 1892, occupation “Musician—Levy’s Tavern, Watts, Calif.”; California marriage record of the marriage of John Schonberger and Mary E. Trusler in Los Angeles on July 26, 1920; 1930 U.S. Census record listing John Schonberger, age 37, born in Pennsylvania, living in Los Angeles with his wife Mary and her uncle, occupation “Musician—Private school”; 1940 U.S. Census record listing John Schonberger, age 47, living in Los Angeles with his wife Mary, having lived in the same place in 1935, occupation “Violinist—Motion pictures” (and his wife’s occupation is given as “Lyric writer—Music composer”); 1942 California voter registration for “Mrs. Malvin Schonberger” and California Death Index entry recording her date of birth as September 18, 1874 and date of death as May 9, 1962; brief obituary article about John Schonberger in the June 21, 1983 edition of the Los Angeles Times reporting that he died at the age of 90, was the composer of “Whispering”, had been a frequent collaborator of lyricist Gus Kahn (see the notes to cobs #1177, 1236 and 1239) and had at one time headed the music department at radio station KFI; obituary article about Richard Coburn (Frank D. De Long) in the October 31, 1952 edition of The New York Times reporting that he was a songwriter who had been born in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1886 but had lived in Southern California since 1903 and that his biggest individual song success was “Whispering”

#1249 - When I'm Gone You'll Soon Forget, Scarcity: LC
After a once-happy couple’s relationship has turned sour, one of the two sadly sings the lyrics of this song to the other before leaving what has been their home together. Both the verse and chorus were included on the cob—32 bars in all—and accordingly, unless it is cranked slowly, it will play at a much quicker pace than is appropriate to this kind of song. The sheet music for it, a copy of which is in AS, gives the name of the composer and lyricist as “E. Austin Keith” and notes that the song was originally copyrighted in 1911 by Keith himself and the copyright was assigned in 1920 to music publisher F. B. Haviland (AS also has a second copy of the sheet music, identical except that it includes only a copyright date of 1919 and lists the copyright holder as Haviland). Keith (Elmer Austin Keith, 1866-1927) is an especially obscure figure and it required a good deal of detective work to find out any information about him. He was a house painter by trade who lived in Onset, Massachusetts, on the shore of Buzzards Bay, about fifty miles south of Boston, and he wrote at least several songs that he published himself in addition to the song on this cob, which he may have written expressing his own thoughts and feelings in connection with his separating from his wife after a number of years of marriage. There is an advertisement for sheet music for another song by Keith, “As We Parted at the Gate” in the October 28, 1900 edition of the Boston Globe that gave the address of the “Keith Music Co.” as 614 Tremont Street in that city, although neither Keith himself nor the company was listed in the Boston city directory for that year. Previously, another song by him, “When We Were Waltzing”, was advertised in the November 21, 22 and 23, 1895 editions of the Boston Post; one of these advertisements referred to Keith as a “young song writer” and another as a “well-known song writer”. He also wrote a World War I song, “We’ll Be There With the Red, White and Blue”, published by Keith Music Co. in Boston in 1917, and at least five other published songs. While U.S. Copyright Register entries for songs he copyrighted himself included just his name or the name Keith Music Co. with an address of merely Boston, the entries when some of the copyrights were renewed in 1948 and 1952 provided the clue that enabled me to track down who “E. Austin Keith” was: the renewals were made by someone named Burleigh A. Keith. I then first located a copy of the World War II Draft Registration Card for “Burleigh Austin Keith”, which said that he was born on January 11, 1903 in Onset, Massachusetts; then located a Massachusetts birth record for him (incorrectly giving his first name as “Berlin”) confirming that he was indeed born in Onset on that date, that his father was Elmer A. Keith, a painter born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and mother’s maiden name was Janita J. Smart, born in Staunton, Virginia; and then located a record of the marriage on December 6, 1899 in Wareham, Massachusetts (the town that includes the section known as Onset) of Elmer A. Keith, age 33, of “Wareham (Onset)” and Janita J. Smart, age 28, of Staunton, Virginia, father’s first name Burleigh (I had previously found a Copyright Register entry for another Keith song, “Tho’ You’re Gone I’ll Not Forget”, that included “Onset, Mass.” after E. Austin Keith’s name but I did not realize initially that Onset was the name of a town!). This combination of information led me to the conclusion that this Elmer A. Keith was definitely the same person as the songwriter E. Austin Keith. Additional references: 1870 U.S. Census record showing “Elmar [sic] A. Keith”, age 3, living in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, with his father, Avery, occupation “works in shoe factory”, his mother Chloe, an older sister and a brother Eugene J. two years younger than him; 1880 U.S. Census record showing Elmer A. Keith, age 13, again living in Bridgewater as one of eight children of Avery (now with the occupation “Carpenter”) and Chloe Keith; 1892 Middleboro, Massachusetts (about 7.5 miles from Bridgewater) city directory listing Elmer A. and Eugene J. Keith as the Keith Bros., manufacturers of Keith’s Gold Medal Shoe Dressing; 1900 U.S. Census record showing Elmer A. Keith, age 33, born in December 1866, occupation “House Painter”, living in Wareham with his wife Jenita [sic], age 29, born in April 1871 in Virginia; 1907 and 1910 Wareham city directories all listing Elmer A. Keith, Onset, as a contractor and painter, although the 1910 U.S. Census record showed Elmer A. Keith, age 43, occupation “Contractor—Decorating”, his wife Janet, age 38, and their two children living in Washington, D.C. as lodgers in the home of a couple named Dimmick and their daughter (Mrs. Dimmick was apparently Mrs. Keith’s sister, as both are listed as having been born in Virginia of a New Hampshire-born father and Virginia-born mother); 1916, 1919 and 1924 Wareham city directories all again listing Elmer A. Keith, Onset, as a contractor and painter; listings in the Cincinnati, Ohio city directory for “Mrs. Janet Keith” (1915), “Janet Keith, widow of Elmer” (1917, 1918 and 1920) and “Janita J. Keith, widow of Elmer A.” (1923, 1925 and 1926), and 1920 U.S. Census record showing Janita Keith, age 40, living in Cincinnati with Burleigh and two other children, no occupation listed, marital status “widow”, although throughout this period Elmer was still living back in Onset; Massachusetts Death Index listing the death of Elmer A. Keith in Wareham in 1927

#1250 - Let the Rest of the World Go By, Scarcity: LC
The once-extremely-popular and long-remembered tender ballad in waltz time on this cob is another piece with music by Tin Pan Alley composer Ernest R. Ball (1878-1927) and lyrics by his frequent collaborator J. Keirn Brennan (1873-1948) (see also the notes to cobs #1230 and #1240; like “Mother Machree” and “Good Bye, Good Luck, God Bless You” on those cobs, “Let the Rest of the World Go By” surpassed a million copies in sheet music sales). There is a copy of the sheet music for it in CC with a copyright date of 1919 once again published by M. Witmark & Sons in New York. The singer expresses to his “pal good and true” his wish to put struggle and strife aside and move out West to a “place that’s known to God alone” to “find perfect peace, Where joys never cease” “beneath a kindly sky”, “build a sweet little nest” and “let the rest of the world go by”. At the time, the word “pal” was often used to refer not just to a close friend but to a sweetheart, as it also was in the songs “Dear Old Pal of Mine” on cob #1257, “Old Pal, Why Don’t You Answer Me” on cob #1262 , “Oh What a Pal Was Mary” on cob #1265, “Pal of my Dreams” on cob #1285, “Pal of All Pals” on cob #1291 and “Call Me Back, Pal O’ Mine” on cob #1294. Additional reference: BB

#1251 - Missouri Waltz, Scarcity: LC
A number of different claims have been made as to the origin of the tune on this cob. According to OC, the tune was first published as a piano solo in 1914 but the composer, Iowa-born Frederic Knight Logan (1871-1928), initially did not want to take credit for it “because he thought it of too popular an ilk for his lofty talents” and accordingly, in the sheet music, Logan was credited only as the arranger and there was a notation that the tune was “from an original melody procured by John Valentine Eppel”. According to BW, Eppel (1871-1931) was also born in Iowa and was a “railroad man” who later became a musician and headed “Eppel’s Orchestra”. Other sources have agreed that Eppel “procured” rather than composed the tune and some of them have said that it originated with a Missouri-born ragtime pianist named Lee Edgar “Jelly” Settle (1882-1949), whose tombstone in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, New Franklin, Missouri has the name “Settle” and a musical staff engraved with the first eight notes of the tune on the front and Settle’s name (including his nickname), dates of birth and death and the words “Composer of the melody of the “Missouri Waltz” official state waltz of the State of Missouri” on the back. Still other sources, however, have claimed that either Logan, Eppel or Settle obtained the tune either directly or indirectly from an African-American musician. In any event, after lyrics by James Royce Shannon (1881-1946) were added to the tune in 1916, the resulting song became extremely popular. Shannon’s lyrics were in dialect and included slang terms for African-Americans that would be objectionable today. Nevertheless, the song was, as Settle’s tombstone states, later adopted by statute as the Missouri state song, although some of Shannon’s lyrics have been altered in what is today the official version. There is a copy of the sheet music for the piece containing Shannon’s original lyrics in UM. The title as given on the first interior page is “Hush-a-bye, ma baby (The Missouri Waltz)” and the singer is an African-American woman crooning a “lulabye” and remembering earlier days “‘Way down in Missouri”, where she first heard the melody, at that time accompanied by banjos. Shannon, who also used the names “James S. Royce” and “J. Stanley Royce”, was born in Port Huron, Michigan, and lived for many years in Detroit, where he was a salesman for a music store and later a musician at the Majestic Theatre and the conductor of the Majestic Symphony Orchestra there. He then relocated to New York and while living there during the 1920s wrote the lyrics and music for a number of stage productions under the name “J. Stanley Royce” before ultimately returning to Michigan and living for the final years of his life in Pontiac, where he died. Additional references: Lengthy articles including conflicting claims about the origin of the song in the October 21, 1945 edition of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat (with photographs of Logan and Eppel but not mentioning Settle), April 20, 1949 edition of the Weekly Kansas City Star (including a photograph of Settle) and the July 27, 1949 edition of the Mexico [Missouri] Ledger; Missouri Revised Statutes Sec. 10.050, which adopted the song as “the official state song” in 1949; record of the 1905 marriage in Lincoln County, Ontario, Canada of James Boyce [sic] Shannon of Detroit, age 24, born in Port Huron, Michigan, occupation “Theatrical manager” to Frances Florence Flamme, age 18, of Newark, New Jersey, born in Minneapolis, father’s name William Flamme, mother’s name Emma Blake; 1909 Detroit city directory listing “J. Royce Shannon”, salesman for Grinnell Bros. (“Pianos, Organs, Pianolas, Talking Machines, Musical Merchandise”); World War I Draft Registration Card dated September 12, 1918 for James Royce Shannon, age 37, born on May 13, 1881, living in Detroit, occupation “Musician—Majestic Theatre”, listing Mrs. Frances J. Shannon at his home address as his nearest relative; notices and advertisements in the Detroit Free Press during August-December, 1918 for the Majestic Theatre referring to performances there by “The Majestic Symphony Orchestra, James Royce Shannon, Conductor”; brief article in the February 3, 1919 edition of the Chicago Tribune that Mrs. Frances Shannon, age 29, was severely burned in a household accident involving gasoline and Cook County Deaths Index entry for the death on April 4, 1919 in Chicago of Frances Shannon, age 29, father’s name “William Flamor” [sic], burial in Pontiac, Michigan (There is also a Minnesota Births and Christenings Index entry for an unnamed female child born to William Charles Theodore Flamme and his wife Emma Amanda in Minneapolis on May 27, 1889, so that 29 would accordingly be Florence’s correct age in early 1919, notwithstanding that she was listed as 18 in the record made at the time of her marriage); article in the June 8, 1919 edition of the New York Herald mentioning that J. Stanley Royce played some Chopin pieces at a charity event in Manhattan; New York Marriage Index entry for the marriage on October 11, 1919 in Manhattan of “James R. Shannon” and Amy M. Huelin; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “James S. Royce”, age 38, born in Michigan, occupation “Writing [partially illegible]”, living in Manhattan with his wife Amy; notices and reviews in various newspapers of musical comedies and revues with book, lyrics and/or music by J. Stanley Royce (“Broadway Follies” and “Mulligan’s Follies” (1922), “Birds of Paradise” (1924, 1926) and “They All Do It” (1927, by Royce and “J.K. Bremmer” [probably “Brennan”; see below]) or James S. Royce (“Oh, Johnny” (1927), by Royce and J. Keirn Brennan (see notes to cob #1240)); 1925 New York State Census record listing “James S. Royce”, age 44, occupation “Writer”, living in Manhattan; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “James S. Royce”, age 48, born in Michigan, occupation “Writer—Theatre”, wife’s name Amy, again living in Manhattan; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “James Royce”, age 58, born in Michigan, no occupation listed, wife’s name “Ammi”, still living in Manhattan; World War II Draft Registration Card for James Royce Shannon, age 60, born on May 13, 1881, living in Pontiac, Michigan, “not employed”; Michigan Death Record for James Royce Shannon recording his death in Pontiac, Michigan on May 19, 1946

#1252 - That Naughty Waltz, Scarcity: LC
There is a copy once again in UM of the sheet music for this interesting piece in slow waltz time with a copyright date of 1920, composed by Sol P. Levy, with simple lyrics by Edwin Stanley in which the singer expresses how much she loves to waltz. Interestingly, the sheet music also includes the notation “Pedaled and fingered by Frederic Knight Logan”, who was also credited as the arranger of “Missouri Waltz” on the immediately preceding cob; “That Naughty Waltz” and “Missouri Waltz” were both published by Forster Music Publisher Inc. in Chicago. Sol Paul Levy (1881-1920) was born in Chicago, was an orchestra musician in Seattle, Washington as a young man, and relocated to New York City in the early ‘teens and pursued a career there as a composer until his death less than a decade later at the age of only 38. Some of his compositions were written specifically to provide accompanists of silent films with suitable music to play for different types of on-screen action, and in this regard he was the compiler of an interesting 1914 work published by Hamilton S. Gordon in New York titled Gordon’s Motion Picture Collection for Moving Picture Pianists. The lyricist was almost certainly the same Edwin Stanley (1880-1944) who appeared as a singing comedian in vaudeville with his wife, comedienne Maud Muller, as “Muller and Stanley”, and also had a long career as a stage and film actor, appearing in over 200 motion pictures beginning in the silent film era and continuing right down to the time of his death three decades later. Although I have not found any reference linking this Edwin Stanley with songwriting or with Levy, in addition to acting he wrote humorous articles published by major magazines as well as skits and plays and he and Levy were both born in Chicago within less than a year of one another and both lived in Manhattan at the time this song was written. References: State of Washington Marriage Record of the marriage on September 29, 1903 in Seattle of Sol Levi, age 22, a resident of Seattle born in Chicago, occupation “Musician”, to Pauline Pement, also age 22 and with the occupation “Musician”; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Sol Levi”, age 28, born in Illinois, occupation “musician—orchestra”, living in Seattle with his wife Pauline, son and other relatives; 1915 New York State Census record listing “Solomon P. Levy”, age 33, occupation “Music Composer”, living with his wife Pauline and son in the Bronx, New York; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Sol Paul Levy”, age 37, born on July 23, 1881, occupation “Musical Composer”, employer “By Self”, living in Manhattan; 1920 U.S. Census record listing on January 19, 1920 “Saul P. Levy”, age 38, born in Illinois, occupation “Composer—music”, living with his wife and son in Manhattan; New York, New York Death Index entry for “Solomon P. Levy”, died at age 38 on February 14, 1920 in Manhattan; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Maude A. Muller”, age 17, born in September 1882, living with her parents in San Francisco; 1904 San Francisco city directory listing Edwin Stanley, actor; New York Marriage Index record of the marriage on September 6, 1905 in Manhattan of Edwin Stanley and Maud Muller; 1910 U.S. Census record for “Edwyn [sic] Stanley”, age 29, born in Illinois, occupation “Salesman—Newspaper Advertising”, living in Manhattan with his wife Maud, occupation “Actress—Theatrical”; article in the November 6, 1916 edition of the DeKalb [Illinois] Chronicle providing a brief biography of Stanley to that point: he left his native Chicago with a traveling musical comedy company that disbanded in Los Angeles, leaving him stranded there; he worked as a hotel manager there until he saved enough money to move to San Francisco, where he appeared with several theatre companies; he then moved to New York City and wrote material for a vaudeville act in which he appeared as a singing comedian with his wife Maud Muller, which toured for six years as Muller and Stanley on the Orpheus and Keith theatre circuits; and he was also a writer who wrote humorous articles for well-known magazines such as Life, Judge and Puck (Later references in newspaper articles and U.S. Copyright Registers indicate that he also wrote skits and plays); many mentions in newspapers of vaudeville performances by Muller and Stanley, a comedy act including singing, during the years 1911-1915 and 1919-1922; World War I Draft Registration Card for Edwin Stanley, age 37, born on November 22, 1880, occupation “Actor”, employer’s name “Motion Picture Fox Film Co.”, living in Manhattan with his wife, Maud Muller Stanley, listed as next of kin; New York City Death Index entry for Maud M. Stanley, died on October 24, 1922 at the age of 41 in Manhattan; New York Marriage Index record of the marriage on January 8, 1925 in Manhattan of Edwin Stanley and Minerva Kaufman; 1930 U.S. Census record listing Edwin Stanley, age 49, occupation “Actor—Theater”, living in Manhattan with his wife Minerva; 1940 U.S. Census record listing Edwin Stanley, age 59, born in Illinois, occupation “Actor—Motion Picture Production”, living in Los Angeles with his wife Minerva, having lived in the same place in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for Edwin Stanley, age 61, born in Chicago, Illinois on November 22, 1880, occupation “self—free-lance actor motion picture studios”, living in North Hollywood, California with his wife Minerva; California Death Index entry for the death on December 25, 1944 in Los Angeles of Edwin Stanley, born on November 22, 1880 in Illinois

#1253 - Margie, Scarcity: S
This once-very-popular song also dates from 1920. There is a copy of the sheet music for it in CC, the lyrics were by Benny Davis (1895-1979 (OC mistakenly says 1894-1959)) and the music was by Con Conrad (1891-1938) and J. Russel Robinson (1892-1963). In the lyrics the singer tells of an especially lovesick fellow whom he overhears every night sitting on the stairs with his sweetheart Margie, holding her close and cooing to her the words of the chorus: he’s always thinking of her, he’ll tell the world he loves her, he has bought a home, ring and ev’rything for her, she has been his inspiration and she is his only one. A recording of the piece by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band with Robinson on the piano released in 1920 sold more than two million copies and it was also recorded in the following year by the great singer, dancer and comedian Eddie Cantor (1892-1964). Davis was born in New York City, began performing in vaudeville when he was only in his mid ‘teens, and later became a prolific lyricist; he also wrote the words to “Nobody’s Baby” on cob #1264, “Angel Child” on cob #1275, “Indiana Moon” on cob #1282 and “A Smile Will Go a Long, Long Way” on cob #1293. Conrad (birth name Conrad K. Dober) was also born in New York City and was a vaudeville pianist who became a composer and music publisher and later moved to California to write music for motion pictures. Robinson, an outstanding ragtime and jazz pianist, was born in Indianapolis; had his first composition, a rag tune, published when he was only 17; performed on the piano when he was young with his brother John, a drummer, as “The Famous Robinson Brothers”; worked for player piano roll companies as a house pianist cutting rolls; formed another duo with vocalist Al Bernard as the Dixie Stars, which performed on radio and made a number of successful recordings during the 1920s; and also accompanied a variety of other artists in recordings as he continued to compose. During his long career he moved a number of times, living mostly in either Indiana or New York City, before moving to Palmdale, California for the final years of his life. References: OC; TP; BU; lengthy interview with Davis in the April 25, 1938 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in which he said that more than three and a half million copies of the sheet music for “Margie” were sold and he made $200,000 in royalties from it; obituary article in the December 21, 1979 edition of the Miami News reporting Davis’ death in a Miami nursing home at the age of 84 and quoting him as saying that “Eddie Cantor thinks that I wrote “Margie” for his daughter and I have always let him think so, although I really wrote it for the money”; 1900 U.S. Census record for “Russell Robertson” [sic], age 7, born in July 1892, living with his parents and older brother John in Indianapolis; 1910 U.S. Census record for “J. Russell Robinson” age 18, occupation “Musician”, living in Montgomery, Alabama with his parents, older brother John, also a “Musician”, and Russell’s wife or soon-to-be wife “Margareth”, also age 18, all five listed as “Boarder”; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Joseph Russel Robinson”, born on July 8, 1892, living in Anderson, Indiana, married, occupation “Musician”, employed by the “Meridian Amusement Co.” at the “Starland Theater”; U.S. Passport Applications dated February 25, 1919 for “J. Russel Robinson” and “Marguerite Kendall Robinson”, husband and wife, permanent residence “Hotel Pontchartrain, N.Y.C.” (“308 West 58th Street” in Marguerite’s), occupations “Theatrical Artist” and “singer and dancer”, respectively, traveling to England “To fulfill theatrical contracts at London Hippodrome” (“Theatrical work—To fulfill contract in connection with Original Dixieland Jazz Band” in Marguerite’s) (A letter from the William Morris theatrical agency accompanying the applications requesting expedited issuance of the passports explains that Robinson was substituted as a member of the Dixieland Jazz Band after another member died several days earlier); U.S. Immigration Service list of passengers arriving at the Port of New York from London on November 2, 1919 on the S.S. Caronia including “J. Russell Robinson”, and “Marguerite Kendall Robinson”, both age 27, with a home address in Indianapolis; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Joseph Robinson”, age 27, born in Indiana, occupation “Musician”, living in Manhattan with his wife Marguerite in the household of his brother John, age 28, occupation also “Musician”, and his wife and daughter; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “J. Russell Robinson”, age 37, born in Indiana, living in Los Angeles, occupation “Composer Music—Independent”; 1940 U.S. Census record for “Russel Robinson”, age 48, born in Indiana, living in Rego Park, Queens, New York, occupation “Composer—Song Writing”, having lived in the same place in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Joseph Russel Robinson”, age 50, born on July 8, 1892 in Indianapolis, “Composer—Travelling Musician” with residence in Columbus, Indiana but a mailing address and address of his wife in Miami; California Death Index entry recording the death in Los Angeles, California on September 30, 1963, of “Joseph R. Robinson”, born on July 8, 1892 in Indiana

#1254 - Hiawatha's Melody of Love, Scarcity: LC
The song on this cob is still another dating from 1920 and once again a copy of the sheet music for it is held in UM. On the cover is a colorful image of a pretty woman in Native American garb and the lyrics tell how, in the distant past, Native American lovers came to dream beneath the moon by a stream bordered by pine trees, and sang, along with the evening breeze, Hiawatha’s melody of love, and Hiawatha found solace there when he came to the spot and tearfully pined alone. The lyrics were by Arthur Bryan and Artie Mehlinger and the music was by George W. Meyer. We have previously encountered the very prolific Tin Pan Alley lyricist Bryan (1871-1958) as the author of the lyrics to “I Didn’t Raise my Boy to Be a Soldier” on cob #1197 and “Rainbow”, also a Native American-themed song, on cob #1207 (see also the notes to those cobs). Mehlinger (1886-1959) was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and began his career performing at the Opera-house and Elks Hall there when he was only a young boy. By 1900 he was living in Baltimore, where his widowed mother had opened a boarding house. He was a singer and comedian in vaudeville and an actor in musical comedies from the first decade of the 1900s through the late 1920s, and he appeared on stage with Meyer from 1917 through 1922, performing their own songs. He later moved to California and worked in the music business there; in 1930 he was living in Beverly Hills and listed his occupation as “Representative—Music Publishers”. Meyer (1884-1959) was a Boston-born self-taught pianist who worked as an electrician and then as a department store accountant, first in Boston and then in New York City, before devoting himself full-time to music when he was in his mid 20s, initially as a song-plugger as well as a composer and for a brief time operating his own music publishing firm, publishing rag tunes. He collaborated with a number of well-known Tin Pan Alley lyricists and frequently with Bryan. References: OC; BU; TG; State of Arkansas birth certificate dated December 28, 1942 attesting to the birth on June 28, 1886 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas of Arthur Herman Mehlinger, son of Meyer Mehlinger, occupation “Tanner (Leather)”, born in Bavaria, and his wife Caroline, maiden name Herman, born in Baltimore, Maryland; article in the April 21, 1895 edition of the Pine Bluff Daily Graphic mentioning that the “most notable” specialty performance at a production in the Opera-house at Pine Bluff was “Master Arthur Mehlinger”, a “child singer and actor” who “should take his rank among the professionals”; notices in the April 19 and 21, 1896 editions of the same newspaper that Arthur Mehlinger was going to sing a song titled “McGinty at the Living Pictures” in an opera titled “Cinderella” at the Opera-house there; review in the January 28, 1897 edition of the same newspaper according “special mention” to “Master Arthur Mehlinger, the juvenile comedian”, for his role in a performance by a group called the “Operatic Minstrels”, also at the Pine Bluff Opera-house; review in the November 3, 1898 edition of the same newspaper of a vaudeville benefit reporting that the “boy wonder” Arthur Mehlinger “kept the house in a roar throughout the show”; article in the February 23, 1899 edition of the same newspaper mentioning his “cute musical monologue” at an Elks event in Pine Bluff; 1900 U.S. Census record listing Arthur Mehlinger, age 12, born in June 1887, living with his mother Lina, a widow and boarding house proprietor, and siblings in Baltimore, Maryland; 1903 Baltimore, Maryland city directory listing “Arthur H. Mehlinger”, occupation “clerk”, living at the same address as Mrs. Lina Mehlinger; hundreds of newspaper notices and reviews of appearances by “Artie Mehlinger” as a comedian and singer in vaudeville and as an actor in musical comedies spanning the years from 1912 through 1929, including an article in the November 30, 1913 edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer reporting that he had previously appeared for three years as part of a trio act named Steep, Mehlinger and King, a review of that act in the August 22, 1910 edition of the Oakland [California] Tribune noting that the trio played a number of different musical instruments and their act involved both singing and comedy, and an advertisement in November 19, 1910 edition of the Kansas City [Missouri] Star for a performance by the trio (“Music—Comedy—Song”) as part of a vaudeville program; New York City Marriage Index entry for the marriage of Arthur H. Mehlinger and May L. Miller in Manhattan on March 13, 1913; 1915 New York State Census record listing “Arthur Mehlinger”, age 29, occupation “Actor”, living with his wife May in Manhattan; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Arthur Herman Mehlinger”, age 34, born on June 28, 1884, occupation “Actor”, employer “United Booking Office, Palace Theatre Bldng”, listing as his next of kin his mother Lina in St. Louis; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Artie H. Mehlinger”, age 43, born in Arkansas, living in Beverly Hills, California, occupation “Representative—Music Publishers”; 1940 U.S. Census record for “Arthur Mellinger” [sic], age 54, born in Arkansas, living in Los Angeles, occupation “Music—Music Pub.”, having also lived in Los Angeles in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for Arthur Herman Mehlinger, age 55, born on June 28, 1886 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, living in Beverly Hills, California, employer “Greene-Revel Inc.” [music publishers] in Hollywood; 1954 Santa Monica city directory listing “Artie Mehlinger”, no occupation listed; 1956-57 Westwood-Brentwood-Bel-Air city directory listing “Artie Mehlinger” at the same address, “ret.”; California Death Index entry for “Arthur Herman Mehlinger”, born on June 28, 1886, died on December 29, 1959 in Los Angeles

#1255 - When You're Gone, I Won't Forget, Scarcity: S
The 1920 piece on this cob is an “answer song” to “When I’m Gone You’ll Soon Forget” on cob #1249; the cover of the sheet music for the piece, a copy of which is in AS, specifically says this, and the lyrics are an expression of sadness by the formerly happy lover who is about to be left behind. The sheet music for both songs was published by the same music publisher, F. B. Haviland, but the composer of this song was Peter De Rose (1896-1953) and the lyricist was Ivan Reid (1893-1921). It was the first major hit for De Rose, who later wrote the music for a number of well-known songs and for many years had a radio show with his wife, ukelele-playing May Singhi Breen. De Rose (birth name De Rosa) was born in New York City of Italian-born parents and first worked in the music industry as a clerk and salesman at music publishers. His birth year is almost universally given in other sources as 1900, but this cannot have been correct, because he appeared in the 1900 U.S. Census as a boy of four and his birth year was given there as 1896 (see below). Ivan Reid (full name Ivan Sievers Reid) is a more obscure figure, a New Orleans native employed by Haviland who wrote some patriotic poetry while serving in Europe during World War I in addition to some song lyrics before and afterwards, but died at the age of 28 only a year after the song on this cob was published. References: 1900 U.S. Census record for “Peter Derosa”, age 4, born in March 1896 in New York, living in Manhattan, the youngest of seven children of Atone Derosa, a barber, and his wife, Emeline, both born in Italy; 1910 U.S. Census record for “Peter De Rosa”, age 13, born in New York, again living in Manhattan, the seventh of eight children of Italian-born Anthony and Amelia; 1915 New York State Census record for “Peter De Rosa”, age 20 [sic], occupation “Salesman—Music”, living in Manhattan with his parents, Antone and Amelia, and seven siblings; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Peter De Rosa”, age 21, born on March 10, 1896, residing in Brooklyn, occupation “clerk” at “G. Schirmer, 3 East 43rd St. NYC” [a music publishing firm]; 1920 U.S. Census record for “Peter De Rosa”, age 21 [sic], occupation “Salesman—Music Publishers”, living in Brooklyn with his parents, Anthony and Ermellina, five siblings and other family members; 1930 U.S. Census record for “Peter A. DeRose”, age 34, occupation “Composer Music”, living in Manhattan with his wife May Singhi, occupation “Music Teacher” (and in addition there is next to their names the bracketed entry “Both Radio Entertainers”); 1940 U.S. Census record for “Peter De Rose”, age 46 [sic], occupation “Musician—Composer”, living in Manhattan with his wife May; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Peter De Rose”, age 46, born on March 10, 1896, in New York City, employed at Robbins Music Co.; New York City Death Index entry of the death of “Peter DeRose”, age 57, on April 23, 1953; obituary article about De Rose in the April 24, 1953 edition of the New York Herald Tribune; grave marker for “Peter DeRose” in Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, New York inscribed with the years “1896-1953”; New Orleans Birth Records Index entry for Ivan S. Reid, son of James Reid and Amelia M. (nee Sievers), born in New Orleans on January 4, 1893; 1900 U.S. Census record for “Ivan S. Reid”, age 7, born in January 1893, living in New Orleans with his parents, James and Amelia M., and two brothers; 1910 U.S. Census record for “Ivan S. Reid”, age 17, living in New Orleans with his parents and brothers, occupation “Collection” (The same occupation was listed for his 57-year-old uncle, who was also a member of the household); 1912 New Orleans city directory listing “Ivan S. Reid”, “clerk”, still living at the same address; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Ivan Sievers Reid”, age 24, born on January 4, 1893 in New Orleans, still living at the same address, single, occupation “Author & Composer of Music”, employer “F. B. Haviland Publishing Co. of N. Y.” in New Orleans; poem written by “Cpl. Ivan Reid, Co. L, 321st Infantry”, titled “I’m Going Home”, forwarded home by a Private in the same unit to his mother in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and published in the February 15, 1919 edition of the Wilkes-Barre Evening News; poem again by “Corporal Ivan Reid” about his unit’s valor in France titled “The ‘Wildcats’ Went Over the Top” published in several North and South Carolina newspapers between April and June, 1919; U.S. Army Transport Service Departing and Arriving Passenger Lists entry for “Ivan F. Reid” [sic], a Corporal in the 321st Infantry, with the same home address, returning from the port of St. Nazaire, France on June 9, 1919; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Ivan Reid”, age 27, born in Kentucky [sic] of Louisiana-born parents, age 27, single, occupation “Composer—Music”, living as a lodger in Manhattan; New Orleans Death Index entry recording the death of Ivan Reid, age 28, on September 9, 1921; Reid family tombstone in Masonic Cemetery No. 1, New Orleans, including the name “Ivan S. Reid” and the dates 1893-1921

#1256 - Feather Your Nest, Scarcity: LC
The piece on this cob is yet another popular song from 1920 and there is a copy of the sheet music for it in UM. The singer urges his sweetheart to marry him so that the two of them can start a home (“feather a nest”) together: the parson is waiting, the organ is playing and the birds high in the trees are singing, and indeed the whole world is saying, “go feather your nest”. At the bottom of the first page of the sheet music is a notation “This composition may also be had for your Talking Machine or Player Piano”, highlighting the fact that during these final years of the cob roller organ it was competing with much more sophisticated musical technology. “Kendis and Brockman and Howard Johnson” are credited with this “fox trot song” without specifying who wrote the lyrics and who composed the tune. All were Tin Pan Alley figures. We have already encountered James Kendis (1883-1946) as co-lyricist and co-composer, with Herman Paley, of the 1905 song “Sympathy” on cob #1165, and Howard Johnson (1887-1941) as one of the three co-writers of “Ireland Must Be Heaven” on cob #1229 and the lyricist of “M-O-T-H-E-R” on cob #1234 (see also the notes to those cobs). James Brockman (1875-1967) was born in Russia and came to the U.S. as a child. He appeared in vaudeville as a comedian as a young man and later founded the Kendis Brockman Music Company, a music-publishing firm, with James Kendis. He subsequently moved to California and wrote songs for films. There is conflicting information about the date and place of his birth in both official records and secondary sources, but the earliest records are consistent with his having been born on December 18, 1875 in Russia, which would have made him 91 at the time of his death rather than 80, the age reported in many obituary articles. References: Massachusetts Marriage Records entry for the marriage on March 22, 1910 in Pittsfield of James Brockman, age 34, divorced, born in Russia, occupation “Actor”, and Rose Simowitz of Yonkers, New York, age 22, born in Yonkers; 1910 U.S. Census record for James Brockman, age 34, born in Russia, occupation “Composer—Music”, living in Yonkers, New York, with his wife Rose, her parents and her many siblings; World War I Draft Registration Card for James Brockman, age 42, born on December 18, 1875, occupation “musical writer & publisher” employed by “Kendis Brockman Music Co.” in Manhattan, living in Brooklyn with his then-wife Yetta; 1920 U.S. Census record for James Brockman, age 44, born in Pennsylvania of Russian Jewish parents, occupation “Composer—Music”, living in Manhattan with Yetta, born in Ohio, both boarders; 1930 U.S. Census record for James Brockman, age 48, born in Pennsylvania of Austrian-born parents, occupation “Composer—Music”, living in Beverly Hills, California; 1940 U.S. Census record for James Brockman, age 58, born in Russia, occupation “Musician—Composer”, living as a lodger in Los Angeles, having lived at the same place in 1935; California Death Index entry giving his date of birth as December 8, 1878 and his date of death as May 22, 1967; obituary article about him in the May 24, 1967 edition of The New York Times; burial marker in Mt. Sinai Memorial Park in Los Angeles giving his years as 1874-1967

#1257 - Dear Old Pal of Mine, Scarcity: S
In this sentimental World War I ballad in slow waltz time, the singer is away from home and separated from his “pal” (meaning “sweetheart”; see the notes to cob #1250), misses her terribly, looks forward to being reunited with her and wishes for her to have an “angel sentry” to guard her in the meantime. The pretty, dreamy tune was composed by Lieutenant Gitz Rice (1891-1947), the lyrics were by Harold A. Robè (1881-1946) and there is a copy of the sheet music for the piece in CC with a copyright date of 1918 and a photograph of Rice in his Canadian Army uniform on the cover along with a notation that the song was sung by “Mr. John McCormack”, the great Irish tenor, “At All His Engagements”. It was also performed by Rice himself, who settled in New York City after returning from the War in France and was a vaudeville entertainer for a number of years, appearing onstage with a group of male singers dressed in Canadian Mounted Police uniforms. He was born in Nova Scotia and “Gitz” was a nickname; his actual first name was “Ingraham”. Robè was born in Syracuse, New York, and, like so many lyricists and composers discussed here, was a stage performer before becoming a professional songwriter: when he was in his early teens, he received recognition as a boy soprano in Buffalo, New York, and when his voice changed he became an actor with traveling theatre companies. He met his wife Ida, a dancer, when she joined a show in which he was appearing in California and they were married when they returned to New York in June, 1911. “Dear Old Pal of Mine” was written when both he and Rice were in England during World War I. References: 1891 Census of Canada record listing “Ingraham Rice”, age “1/12” (meaning “one month”) as of April 10, 1891, living with his parents and siblings in New Glasgow, Pictou County, Nova Scotia; 1901 Census of Canada record listing “Ingraham Rice”, age 11, born on 5 March 1890 [sic], now living with his parents and siblings in Montreal City; article titled “The Story of Gitz Rice” in the June 16, 1918 edition of The New York Times; New York City Marriage Index entry recording the marriage of Gitz I. Rice and Ruby A. Wilson on February 5, 1920; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Lt. Gitz Rice”, age 39, occupation “Musician—Music”, living in Manhattan with his wife and two children; U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service card recording the border crossing from Canada into the U.S. of “Gitz Ingraham Rice”, his wife and two children in 1938 to become permanent U.S. residents, having previously lived in New York City until 1932 and with a most recent permanent residence in Toronto; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Gitz Rice”, age 49, occupation “Salesman—Printing Ink”, again living in Manhattan with his wife and two children, all having been living in Montreal in 1935; U.S. Naturalization Record Card for “Gitz Ingraham Rice”, then residing in Douglaston, Queens, stating that he became a naturalized U.S. citizen on April 8, 1947; New York City Death Index entry recording the death on October 16, 1947 of “Gitz Rice”, age 56, born on March 5, 1891 in Canada, occupation “Composer Music”; obituary articles about Rice in the October 17, 1947 editions of the New York Herald Tribune and The New York Times; 1892 New York State Census record for “Harold A. Robe”, age 11, living with his parents, Henry Clay Robe and Celia Robe, in Buffalo, New York; 1900 U.S. Census Record for “Harold Roby” [sic], age 19, born in February 1881, occupation “Cigarmaker”, living with his mother Celia in Lima, Livingston County, New York; New York City Marriage Index entry for the marriage on June 17, 1911 of Harold A. Robe and Ida Kramer; 1915 New York City directory listing “Harold A. Robe” with the profession “Actor”; U.S. Passport Applications dated December 27, 1916 for “Harold A. Robe”, born on February 20, 1881 in Syracuse, and “Ida K. Robe”, residents of “Jamaica, Long Island”, occupations “Actor” and “Actress”, sailing to England for a “Theatrical performance”; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Harold Athol Robe”, age 37, born on February 20, 1881, a “Munition Worker” working at a Midvale Steel Company plant in the Nicetown neighborhood of Philadelphia, listing as his nearest relative his wife Ida in “Jamaica, Long Island”; 1920 U.S. Census Record for “Harold A. Robe”, age 38, occupation “Songwriter”, living in Jamaica in the New York City Borough of Queens with his wife Ida, occupation “Actress—Vaudeville”; 1930 U.S. Census Record for “Harold A. Robe”, age 49, occupation “Writer—Songs”, living in Hempstead, New York; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Harold Athol Robe”, age 61, born in Syracuse, New York on February 20, 1881, living in Hempstead, New York, employed by A.S.C.A.P. (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers); New York Death Index entry recording the death of Harold A. Robe, age 65, in Hempstead on April 20, 1946; obituary articles about Robè in the April 22, 1946 editions of the New York Herald Tribune and The New York Times

#1258 - Ain't we got Fun?, Scarcity: LC
The lively, very popular and long-enduring song on this cob is the first one on the roller organ dating from 1921 and there is a copy of the sheet music for it in UM. The first verse tells how a recently-married couple in the cottage next door to the singer are haunted by bill collectors and cannot pay the rent, the grocer or the butcher but still appear so cheerful, and the chorus that follows is sung by one of the spouses to the other, expresses how much fun they continually have despite their financial situation and includes the well-known line “The rich get rich and the poor get children”. In the second verse the next-door neighbor says that “Mister Stork” arrived and the couple now have twins, but remain gay and merry. The music was by Richard A. Whiting and the lyrics were by Raymond B. Egan and Gus Kahn. We have previously encountered the very prolific Tin Pan Alley lyricist Kahn (1886-1941) as the writer of the words to “I Wish I Had a Girl” on cob #1177, “Memories” on cob #1236 and “Pretty Baby” on cob #1239 (see the notes to those cobs). Whiting (1891-1938) and Egan (1890-1952) collaborated on a number of very successful songs beginning in 1916, sometimes with Kahn. Whiting was born in Peoria, Illinois, began writing songs in high school and landed a job in the Detroit office of music publisher Jerome H. Remick, where he met Egan, who was then a bank clerk who also had songwriting aspirations and would stop in the office while on his lunch break. Egan was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada but lived in Detroit from the time he was a small boy. Whiting subsequently moved to California and wrote music there for motion pictures right up to the time of his death; Egan also wrote some lyrics for stage productions and movies in addition to his individual song hits but lived for much of his life in Detroit before spending his final years in New Rochelle, New York and Westport, Connecticut, where he died. References: TP; OC; BU; Ontario, Canada Birth Record for “Raymond Patrick Egan”, born on November 15, 1890, father’s name Patrick, mother’s maiden name Alice Blanning; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Raymond Egan”, age 10, born in Canada in November 1890, immigrated in 1892, living in Detroit with his mother and sister; 1908-1910, 1912 Detroit city directories listing “Raymond B. Egan”, occupation “clk The People’s State Bank” and 1913 directory misspelling his name as “Ramond B. Egan” and listing his occupation as “clerk”; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Raymond B. Eagan” [sic], age 19, born in Canada, immigrated in 1895, living with his mother Alice, stepfather John Stein (whom she had married two years earlier) and other family members in Detroit, occupation “Clerk—Bank”; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Raymond Egan”, age 26, born on November 14, 1890 in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, with a home address in Detroit but, Egan said, employed in Goblesville, Michigan as a “Farm hand” by Egbert Van Alstyne [the well-known composer (see the notes to cobs #1145, 1162 and 1239), with whom Egan and Kahn collaborated on a song titled “So Long, Mother” in that year]; Michigan Return of Marriages record of the marriage on July 7, 1919 in Detroit of “Raymond B. Egan”, age 28, a resident of Detroit born in Canada, occupation “Song Writer”, giving his mother’s maiden name as “Blanning” and listing “Richard A. Whiting” of Detroit as a witness; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Raymond B.” as the son of his mother’s husband John H. Stein rather than as his stepson, so that the name “Egan” does not appear in the entry, age 29, born in Canada, immigrated in 1894, occupation “Composer—Songs”, living with his wife, mother, stepfather and sister in Detroit; article in the December 9, 1928 Detroit Free Press including photographs of both Whiting and Egan and noting that while Whiting had recently moved to Hollywood and was writing songs for the motion picture industry, Egan was still living and working in Detroit; article in the June 26, 1929 edition of the Los Angeles Evening Express noting that “Ray Egan” was among a new contingent of composers and lyricists who would be coming to the West Coast to work for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Raymond Egan”, age 49, again living in Detroit with his wife and other family members, born in Canada, occupation “Song Writer”, having lived in the same place in 1935, although the 1936-1937 Pelham, Westchester County, New York city directories list “Raymond B. Egan” as living in Pelham Heights with no occupation listed, while the 1938 (as well as the 1947 and 1950) directories for adjacent New Rochelle list him, with the occupation “writer” (1938) or “composer” (1947 and 1950), living with his wife Mary at the same address in New Rochelle as he gave in 1942 on his World War II Draft Registration Card, and if the information in both the 1940 Census and in the 1930s street directories is correct, it would indicate that Egan had homes in both Detroit and the Westchester County suburbs of New York City from at least 1936 through 1940; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Raymond Blanning Egan”, age 51, born on November 14, 1890, in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, occupation “Song Writer”, living in New Rochelle West, New York; obituary article about Egan (incorrectly giving his middle initial as “D.”) in the October 14, 1952 edition of the Lansing [Michigan] State Journal reporting that funeral services for him would be held in Detroit and that he was a native of Windsor, Ontario who moved to Detroit during his boyhood, sang in the choir of St. John’s Episcopal Church there, attended the University of Michigan, worked briefly as a bank employee before turning to music, wrote the lyrics for songs in several Hollywood movies and Broadway shows in addition to many hit songs, and died at his home in Westport, Connecticut at the age of 61; additional obituary article in the October 14, 1952 edition of The New York Times as well as an obituary notice stating that he would be interred in Royal Oak, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit

#1259 - Peggy O'Neil, Scarcity: LC
This 1921 waltz song is about the singer’s sweetheart Peggy O’Neil, whom he looks forward to marrying, a blue-eyed, smiling “wonderful girl” with a “[s]weet personality full of rascality” who “walks like a sly little rogue” and “talks with a cute little brogue”. There was at the time an Irish-born actress by that name and she is depicted on the cover of the sheet music, a copy of which is in UM, in a portrait signed “Hamilton King” that had previously appeared on the cover of the August 1919 issue of the magazine The Theatre. The song was once again written by a trio, Harry Pease, Ed. G. Nelson and Gilbert Dodge, and the sheet music also once again does not indicate which of them wrote the lyrics and which of them composed the tune. Harry Pease (birth name John Henry Pease; 1886-1945) was born in Mount Vernon, New York, and after working as an electrician, an instrument setter and a telephone company inspector as a young man became a writer, singer and comedian in vaudeville, where he was known as “the Boy with the Silver Voice”, served briefly in World War I, became a songwriter, and in 1929 relocated from New York City to California to work in the motion picture industry, but returned to New York by 1935. Ed. G. Nelson (birth name George Edward Feuerfile; 1885-1969) was born in New York City, was a pianist in vaudeville and in night clubs and cabarets as well as a songwriter, and also relocated to California at about the same time as Pease and returned East by 1935. Pease and Nelson appeared together as a duo in vaudeville in 1925-1929 and Pease was also co-lyricist, and Nelson was also co-composer, of “Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes” on cob #1273. Gilbert Dodge (birth name William Levi Rosenbaum, 1890-1935) was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of a patent lawyer, attended Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut but left in 1912 after two years, began writing songs about two years later under the name “Gilbert Dodge” (“Gilbert” was his mother’s maiden name) and later legally changed his name to this, took a job with a music publisher as a staff writer and shortly afterwards co-founded his own music publishing firm, served in the U.S. Navy from 1917 through 1919, and after only a few years got married, moved to Montclair, New Jersey, and later Cranston, Rhode Island, raised a family and worked in non-musical fields as a plant manager in the wholesale oil business and a chemist before dying at a relatively young age. References: AB; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “John H. Pease”, age 13, born in September 1886, living in Mount Vernon, New York with his mother, Rose, sister, Maud, and uncle, John H.; 1905 New York State Census record listing “John H. Pease”, age 18, occupation “Electrian” [sic], again living in Mount Vernon with his mother, sister and uncle; 1907-1908 Mount Vernon city directory listing “Harry J. Pease”, “instrumentsetter”; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Harry Pease”, age 23, occupation “Inspector—Telephone Company”, once again living in Mount Vernon with his mother, sister and uncle; advertisement in the December 18, 1916 edition of the Lancaster [Pennsylvania] News-Journal for a vaudeville performance by “Harry Pease, The Boy With the Silver Voice” and numerous other advertisements and reviews in newspapers relating to solo vaudeville performances by Pease as a singer and comedian in 1915-1917; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Harry Pease”, age 30, born on September 6, 1886 in Mt. Vernon, occupation “Actor—United Booking Agency”, living in Yonkers with a wife and one child; New York Abstract of World War I Military Service Card for “Harry Pease” with a home address in New Rochelle, New York, born in Mount Vernon on September 6, 1886, inducted at Yonkers on July 18, 1918, served as a Private at Fort Slocum, New York and was discharged on December 11, 1918; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Harry Pease”, age 33, occupation “Songwriter—Publisher”, living in Manhattan as a roomer; numerous advertisements and reviews in newspapers relating to vaudeville performances by Pease and Ed. G. Nelson as a duo in 1925-1929; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Harry Pease”, age 44, occupation “Song Writer—Motion Pictures”, living in Santa Monica, California; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “John Henry Pease”, age 52, occupation “Music Composer—Composer”, living in Manhattan, having also lived in New York City in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “John Henry Pease”, age 55, born on September 6, 1886 in Mount Vernon, employer’s name A.S.C.A.P., living in Manhattan; grave marker for “Harry Pease” in Beechwoods Cemetery, New Rochelle, New York, inscribed with the dates Sept. 1886-Nov. 1945; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “George E. Feuerfile”, age 15, born in March 1885, living in the Bronx, New York City, with his parents and siblings; 1905 New York State Census record listing “George Feuerfile”, age 20, occupation “Real Estate”, again living in the Bronx with his parents and siblings ; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “George E. Feurfile”, age 25, living in the Bronx with his wife of 3 years and many family members, occupation “Salesman—Candy mgf.”; 1915 New York City directory listing “George E. Feuerfile” with the occupation “musician”; World War I Draft Registration Card for “George E. Feuerfile”, age 33, born on March 13, 1886, living in the Bronx, occupation “Musician & Song-writer”, employer’s name “Sennett’s Cabaret” in the Bronx; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “George E. Feuerfile”, age 33, occupation “musician—theatre”, living in the Bronx with his wife and three sons; 1930 U. S. Census record listing “George E. Nelson”, age 43, occupation “Song Writer—Amusements”, living in Santa Monica, California with his wife and three sons; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Edward Feuerfile”, age 53, occupation “Writer—Songs”, living in Flushing, Queens, New York City, having lived in the same place in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Edward G. Feuerfile”, age 54, born on March 18, 1888, in New York, New York, self-employed and living in Flushing; obituary article in the March 31, 1969 edition of the Miami Herald reporting the death of Ed G. Nelson in Miami at the age of 84 and noting that he had previously lived in Flushing, New York and had lived in the Miami area for 11 years; baptismal record of the baptism of William Levi Rosenbaum, born on July 10, 1890 in Jersey City, son of William A. Rosenbaum and Lottie (nee Gilbert), in St. John Free Church, Jersey City, on November 23, 1890; 1905 New York State Census and 1910 U.S. Census record listing “William L. Rosenbaum”, ages 15 and 19, respectively, no profession listed, living with his father, a lawyer (“Lawyer—Patent” in 1910), mother and younger sister in New Rochelle, New York; New York World War I Veterans’ Service Data Card for “William L. Rosenbaum (name now legally changed to Gilbert Dodge)” listing his date of birth as July 10, 1890, his place of birth as Jersey City, New Jersey, his date of enlistment as March 21, 1917, his place of enlistment as the Brooklyn Navy Yard, his training as including attending a gas engine school, his serving on a submarine chaser out of Seattle and his having attained the rank of Machinist’s Mate First Class before being discharged on June 25, 1919; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “William L. Rosenbaum”, age 29, occupation “Publisher—Music”, again living with his parents in New Rochelle, New York; 1924, 1926, 1928 Montclair, New Jersey city directories listing Gilbert Dodge, no occupation listed; 1930 U.S. Census record listing Gilbert Dodge, age 39, married at age 31, occupation “Factory Manager—Wholesale Oil”, living in Montclair, New Jersey with his wife Grace and four young children; 1932 Montclair, New Jersey city directory listing Gilbert Dodge, “rem to Rhode Island”; 1934-1935 Cranston, Rhode Island city directory listing Gilbert Dodge, chemist, with wife Grace, living in Edgewood; tombstone in Forest Glade Cemetery, Wakefield, Massachusetts of Gilbert Dodge, 1890-1935, his wife Grace and two of their children; Trinity College Bulletin, 1937-1938 (Necrology) (detailed information about former Trinity student Dodge)

#1260 - Emaline, Scarcity: S
This is still another song from 1921 and there is a copy of the sheet music for it in UM which gives the composer’s name as Jimmie (more usually spelled “Jimmy”) McHugh and the lyricist’s name as George A. Little. McHugh (1894-1969) was one of the great American composers of popular music of the twentieth century and wrote hundreds of tunes, many of them catchy and appealing melodies of songs that became enduring pop standards. He was born in Boston, became an office boy and rehearsal pianist at the Boston Opera House, went to work for music publishing firms as a song plugger and staff pianist, first in Boston and later in New York, began writing songs of his own, had a string of hits and show tunes in the 1920s and then moved to California, where he wrote the scores for dozens of Hollywood films of the 1930s and 1940s. “Emaline” was one of his earliest published songs and is not one for which he is especially remembered. In Little’s lyrics, the singer, separated from his sweetheart Emaline, comforts and reassures her that things will be wonderful once they are reunited. The sheet music includes on a separate page an optional quicker-tempo “patter chorus”, the first half of which can be heard after the second verse in Vernon Dalhart’s 1921 Victor recording of the song. Little (1892?-1946) was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and was working as an insurance salesman in Chicago only a year before this song was published, although he had been employed in the music publishing business previously. He later became a professional song lyricist and, like so many others in his field, moved to California by 1930, but was back on the East Coast by 1935 living in New York City. References: OC; TP; BU; AB; 1900 U.S. Census record for “George Little”, age 7, born in Nov. 1892 in Missouri, living in Peoria, Illinois, the youngest of seven children of an Irish-born machinist; Berrien County, Michigan Return of Marriages recording the marriage on August 24, 1910 by a Judge of Probate in St. Joseph, Michigan (about 100 miles from Chicago), of “George A. Little”, age 21, a resident of Chicago, born in Missouri, occupation “Music Pub.”, and Jessie E. Spies, also age 21 and a Chicago resident; World War I Draft Registration Card for “George Alphonsus Little”, age 26, born in St. Louis, Missouri on November 25, 1890, occupation “Salesman” employed by [music publisher] “Leo Fiest” [sic] in the Grand Opera House Bldg., living in Chicago with his wife and son; 1920 U.S. Census record for “George A. Little”, age 28, born in Missouri, occupation “Salesman—Insurance”, living in Chicago with his wife Jessie and two children; 1930 U.S. Census record for “George A. Little”, age 39, born in Missouri, occupation “Writer—Song”, living in Los Angeles with his wife Jessie and two children; 1940 U.S. Census record for “George Little”, age 48, born in Missouri, occupation “Lyricist—Own Practice”, living with his wife “Jesse” [sic] and two now-adult children in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City, having lived in the same place in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “George Anthony [rather than Alphonsus] Little, Sr.”, age 49, born on November 25, 1892 in St. Louis, employer “Self—Writer”, living in Jackson Heights; obituary notice placed by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers for “George A. Little” in the June 4, 1946 edition of The New York Times

#1261 - My Mammy, Scarcity: LC
The lively song on this cob was the signature piece of the great performer Al Jolson, whose emotional rendition of it in blackface dropping onto his knees in the 1927 movie “The Jazz Singer” was always associated with him. The tune was by Walter Donaldson, the lyrics were by Sam Lewis and Joe Young, and there is a copy of the sheet music for it in UM with a copyright date of 1921. The singer addresses his “Mammy” in “Alabamy” and says that he has been lonely while he was away, is eager to return home to her and (in the famous final line) would walk a million miles for one of her smiles. Only the chorus is on the cob. Donaldson, Lewis and Young were all Tin Pan Alley stalwarts and each had a role in writing a number of the best-loved and most enduring American popular songs of the first half of the twentieth century. We have already encountered Lewis (generally referred to as Sam M. Lewis; 1883-1959) as co-author of the lyrics to the 1915 song “My Little Girl” on cob #1233 (see also the notes to that cob); as mentioned in those notes, he worked for many years—from 1916 until 1930—in partnership with fellow lyricist Joe Young and the duo collaborated with composer Donaldson on a number of occasions. Young (born Isaac (Irving) Youdovich; 1889-1939) was, like Lewis, a native of New York City and first worked as a card boy (stage assistant) in a vaudeville theatre and then in music publishing—in the 1910 U.S. Census he gave his occupation as “instrument player—music publisher”—and he was also a singer in restaurants and cafes before becoming a songwriter. Donaldson (1891-1947), born in Brooklyn, New York, was interested in music from the time he was in high school but worked at a Wall Street brokerage firm before becoming a song plugger and pianist at a New York City music publishing firm and composing tunes of his own. After writing the music for many successful songs from the mid-‘teens through the late ‘twenties and starting his own music publishing firm in 1928, he relocated to California and had a long additional career writing film scores there. References: OC; AB; TP; BU; 1905 New York State Census record listing “Isaac Youdovich”, age 16, born in New York, the oldest of seven children of Samuel, a tailor, and Clara Youdovich, both born in Russia, occupation “Theatrical”, living in Manhattan; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Joseph Young”, age 22, born in New York of Russian-born parents, occupation “Instrument Player—Music Publisher”, living in Manhattan; World War I Draft Registration Card in which Young gave his name as both “Irving Youdovich” and “Joe Young” and said that he was born in July 1889 in New York City, with the occupation “Author”, employed by Waterson Berlin Snyder Co. in Manhattan and living in Brooklyn; 1920 U. S. Census record listing “Joseph Young”, age 34 [sic], born in New York, occupation “Publishers—Music”, living in Manhattan; U.S. Passport Application dated April 26, 1923 for “Joseph Young”, born in New York City on July 4, 1889, occupation “composer”, intending to travel to six European countries for “Commercial Business for Irving Berlin Co.”; 1925 New York State Census record listing “Joe Young”, age 36, living with his wife at the same address on West 90th Street, Manhattan, as Sam M. Lewis and his wife, occupation “Self Emp., Strand Theatre, 47 & Bwy”; obituary article about Young in the April 22, 1939 editions of the New York Herald Tribune and The New York Times; 1900 U.S. Census record listing Walter Donaldson, age 9, born in February 1891, one of nine children of William Donaldson, a shoe cutter, living in Brooklyn; 1905 New York State Census record listing Walter Donaldson, age 13, again living in Brooklyn with his parents and numerous siblings; 1910 U.S. Census record listing Walter Donaldson, age 18, still living in Brooklyn with his parents and numerous siblings, occupation “Clerk—Brokerage”; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Walter J. Donaldson”, age 26, born on February 15, 1891, occupation “Song writer”, employed at “M. Witmark & Sons” in Manhattan; article by a Hollywood correspondent in the August 29, 1929 edition of the New York Daily News reporting that Donaldson had been in Hollywood for only two months and had already completed the music for three big productions; 1940 U.S. Census record listing Walter Donaldson, age 49, occupation “composer—motion pictures”, married for eight years, living with his wife and two young daughters in Santa Monica, California, having lived in Beverly Hills, California in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Walter Joseph Donaldson”, age 51, born in Brooklyn, New York on February 15, 1891, employer “self”, again living in Santa Monica; obituary articles about Donaldson in the July 16, 1947 editions of the Los Angeles Times, the New York Herald Tribune and the Brooklyn Eagle (Note: A number of sources, including these three obituary articles, mistakenly give either Donaldson’s age at death as 53 or 54 or his year of birth as 1893, but it is clear from all of the above census and draft records listing him that this is incorrect and he was born on February 15, 1891)

#1262 - Old Pal, Why Don't You Answer Me?, Scarcity: N
This cob is one of only two in this numerical range of which there is no known copy. The song on it dates from 1920 and there is once again a copy of the sheet music for it in UM. In it, the singer addresses his “old pal, old gal” who has died and left him alone, says that his world is empty without her and that he kneels and prays to her every night, and asks, if she can hear his prayer “away up there”, why she doesn’t answer him. The lyrics were once again by the Tin Pan Alley songwriting duo of Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young (see the notes to the immediately preceding cob and, as to Lewis, cob #1233) and the music was by M. K. Jerome (birth name Morris Meyer Kraus, 1893-1977), a New York City-born pianist and composer who worked in vaudeville and movie theatres before becoming a staff pianist at the New York music publishing firm of Waterson, Berlin & Snyder, which published this song. Like so many songwriters discussed here, he relocated to Hollywood in 1929 to compose music for motion pictures, and he started his own music publishing firm in 1931. References: OC; AB; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Morris Kraus”, age 7, born in Feb. 1893, living in Manhattan with his parents, Augustus, a tailor, and Sarah Kraus, and younger siblings Manuel, Bertha and Lucy; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Moe Krauss”, age 17, occupation “bookkeeper—office”, born in New York, living with his father, George, a poultry merchant born in Austria, his mother Sarah and seven younger siblings (the first three named “Mannie, Birdie and Lucy”) in Manhattan; 1915 New York State Census record listing “Morris Kraus”, age 22, occupation “music pub’r”, living with his wife Rae and two-year-old son Jerome L. in Manhattan; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Morris Meyer Kraus”, age 24, born on July 18, 1893 in New York City, occupation “Musician”, employed by “Waterson, Berlin, Snyder Music Co., Strand Bldg., 47 St. & Bway., N.Y.C.”, married with a boy 4½ years old; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Morris M. Kraus”, age 26, occupation “Writer of Music—Music Publisher”, living in Manhattan with his wife Rae and two young sons; article in the May 11, 1929 edition of the Lansing [Michigan] State Journal titled “M. K. Jerome Will Write for Talkies” reporting that Jerome had left that week for Hollywood to join the group of composers at the Warner Studio preparing theme melodies for Vitaphone pictures; 1933 New York City directory entry for “M. K. Jerome Music Corp.” in Manhattan; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Maurice K. Jerome”, age 46, born in New York, occupation “Song Writer—Motion Picture Studios”, living in Los Angeles, having lived at the same place in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Maurice Kraus Jerome”, age 48, born on July 18, 1893, in New York City, employer’s name “Warner Bros. Studios”, living in Hollywood with his wife Rae

#1263 - Beautiful Ohio, Scarcity: LC
The music to this dreamy piece in waltz time was by Mary Earl (one of many pseudonyms used by composer Robert A. King), the lyrics were by Ballard Macdonald and there is a copy of the sheet music for it in CC with a copyright date of 1918. The singer recalls falling in love long ago and drifting down a moonlit stream with his/her loved one in a little red canoe beneath the gleaming heavens and twinkling stars. Despite the title, the only reference to Ohio is the inclusion of the words “Beautiful Ohio” near the end of the chorus (“Beautiful Ohio, in dreams again I see/Visions of what used to be”). The State of Ohio adopted the piece as its official State Song in 1969, although the original lyrics have been completely rewritten in what is now the statutory version. King (birth name Robert A. Keiser; 1862-1932), a New York City native, was a prolific Tin Pan Alley composer over a period of more than fifty years and was considerably older than most of his Tin Pan Alley contemporaries when he wrote the tune to this song at the age of 56; years before, he had personally known a number of composers of an earlier generation including George Cooper (see, e.g., notes to cob #1242), Ethelbert Nevin (see notes to cob #1121) and John Philip Sousa (see, e.g., notes to cobs 1125-1126). He started out as a clerk at a New York music publishing firm at the age of 16, had his first song published shortly afterwards, and later worked at two other firms, Leo Feist and then Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., with which he was associated for 25 years. According to TP, “Beautiful Ohio” was the greatest-selling song ever published by Shapiro, Bernstein, with sales exceeding 5 million copies. King also wrote the tune to “I Ain’t Nobody’s Darling” on cob #1270. Macdonald (1882-1935) was a prolific Tin Pan Alley lyricist who collaborated with a number of different composers but, like King, was different from many of his Tin Pan Alley contemporaries, in his case because he was not a native New Yorker from an immigrant family but was born in Portland, Oregon and attended Princeton University. An obituary article about him in the November 20, 1935 edition of the New York Herald Tribune reported that he wrote song lyrics and musical comedy librettos for over thirty years, that he was “prominent in theatrical circles” and that during his career he was associated with many successful producers, songwriters and actors. Additional references: OC; AB; 1870 U.S. Census record listing “Robert Keiser”, age 8, born in New York, living with his parents, Adolph, a milliner, and Jeanette and three brothers in Manhattan; 1880 U.S. Census record listing “Robert Keiser”, age 18, occupation “Clerk in Store”, living with his parents, Adolph and Jennett, and three brothers in Manhattan; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Robert A. Keiser”, age 37, born in Sept. 1862 in New York to German-born parents, married for 15 years to his wife Sophie, occupation “Music publisher”, living in Manhattan with his wife and three children; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Robert A. Keiser”, age 47, occupation “Composer—Music publisg”, living in Manhattan with his wife Sophia and two children; 1915 U.S. Census record listing “Robert A. Keiser”, age 52, occupation “Music Publisher”, living with his wife Sophie and three children in Manhattan; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Robert A. King”, age 57, born in New York, occupation “Musician (Composer)”, living with his wife Sophia and two children in Manhattan; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Robert K. [sic] King”, age 67, occupation “Composer—Music”, living with his wife Sophie in Manhattan; obituary article about “Robert A. King” (not mentioning the name “Keiser”) in the April 14, 1932 edition of the New York Herald Tribune relating that he died of a heart attack at his Manhattan home right after hearing his latest composition played on the radio; U.S. Passport Application dated June 21, 1913 for “Ballard Macdonald”, age 30, born on October 15, 1882 in Portland, Oregon, occupation “lyric author & librettist”, living in Manhattan; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Ballard Macdonald”, age 35, born on October 15, 1882, occupation “Lyric Writer”, employer “Shapiro Bernstein Co.”, living in Manhattan; 1920 U.S. Census record for “Ballard Macdonald”, age 37, occupation “writer”, living in Manhattan; 1930 U.S. Census record for “Ballard Macdonald”, age 47, occupation “writer—music”, then living in Beverly Hills, California; obituary articles about Macdonald in the November 19, 1935 edition of The New York Times and the November 20, 1935 edition of the New York Herald Tribune providing detailed summaries of his career and reporting that he died at his home in Forest Hills, Queens

#1264 - Nobody's Baby, Scarcity: S
“I’m Nobody’s Baby”, a “Fox Trot Song”, dates from 1921 and there is a copy of the original sheet music for it in SC which lists the songwriters as Benny Davis, Milton Ager and Lester Santly without specifying who wrote the words and who composed the tune, although Davis and Santly were known as lyricists and Ager as a composer (A later edition of the sheet music, a copy of which is in UM, with a photograph of Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney on the cover was issued when the song was revived in 1940 and included in their movie “Andy Hardy Meets Debutante”). The singer is a young woman who remembers all the attention she received from her parents when she was a baby and says she misses the other little girls and boys she knew and the dolls and toys she had when she was a little child; now, she says, she’s nobody’s baby, feels terribly lonely and prays day and night that the Lord will send her down somebody to love. Davis (1895-1979), a vaudeville singer as well as a lyricist, was still another Tin Pan Alley “regular”; we have previously encountered him as the writer of the words to “Margie” on cob #1253. Milton Ager (1893-1979) was born in Chicago and first worked as a song plugger in the office of music publisher Waterson, Berlin & Snyder there and as a piano accompanist in vaudeville before moving to New York and becoming an arranger in the home office of the Waterson firm and later working as a composer at other music publishing firms. In 1922 he formed his own publishing firm, Ager, Yellen & Bornstein; “Yellen” was Jack Yellen, who wrote the lyrics to “Are You From Dixie” on cob #1232 (see also the notes to that cob) and who became Ager’s longtime lyricist partner with whom he wrote a whole series of successful hits and show tunes during the 1920s and then music for Hollywood films. Santly (birth name Lester Solomon; 1894-1983), a New York City native, was still another Tin Pan Alley lyricist but is remembered more as a music publisher; in 1929, he founded the firm of Santly Brothers (later Santly Bros.-Joy, then Santly-Joy-Select, then Santly-Joy, Inc.) with his brothers Henry and Joe and ran it for many years. According to AB, he had studied violin and piano, had become an orchestra musician and was then on the staff of music publishing houses, but when he became a music publisher he gave up songwriting. References: TP; OC; BU; AB; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Milton Ager”, age 7, born in Oct. 1892, one of seven children of Russian-born parents, living in Chicago; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Milton L. Ager”, age 16, occupation “Composer—Music”, again living in Chicago with his parents and siblings (In the same record, interestingly, his father and two older brothers are all listed with the occupation “Dealer—Horses”); 1915 New York State Census record listing “Milton Ager”, age 24, occupation “Song Writer”, living in Manhattan as a roomer; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Milton Ager”, age 23, born on October 6, 1893 in Chicago, occupation “Music arranger”, employer “Self”, living in Manhattan; 1920 U.S. Census record for “Milton Ager”, age 26, occupation “Writer—Music Publisher”, living in Manhattan as a lodger; 1925 New York State Census record listing “Milton Ager”, age 31, occupation “Song writer”, now married and living with his wife in Manhattan; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Milton Ager”, age 48, born on October 6, 1893, employed by Ager, Yellen & Bornstein Inc. in Manhattan and also with a residence address there; 1955-1956 Beverly Hills, California city directory listing “Milton Ager” as living there; obituary article about Ager in the May 8, 1979 edition of The New York Times; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Lester Solomon”, age 6, born in April, 1894, living in Manhattan with his parents, siblings and grandmother; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Lester A. Solomon”, age 16, occupation “Stock clerk—Ribbon house”, living with his mother, siblings and grandmother in Manhattan; 1915 New York State Census record listing “Lester A. Soloman” [sic], age 21, occupation “musician”, living with his mother and brother in Manhattan; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Lester A. Solomon” (with “Santley” written above “Solomon”), age 23, born on April 2, 1894, occupation “Salesman” at “Leo Feist Inc.” [music publishers] in Manhattan and living in Manhattan; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Lester Santly”, age 25, occupation “Music—Salesman”, living with his mother and older brother in Manhattan; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Lester Santly”, age 48, born on April 2, 1894 in New York City, employed by “Santley Joy Select” at 1619 Broadway in Manhattan [now known as “the Brill Building” and famous as the home of music industry offices and studios] and living in Atlantic Beach on the south shore of Long Island; Florida Death Index entry for “Lester A. Santly”, born on April 2, 1894, died on February 5, 1983

#1265 - Oh What a Pal was Mary, Scarcity: S
“Oh! What a Pal Was Mary” is a 1919 song in waltz time written by three more prominent Tin Pan Alley songwriters, none of whom we have otherwise encountered up to now: Edgar Leslie and Bert Kalmar wrote the words, Pete Wendling composed the tune, and there is a copy of the sheet music for it in CC. The trio began writing songs in partnership in 1919 and almost immediately produced this song, the sheet music for which sold more than a million copies. In the lyrics, the singer remembers his beloved and now departed Mary, whom he had known since childhood and regarded as an angel born on Easter morn and sent to him by God. Leslie (1885-1976) was born in Connecticut, grew up in Brooklyn, and after writing material for stage comedians wrote the lyrics to his first successful song in 1908 and thereby began a long career as a prolific songwriter that included collaborations with a variety of Tin Pan Alley composers. He was also a music publisher. Kalmar (birth name Albert Kalvarinsky; 1884-1947) was still another Alley songwriter from an immigrant family that lived on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He began his career performing as a boy magician, worked as a comedian and singer in vaudeville and moved from writing parodies and other comic material into songwriting. He was also a music publisher, wrote songs for Broadway musical comedies during the 1920s and then became a songwriter and scenarist for Hollywood movies including the classic Marx Brothers films “Animal Crackers” (1930), “Horse Feathers” (1932) and “Duck Soup” (1933). Wendling (1888-1974), another New York City native, was an accomplished ragtime pianist who played as an accompanist in movie theatres, worked at music publishing firms, toured in vaudeville, and after writing the music to four million-selling songs in the late ‘teens including the one on this cob, went to work cutting master player piano rolls for the QRS Music Roll Company. He was later vice president of a music publishing firm. References: OC; TP; BU; AB; 1892 New York State Census record and 1900 U.S. Census record both listing “Edgar Leslie, Jr.”, ages 6 and 14, respectively, living in Brooklyn with his father, Edgar Sr., a brass finisher, his mother and sister (the 1900 record adds December 1885 as the month and year of his birth); 1905 New York State Census record for “Edgar Leslie”, age 19, occupation “Stenographer”, living with his mother and sister in Brooklyn; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Edgar Leslie”, age 24, occupation “Compostor [sic] (Mus)—Publishing”, living in Brooklyn with his mother and sister; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Edgar Leslie”, age 32, born on December 31, 1885, occupation “Author of Songs”, employer “Waterson, Berlin & Snyder” in Manhattan, also living in Manhattan; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Edgar Leslie”, age 34, born in Connecticut, occupation “Writer & Author—Songs”, living with his wife Florence in Manhattan; 1925 New York State Census record and 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Edgar Leslie”, ages 39 and 44, respectively, occupation “Music Publisher” (1925) and “Publisher—Music Publishing” (1930), again living in Manhattan; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Edgar Leslie”, age 54, born in New York [sic?], occupation “Author—Music”, living with his wife Florence as “guests” at the Hotel Wentworth in Manhattan, having lived in the “Same House” in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Edgar Leslie”, age 56, born on December 31, 1885 in Stamford Connecticut, employer “Writer—Self”, living at the Hotel Wentworth in Manhattan; obituary article about Leslie in the January 24, 1976 edition of The New York Times; 1900 U.S. Census record for “Albert Kalvarinsky”, age 16, born in February 1884, occupation “Receiving Clerk—Notions”, living in Manhattan with his Russian-born father, Charlie Kalvarinsky, a “day laborer”, his German-born mother Julia and a sister on East 85th Street, Manhattan (In the New York City directory for 1884, the year of Kalmar’s birth, the family had lived on Pitt Street on the Lower East Side and his father was a “pedlar”); 1914 New York City directory listing the Kalmar & Puck Music Co. on West 45th Street and listing separately “Bert Kalmar”, “pres.” at the same address and with a home address of Freeport, Long Island; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Bert Kalmar”, age 34, born on February 16, 1884, occupation “Actor”, employer “United Booking Co.”, giving his residence address as the Palace Theatre Building in Manhattan; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Bert Kalmar”, age 35, born in New York, occupation “Song writer—Music publishing”, living in Manhattan; 1925 New York State Census record and 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Bert Kalmar”, ages 40 and 47, respectively, occupation “Author” (1925) and “Author—Play Writing”, living in Pelham, Westchester County, New York; 1931 Beverly Hills city directory listing “Bert Kalmar” living there; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Bert Kalmar”, age 56, occupation “Writer—Motion Picture”, living in Los Angeles, California, having lived at the same house in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Bert Kalmar”, age 58, born on February 16, 1884 in New York City, no occupation listed, living in Beverly Hills; obituary articles about Kalmar in the September 19, 1947 editions of the New York Herald Tribune and The New York Times; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Peter Wendling”, age 12, born in Feb. [sic] 1888, living with his German-born father, a “laborer”, his mother and his siblings in Manhattan; 1905 New York State Census record listing “Peter Wendling”, age 17, occupation “Carpenter”, living with his parents and a sister in Manhattan; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Peter Wendling”, age 21, occupation “Musician—Piano”, living in Brooklyn with an older brother and his family; 1915 New York State Census record listing “Peter Wendling”, age 26, occupation “Pianist”, living with his wife in Rockaway Beach, Queens; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Peter Wendling”, age 29, born on June 6, 1888, occupation “Musician”, employer “Waterson, Berlin & Snyder” in Manhattan, living in Long Island City, Queens; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Peter Wendling”, age 31, occupation “Writter [sic]—Song”, living in the Bronx; 1925 New York State Census record listing “Peter Wendling”, age 36, occupation “Song Writer & Pianist”, living in Manhattan; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Peter Wendling”, age 51, occupation “Composer Music—Theatre, Radio”, living in Manhattan, having lived in the same house in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Peter Wendling”, age 53, born on June 6, 1888 in New York City, a self-employed “Composer of Music”; obituary article about Wendling in the April 12, 1974 edition of The New York Times

#1266 - Tuck Me to Sleep, Scarcity: LC
The full title of this lively 1921 song, popularized by the dynamic performer Eddie Cantor, is “Tuck Me to Sleep in my Old ‘Tucky Home” and there is a copy of the sheet music for it in UM. It was written by three Tin Pan Alley “regulars”, all of whom we have encountered before: the lyrics were by songwriting partners Joe Young (1889-1939) and Sam M. Lewis (1883-1959), who also wrote the lyrics to “My Mammy” on cob #1261 and “Old Pal, Why Don’t You Answer Me” on cob #1262 (Lewis also co-authored the lyrics to “My Little Girl” on cob #1233) and the music was by George W. Meyer (1884-1959), who composed the tune to “Hiawatha’s Melody of Love” on cob #1254 (see also the notes to all of those cobs). The lyrics of “Tuck Me to Sleep” are very similar to the lyrics of “My Mammy” in theme: the singer misses his home of earlier days (this time “’Tucky” (Kentucky) rather than “Alabamy” (Alabama)) and announces his intention to return there and be reunited with his “Mammy old and gray”. Once again only the chorus of the song is on the cob. Meyer also wrote the tune to the enormously popular and enduring 1917 song “For Me and my Gal” (not on the roller organ), but TP calls “Tuck Me to Sleep” “his greatest triumph” and, according to BU, 3,000,000 copies of the sheet music for it and just as many phonograph records of it were sold; nevertheless, it has not survived in popular memory to the same extent as “For Me and my Gal” and other once-universally-known songs of the same era.

#1267 - My Sunny Tennessee, Scarcity: LC
The piece on this cob (which should not be confused with the 1899 song “Sunny Tennessee” on cob #1124) is still another uptempo early ‘20s song in which the singer expresses how much he misses his native home in the South and his “Mammy’s goodnight kiss” and longs to return there; this time instead of Alabama (cob #1261) or Kentucky (cob #1266) his home is in Tennessee. He says that his heart begins to quiver when he hears the song “Swanee River” (Stephen Foster’s song “Old Folks at Home”, on cob #121), and a few bars of Foster’s “My Old Kentucky Home” (on cob #1069) are incorporated near the end of the chorus (which, once again, is the only part of the song on the cob). There is a copy of the sheet music for the piece in CC with a copyright date of 1921 attributing it to Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby and Herman Ruby but once again not indicating who wrote the lyrics and who composed the tune (although Kalmar and Herman Ruby are both known as lyricists and Harry Ruby as a composer), and there is a picture on the cover of the energetic songster Eddie Cantor with a notation that he sang the piece in a show titled “The Midnight Rounders of 1921”. We have previously encountered Kalmar (1884-1947) as the writer of the lyrics to “Oh What a Pal Was Mary” on cob #1265 (see also the notes to that cob). Harry Ruby (birth name Rubenstein; 1895-1974) was born in New York City and as a young man worked as a pianist in vaudeville and at music-publishing firms, including Kalmar’s firm of Kalmar & Puck. He later teamed up with Kalmar to write songs and the duo collaborated over several decades, producing a number of individual hits, later, scores for musical comedies, and with the advent of “talkies”, music for motion pictures, including the three Marx Brothers classics “Animal Crackers” (1930; previously a 1928 stage musical), “Horse Feathers” (1932) and “Duck Soup” (1933). One might think that, because of the similarity of their names, Herman Ruby (1891?-1959) was a brother or other close relative of Harry, but I have not located any statement or other evidence that they were related, despite the fact that they both were born in New York City within a few years of one another, in their later years moved to California to work in the motion picture industry and had the same birth surname of Rubenstein or Rubinstein. Census records for the period during which each was living at home with his parents make it clear that they were not brothers. Herman Ruby was another Tin Pan Alley songwriter who had a second career in Hollywood, writing songs for films as well as scripts and comedy material, and he was at one time production head for Warner Brothers’ Vitaphone short subjects. References: OC; BU; TP; AB; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Harry Rubenstein”, age 5, born in January 1895 in New York, living with his Russian-born parents B—- [part of the name is written over and illegible], a furrier, and Tilly, four siblings and other family members on 98th Street, Manhattan; 1910 U.S. Census record for “Harry Rubenstein”, age 15, living with his parents, Barnet, a furrier, and Tillie, and five siblings on Bathgate Avenue in the Bronx; 1915 New York State Census record for “Harry Rubinstein” [here the first “e” in the family name has been marked over to change it to an “i”], age 20, occupation “Theatrical”, living with his father Barnett and five siblings on East 173rd Street in the Bronx; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Harry Ruby”, age 22, born on January 27, 1895, occupation “Music Publisher”, employed at “Kalmar Puck & Abrahams” in Manhattan and residing in the Bronx; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Harry Ruby”, age 25, occupation illegible, living with his wife and young daughter in the Bronx; 1925 U.S. Census record listing “Harry Ruby”, age 30, occupation “composer—music”, living in Pelham in Westchester County, New York, with his wife and daughter; 1929 Pelham, New York city directory listing “Harry Ruby, writer” living there; article in the May 11, 1929 edition of the Los Angeles Record about Tin Pan Alley songwriters moving from New York to Los Angeles to work in the moving picture industry and noting that Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby were the latest ones to make the move; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Harry Ruby”, age 47, born on January 27, 1895 in New York City, “unemployed”, living in Beverly Hills, California; obituary article about Harry Ruby in the February 25, 1974 edition of The New York Times; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Herman Rubenstein”, age 8, born in New York in March 1892, living with his parents Isaac, “Retired”, and Jeanette, both born in Germany, four older siblings and a brother-in-law on East 109th Street in Manhattan; 1905 New York State Census record listing “Herman Rubenstein”, age 14, occupation “Clerk”, living with his father Isaac, born in Austria, his mother Sarah, born in Russia, and three of the same siblings on West 113th Street in Manhattan; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Herman Rubinstein”, age 19, occupation “Clerk—Tailorstore”, living with his parents Isaac, born in Austria, and Sarah, born in Russia, and one of the same siblings, again on West 113th Street, Manhattan; Names and Descriptions of Alien Passengers on a ship arriving in Liverpool, England from La Plata, Argentina on May 26, 1914 listing “Herman Ruby”, age 23, “Music Salesman”; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Herman Rubenstein”, age 26, born on March 15, 1891, occupation “Song writer”, employer “Self” (with an address at 1581 Broadway, Manhattan), giving two different home addresses in Manhattan, one of which was 251 West 89th Street; 1920 U.S. Census record for “Herman Rubinstein”, age 29, occupation “Songwriter”, living with his parents Isaac and Sarah and a sister at the West 89th Street address; U.S. Immigration Service list of American citizens arriving at the Port of Los Angeles on a ship from New York dated May 17, 1936 listing “Herman Ruby”, age 44, born on March 15, 1892 in New York City, with an address on West 70th Street, Manhattan; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Herman Ruby”, age 48, born in New York, occupation “Writer—Motion Picture”, living in Los Angeles, having lived in New York, New York in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Herman Ruby”, age 52, born on March 15, 1891 in New York City, employer “Self”, living in Hollywood, California; obituary articles about Herman Ruby in the July 30 and 31, 1959 editions of the Hollywood Citizen-News and the July 31, 1959 edition of the Los Angeles Times

#1268 - Humming, Scarcity: S
There is a copy of the sheet music for “Humming” in UM with a copyright date of 1920 that describes the piece as a “fox trot song” and credits it to Louis Breau and Ray Henderson, without differentiating as to who wrote the lyrics and who composed the tune. In the lyrics, the positive and optimistic singer remains glad and gay by just humming a song even when others are sad and troubled, and urges them to join in and keep humming even when they are feeling lonesome or betrayed. As noted in the paragraph about “Whispering” on cob #1248, an instrumental version of that song was recorded by Paul Whiteman’s orchestra in 1920 and became a great hit. In the following year, an instrumental version of “Humming” was recorded by the same orchestra, subtitled “Medley Fox Trot”, on the other side of a recording of an instrumental version of “My Mammy” (see the notes to cob #1261), also subtitled “Medley Fox Trot”. Ray Henderson (birth name Raymond Brost; 1896-1970) is regarded as another of the greatest composers of popular music of the first half of the twentieth century, but he wrote nearly all of his most successful songs after the close of the roller organ era; “Humming” was, in fact, his first published song and not one for which he is especially remembered, and “That Old Gang of Mine”, from 1923, one of his first hits, appeared on cob #1286, one of the last cobs to be issued. Henderson was born in Buffalo, New York, and like many of his songwriting contemporaries started out in New York City as a song plugger, staff pianist and arranger at Tin Pan Alley music publishing firms and as an accompanist in vaudeville. He later had a long career as a composer of music for popular songs, stage musicals and Hollywood films. The lesser-known Louis Breau (birth name Louis Bro; 1893-1928) was born in Chicago and was a dance orchestra conductor there before moving to New York City and working in the music publishing business. He later established his own music publishing firm and was involved in radio in its early days, and also wrote theme songs for silent movies. References: TP; BU; OC; AB; 1900 U.S. Census record for “Louis Bro”, age 7, born in Illinois in April, 1893, living in Chicago with his parents, Max, born in Germany, and Threase, born in New York; 1910 U.S. Census record for “Louis Bro”, age 17, no occupation listed, living in Chicago with his parents, Max, born in Germany, and Theresa, born in New York; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Louis Bro”, age 24, born on April 6, 1893 in Chicago, occupation “Stenographer—Marmon Chicago Co.”; 1920 U.S. Census record for “Louis Bro”, age 26, occupation “Secretary—Private”, living in Chicago with his parents, Max, born in Germany, and Theresa, born in New York; additional 1920 U.S. Census record for “Louis Bro”, age 26, born in Illinois, father’s birthplace Poland and mother’s birthplace New York, occupation “Writer—Song”, living in Manhattan with his aunt, uncle and other family members; note in the September 21, 1921 edition of the New York Clipper describing “Lou Breau” as “professional manager for Belwin, Inc.” [a music publishing firm]; article in the December 23, 1923 edition of The Music Trades about the recently-formed music publishing firm of Breau & Tobias with a photo of Breau with his partner Charles Tobias noting that Breau had lived in Chicago for about twenty-five years before he decided to give up his orchestra and other work there and move to the East, that he first worked for the Charles K. Harris Music Co. as a piano player, appeared briefly in vaudeville, then joined Belwin and started song writing; 1925 New York State Census record listing “Louis Bro”, age 32, occupation “Song Writer”, living in Manhattan with his parents, Max and Theresa; U.S. Veterans Administration Master Index listing “Louis Bro”, born on April 6, 1893, served in the military in 1918 and died on September 6, 1928

#1269 - Kiss-A-Miss Waltz, Scarcity: LC
There is a copy of the sheet music for this 1920 waltz song in CC giving as its title merely “Kiss a Miss”, the composer’s name as Maurice Baron and the lyricists’ names as Cal De Voll and Jack Yellen. The singer invites his love first to waltz with him, then to hold him a little tighter and finally to kiss him while the orchestra is playing a new waltz called the “Kiss-a-Miss”. We have already encountered Cal De Voll (1886?-1970) as the writer of both the lyrics and music of “Alabama Lullaby” on cob #1247 and Yellen (1892-1991) as the writer of the lyrics to “Are You From Dixie” on cob #1232 (see also the notes to both of those cobs, and, as to Yellen, the notes to cob #1264). Baron (1889-1964) was born in France, learned as a child to play a number of musical instruments in his father’s band, and played the violin and viola in symphony orchestras after moving to the United States before becoming a conductor at the Roxy Theater in New York City and then staff composer and conductor at nearby Radio City Music Hall. He also wrote the scores for many motion pictures, composed more than 350 published works, both popular and of a more serious nature, and founded his own music publishing company. References: AB; obituary article about Baron in the September 9, 1964 edition of The New York Times

#1270 - I Ain't Nobody's Darling, Scarcity: S
In the lyrics of the song on this cob, the singer laments the fact that he proposed marriage to his darling the previous Saturday night and was turned down, and says that if he doesn’t find someone else to “fuss over him” he will go back to the farm and milk the cows, make love to the chickens, take the pigs in swimming, etc. (The sheet music also includes three additional lines that can be substituted in which the singer tells more of what he will do when he returns to the farm). There is a copy of the sheet music for the song in UM with a copyright date of 1921 giving the lyricist’s name as Elmer Hughes, the composer’s name as Robert King and the selling agents as Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., New York City music publishers. We have previously encountered King (birth name Robert A. Keiser; 1862-1932), the prolific Tin Pan Alley composer who wrote the tune to “Beautiful Ohio” on cob #1263 under the name “Mary Earl”, one of his many pseudonyms (see also the notes to that cob). Elmer Hughes is a more obscure figure. When the copyright to this song was renewed in 1949, his name was given in the Catalog of U.S. Copyright Entries—Renewal Registrations as “Elmer (i.e. Thomas J.) Hughes”, and an obituary article in the June 8, 1961 edition of the Asbury Park [New Jersey] Press reported the death of Thomas J. Hughes, age 80, in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, noting that he had been born in Jersey City, had formerly lived in “Flushing, Long Island”, and had retired only six months earlier from Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., New York City music publishers, where he had worked for 55 years and had been professional manager. Hughes also edited song collections published by Shapiro, Bernstein, including the Fireside Memories Song Folio, published in 1939, which contained sheet music for one hit song from each year for the period from 1909 through 1939.

#1271 - Love's Ship, Scarcity: VS
Many of the pieces in this numerical group of cobs were written by professional Tin Pan Alley lyricists and composers based in New York City and frequently collaborating with one another in different combinations. The waltz song on this very scarce cob, however, was written by two young women who were sisters-in-law and lived in the State of Washington. There is a copy of the sheet music for the piece in UM, the lyricist was Nellie Morrison, the composer was her older brother’s wife Alice Nadine Morrison, the piece was first copyrighted in 1920 by the Morrison Music Co. and the copyright was transferred in the following year to the more mainstream firm of Forster Music Publisher Inc. in Chicago. In the first verse and refrain of the lyrics the singer uses metaphorical language to express her wish that her beloved return to her, referring to the harbor (her heart), a ship (her beloved), the ship’s cargo of gold (her beloved’s love for her) and her lighthouse “built on the strong rocks of hope”; in the second verse she encourages other hearts, telling them that storms do not last and fears quickly pass. Nellie Morrison (1896-1979) was born in Wisconsin but by 1900 her family was living in Buffalo, New York and by 1910 in Marysville, Washington. In 1923, while living in San Francisco, she married a Washington man named J. Harvey Leach, she subsequently had four daughters, and the couple remained in Washington for the rest of their lives. When she was young she was a singer—an article in the July 20, 1922 edition of the San Francisco Examiner described her as a contralto, included photographs of both her and her better-known sister-in-law and said both would be heard on the Examiner’s radio station, she singing and her sister accompanying her on the piano—but after her marriage she apparently did not pursue a further career in music. Alice Nadine Morrison (1892-1978) was born in Ohio but by 1900 was living in Washington. She married Nellie’s older brother Howell O. “Morrie” Morrison in 1912 and the couple was involved for many decades in a variety of different aspects of the musical profession with varying degrees of success both in the State of Washington and in northern California, including operating dance studios and dance halls, publishing sheet music and even producing and manufacturing records. They were also both performers; her instrument was the marimba, and according to a notice in the July 2, 1922 edition of the San Francisco Examiner about an upcoming performance to be broadcast on radio that included both her and her sister Nellie, Nellie was a marimba player as well. References: Article in the Free Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History (accessible at www.historylink.org) by Peter Blecha titled “Morrison, Morrie and Alice—Northwest Music Industry Pioneers”; 1900 U.S. Census record listing Charles D. Morrison, his wife Elizabeth, and their five children, Howell, Charlotte, William (age 3, born in November 1896 in Wisconsin) and Walter, living in Buffalo, New York (“William” is clearly a mis-transcription by the census taker of “Nellie M.”, as the Wisconsin Births and Christenings Index lists the birth of a female child to Charles D. Morrison on November 2, 1896 in South Milwaukee); 1910 U.S. Census record listing the same family (with an additional son, George, age 24) as living in Marysville, Snohomish County, Washington, this time with “Nellie M.”, age 13, substituted for “William” between Charlotte and Walter, and Howell’s occupation as “Musician—Orchestra”; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Alice Lanterman”, age 7, born in July 1892 in Ohio, living with her parents and siblings in Ship Harbor, Skagit County, Washington; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Alice Lanterman”, age 17, living with her parents and siblings in Anacortes, Skagit County, Washington; State of Washington Marriage Record entry for the marriage on July 3, 1912 of “Howell O. Morrison”, age 23, and “Alice Nadine Lanterman”, age 19, both of Anacortes, Washington and both with the occupation “Musician”; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Howell O. Morrison”, age 28, living in Bellingham, Washington, occupation “Musician”, employed by “Different ones”, where employed: “at Central Hall & elsewhere”; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Howell Morrison”, age 30, and “Alice Morrison”, age 27, both with the occupation “Teacher—Music”, living in Bellingham; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Howell Morrison”, age 40, occupation “Salesman—Automobiles”, and “Alice Morrison”, age 36, occupation “Musician—Dances, Shows”, living in Dunsmuir, Siskiyou County, California; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Howell Morrison”, age 49, occupation “Dancing Teacher—Dance Studio” and “Alice Morrison”, age 46, occupation “Musician—Orchestra”, at the Arlington Hotel in Seattle, having lived in Bellingham in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Howell Oakdean Morrison”, age 53, born on August 27, 1888, occupation “Own Business—Dance”, living in Seattle; State of Washington Death Index listing the deaths of “Alice N. Morrison” on January 1, 1978 and “Howell O. Morrison” on July 8, 1984; State of Washington Marriage License Application dated April 14, 1923 and signed by Nellie Morrison of San Francisco and J. Harvey Leach of Bellingham; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Nellie M. Leach”, no occupation listed, living with her husband Harvey Leach and three daughters in Kent, King County, Washington; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Nellie M. Leach”, no occupation listed, living with her husband J. Harvey Leach and four daughters in Bryn Mawr, King County, Washington, having lived in the same county in 1935; 1959 Bremerton, Washington city directory listing Nellie M. Leach following the name of her husband, J. Harvey Leach, Division Manager Puget Sound Power & Light Co.; California Death Index listing for “Nellie Morrison Leach” and burial marker for “Nellie Marguerite Leach” in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Bremerton, Washington, both giving her date of birth as November 3, 1896 and date of death as August 25, 1979

#1272 - Swanee River Moon, Scarcity: LC
This is another waltz song by an obscure figure who was not part of the Tin Pan Alley music establishment and who is forgotten today. There is a copy of the sheet music for it in UM with a copyright date of 1921 and both the words and music were by H. Pitman Clarke. This time the singer is down in Dixie Land, feeling lonely, and at night under the “Swanee River moon” dreams of his/her beloved and longs for the time when she/he will return and they will be reunited. Harry Pitman Clarke (spelled in different places with and without a final “e”; 1892-1940) was a theatre pianist and orchestra musician who lived in Johnstown in Fulton County in upstate New York and was also a leather worker in a tannery. It is not clear exactly how his song came to be published by the Tin Pan Alley music publishing firm of Leo Feist in New York City, but he reportedly sold it outright for only $100. In any event, it became very popular and, as the notation at the bottom of the first interior page of the sheet music said, it was both put on a player piano roll and recorded for the “talking machine”. The song was the subject of a copyright lawsuit against the Feist firm when the rival Edward B. Marks firm claimed that it was an infringement of another piece dating from 1905 for which the copyright was held by Marks, but Clarke insisted that he never knew of the other piece until he heard it played for the first time in connection with the lawsuit and Marks’ claim was rejected. References: 1900 U. S. Census record listing “Harry P. Clark”, age 8, born in January 1892, living with his English-born father, a glove cutter, mother and older sister in Johnstown, New York; 1910 U.S. Census record for “Harry Clark”, age 18, occupation “None”, living with his parents and sister in Johnstown; 1915 New York State Census record listing “Harry P. Clark”, age 22, occupation “Music”, living with his parents and sister in Johnstown; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Harry Pitman Clarke”, age 25, born in Johnstown on January 15, 1892, occupation “musician” employed by Fred D. Mason, Gloversville, NY; 1920 U. S. Census record for “Harry P. Clark”, age 27, occupation “Musician”, living with his parents and sister in Johnstown; article in the February 16, 1922 edition of the Gloversville Morning Herald titled “Clarke’s Song in Elks’ Minstrels” reporting that the song “Swanee River Moon”, written by “H. Pitman Clarke, a well known Johnstown composer”, would be sung at an upcoming Elks minstrel performance and adding that “Clarke wrote the number some months ago and disposed of his interests in it to a music publishing house”; article in the March 11, 1922 edition of the Gloversville Morning Herald (one of many articles in that newspaper in 1922-1927 about performances by Clarke) reporting that “H. Pitman Clarke, of Johnstown, composer of “Swanee River Moon””, had performed following a meeting and initiation of the Fraternal Order of Eagles in Gloversville at which “Mason’s orchestra” also provided music; advertisement in the December 21, 1922 edition of the Gloversville Morning Herald for a dance at the Eagles’ Hall in Johnstown with music provided by ““Eddy” Keiner and his 8-Piece Orchestra…Featuring H. Pitman Clark Composer of the Famous “Swanee River Moon””; article in the March 15, 1923 edition of the Gloversville Morning Herald about proceedings in the copyright infringement suit in which a piano was brought into the courtroom and Feist’s attorney asserted that “the composer of their song was a member of a country orchestra in Johnstown, New York”; article in the December 16, 1923 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle about music copyright infringement lawsuits that described H. Pitman Clarke as a “pianist in a movie theatre in Johnstown, N.Y.” who “stoutly maintained that he had never seen or heard of” the piece that was the subject of Marks’ infringement claim and that “his amazement was honest and entirely credible” when he played the other piece and saw the similarity; article in the February 16, 1925 edition of the Gloversville Morning Herald about a club event at which music was provided by Wendell Fallis and his Purple and Gold Orchestra, composed of Fallis on violin, a cellist and “Harry Pitman Clark, piano” and advertisement in the same newspaper for ““Lyn” Albrecht and his Sinfonians” listing the members of the group, including “H. Pitman Clark, of Swanee River Moon fame, at the piano”; advertisements in January and February, 1927 editions of the Gloversville Morning Herald for a public dance at a Grange Hall in Johnstown with music by “H. Pitman Clark’s Orchestra”; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Harry Pitman Clark”, age 38, occupation “Musician—Orchestra”, living with his elderly English-born father in Johnstown; article in the January 8, 1940 edition of the Gloverville and Johnstown Morning Herald titled “Harry Clark, 47, is Found Dead in Room” reporting that he had been born in Johnstown on January 15, 1892, had lived his entire life there, had been a leather worker by trade employed at a tannery and had been in ill health for some time, and adding that his “Swanee River Moon” was one of the most popular songs in the country in the early 1920s but he reportedly received only $100 for it

#1273 - Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, Scarcity: S
“Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes (Down In Tennessee)” is a lively 1921 Tin Pan Alley song with words by Harry Pease and Johnny White and music by Ira Schuster and Ed. G. Nelson, and there is once again a copy of the sheet music for it in UM. The singer tells of meeting a friend from Tennessee who is excited and gleeful because he has just become a father and says he has “ten little fingers and ten little toes” waiting for him and he plans to hurry back home so that he can see and hold his ten pound little son; he adds that “If he looks like his mother what a child he must be, But if he looks like me then he’s got my sympathy”. We have previously encountered Pease (1886-1945) and Nelson (1885-1969) as two of the writers of another 1921 song, “Peggy O’Neil”, on cob #1259 (see also the notes to that cob). Ira (birth name Isaac) Schuster (1889-1946) was once again a reasonably prolific New York City-born songwriter who also worked in the music publishing business. He began his career playing the piano only in the evening while working in a non-musical clerical job, but in 1913 went to work for the Tin Pan Alley music publishing firm of Leo Feist Inc., first giving out free professional copies of sheet music to vaudeville singers and later advancing to the position of song plugger (On his World War I Draft Registration Card in 1917 he gave his occupation as “Song Writer, Pianist & Clerk” at Feist). Johnny White (1888?-1967) is a lesser-known figure, but an article that was published in a number of newspapers all over the country in early 1934 provides some information about him: it tells how a denizen of Broadway in New York City brought to court in suburban Westchester County because of a traffic violation cannot believe his eyes when he realizes that the judge on the bench is Johnny White, whom he knows as “a general professional manager and song-picker for one of Tin Pan Alley’s oldest publishing houses”, “a tune czar, one of three or four men who ladle out the melodies”, but in his home territory in Westchester is “Police Justice John White”. The article adds that White wrote a number of songs himself, and that his “Ten Baby Fingers and Ten Baby Toes” [sic] “was how he got into the song business in the first place”. Census records, World War I and II draft cards and other documents, and references to him in music trade publications, provide further details about him: he was born in Russia (although some sources say New York) and after being brought to the United States as a young child lived in Putnam Valley, Putnam County, New York, north of New York City; went by the name “Jacob White” as well as “John White”; was still working as a chauffeur as late as a year before this song was published; and subsequently worked as a manager in radio broadcasting as well as in the music publishing business during a long career that lasted into the early 1960s. Additional references: AB; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Ikie Schuester”, age 10, born in October 1889 in New York, living with his German-born father Mosses [sic], English-born mother Sarah and four siblings in Manhattan; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Isaac Schuster”, age 21, born in New York, occupation “Clerical—Telephone Co.”, living with his German-born father Moses and English-born mother Sara and four siblings in Manhattan; 1915 New York State Census record listing “Ira Schuster”, age 25, occupation “Pianist”, living with his parents Morris and Sarah and four siblings in Manhattan; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Ira Schuster”, age 27, born on October 13, 1889 in New York, single, occupation “Song Writer, Pianist & Clerk” employed at Leo Feist, Inc. in Manhattan and also living in Manhattan; New York City Extracted Marriage Index entry for the marriage on November 27, 1919 in Manhattan of “Isaac Schuster” and “Minnie Newman”; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Ira Schuster”, age 30, occupation “Music Pub.—Music”, living with his parents, his wife Minnie and other family members in Manhattan; 1925 New York State Census record listing “Ira Schuster”, age 34, occupation “music writer”, living with his wife Minnie and two children in Manhattan; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Ira Schuster”, age 40, occupation “Song Writter [sic]—Music Publishers”, living with his wife and two children in Manhattan; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Ira Schuster”, age 50, occupation “Song Writer—Free Lance”, living with his wife and two children in Manhattan, having lived in the “same house” in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Ira Schuster”, age 52, born on October 13, 1889 in New York, New York, occupation “Free Lance Composer of music”, living in Manhattan; obituary articles about Schuster in the October 11, 1946 edition of The New York Times and the October 12, 1946 edition of the New York Herald Tribune; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Jacob White”, age 12, born in New York in May 1888, living with his Russian-born parents and three younger siblings including brothers named Samuel and Harry in Putnam Valley, Putnam County, New York; New York City Marriage License Index entry for a marriage license issued on June 12, 1908 in Brooklyn to Jacob White and Rose Rosenson; 1915 New York State Census record listing “Jacob White”, age 28, in the United States for 23 years, occupation “Farmer”, living in Putnam Valley with his wife, Rose, two sons, Melvin and Harold, and his brothers Sam and Harry; World War I Draft Registration Card for “John White”, age 29, born in January 1888 in Russia, occupation “chauffeur”, married and living in New Rochelle, New York; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “John White”, age 32, born in New York of Russian-born parents, occupation “Chauffeur—Pleasure Car”, living in the Bronx with his wife Rose, sons Melvin and Harold, and brothers Sam and Harry; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Jacob J. White”, age 40, born in New York of Russian-born parents, occupation “Manager—Radio Broadcasting”, living in the Bronx with his wife, Rose, sons Melvin and Harold and brother Samuel; note in the “Scene on Broadway” column in the November 11, 1935 edition of the Bergen [County, New Jersey] Daily Record referring to “Johnny White” as “professional manager of Feist’s music publishing house”; note in the November 23, 1935 edition of Billboard that “Johnny White”, professional manager for Feist, Inc., was assuming the same position with Santley-Joy and his son Melvin had moved to the Shapiro-Bernstein firm, adding that White had been re-elected for another four-year term as Justice of the Peace in the districts embracing Putnam Valley; note in the September 30, 1939 edition of Billboard that “Johnny White, long associated with Remick Music Corp., was appointed professional manager of the company”; World War II Draft Registration Card for “John White”, age 53, born on July 24, 1888 in Russia, name of person who will always know your address “Rose White”, employer’s name Remick Music Corporation in New York City; advertisement in the May 1, 1948 edition of Cash Box for pieces published by Music Publishers Holding Corp. companies listing “Johnny White” as Professional Manager of Remick Music Corp., one of the companies; note in the February 20, 1961 edition of Billboard Music Week reporting that “Johnny White”, a plugger at Music Publishers Holding Corporation, was retiring after many years of service; Social Security Death Index entry for “John White”, born July 24, 1888, died in May 1967, last residence Croton Falls, Westchester County, New York; tombstone in the First Hebrew Cemetery, Cortlandt Manor, Westchester County, New York, for “John Jacob White, July 24, 1890-May 13, 1967” and his wife Rose

#1274 - Mississippi Cradle, Scarcity: S
This is still another “mammy” song dating from 1921, but this time the singer tearfully dreams of and longs for much earlier days in Mississippi when his now-deceased mammy would rock him in the cradle and sing a lullaby and he says he looks forward to meeting her again up in heaven where she is waiting. The lyrics were once again by Jack Yellen (1892-1991), whom we have already encountered as the writer of the lyrics to “Are You From Dixie?” on cob #1232 and “Kiss-a-Miss Waltz” on cob #1269 (see also the notes to both of those cobs and the notes to cob #1264 as to Yellen’s longtime collaboration with composer Milton Ager). The tune, in waltz time, was written by Abe Olman (birth name Abraham Olshewitz; 1888?-1984), who was born in Cincinnati and as a young man managed the music department of an Indianapolis department store for four years before moving to New York in 1911 to work for Gus Edwards (see the notes to cobs #1158 and 1198), who, at the time, managed vaudeville troupes and, according to TP, also backed the George W. Meyer Music Company but for contractual reasons could not operate it under his own name. The Meyer company, which remained in business for only a short time, published rag tunes, including Olman’s own composition “Red Onion Rag”. Olman then toured as an entertainer in vaudeville himself and started his own music publishing business, La Salle Music, in Chicago. He later returned to New York and was general manager of other music publishing firms, and much later was instrumental in founding the Songwriters Hall of Fame. References: OC; AB; TP; RR; 1900 U.S. Census record for “Abraham Olshewitz”, age 12, born in Ohio, living in Cincinnati with his parents, Julius Olshewitz, born in “Russia Pol.”, occupation “2nd Hand Furniture”, and his German-born wife Carolina; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Abraham Olman”, age 22, born in Ohio, occupation “Salesman—Music”, living as a boarder in Indianapolis; article in the July 3, 1911 edition of the Indianapolis News noting that Olman, who had begun his professional career with J. H. Remick & Co. of Detroit five years earlier and had been manager of the music department of the L. S. Ayres & Co. department store in Indianapolis for the past four years, was leaving at the end of the week to join Gus Edwards’ music publishing house in New York, where it was likely that, in addition to writing music, he would “act as an assistant to Mr. Edwards in the drilling of the several companies of singers which follow the vaudeville circuit under the Edwards management”; note in the May 8, 1915 edition of the Indianapolis News reporting that “Abe Olman, who for four years had charge of the music at the L. S. Ayres & Co. store, is a successful song writer, and now owns a music publishing house in Chicago”, adding that he had been to Europe and played for his songs to be sung in music halls in London and Paris; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Abraham Olman”, age 29, born on December 20, 1887 in Cincinnati, occupation “Traveling Salesman”, employer “Forster Music Publishers, Chicago, Ill.”, living in Cincinnati; note in the February 1, 1922 edition of The New York Times reporting the marriage in the chapel at the New York City Municipal Building on the previous day of “Miss Mattie Adele Parker, known on the vaudeville stage as Peggy Parker, and Abraham C. Olman, a song writer from Cincinnati”; 1925 New York State Census record listing “Abraham Olman”, age 36, occupation “Music Pub.”, living in Manhattan with his wife Mattie, an actress, and their 2½-year-old daughter; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Abe Alman [sic]”, age 41, born in Ohio, occupation “Manager—Music Publisher”, living in Manhattan with his wife and daughter; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Abe Olman”, age 49, occupation “Publisher—Music”, living in Manhattan with his wife, now listed as “Peggy”, and their two daughters, having lived in the “Same House” in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Abe Olman”, age 53, born on December 20, 1888 in Cincinnati, Ohio, employed at Robbins Music Corporation in Manhattan and also living in Manhattan; obituary article about Olman in the January 10, 1984 edition of The New York Times

#1275 - Angel Child, Scarcity: S
The lively “foxtrot song” on this cob is the first piece on the roller organ with a copyright date of 1922. There is a copy of the sheet music for it in UM crediting it to George Price, Abner Silver and Benny Davis and noting other songs with lyrics by Davis, including “Margie” (on cob #1253) and “I’m Nobody’s Baby” (on cob #1264) (see also the notes to those cobs). There is also a copy of a different edition of the sheet music for it in LL with a photograph on the cover of Price and the notation “sung with great success by Georgie Price”. It was also performed by Al Jolson. In the lyrics the singer just expresses to his “angel child” how wild he is about her. Once again the brief introductory verse was omitted and only the chorus of the piece was included on the cob. Price (George E. Price; 1900-1964) was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan to immigrant parents and had been one of the “students” who appeared in the revues produced by Gus Edwards (see the notes to cobs #1158 and 1198) that centered around Edwards’ song “School Days”. He became a singer and comedian in vaudeville and musical comedies but beginning in 1934 devoted himself primarily to being a securities broker after purchasing a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. Silver (birth name Abraham Silberman; 1895-1966), also born in New York City to immigrant parents, was a reasonably prolific Tin Pan Alley composer who studied law before beginning a long career in music, worked in the music publishing business and wrote a book titled How To Write and Sell a Song Hit. References: TP; AB; 1910 U.S. Census record for “George Price”, age 9, born in New York, one of eight children of Harry Price, born in Russia, occupation “Superintendent—Hippodrome”, living on South 8th Street in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn; 1915 New York State Census record listing George Price, age 15, one of eight children of Henry Price, born in Russia, occupation “Barber”, again living on South 8th Street; U.S. Passport Application for “George Price” dated April 4, 1922 in which he stated that he was born at 36 Stanton Street [on the Lower East Side of Manhattan] on January 5, 1900, the son of Russian-born Harris B. Price, his occupation was “Theatrical” and he planned to travel to a number of European countries and return within one year; 1930 U.S. Census record listing George Price, age 30, occupation “Producer—Theatrical””, living in Manhattan; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “George Price”, age 39, occupation “Broker—New York Stock Exchange”, living in Manhattan, having lived in the “Same House” in 1935; 1942 Draft Registration Card for “George E. Price”, age 42, born on January 5, 1900, giving two residence addresses, one in Miami Beach and one in Manhattan, and his office address in the Wall Street area of Manhattan; obituary article about Price in the May 11, 1964 edition of The New York Times; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Abraham Silberman”, age 5, born in New York in February 1895, living with his Russian-born parents, Jacob, a tailor, and Esther, and a younger brother Marcus on Chrystie Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan; 1905 New York State Census record listing “Abie Selberman” [sic], age 9, living with his Russian-born parents, Jacob, a tailor, and Sadie, and younger brother Max, again on Chrystie Street; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Abraham Silberman”, age 21, born on December 28, 1895, employed as a “Pianonist” at “Kalmar, Puck, Abrahams, Strand Blg.” [lyricist Bert Kalmar’s music publishing company; see the notes to cob #1265] in Manhattan, and also living in Manhattan; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Abraham R. Silberman”, age 24, born in New York, occupation “Music Composer—Music Publishing House”, living with his Russian-born parents Jacob, occupation “Manufacturer—Knitted goods” and Sadie and three siblings including a brother “Marcus” and sister “Jennette” in Staten Island, New York; 1925 New York State Census record listing “Abram Silver”, age 28, occupation “Musician”, living with his parents, Jacob, occupation “Underwear mfg.”, and Sadie Silberman and younger brother Oscar Silberman at 910 Riverside Drive in Manhattan; 1930 U.S. Census record for “Abe Silverman” [sic], age 30, occupation “Salesman—Dry Goods”, living with his parents, Jacob and Sadie, and younger siblings Jeanette and Oscar on Riverside Drive in Manhattan; note in the June 12, 1933 edition of The St. Joseph [Missouri] News-Press that Mrs. Sadie Silberman, “the mother of the famous song writer, Abner Silver”, and her daughter Jeanette, of New York, were visiting a St. Joseph couple; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Abner Silver”, age 42, occupation “writer & pub.—music”, living in Manhattan and having lived in the same place in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Abner Silver”, age 46, born on December 28, 1895 in New York, New York, employer “(Own) Lincoln Music Corp., 1619 Broadway, N.Y.”; obituary notice in the November 26, 1966 edition of The New York Times listing among Silver’s survivors his three siblings Max, Oscar and Jeanette
Note: Because “Silver”, “Silberman” and “Silverman” were such common last names in the New York City immigrant Jewish community in the early years of the twentieth century, I have included with the above Census listings Silver’s parents’ names and the names of some of his siblings, where relevant, as they were given in such listings to make it clear that “Abraham Silberman”, “Abie Selberman”, “Abraham R. Silberman”, “Abram Silver”, “Abe Silverman” and “Abner Silver” in the listings are all the same person. Also, as with so many songwriters discussed here, there are discrepancies in various sources as to Silver’s date of birth: the ASCAP Directory (AB) gives the date as December 28, 1899 and a number of obituary articles in newspapers all over the country at the time of his death in 1966 consistently gave his age as 67, but he was listed in the 1900 U.S. Census as age 5 and having been born in Feb. 1895, which would have been an unlikely error if he had actually been born only a year earlier in 1899; his age in the 1905 and 1920 Census records, the next two located in which he is listed, are consistent with an 1895 year of birth; and in both his World War I and World War II Draft Registration Cards he gave his date of birth as December 28 (not “Feb.”), 1895.

#1276 - Just a Little Love Song, Scarcity: S
The piece on this cob is another song from 1922 and there is a copy of the sheet music for it in LL which credits the lyrics to Joe Young and Sam M. Lewis and the music to Joe Cooper. The singer’s love has left him and in his lonely reverie he is haunted by a melody that both of them were singing when they met. Once again the verse (16 bars) was omitted and only the refrain (32 bars) was included on the cob. We have already encountered Tin Pan Alley songwriting partners Young (1889-1939) and Lewis (1883-1959) as the writers of the lyrics to “My Mammy” on cob #1261, “Old Pal, Why Don’t You Answer Me” on cob #1262 and “Tuck Me to Sleep in my Old ‘Tucky Home” on cob #1266; Lewis also co-authored the lyrics to “My Little Girl” on cob #1233 (see also the notes to all of those cobs). Joe Cooper (1891-1964) is a lesser-known figure. According to AB, he was born into a musical family in New York City, attended City College there and in addition received formal training in piano, theory and harmony. He was a reasonably prolific Tin Pan Alley composer who collaborated with a number of the lyricists discussed here, and also worked at various points in his life as a song plugger, vaudeville performer and theatrical manager as well as an insurance agent (if the 1930 U.S. Census listing for him is correct about this) and, in his later years in California, at a tool manufacturing company in Santa Monica. Additional references: 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Joseph Cooper”, age 19, occupation “Teacher—Piano”, born in New York, living in Manhattan with his widowed mother Fanny, birthplace “Russia Polish”, and his two older brothers, Bert, occupation “Agent—Theatrical”, and Lew, occupation “Actor—Travelling”, both with birthplace “Russ. Polish”; 1915 New York State Census record listing “Joseph Cooper”, age 24, occupation “Musical Composer”, living in Manhattan with his wife, Mabel K., and older brother Irving, age 37, occupation “Theatrical Manager”; note in the August 20, 1915 edition of Variety under “Vaudeville” that “Lew and Joe Cooper will separate after fulfilling contracted engagements for a few weeks longer. Lew Cooper is going to appear as a single turn. Joe will become a part of his brother’s (Irving) agency”; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Joseph Cooper”, age 26, born on March 18, 1891, employed as a manager at Irving Cooper, 1416 Broadway and living at 620 West 152nd Street in Manhattan; advertisements in various 1919 editions of Variety for “Irving M. Cooper, Artists’ Representative, Joe Cooper, Gen. Manager”; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Joseph Cooper”, age 29, born in New York of a Roumanian-born father and Polish-born mother, occupation “Manager—Vaudeville”, living at 620 [West] 152nd Street in Manhattan with his wife Mabel, born in New Jersey; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Joseph Cooper”, age 39, born in New York of a Roumanian-born father and Polish-born mother, occupation “Insurance agent”, living in Manhattan with his wife Mabel, born in New Jersey; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Joseph Cooper”, age 51, born on March 18, 1891 in New York City, employed at Euclid Tool Mfg. Company in Santa Monica and living at the same address in West Los Angeles given for him in AB, which was published in 1952; article in California newspapers on October 8, 1962 reporting on a fiftieth wedding anniversary party to be given for Cooper and his wife at the Beverly Hilton by his longtime friend and associate, the comedian and famed toastmaster Georgie Jessel, in which Cooper was quoted as saying that just before his marriage fifty years earlier he had been a wild and impecunious song writer and plugger; California Death Index entry for “Joseph Cooper”, born on March 18, 1891, died on October 24, 1964

#1277 - I Want My Mammy, Scarcity: LC
The piece on this cob, like the pieces on cobs #1261, 1266, 1267 and 1274, is one of a rash of 1921 songs in which the singer fondly remembers and longs for earlier days and wishes he could be reunited with his “mammy”. There is a copy of the sheet music for it in UM calling it a “ballad-fox trot” with words by George B. Wehner and music by Louis Breau, and on the cover is a depiction of comedian and singer Eddie Cantor in blackface with a notation that he introduced the song in a musical comedy, “The Midnight Rounders”. Once again the verse (16 bars) was omitted and only the refrain (32 bars) was included on the cob. We have previously encountered Breau (1893-1928) in connection with “Humming” on cob #1268 (see also the notes to that cob). Wehner (1890-1970) was an unusual figure who is remembered more for being a psychic and spirit medium than as a writer of popular songs: in the Discography of American Historical Recordings, a database maintained at the University of California at Santa Barbara of over 280,000 master recordings made by American record companies during the era of 78 r.p.m. records, he is mentioned only with respect to five different recordings of “I Want my Mammy”, all dating from 1921 and by well-known recording artists of the time, and four recordings by him titled “Trance No. 1 parts 1-4” from 1929. He was born in Detroit and returned there after growing up in part in Newburgh, New York, he correctly predicted the death of movie heartthrob Rudolph Valentino in 1926 and subsequently acted as the medium through which it was said Valentino’s spirit communicated with his ex-wife, and in his later life he lived for many years in the Brooklyn Heights section of Brooklyn, New York, where he composed works for orchestra and scores for ballets and wrote a number of operas that were performed by a neighborhood opera company there. References: Detailed biography of Wehner in a New York Public Library document titled “Guide to the George Wehner Scores, 1936-1966” held by the Library, the abstract of which reads “The George Wehner Scores consist of original music created by the eccentric, but prolific composer, actor, writer, painter, and spiritualist, George Benjamin Wehner (1890-1970). After achieving some fame as a professional medium during the 1920s, Wehner began to compose prolifically from the mid-1930s up until the time of his death, writing numerous songs, orchestral works, and operas”; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “George B. Wehner”, age 9, born in July 1890 in Michigan, living with his parents and sister in Newburgh, Orange County, New York; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “George B. Wehner”, age 19, occupation “None”, living with his aunt, four cousins and his sister in Detroit (The Detroit city directories for that year and for 1912 list him with the occupation “student”; other directories during the same decade list him with no occupation (1911), “Teacher of Piano and Harmony Michigan Conservatory of Music” (1913), “teacher” (1914), “music teacher” (1915), “actor” (1916), and “writer Det Free Press” (1919)) ; World War I Draft Registration Card for “George Benjamin Wehener [sic]”, age 26, born on July 30, 1890 in Detroit, occupation “Writer & musician”, employed by “myself”, living in Detroit; article in the November 27, 1926 edition of the New York Daily News titled “Astral Rudy Writing a Book Through Her, Says Ex-Wife” and referring to Wehner as the medium for Rudolph Valentino’s spirit’s communication with her; World War II Draft Registration Card for “George Benjiman [sic] Wehner”, age 51, born on July 30, 1890 in Detroit, no occupation listed, employer “Self”, living in Manhattan

#1278 - Leave Me With a Smile, Scarcity: LC
The song on this cob is still another dating from 1921. There is once again a copy of the sheet music for it in UM and it credits the song to Earl Burtnett and Charles Koehler without specifying which of them was the lyricist and which was the composer. In the lyrics, one lover is about to leave the other, perhaps forever, and the other asks that the departing lover leave with a smile. Once again the verse (16 bars) was omitted and only the chorus (32 bars) was included on the cob. Burtnett (1895-1936) was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, attended Pennsylvania State College, became the arranger and pianist for dance band leader Art Hickman, who was sometimes called “the Founder of Jazz”, and later took over Hickman’s band. Koehler is a more obscure figure. In the Discography of American Historical Recordings (see the notes to cob #1277), he is mentioned only with respect to nine different recordings of this song dating from 1921 and 1922. “Charles Koehler” was a fairly common German-American name in the early years of the last century and I have so far located references in newspapers and entertainment-related magazines to two individuals with that name who worked in music professions, but I have been unable to verify that either is the same Charles Koehler who wrote this song. One was a booker of acts for RKO-Pathe theatres in the Midwest in about 1920 and the other (probably not the same person), Charles Franklin Koehler (1898-1980), was a Cincinnati native who played in a theatre orchestra in the early 1920s and later led a musical ensemble/orchestra bearing his name (sometimes “Charles” and sometimes “Charlie” Koehler) that, according to many Cincinnati newspaper notices, played at a venue named the Old Vienna Café and appeared frequently on a Cincinnati radio station in the early 1930s; other newspaper references to him state that in 1929-1932 he was the manager of the Union Bus Terminal and the Greyhound Bus Terminal in Cincinnati and, after 1936, he again managed the Greyhound Terminal and ran the travel bureau there and later was local manager of the Cincinnati offices of freight delivery companies. References: AB; 1900 and 1910 U.S. Census records listing “Eale [sic]” (1900) and “Earl” (1910) Burtnett, ages 5 and 15, respectively, born in Pennsylvania (the 1900 entry adds his month and year of birth as February 1895), living with his parents in Harrisburg; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Earl Burtnett”, age 22, born on February 7, 1895 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, occupation “Salesman”, employer “A. J. Stasny, New York, N.Y.” [a sheet music publishing firm], living in Los Angeles; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Earl Burtnett”, age 24, born in Pennsylvania, occupation “Salesman—Music Company”, living in Los Angeles; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Earl Burnett [sic]”, age 33, occupation “Leader—Orchestra”, again living in Los Angeles; obituary article about Burtnett in the January 3, 1936 edition of The New York Times; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Charles Koehler”, age 1, born in May 1898 in Ohio, living in Cincinnati with his parents, John and Elizabeth, and older sisters Lina and Alma and older brothers John and Edward; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Charles Koehler”, age 11, born in Ohio, living at 4372 Virginia Avenue in Cincinnati with his parents, John and Elizabeth, and older sisters Lillian and Alma and older brother Edward; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Charles Frank Koehler”, age 20, born on May 30, 1898, occupation “College—Campbells Bus. College”, residing at the 4372 Virginia Avenue address and listing his mother, “Lizzie Koehler”, as his nearest relative; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Charles Koehler”, age 21, born in Ohio, occupation “musician”, living at 4372 Virginia Avenue in Cincinnati with his parents, John and Elizabeth, and older sisters Lillian and Alma; article in the May 25, 1924 edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer about a program at the Liberty Theater, Covington, Kentucky (across the river from Cincinnati) that included a banjo duet in which one of the musicians was Charles Koehler; article in the October 29, 1924 edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer mentioning Charles Koehler and describing him as a member of the Liberty Theater Orchestra, Covington; advertisement in the June 22, 1934 edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer reading “Artists of the Radio and Orchestra will contribute their talent in celebrating the successful end of Charlie Koehler’s 48-week engagement” playing at the Old Vienna; notice in the January 31, 1936 edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer that “Charles Franklin Koehler, orchestra leader” had filed a petition in bankruptcy; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Charles F. Koehler”, age 41, occupation “Freight Agent—Motor Transp.”, living in Cincinnati with his wife Vera and daughter, having lived in the “Same place” in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Charles Frank Koehler”, age 43, born on May 30, 1898 in Cincinnati, employed by Husmann & Rober Freight Line Inc. and listing his wife’s name as Vera; gravestone for “Charles F. Koehler” in St. Mary Cemetery, St. Bernard, Ohio, giving his date of birth as May 30, 1898 and date of death as January 5, 1980

#1279 - Wabash Blues, Scarcity: LC
The widely familiar and catchy piece on this cob is another that dates from 1921, and there is a copy of the sheet music for it in UM that credits the tune to Fred Meinken and the lyrics to Dave Ringle. Meinken (1882-1958) was a Chicago-born pianist and orchestra leader who worked for many years as music librarian at a Chicago radio station and, according to an article published in a number of newspapers in late 1956 and early 1957, he had composed the tune as an orchestra piece while he was leading an orchestra in Chicago, named it “Trombone Jazz”, sold it for $50 because he needed the money at the time, was paid an additional $500 by the publisher four years later after “Wabash Blues” became a hit, but received no further royalties on his composition until the original copyright expired 27 years later. Obituary articles about Meinken added that the sheet music for the song sold three million copies and Meinken had said that he wrote the tune in only ten minutes. AB lists only two other compositions by him, both of them dating from shortly after “Wabash Blues”. Brooklyn-born Ringle (1894-1965) was much more prolific and according to AB and an obituary article about him in The New York Times, played a number of musical instruments, began writing songs while he was still in school, became a pianist at a Brooklyn cabaret, served in World War I, performed in vaudeville and appeared on the radio, made many movie shorts, worked as a staff writer and professional manager at music publishers and began his own music publishing business in 1932. In Ringle’s lyrics to “Wabash Blues” the singer regrets leaving his home in Indiana and expresses his wish to return there, using a number of words and phrases similar but not identical to familiar ones from Paul Dresser’s 1897 song “On the Banks of the Wabash” (see the notes to cob #1090): “candle light that gleams”, “thru the sycamore the candle light”, “the scent of newmown hay” and “the moonshine on the Wabash”. Additional references: obituary article about Meinken in the May 5, 1958 edition of the Ventura County [California] Star-Free Press reporting his death in San Diego; obituary article about Ringle in the June 22, 1965 edition of The New York Times

#1280 - Dreamy Melody, Scarcity: S
This song in waltz tempo is still another that dates from 1921. There is once again a copy of the sheet music for it in UM and the words and music are attributed to Ted Koehler, Frank Magine and C. Naset. Koehler (Theodore Louis Koehler, 1894-1973), the best-known of this trio, was born in Washington, D.C., lived in Brooklyn, Rahway, New Jersey, and Newark, New Jersey as a boy and worked as a photo-engraver (his father’s business) before becoming a pianist in silent movie theatres. This song was one of his early efforts in a long career in which he lived in Chicago, later New York and then California and wrote the lyrics for a number of very well-known and enduring songs, some written for particular performers and others for stage productions, floor shows and, later, Hollywood films. Frank Magine (birth name Salvatore Magnino) (1888-1979) was a Chicago-born boy soprano who grew up to become a tenor singer and pianist who performed in Chicago entertainment venues, in vaudeville and on the radio and worked as a staff pianist and composer for music publishing firms. “C. Naset” (Clayton E. “Babe” Naset, 1895-1966) was a saxophone player who was born in Stoughton, near Madison, Wisconsin, graduated from high school there, played with a number of well-known dance orchestras and later was the proprietor of a candy store and ice cream parlor/lunch room in Chicago. In the lyrics to “Dreamy Melody” the singer simply says that he/she finds a melody haunting, cannot get it out of his mind and wants to hear it played. References: OC; AB; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Theodore Koehler”, age 5, born in July 1894 in Washington, D.C., living in Brooklyn with his parents and sister; 1905 New Jersey State Census record listing “Theodore Koehler”, born in July 1894 in Washington, D.C., age 10, living in Rahway, New Jersey, with his parents and sister; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Theodore L. Koehler”, age 15, living in Newark, New Jersey, with his parents and sister; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Ted Koehler”, age 35, occupation “songwriter—self” living with his wife and daughter in Brooklyn; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Ted Koehler”, age 44, occupation “Music Composer—Motion Picture”, living in Beverly Hills with his wife, two children and mother, having lived in New York, New York in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Ted Louis Koehler”, age 47, born on July 14, 1894 in Washington, D.C., occupation “Writer—Free Lance—Various Studios”, living in Beverly Hills; obituary article in the January 21, 1973 edition of the Los Angeles Times reporting Koehler’s death in Santa Monica; 1900 U.S. Census record for “Salvatore Magnino”, age 11, born in July 1888 in Illinois of Italian-born parents, Michele and Gaitana, and living in Chicago with them and his siblings, one of whom was named Rosita; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Salvador Manino”, age 21, occupation “Singer—Stage”, living in Chicago with his parents, Michael and Gorrie, and his sister Rossie; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Salvatore Magnine”, age 27, born on October 7, 1889 in Chicago, occupation “Theatrical”; newspaper listings of performances by him as a tenor singer in radio broadcasts in various Midwestern states in 1923 and in 1931-1932; 1940 U.S. Census record for “Frank Magine”, age 51, born in Illinois, occupation “Song Writer—At Home”, living with his sister Rose in Chicago, having lived at the same house in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Frank Magine”, age 53, born on October 7, 1888 in Chicago, occupation “Own Business—Music”, living in Chicago; Cook County, Illinois Death Index listing for “Frank Magine” recording his death on December 3, 1979 and obituary notice in the following day’s edition of the Chicago Tribune reporting his death at age 92; 1905 Wisconsin Census record and 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Clayton Naset”, ages 9 and 14, respectively, living with his parents and siblings in Stoughton, Wisconsin; article in the May 25, 1913 edition of the Wisconsin State Journal [in Madison] listing him among the graduates of Stoughton High School; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Clayton Naset”, age 22, born on May 7, 1895 in Stoughton, Wisconsin, listing as his occupations both “Coil-winder, Dudlo Mfg. Co.” and “Musician, Franklin Orchestra”, living in Fort Wayne, Indiana; article in the December 27, 1918 edition of the Wisconsin State Journal stating that he was a “member of Thompson’s orchestra”; photo in the September 26, 1923 edition of the South Bend [Indiana] Tribune of the Oriole Orchestra of the Edgewater Beach Hotel, Chicago showing Naset on saxophone and well-known composer, pianist and dance band leader Ted Fiorito on piano; advertisement in the December 25, 1927 edition of the Chicago Sunday Tribune listing Naset as one of the teachers at the Uptown Conservatory of Music in Chicago; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Clayton Naset”, age 33 [sic], occupation “Musician—Orchestra”, living in Chicago; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Clayton Naset”, age 45, occupation “proprietor retail candy store”, living in Chicago, having lived in 1935 in Whitewater, Walworth County, Wisconsin [east of Stoughton and Madison]; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Erick Clayton Naset”, age 47, born on May 7, 1895 in Stoughton, employer “Self—Ice Cream Parlor and Lunch Room”, living in Chicago; obituary article about Naset in the February 25, 1966 edition of the Capital Times [Madison, Wisconsin] reporting his death in Chicago and noting that he was “long a musician with a number of “name” dance orchestras” and had played with the well-known Isham Jones and Ted Fiorito Orchestras

#1281 - Bebe, Scarcity: S
On the cover of a copy in AS of the sheet music for this “Novelty Fox-Trot Song” is a photograph of actress and singer Bebe Daniels (1901-1971) and a note that the song was respectfully dedicated to her. The lyricist was Sam Coslow, the composer was Abner Silver and it was the first song to appear on the roller organ with a copyright date of 1923. We have previously encountered Silver (1895-1966) as one of the three songwriters who collaborated on the song “Angel Child” on cob #1275 (see also the notes to that cob), which, as mentioned in those notes, was performed by Al Jolson. Jolson also sang “Bebe” and an alternate edition of the sheet music, a copy of which is in UM, has a photograph of him rather than of Daniels on the cover with the notation “Introduced with Great Success by Al Jolson in “Bombo”” (Still a third edition of the sheet music, copies of which are in AS and NP, has a photograph of Eddie Cantor on the cover with the notation “Introduced with Great Success by Eddie Cantor in the Ziegfeld Follies”!). Coslow (1902-1982) is another songwriter who, at the time “Bebe” became popular at the very end of the roller organ era, was just beginning what would be a long and illustrious career in the popular music field. He began writing songs upon leaving high school in Brooklyn and later became involved in music publishing and producing and writing for Hollywood films. He was also a tenor singer and in addition is remembered as one of the originators of “Soundies”, short films based on popular songs that could be viewed on a coin-operated device. Much later, he became a stock market analyst and founded an investment advisory newsletter. In Coslow’s lyrics to “Bebe” the singer tells of a friend of his who is enfatuated with a girl named Bebe, thinks only of her, takes her to the movies every night and “He loves her so/That they don’t know/What the picture’s all about”. Once again the verse (16 bars) was omitted and only the chorus (32 bars) was included on the cob. References: OC; AB; obituary article about Coslow in the April 6, 1982 edition of The New York Times

#1282 - Indiana Moon, Scarcity: S
There is once again in UM a copy of the sheet music for the piece on this cob, which is a song in waltz time dating from 1923 with lyrics by Benny Davis and music by Isham Jones. In Davis’ lyrics the singer, as in so many other popular songs of the time discussed here, expresses his loneliness being away from home and says he plans to return there; in this case (as in “Wabash Blues” on cob #1279), his home is in Indiana and the lyrics again contain a phrase referring back to the 1897 song “On the Banks of the Wabash” (“Seems I see a candle light a gleaming”). We have previously encountered prolific New York-born lyricist Davis (1895-1979) in connection with the songs “Margie” on cob #1253, “Nobody’s Baby” on cob #1264 and “Angel Child” on cob #1275 (see also the notes to those cobs). Isham Jones (1894-1956) was not only the composer of a number of very well-known and enduring songs of the 1920s and 1930s, but also a saxophonist and pianist who led his own dance orchestra, which made recordings of many popular pieces of that era, including a number that also appeared on roller organ cobs in this numerical range: “Emaline” (cob #1260), “My Mammy” (cob #1261), “My Sunny Tennessee” (cob #1267), “Just a Little Love Song” (cob #1276), “Wabash Blues” (cob #1279) and “Marcheta” (cob #1297). He was born in Coalton, Ohio, began leading his own band in Saginaw and Bay City, Michigan by the time he was twenty, and subsequently moved to Chicago. His orchestra achieved national fame through its recordings and toured widely. References: OC; TP; BU; AB; obituary articles about Jones in the October 20, 1956 editions of the New York Herald Tribune and The New York Times

#1283 - Under the Mellow Moon, Scarcity: N
The piece on this cob is almost surely the 1922 waltz song “Underneath the Mellow Moon”, but because there is no known copy of the cob one cannot be certain about this. There is a copy of the sheet music for the piece in IU giving the lyricist and composer’s name as Wendell W. Hall, “The Singing Xylophonist”, the publisher’s name as Forster Music Publisher Inc. in Chicago, a note that the copyright was originally held by Hall himself and then transferred to Forster, and the instruction that the piece be played “Slowly and dreamily”. In the lyrics the singer is “drifting down to Dreamland” with his love in a birch canoe on a blue lagoon in the dreamy twilight “underneath the mellow moon”. Hall (Wendell Woods Hall, 1896-1969) was a ukelele player as well as a xylophonist and in fact wrote a ukelele instruction book that was edited by another ukelele enthusiast, May Singhi Breen, the wife of composer Peter De Rose (see the notes to cob #1255). Hall was born in Kansas, lived in Chicago both as a boy and as an adult, began as a vaudeville performer singing and playing the xylophone, and also appeared widely on radio in its early days, known as “The Red-Headed Music Maker”. He sang “Underneath the Mellow Moon” himself on one of many recordings of the piece that were made, some vocal and some just instrumental, such as the 1923 record by Paul Whiteman, the so-called “King of Jazz”, and his Orchestra (see the notes to cob #1248). References: OC; AB; obituary article about Hall in the April 3, 1969 edition of the Chicago Tribune; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Wendell Hall”, age 3, born in August, 1896, in Kansas, living in Decatur, Illinois with his father, a minister, mother and two brothers; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Wendell Hall”, age 13, living in Chicago with his father, mother, two brothers and grandfather; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Wendell W. Hall”, age 21, born on August 23, 1896 in St. George, Kansas, employer “self”, living in Chicago; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Wendall W. Hall”, age 23, born in Kansas, occupation “Actor—Stage”, living with his parents and one brother in Chicago; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Wendell W. Hall”, age 33, born in Kansas, occupation “Radio Programs—Radio”, living in Wilmette in New Trier Township, north of Chicago, with his wife and a young son; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Wendell W. Hall”, age 43, born in Kansas, occupation “radio entertainer—Radio Broadcast Station”, living with his wife and two sons back in Chicago, having lived in Wilmette in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Wendell Woods Hall”, age 45, born in St. George, Kansas, on August 23, 1896, employer “Self Musicmaker Prod.” in Chicago, also living in Chicago

#1284 - Drifting back to Dreamland, Scarcity: S
“I’m Drifting Back to Dreamland” is a 1922 waltz song with lyrics by Florence Charlesworth and Charles Harrison and music by Jack Sadler. There are copies in AS of two different editions of the sheet music for it, both published by the Ted Browne Music Co. in Chicago, one with a photograph of the Benson Orchestra on the cover along with a reference to the Victor Dance Record on which that Orchestra’s recording of the piece appeared. The song is somewhat like “Underneath the Mellow Moon” on the immediately preceding cob, which, as mentioned in the notes to that cob, included the similar phrase “drifting down to Dreamland”, but this time the singer is seated by the fire alone, thinking and drifting into dreams about a lost love. Charles F. Harrison (1883-1955) was a reasonably prolific songwriter who was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and worked for a bank as a teller, accountant and assistant manager and for a typewriter firm in Canada before moving in 1919 to Chicago, where he joined Fred Brownold (who had composed rag tunes in St. Louis in the early 1900s before coming to Chicago, and also went by the name “Ted Browne”) at his recently-formed Ted Browne Music Co. Charlesworth and Sadler are more obscure figures. Florence May Charlesworth (1885-1968) was born in New York, lived in Helena, Montana as a young woman and worked as a saleslady in a music store there, married a Railway Express employee named Albert A. Charlesworth in 1918 and lived for the rest of her life in Seattle; although the Fourth Edition of AB (1980) does contain an entry for her, it includes just her date of birth (although she had died twelve years earlier) and that she was a “[w]riter of poetry for newspapers”, and under her “Songs” lists only “I’m Drifting Back to Dreamland”. Her relationship to Harrison and Sadler and how she came to co-write the lyrics of the song are unclear. According to U.S. Copyright Office records, the song was first submitted for copyright in July, 1922 by “Charlesworth-Sadler and Flint, Chicago” as a then-unpublished song with words by Florence M. Charlesworth and music by Jack Sadler, and arranged by Fred G. Flint, with no mention of Harrison, and was also submitted for copyright in November, 1922 by “Ted Browne Music Co., Inc., Chicago” as a then-published song with words by Florence M. Charlesworth and Charles Harrison, music by Jack Sadler, and no mention of Flint, which suggests that Harrison’s contribution was just putting finishing touches on a song that Charlesworth, Sadler and Flint had already created and arranging for it to be published; it is perhaps notable that Flint was Charlesworth’s maiden name and information in U.S. Census records shows that she had both an uncle and a first cousin named Fred Flint. “Jack Sadler” was almost certainly John Burder Sadler (1891-1969), who was born in St. Louis, Missouri, was a musician in a Buffalo, New York, saloon before serving in World War I, and subsequently lived in Chicago and its northern suburb of Niles. References: The online Historica Canada Canadian Encyclopedia (biography of Harrison); Ontario birth record for “Charles Franklin Harvey Harrison”, born in Hamilton on August 24, 1883; 1891 Canada Census record listing “Charles Harrison”, age 7, living with his parents and older brother in New Brunswick; 1901 Canada Census record listing “Charles F. H. Harrison”, age 17, born on August 24, 1883, living with his parents and older brother in Grimsby Village, Wentworth South, Ontario; State of Washington marriage certificate recording the marriage on September 20, 1913 of “Charles F. H. Harrison”, age 30, born in Hamilton, Ontario, a resident of Vancouver, British Columbia, occupation “Vancouver Type W. Co.”, and Mary Houghton Adair, also a Canadian-born resident of Vancouver; World War I Draft Registration Card dated September 11, 1918 for “Fred Brownold”, age 39, born on April 23, 1879, occupation “Manager, Ted Browne Music Co.” in Chicago and living in Chicago; 1920 U.S. Census records listing “Charles F. Harrison”, age 36, born in Canada, occupation “publisher—music co.”, living in Chicago with his wife Mary and three young children, and “Fred Brownold”, age 39, occupation “Manager—Music Pub. Co.”, also living in Chicago; Louis L. Emmerson, [Illinois] Secretary of State, comp., Certified List of Domestic and Foreign Corporations for the Year 1924 entry for “Ted Browne Music Co.” in Chicago listing as the principals of the company Fred Brownold and Charles F. Harrison; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Charles Harrison”, age 45, born in Canada, immigration year 1920, occupation “Manager & Publisher—Music Publishing”, living in Oak Park, Illinois [near Chicago]; Petition for Citizenship signed by “Charles Franklin Harrison” in Chicago on January 11, 1934 stating that he then resided in Oak Park, he was a “Music Publisher and Song Writer”, he was born in Hamilton, Ontario on August 24, 1883, his last Canadian residence was in Vancouver and he entered the U.S. via the Great Northern Railway on September 29, 1919 and had lived in Cook County, Illinois, continuously since October 3, 1919; 1900 U.S. Census record for “Florence Flint”, age 15, born in New York in January 1885, living with her parents, both telegraph operators, and older sister “Hattie” in Helena, Montana; 1910 U.S. Census record for “Florence Flint”, age 25, born in New York, occupation “Sales lady—Music store”, living with her father, a “Tel Operator—railroad” and mother in Helena (Her husband-to-be, Albert Charlesworth, was shown in the same Census as also living in Helena, born in Illinois, age 26, occupation “Teamster—Cracker Factory”); State of Washington Marriage Certificate recording the marriage of “Florence May Flint” and Albert A. Charlesworth, both of King County, Washington, on April 3, 1918; World War I Draft Registration Card dated September 12, 1918 for Albert Avery Charlesworth, age 34, occupation “Night Depot Agt., American Railway Ex.”, living in Seattle with “Florence May Charlesworth” as his next of kin; 1920 and 1930 U.S. Census records listing “Florence M. Charlesworth”, ages 34 and 45, respectively, born in New York, occupation “None”, living in Seattle with her husband, Albert A., ages 36 and 46, respectively, born in Illinois, occupation “Depot Agent—Railway Exp.” (1920) and “Night Foreman—Railway Express” (1930); 1940 U.S. Census record for “Florence E. [sic] Charlesworth”, age 55, born in New York, no occupation listed (“seeking work”), widowed, living in Seattle with her sister Harriet and Harriet’s husband, having lived at the “Same place” in 1935; U. S. Social Security Death Index entry for “Florence Charlesworth”, born on January 26, 1885, died March 1968, last residence Seattle; City of St. Louis Registry of Births entry recording the birth on September 16, 1891 of “John Sadler”, son of Edward, born in St. Louis, and Mary E., born in New York; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “John Sadler”, age 9, born in September 1891 in Missouri, living in St. Louis with his father, Ed, a house painter, born in Missouri, his mother, Mary, born in New York, and four sisters; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “John Sadler”, age 18, born in Missouri of a Missouri-born father and New York-born mother, occupation “Copyist—Dept. Store Off.”, living with his mother Mary and three sisters in St. Louis; World War I Draft Registration Card dated June 5, 1917 for “John Burder Sadler”, age 25, born in St. Louis, Missouri on September 16, 1892, occupation “Musician”, residing in Buffalo, New York and employed by Elliott Bros. in Buffalo, which, according to a number of Buffalo newspaper articles of the time, was a saloon that offered musical entertainment; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “John Sadler”, age 27, born in Missouri of a Missouri-born father and New York-born mother, occupation “None”, living with an older sister and her husband, a younger sister and two nieces in St. Louis; Indiana Marriage Registration record for the marriage of “John B. Sadler” and Agnes Carroll on February 24, 1925; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “John B. Sadler”, age 37, born in Missouri, occupation “Musician—Public”, residing in Chicago with his wife Agnes; article in the October 31, 1930 edition of the [Chicago] Daily Herald about an upcoming dance sponsored by the Niles Township [Illinois] Post of the American Legion at which “Legionnaires Jack Sadler and Jay Rofolo” would furnish the music [An obituary notice for a “Joseph Jay Rufolo” in the December 25, 1971 edition of the Chicago Tribune notes that he was a “Lifetime member of Chicago Federation of Musicians”]; obituary notice in the September 14, 1936 edition of the Chicago Tribune for Agnes Sadler, nee Carroll, wife of John, residing at a Chicago address, containing at the end “St. Louis, Mo. papers please copy”; World War II Draft Registration Card for “John Burder Sadler”, age 50, born on September 16, 1891 in St. Louis, occupation “Unemployed”, residing in the Village of Niles, Cook County, Illinois; Application for Headstone or Marker for a Military Veteran for “John Burder Sadler”, date of birth September 16, 1891, date of death August 9, 1969, who served as a Private in the U.S. Army from May 26, 1918 until June 25, 1919 and who was buried at Queen of Heaven Cemetery, Hillside, Illinois

#1285 - Pal of My Dreams, Scarcity: S
There is a copy once again in UM of the sheet music for this 1923 song, subtitled “Waltz Ballad”, with both words and music by Charles E. Roat and published by the Charles E. Roat Music Company in Battle Creek, Michigan. It is another sad song of longing for a departed love of years past. Roat (1872-1936) ran his sheet music publishing business from a music store he also operated in Battle Creek and, as such, was another individual outside the mainstream musical establishment who had the good fortune to write and compose one very successful song. He was born in Sturgis, Michigan, about forty miles south of Battle Creek, lived in Battle Creek from the time he was 14 and, although he had a long-standing interest in music, had begun playing the flute when he was 12 and had played with local orchestras, he worked for grocery firms and then for 11 years as a stenographer before opening his store. The writer of his front-page obituary article in the November 27, 1936 edition of the Battle Creek Enquirer and Evening News (which contained a photograph of Roat) said that Roat’s compositions were often described as “sad”, but Roat preferred to describe them as “peaceful, restful and quiet”, the one admitted exception being “Pal of my Dreams”, in which “[t]he sobbing tones were purposely designed to bring a tear from every note in the lined sheet”. Additional reference: Lengthy article in the February 3, 1932 edition of the Battle Creek Enquirer and Evening News reporting that Roat, after thirty years in business, was about to move his music store to a nearby new location, and containing details about the store, changes in the music business over the previous three decades, and Roat himself

#1286 - That Old Gang of Mine, Scarcity: LC
There is a copy in CC of the sheet music for this well-known 1923 song in which the singer says that he would give the world to see his old crowd of friends with whom he used to sing the old barbershop quartet favorite “Sweet Adeline” and that he went back to his old neighborhood to revisit the street corner where they used to gather. The tune was by the prolific composer and pianist Ray Henderson (1896-1970), whom we have previously encountered in connection with his first published song, “Humming”, on cob #1268 (see also the notes to that cob). The lyrics were by Billy Rose and Mort Dixon. Rose (birth name William Samuel Rosenberg; 1899-1966), who lived an extravagant life during which he was married five times, was from a poor family on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, won a competition as a teenager for his amazing speed as a stenographer, was later a prolific songwriter as well as a very successful producer, operated a New York nightclub, the Diamond Horseshoe, and a Broadway theatre that still bears his name, and was at one time the biggest stockholder in the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. Dixon (1892-1956), also a New York native, was a vaudeville actor who served in the U.S. Army both before and during World War I and later wrote the lyrics to many well-known songs, frequently collaborating with Rose and Henderson. References: AB (Fourth Edition, 1980); TP; OC; BU; lengthy obituary article with many anecdotes about Rose in the February 1, 1966 edition of The New York Times; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Morton Dixon”, age 8, born in March 1892, living in Manhattan with his father, Martin, a telegraph operator, mother Jessie and other relatives; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Morton Dixon”, age 18, occupation “Chauffeur—Automobile”, living in the Bronx, New York with his stepsister and her son; U.S. Army Register of Enlistments recording the enlistment on October 5, 1911 at Fort Slocum, New York, for three years of “Morton H. Dixon”, born in New York, New York, age 21 years 6 months [sic], occupation “Chauffeur”, and noting his honorable discharge on October 14, 1914; 1915 New York State Census record listing “Morton Dixon”, age 23, occupation “No work”, living in the Bronx, New York with his stepsister, her son and other family members; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Morton Harold Dixon”, age 25, born in New York City on March 20, 1892, occupation “Student”, having previously served three years in the military as an Artillery Corporal; Embarkation Record showing the departure of members of a U.S. Army Artillery Unit from Hoboken, New Jersey on May 10, 1918 including “Morton H. Dixon” with the rank “Bugler” and giving the name and address of his stepsister as his next of kin; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Morton Dixon”, age 27, occupation “Salesman—U. S. Army”, living in Manhattan, again with his stepsister, her son, and other family members; New York City Extracted Marriage Index entry listing the marriage of Morton H. Dixon and Ada Jettelson in Manhattan on September 26, 1923; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Morton H. Dixon”, age 38, occupation “lyric writer—Moving Pictures”, living with his wife Ada and two young daughters in Queens, New York; 1937 Mount Vernon [New York] City Directory listing “Morton H. Dixon”, writer, living in that city with his wife Ada; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Norton [sic] Dixon”, age 48, occupation “Composer—Music”, living in Mount Vernon, New York with his wife, two daughters, a butler and a maid, having lived in Beverly Hills, California in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Morton Harold Dixon”, age 50, born on March 20, 1892, occupation “Self Employed”, living in Mount Vernon with his wife Ada

#1287 - The World is Waiting for the Sunrise, Scarcity: S
The lovely and hopeful romantic piece on this cob became a favorite shortly after the end of World War I. It was the result of a collaboration by two Canadian-born individuals who are not otherwise remembered as writers of popular songs. The lyrics were by Eugene Lockhart (1891-1957), who, as Gene Lockhart, appeared as a character actor in dozens of Hollywood movies over a period of several decades, right down to the time of his death. He was also a writer and stage actor. The tune was by concert pianist Ernest Seitz (1892-1978), who reportedly initially used the pseudonym “Raymond Roberts” as composer of the piece because he was reluctant to be associated with popular music, although the copy in CC of sheet music for the piece with a copyright date of 1919 does include Seitz’s name prominently on the cover. Lockhart met Seitz when he went to work for a typewriter company of which Seitz’s father was the President and they became friends and collaborated on several songs. The cob once again includes only the more familiar chorus of the piece and omits the verse in a version with jumps in octaves and omitted notes that does not really do justice to the very pretty tune. References: AB (Fourth Edition, 1980); article about Lockhart in the October 13, 1934 edition of the Windsor [Ontario] Star; interview with Lockhart that appeared in many newspapers all over the U.S. on or about April 3, 1954; article about Seitz in the August 30, 1974 edition of the Calgary Herald reporting that he wrote the basic melody of the song as a musical exercise when he was only twelve years old

#1288 - When Clouds have Vanished, Scarcity: S
“When Clouds Have Vanished and Skies Are Blue” is the full title of this 1923 waltz song with music by Charles L. Johnson and lyrics by William R. Clay, both of whom lived in Kansas City, and there is a copy of the sheet music for it in AS. The singer addresses his love from past days, whom he calls “the best pal I ever knew”, and says he always dreams of her and will come back to her “when clouds have vanished and skies are blue”. Charles Leslie Johnson (1876-1950) was a prolific composer who furnished the melodies to many popular songs but is better known to enthusiasts of ragtime music because of his instrumental rag tunes. He was a pianist who played in a variety of Kansas City venues and also worked in the music publishing business as a composer and arranger, for a time operating his own publishing concern. William Rout Clay (1875 or 1876-1962) is a more obscure figure who came to Kansas City from Springfield, Missouri in the mid-1890s and at various times sold used bicycles, ran an auction house and sold and repaired sewing machines in addition to writing songs. References: OC, AB (Fourth Ed., 1980); RR; TP; advertisement in the April 17, 1898 edition of the Kansas City Star for second hand bicycles for sale by William R. Clay; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “William R. Clay”, age 24, born in Aug. 1866 [sic], occupation “Bookkeeper”, living in Kansas City with his father, occupation “Auction Store”, mother, and two sisters; advertisement in the September 28, 1903 edition of the Kansas City Star for store and office fixtures for sale by William R. Clay; advertisement by Clay in the May 13, 1906 edition of the same newspaper for storage rooms; article in the December 5, 1906 edition of the same newspaper identifying him as “owner of the Clay Auction House”; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “William R. Clay”, age 34, occupation “Auctioneer—Furniture”, living in Kansas City; advertisement in the October 23, 1915 edition of the Emporia [Kansas] Gazette by the Sunset Music Publishing Co. in Kansas City for sheet music for “Meet Me in the Moonlight, Carrie” by Charles L. Johnson and William R. Clay, “writers of many hits”; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “William R. Clay”, age 40 [sic], occupation “Songwriter—At Home”, living in Kansas City; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “William R. Clay”, age 50 [sic], occupation “Salesman—Sewing Machine”, living in Kansas City; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “William R. Clay”, age 64, occupation “Traveling Mechanic—Light Machinery”, living in Kansas City, having lived in the same house in 1935; biography and photograph of Clay in the July 31, 1950 edition of the Kansas City Times in connection with his candidacy for state office giving his age as 74 and reporting that “he operates a sewing machine business and is a songwriter”; biography and different photograph of Clay in the July 16, 1956 edition of the same newspaper again in connection with his candidacy for office giving his age as 80 and identifying him as “a professional song writer” who “owns and manages apartment properties”, was formerly an auctioneer and had lived in Kansas City for about 62 years; letter to the editor by Clay in the May 5, 1960 edition of the Springfield [Missouri] News-Leader recalling a picnic in 1890 sponsored by the Central School in Springfield about which the newspaper published an article at the time reporting that “Willie Clay was there with the orchestra” (Clay added “I have been a musician ever since”); obituary article in the August 20, 1962 edition of The Kansas City Times reporting the death of “William Rout Clay” at age 87 and identifying him as a retired sewing machine repairman and salesman whose family had moved to Kansas City from Springfield, Missouri when he was about 20 and also identifying him as a songwriter and mentioning this song

#1289 - My Sweetie Went Away, Scarcity: S
“My Sweetie Went Away (She Didn’t Say Where, When or Why)” is another 1923 popular song and there is a copy of the sheet music for it in UM, published by the Tin Pan Alley music publishing firm of Waterson, Berlin & Snyder Co. in New York City, and crediting it to Roy Turk and Lou Handman, without identifying which of them was the composer and which one the lyricist, although each of them had a part in writing many other hit songs and Turk was known as a lyricist and Handman as a composer. The singer tells of a couple named Sue and Lou who were always fighting and when Lou comes home one day and finds Sue has left he sings the words of the chorus: his sweetie went away and didn’t say where, when or why, leaving him as blue as can be, and he hopes that she will hurry back home but in the meantime, he says, he can’t sleep, feels like a lost sheep, tries to forget and knows he will die. Lou Handman (1894-1956) was a Brooklyn-born pianist who first worked as an accompanist in vaudeville and later as a demonstrator at music publishing firms. Numerous advertisements and reviews that appeared in newspapers from the 1920s right through the 1950s give details of the widespread performances in which he accompanied his wife, singer and comedienne Florrie LeVere, on the piano and like so many songwriters of his era he relocated from New York to Los Angeles, at least for a time, to write music for films, although he subsequently returned to the East Coast and lived in Queens, New York at the time of his death. Roy Turk (full name Rosewald Kenneth Turk, 1892-1934) was also a New York City native, worked as a staff writer at a music publishing firm and later moved to the West Coast and wrote songs for Hollywood films. References: TP; AB (Fourth Edition, 1980); 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Leo Handman”, age 25, occupation “Song Writer—Piano Co.”, living in the Bronx, New York with his widowed Russian-born mother and several siblings; U.S. Immigration Service list of U.S. citizens arriving in the port of Wilmington, California from Honolulu on August 18, 1928 including “Louis A. Handman”, age 33, born on September 10, 1894 in Brooklyn, “Evelyn F. Handman”, age 31, born on May 8, 1897 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and “Edythe Handman”, age 21, born on October 3, 1906, in New York, New York [Handman’s younger sister, who, according to newspaper advertisements and reviews, sometimes appeared in performances by Lou and Evelyn (a/k/a “Florrie LeVere”)], home address for all three 720 Riverside Drive in Manhattan; 1930 U.S. Census records listing “Lou Handman”, age 35, born in New York of Russian-born parents, occupation “Song Writer—Music Publisher”, living in Manhattan with his wife of three years, Florrie, occupation “Actress-Theater”, and separately listing “Lou Handman”, age 35, born in New York of Russian-born parents, occupation “Composer—Songs”, married but maintaining an additional residence alone in Los Angeles; article in the July 9, 1930 edition of the Hollywood Daily Citizen including a photograph of Handman, his wife Florrie and his sister Edyth in front of their new Cord automobile, identifying him as “one of Universal’s most popular song writers”; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Louis Handman”, age 45, born in New York, occupation “Song Writer—at home”, living with his wife Evelyn, age 43, and her parents, Harry and Emma Mills, in Philadelphia, having lived in the “Same house” in 1935; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Roswald Turk”, age 7, born in August 1892 in New York, 1905 New York State Census record listing “Rosewald Turk”, age 12, and 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Rosewald Turk”, age 17, occupation “none”, in each case living with his parents in Manhattan; 1915 New York State Census record listing “Rosewald K. Turk”, age 22, occupation “Salesman”, living with his parents at 2394 7th Avenue in Manhattan; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Roy Kenneth Turk”, age 24, born on September 20, 1892 in New York City, occupation “Salesman, Hornthal Benjamin & Reim” [a clothing business], living at 2394 7th Avenue in Manhattan; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Rosewald Turk”, age 27, occupation “Song writer—Music com.”, living with his parents in Manhattan; 1925 New York State Census record listing “Roy Turk”, age 32, occupation “Composer music”, living with his parents in Manhattan; article in the October 17, 1929 edition of the Los Angeles Times identifying Turk as a songwriter on the staff of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer [M.G.M.]

#1290 - Through the Night, Scarcity: S
The title of the 1922 dreamy waltz song on this cob as it appears in the sheet music for it, a copy of which is once again in UM, is “Thru the Night”, and the lyrics were by Virginia K. Logan and the music by her son, Frederic Knight Logan. It is a romantic piece in which the singer recalls a dream set in a flower garden in which her beloved spoke words of love to her. Once again only the refrain was included on the cob. We have previously encountered Frederic Logan (1871-1928) as the arranger of the tune to “Missouri Waltz” on cob #1251 (see also the notes to that cob), which was his most successful work, although he also collaborated with his mother on numerous pieces. He was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa, lived there for essentially his whole life, and died there, although he and his mother, a concert singer, traveled widely—he acted as her piano accompanist beginning at a young age—and he had the opportunity to meet many luminaries of the music world. He later performed as a concert pianist, served as musical director for theatre productions and, with his mother, ran a music school in Oskaloosa. Virginia Knight Logan (1850-1940) was born in Pennsylvania but moved to Oskaloosa when she was in her teens, and she and Frederic, her only child, had a very close relationship that continued throughout his life, to the extent that when he studied music in Chicago as a young man she accompanied him and they lived together in hotel quarters there, furnished with a piano. References: AB (Fourth Edition, 1980); OC; Edgar Rubey Harlan, A Narrative History of the People of Iowa (Chicago, American Historical Society, 1931) (includes a very detailed and laudatory biography of Logan with numerous references to his mother); 1860 U.S. Census record listing “Virginia Knight”, age 10, living with her mother and three siblings in West Pike Run, Washington County, Pennsylvania; 1870 U.S. Census record listing “Virginia L. Knight”, age 18, born in Pennsylvania, occupation “Music Teacher”, living with her mother and two siblings in Oskaloosa; 1880 U.S. Census record listing “Virginia K. Logan”, age 27, born in Pennsylvania, occupation “Music Teacher”, marital status divorced, living in Oskaloosa with her mother, two siblings and her son “Fredie”, age 8; 1885 Iowa State Census record listing “Virginia Logan”, age 32, widowed, occupation “Music Teacher”, and “Fred Logan”, age 13, living with Virginia’s mother, sister and brother in Oskaloosa; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Virginia K. Logan”, age 50, born in May 1850 in Pennsylvania, occupation “Actress”, marital status “widowed”, living in Oskaloosa with her brother, sister and son “Frederick K. Logan”, age 28, born in October 1871 in Iowa, occupation “Actor”; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “V. K. Logan”, age 59, born in Pennsylvania, occupation “Teacher—Music”, living in Oskaloosa with her brother, sister and son “Fred L. Logan” [sic], age 38, occupation “Director—Music”; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Virginia Knight Logan”, age 69, occupation “Music Teacher”, living in Oskaloosa with her two sisters, a brother-in-law and son “Frederick Knight Logan”, age 48, occupation “Music Composer Teacher”; 1925 Iowa State Census record listing “Virginia Knight Logan”, age 74, and “Frederic Knight Logan”, age 53, living with Virginia’s two sisters in Oskaloosa; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Virginia K. Logan”, age 79, occupation “Teacher & Composer—Music”, living alone in Oskaloosa

#1291 - Pal of All Pals, Scarcity: S
We have previously encountered Dave Ringle (1894-1965) as the writer of the lyrics to the song “Wabash Blues” on cob #1279 (see the notes to that cob). He was also credited, in U.S. Copyright records, with writing the lyrics and composing the tune to the song “Pal of All Pals” under the pseudonym “D. Townsend Lehring” (“Lehring” includes all of the letters in the name “Ringle”, rearranged) and that song was copyrighted in September, 1922 by “Philip Ponce Publications, New York”. More than two years earlier, however, a note in the July 3, 1920 edition of the theatrical weekly The Billboard had reported that the Scharf & Inman Music Publishing Co. of Dayton, Ohio had announced that its next song, “Pal of All Pals”, would soon go to press and that it was “a waltz song of the “Mother” nature” with melody and lyrics credited to Herbert Inman and musical setting to Charles Lewis, co-writer of several other songs including “You Are the Rose of my Rosary” (see the notes to the next cob), and a note in the March 26, 1921 edition of The Billboard had reported that Scharf & Inman had announced that Sears, Roebuck & Co. had listed Scharf & Inman’s hits in their new catalog and that “Pal of All Pals”, “the feature waltz ballad…promises to be one of the big winners”. Although I have not located a copy of the sheet music for the piece as published by either publisher in any book or online sheet music collection, the late cob roller organ enthusiast and scholar Todd Augsburger located the complete lyrics (which are reproduced as part of the entry for cob #1291 under “Cobs” elsewhere on this website) and in them the singer does indeed address his mother as his “pal of all pals”, confesses that he was wrong to stray from the fold and says that he will roam no more and is coming home to her. References: U.S. Copyright office entry for the renewal on September 9, 1950 of “Pal of All Pals”, originally copyrighted on September 19, 1922, with words and music by “D. Townsend Lehring [pseud. of Dave Ringle]”; advertisement in the December 14, 1922 edition of The Music Trades with a holiday greeting from “Phil Ponce” identifying himself as “Just a music salesman selling for himself” and listing among the sheet music published by his “Philip Ponce Publications” in New York the song “Pal of All Pals”

#1292 - You are the Rose of My Rosary, Scarcity: S
Just as I was unable to locate a copy of the sheet music for “Pal of All Pals”, the piece on the immediately preceding cob, in any book or online sheet music collection, I was unable to locate a copy of the sheet music for the waltz song on this cob or, indeed, any other information about the piece except that (as mentioned in the notes to “Pal of All Pals”) someone named Charles Lewis was reportedly the co-writer. Additional reference: Advertisement also in the July 3, 1920 edition of the theatrical weekly The Billboard by Scharf & Inman, Music Publishers of Dayton, Ohio listing “You Are the Rose of my Rosary” as one of the songs “which are becoming popular” and “are selling well at present” for which it could furnish sheet music and player piano rolls

#1293 - A Smile will go a Long, Long Way, Scarcity: S
The piece on this cob dates from 1923 and was written by two Tin Pan Alley regulars, Harry Akst and Benny Davis. We have previously encountered New York native and prolific songwriter Davis (1895-1979) a number of times, as the author of the lyrics to “Margie” on cob #1253, “Nobody’s Baby” on cob #1264, “Angel Child” on cob #1275 and “Indiana Moon” on cob #1282 (see also the notes to those cobs). His lyrics to this song are a simple encouragement to keep smiling even when one is blue, lonely, down or grieving or things seem hopeless. Akst (1894-1963) was still another successful composer of popular music who came from the teeming immigrant community on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He learned to play the piano at an early age, but instead of pursuing a career as a classical musician like his father, who was a professional violinist, he first worked as a pianist and song plugger in a Harlem music store where he learned to play ragtime piano, was then hired by the Leo Feist music publishing firm, and while still in his teens provided music at parties and operated an orchestra bureau that furnished dance bands for hotels and other entertainment venues. He served for a time as accompanist to singer Nora Bayes (see the notes to cob #1179), met songwriter and publisher Irving Berlin while serving in World War I, went to work for him as a staff pianist after the War, and subsequently composed the music for a number of popular songs (including two million-sellers, the song on this cob and the 1926 hit “Baby Face”, also with lyrics by Davis), for stage musicals and for numerous Hollywood films. He was also a dance orchestra leader. Oddly, despite his long and varied career, the one fact about him that was repeated most frequently in the many brief newspaper obituary articles that appeared about him following his death in 1963 is that he was Al Jolson’s accompanist, which he had been, in the later years of his life. References: BU; OC; AB (Fourth Edition, 1980); TP; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Harry Akst”, age 5, born in August 1894 in New York of a Russian-born father (“Morris”, occupation “musician”) and Austrian-born mother, living in Atlantic City, New Jersey; 1905 New York State Census record listing “Harry Akst”, age 10, living with his father, “Maurice”, occupation “Violinist”, mother and three siblings in Brooklyn; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Harry Akst”, age 15, again living with his parents and three siblings, this time on West 117th Street in Manhattan; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Harry L. Akst”, age 22, born in New York on August 15, 1894, occupation “Pianist” employed by Nora Bayes, with a home address given on West 56th Street in Manhattan which is the same as his employment address; U.S. Passport Application dated June 12, 1920 for “Harry Akst”, born on August 15, 1894 at 10 Avenue B, Manhattan, occupation “Composer”, intending to travel to England and France for “Theatrical Business” and referring to the “separate application of Irving Berlin made same date”; 1925 New York State Census record for “Harry L. Akst”, age 30, occupation “Composer”, living in Belle Terre, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Harry L. Akst”, age 35, occupation “Composer—Music”, living in Beverly Hills, California; 1938 Beverly Hills City Directory listing “Harry L. Akst”, composer; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Harry Akst”, age 45, occupation “Composer—Music”, living in Manhattan, having lived in California in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Harry L. Akst”, age 47, born on August 15, 1894, occupation “Free lance writer”, living in Beverly Hills, California; 1942 Index to Register of Voters entry for “Harry L. Akst”, occupation “musician”, living in Beverly Hills

#1294 - Call Me Back, Pal O' Mine, Scarcity: S
The 1921 waltz song on this cob is another that was written and composed by two individuals who were not Tin Pan Alley “regulars”. The story of its creation was told by the lyricist, Lawrence Perricone (1900-1962), in an article that appeared in the October 24, 1922 edition of the St. Louis Star and Times. Perricone was at that time a twenty-one-year-old shoe factory employee and, he said, wrote the words to the song a few years earlier in only fifteen minutes and paid St. Louis composer and music publisher Harold Dixon $50 to set the words to music. The resulting song was then published by Dixon’s firm, Dixon and Lane Publishing Company, and Perricone had to sue the company in order to obtain royalties to which he was entitled. An article in the February 15, 1923 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the lawsuit had been settled by payment of $2,750 to Perricone and that Dixon had testified at the trial that Perricone’s lyrics when provided to him had contained numerous grammatical defects and, after necessary changes were made, little remained of Perricone’s work except for the title. There is a copy of the sheet music for the song in UM with a photograph and facsimile autograph of Dixon on the cover that credits Perricone with the lyrics (and also includes the words “MILLION COPY EDITION”) on the cover but attributes the song only to Dixon on the first interior page. Perricone’s lyrics are an entreaty to a faraway love whom the singer left long ago and now misses terribly to call him back to her heart so that they can be reunited. Once again only the refrain of the song, and not the verse, is on the cob. Perricone was born in Sicily, was brought to the U.S. as a child, lived in St. Louis and did not make his career in music—he continued to work in a shoe factory until at least 1930 and later became an insurance salesman—and I have not found any reference to any other published song by him. Harold Dixon (the pseudonym of Harold Alexander Simon, 1896-1973) was a native of St. Louis who placed newspaper advertisements there in 1919-1921 inviting songwriters to submit lyrics to him in care of his music publishing firm for him to set to music, publish and circulate all over the country. In one such ad, which appeared less than three months after he turned 22 and shortly after he was discharged from the U.S. Army after serving in World War I, he claimed that he was “possibly the only song writer with an international reputation living in St. Louis” and that he had “written more song hits than any song writer in the world”. In St. Louis newspaper articles about him later in his life presumably based on information he provided to the reporters, it was similarly stated that he had studied at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston for three years, had written 1,200 songs, had made a million dollars as a composer during the 1920s but lost it in the 1929 stock market crash, and had written “That Old Gang of Mine” (on cob #1286) with Billy Rose and “Bye Bye Blackbird”, which was most certainly not true, both of those pieces having been co-written by the similarly-named but unrelated Mort Dixon. References: U. S. Immigration Service List of Alien Passengers arriving on a ship from Naples, Italy in September, 1911 including “Lorenzo Perricone”, age 11, born in Palermo, traveling with his mother and two siblings to join his father in Washington, D.C.; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Lawrence Perricone”, age 29, born in Italy, immigrated to the U.S. at age 7, occupation “Shoe worker—Shoe factory”, living in Lawn Town, St. Louis County with his wife and young daughter; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Lawrence Perricone”, age 39, born in Italy, occupation “Salesman—Insurance Co.”, living in Normandy, St. Louis County with his wife and daughter, having also lived in St. Louis in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Lawrence Perricone”, age 41, born on November 30, 1900 in Termine, Sicily, employed by “Prudential L. Insurance Co.”, living in St. Louis; Missouri Death Certificate for “Lawrence Perricone” recording his death on October 21, 1962, giving his date of birth as November 30, 1900, his place of birth as Italy and his occupation as “Ins. Agent—Prudential Ins.” and noting that he had served in the U.S. armed forces in World War II; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Harold A. Simon”, age 21, born on November 19, 1896 in St. Louis, occupation “Actor”, employed by a “Theatrical Agency” in “Okmulgee, Oklahoma”; advertisement, mentioned above, in the February 16, 1919 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch announcing that “Sergeant-Major Harold Dixon, band leader of the Fourth Infantry Regiment, U.S.A.”, had recently been discharged from the military and was resuming his former capacity in the music business in St. Louis; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Harold A. Simon”, age 24, born in Missouri, occupation “Composer—Music”, living with his parents in St. Louis; article in the April 27, 1939 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporting that Dixon’s real name was Harold A. Simon and that he had returned to St. Louis a year earlier after spending fifteen years in New York; advertisements and notices in St. Louis newspapers in 1937-1939 that Dixon was appearing at hotel grills, heading an orchestra and playing an electric organ and piano, providing dance music and accompanying vocalists; article about Dixon, including a photograph of him, in the April 20, 1944 edition of the St. Louis Globe Democrat reporting that he was still receiving royalties from his most famous song, “Call Me Back, Pal o’ Mine”, was “still…pounding out tunes with hope of another hit” and in the meantime was waiting on customers at a little novelty shop; similar biographical articles about Dixon in the April 12, 1938 edition of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat and the June 18, 1947 edition of the St. Louis Star and Times; tombstone of “Harold Alexander Simon” in the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Lemay, St. Louis County, Missouri noting his military service as a Sergeant Major in World War I and giving his date of birth as November 19, 1896 and his date of death as January 13, 1973

#1295 - Dream Daddy, Scarcity: S
There is a copy of the sheet music for this lively 1923 fox trot song in CC crediting both the lyrics and music to Louis Herscher and George Keefer with a photograph of “Victor Record Artists” Ted Weems and his Orchestra on the cover and a dedication at the top of the first interior page to “the original “Dream Daddy” Harry E. Ehrhart”. Another version, a copy of which is in UM, is identical except that it has on the cover instead a photograph of Jack Chapman and his Drake Hotel Dance Orchestra, and still further versions included photographs of other performers. One version with a differently laid out cover featured instead a photograph of Ehrhart, a Philadelphia radio personality who, under the name “Dream Daddy”, had a popular evening program for children in which he told bedtime stories and sang lullabies and other tunes over the air. In the lyrics, the singer expresses how much he or she looks forward to hearing the tender voice of “Dream Daddy” on the radio after saying prayers and putting aside books and toys. Once again only the chorus and not the verse is on the cob. Louis Herscher (more usually referred to as “Lou Herscher”, 1894-1974) was born in Philadelphia and was a largely self-taught pianist who had a long career as a composer, lyricist, music director and publisher that brought him, like many other songwriters of his generation, to the West Coast, where he wrote music for films and television. He also wrote a book on songwriting and lectured on the subject at U.C.L.A. “George Keefer” was the pseudonym of Carl Zoehrns (1898?-1967), a Chicago native who began his career as a singer and songwriter, later became a song plugger and, according to an obituary article about him in the May 3, 1967 edition of The New York Times, “was widely known as a salesman of popular sheet music” who was general sales manager at the Edward B. Marks Music Corporation in New York at the time of his death, had worked at that firm for 29 years and had been a salesman at Irving Berlin Inc. before that. “Dream Daddy” was his most popular song. References: AB (Fourth Edition, 1980) (one of the few sources that provides any biographical details about Herscher; the lesser-known Keefer/Zoehrns was not included); 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Louis Herscher”, age 6, born in New York in April 1894, living on the Lower East Side of New York with his father Elias, occupation “Reverand”, and mother Odis, both born in Austria and immigrated in 1890, and six siblings, the oldest four also born in Austria and arrived in 1890; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Louis Hersher”, age 16, born in Pennsylvania, son of Elias, “Clergyman—Synagogue”, and Edith, again living with his parents and six siblings in Manhattan; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Louis Herscher”, age 23, occupation “Music Comp.” employed by “George Koch” in New York City, born in Philadelphia on April 19, 1894, and living in Philadelphia; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Louis Herscher”, age 25, occupation “composer—at home”, living with his father Elias, “Rabbi—at synagogue”, mother Hudis and three siblings in Philadelphia; article in the March 9, 1923 edition of the Miami Daily Metropolis reporting that “famous song writer” Louis Herscher of New York was in Miami Beach on his honeymoon and describing him as “a pianist, who never studied the piano, but took to it naturally” who had been writing songs for many years but did not break into the “big field” of the song writing business until 1920 and had written one song that was sung by Eddie Cantor on Broadway and earned Herscher $11,000 in only a few weeks; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Louis Herscher”, age 35, occupation “Song Writer—Music”, living in Queens, New York with his wife and three young children; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Louis Herscher”, age 45, occupation “Song Writer—Stage”, living in Los Angeles with his wife and three children, having lived in the same place in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Louis Herscher”, age 48, born on April 19, 1894 in Philadelphia, occupation “free lance song writer”, living in Hollywood; California Death Index entry for “Louis Herscher”, born on April 19, 1894 in Pennsylvania, died on March 12, 1974 in Los Angeles; 1900 U.S. Census record dated June 8, 1900 listing “Carl Zoehrns”, age 1, born in August 1898 in Illinois, living in Chicago with his German-born parents and three older sisters (indicating that the 1900 year of birth given for him in Social Security records and even on his tombstone at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, must be incorrect; he would not have been listed in the census record as age 1 and having been born in 1898 if he had in fact been born during 1900 prior to the June 8 census date); reference in a listing of special Easter music at Indianapolis churches in the April 15, 1911 edition of the Indianapolis News to “Carl Zoehrns of Chicago, Ill., boy soprano soloist”; World War I Draft Registration Card dated August 24, 1918 for “Carl Zoehrns”, age 21, born on August 3, 1897 in Chicago, employed by Chas. Roy Cox at Buckeye Music Pub. Co. in Columbus, Ohio and living in Chicago; 1920 U.S. Census record for “Carl Zorhens” [sic], age 24, born in Illinois, occupation “Salesman—Music”, living in Philadelphia with his wife and her parents (interestingly, her father’s name was “George A. Kiefer”); article in the March 1, 1924 edition of Radio Digest reporting that Harry E. Ehrhart, “Dream Daddy” on Station WDAR in Philadelphia, was touring principal broadcasting stations in the Middle West and East accompanied by “Carl Zoehrns, co-author of the song “Dream Daddy”, who will entertain from the stations they visit”; numerous newspaper listings during the 1920s of radio programs featuring Zoehrns as a vocalist, sometimes with Herscher, generally giving Zoehrns’ real name but in some cases giving the name “George Keefer” (and in at least one case “Carl Keefer”, presumably an error confusing his real name with his pseudonym); World War II Draft Registration Card dated February 14, 1942 for “Carl H. Zoehrns”, age 43, born on August 3, 1898 in Chicago, employed by Edward B. Marks in the R.C.A. Building at Radio City in Manhattan, residing in Jackson Heights, Queens; entry in the Catalog of U.S. Copyright Entries recording the renewal on April 27, 1950 of “Dream Daddy”, “w. George Keefer [pseud. of Carl Zoehrns], m. Lou [i.e. Louis] Herscher”; obituary article about Zoehrns in the May 3, 1967 edition of The New York Times, mentioned above, which reported that he lived in Bayside, Queens at the time of his death

#1296 - Linger Awhile, Scarcity: LC
There is once again a copy in CC of the sheet music for this 1923 “dancing song” with words by Harry Owens and music by Vincent Rose. The time has come for two lovers to part and one of them, the singer, tells the other how much he will miss her while they are separated and asks her to linger awhile. Once again only the chorus and not the verse is on the cob. Owens (1902-1986) was born in Nebraska and after graduating from college formed his own orchestra, first touring the western United States and then moving to Hawaii, where he established his well-known group the Royal Hawaiians. He later wrote numerous Hawaiian-style songs and appeared in films and on television. We have previously encountered Rose (birth name Vincent Cacioppo; 1880-1944) as one of the three individuals credited as having written “Whispering” on cob #1248 in later editions of sheet music for the piece. He was born in Sicily, came to the United States in 1897, was first a violinist and pianist with dance orchestras in Chicago and Los Angeles, became music director for a West Coast chain of hotels, led his own orchestra for a number of years, subsequently wrote music for Hollywood films and spent the final years of his life in New York, where he lived at the time of his death. References: OC; AB (Fourth Edition, 1980), which erroneously gives Owens’ last name as “Owen”; obituary article about Owens in the December 13, 1986 edition of the Los Angeles Times; list of alien immigrants arriving on the S.S. Scindia arriving at the Port of New York from Naples, Italy dated November 10, 1897 and listing “Vincenzo Cacioppo”, age 17, last residence Palermo, final destination Chicago; 1901 Chicago city directory listing “Vincent Cacioppo”, musician; Cook County Marriage Index entry for the marriage of “Vincent Cacioppo”, age 24, in Chicago on June 28, 1905; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Vincent Cacioppo”, age 29, born in Italy, immigrated in 1897, occupation “Musician”, living in Chicago; city directory entries showing “Vincent Rose” living in Ocean Park, California in 1914 and in Santa Monica, California in 1915 and 1917, occupation “musician”, and in Los Angeles in 1916, 1917, 1920, 1921 and 1924, occupation “music composer” (1920) and “musician” (1916, 1917, 1921, 1924); World War I Draft Registration Card for “Vincent Cacioppo”, age 38, born on June 13, 1880, occupation “Musician”, living in Venice, California; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Vincent Cacioppo”, age 39, occupation “Composer—Music Co.”, living in Los Angeles; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Vincent Rose”, age 49, born in Italy, immigrated in 1897, occupation “Music—Composer”, living in Manhattan; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Vincent Rose”, age 59, occupation “composer”, living in Rockville Centre, New York, and having lived at the same place in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Vincent Rose”, age 61, born on June 13, 1880 in Palermo, Sicily, occupation “self employed”, living in Rockville Centre, New York; obituary article about Rose in the May 21, 1944 edition of the New York Herald Tribune

#1297 - Marcheta, Scarcity: S
A copy of the sheet music for this song is once again held in CC. It has a copyright date of 1923 and on the plain, unillustrated cover the title is given as “Marcheta (A Love Song of Old Mexico)” with “poem and music by Victor Schertzinger”. On the first interior page his name is instead given as “Victor L. Schertzinger” and there is an asterisk next to “Marcheta” in the heading with a footnote that reads “Pronounced Mar-kee-ta”. In the lyrics the singer addresses his beloved Marcheta, expresses how much he thinks of her and misses her, and implores her to return to him. Pennsylvania-born Schertzinger (1888?-1941) was a child prodigy on the violin who performed as a soloist at a young age. He subsequently became a theatre orchestra conductor in Los Angeles, wrote songs and scores for films and was a film director. References: AB (Fourth Edition, 1980); OC (which incorrectly gives Schertzinger’s date of birth as 1880); obituary articles about Schertzinger in the October 27, 1941 editions of the New York Herald Tribune and The New York Times, each including a photograph of him and prominently mentioning that he wrote “Marcheta” and that more than 4,000,000 copies of it were sold; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Virtue Schasinger” [sic], age 11, born in April, 1889, in Pennsylvania, living with his parents, Charles, a jeweler, and Pauline, three younger sisters and a cousin in Philadelphia; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Victor L. Schertzinger”, age 22, born in Pennsylvania, occupation “Music Director—Balasco Teator [sic]”, living in Huntington Park, Los Angeles County, California with his father, occupation “Jeweler—Repair Shop”, mother and three younger sisters; World War I Draft Registration Card for Victor Louis Schertzinger, age 29, born on April 8, 1888 in Mahonoy City, Pennsylvania, occupation “Motion picture director & violinist” employed by Thomas H. Ince, Culver City, California, living in Huntington Park; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Victor Schertzinger”, age 31, occupation “Director—Film Co.”, living in Los Angeles with his wife and other family members; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Victor Schertzinger”, age 41, occupation “Director—Picture-Studio”, living in Los Angeles with his wife, two young daughters and three servants in a house valued at $120,000; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Victor L. Schertzinger”, age 52, occupation “director—motion picture”, living in Los Angeles with his wife, daughters and two servants in a house valued at $200,000, having lived in the same house in 1935; mausoleum plaque at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California for “Victor L. Schertzinger”, giving his years as 1888-1941

#1298 - When Mother Sings "Sweet and Low", Scarcity: S
For a number of years, roller organ cob collectors assumed that the highest-numbered twenty-note cob that was issued was #1297, “Marcheta”, but then a copy of cob #1298 turned up, and a second copy shortly afterwards. The piece on the cob is still another 1923 popular song and there is once again a copy of the sheet music for it in UM. On the cover, it is subtitled “A Tuneful and Tender Melody Fox-Trot” and the words and music are credited to Jack Richmond, Howard Johnson and Joseph Meyer, without differentiating as to who wrote the lyrics and who composed the tune. We have previously encountered Johnson (1887-1941) as one of the three co-writers of “Ireland Must Be Heaven” on cob #1229 and “Feather Your Nest” on cob #1256 and as the lyricist of “M-O-T-H-E-R” on cob #1234 (see also the notes to those cobs). Joseph Meyer (1894-1987; not to be confused with George W. Meyer, the composer of “Hiawatha’s Melody of Love” on cob #1254 and “Tuck Me to Sleep in my Old ‘Tucky Home” on cob #1266) was born in Modesto, California, studied the violin and then learned the piano, played with a dance orchestra in San Francisco, and also worked briefly in the dry goods business (his father’s choice of career for him) both before and after serving in the U.S. Army in World War I. He then moved to New York, became a Tin Pan Alley composer, and within several years had written the tunes to two very successful and long-remembered songs, “California Here I Come” (1924) and “If You Knew Susie” (1925), both of which (barely) post-dated the issuance of new cobs for the roller organ. He went on to compose tunes to other popular songs as well as music for Broadway and Hollywood productions. Jack (birth name Jacob) Richmond (1889-1959) is a more obscure figure. References to him in a variety of sources indicate that he was a native of New York City who lived for his entire life in the Bronx and Manhattan and as a young man was an orchestra musician, but soon went to work in the sales area of the music publishing business and continued to be employed in that field, in different capacities and at different firms, for almost fifty years, right up to the time of his death. He composed the tune to a song titled “Let’s Go Back to Loveland and Be Sweethearts Once Again”, the sheet music for which (a copy of which is in FG) was published by the New York music publishing firm of Leo Feist in 1913 and includes on the cover photographs of Richmond and the lyricist, Bob Miller, describing them as “Miller and Richmond”; the duo, according to newspaper advertisements at the time, worked as song demonstrators, performing currently popular pieces in sheet music departments at stores in as far-flung locations as Knoxville, Tennessee, Muskogee, Oklahoma and Augusta, Georgia. References: AB (Fourth Edition, 1980), BU, OC, TP (information about Meyer); obituary article about Meyer in the July 24, 1987 edition of the Modesto Bee; 1900 and 1910 U.S. Census records listing “Joseph Meyer”, ages 6 and 16, respectively, born in March 1894 in California according to the 1900 record, living in Modesto (1900) and San Francisco (1910) with his parents and his sister, father’s occupation “Merchant Dry Goods” (1900); World War I Draft Registration Card for “Joe K. Meyer”, age 23, born in Modesto, California, occupation “Musician, Techau Tavern” in San Francisco, living in San Francisco; 1920 U.S. Census record for “Joseph K. Meyer”, age 25, occupation “Merchant—Ladies Clothes”, born in California of French-born parents, living with his parents in San Francisco; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Joseph Meyer”, age 36, occupation “Composer—Studio”, born in California of French-born parents, living with his wife and young son in Los Angeles; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Joseph Meyer”, age 46, occupation “Composer—Music—[illegible]”, living in Manhattan with his wife, son and wife’s parents, having lived in the “Same Place” in 1935; 1900 U.S. Census record listing “Jacob Richmand” [sic], age 11, born in New York in February 1889, living in the Bronx, New York with his parents, Louis and Nettie, and two siblings; 1905 New York State Census record listing “Jake Richmond”, age 16, occupation “Clerk—Woollen Gd.”, living with his parents, Louis and Nettie, and two siblings in the Bronx; 1910 U.S. Census record listing “Jack Richmond”, age 21, occupation “Musician—Orchestra”, born in New York, again living with his parents, Louis and Nettie, and his two siblings in the Bronx; note and advertisement in the July 6, 1912 edition of the theatrical publication The New York Clipper that Jack Richmond was “Manager Professional Department” in the New York office of Joseph Daly Music Co.; note in the October 4, 1913 edition of The New York Clipper that “‘Bob’ Miller and Jack Richmond, the cup winning song team, now with the Leo Feist music house”, were in Augusta, Georgia demonstrating music at the local Kress music store; World War I Draft Registration Card for “Jacob Richmond”, born on February 10, 1889 in New York City, occupation “Salesman (Music)”, employed at “Leo Feist (Inc.)” in New York and living with his wife and child in the Bronx; 1920 U.S. Census record listing “Jack Richmond”, age 30, occupation “Manager—Publishers”, living in the Bronx with his wife Jean and young daughter; 1925 New York State Census record listing “D. Jack Richmond”, age 35, occupation “Musician”, living in the Bronx with his wife Jean and two children; 1930 U.S. Census record listing “Jack Richmond”, age 41, occupation “Manager—Song Publisher”, living in Manhattan with his wife Jean and two children; 1940 U.S. Census record listing “Jack Richmond”, age 51, occupation “Contacter—Music Publisher”, living in Manhattan with his wife Jean and two children, having lived at the “Same Place” in 1935; World War II Draft Registration Card for “Jack D. Richmond”, age 53, born in New York City on February 10, 1889, living with his wife Jean in Manhattan and employed at “Gordon, Kaufman & Real, Inc.” [a music publishing firm] at 1619 Broadway, the famed Brill Building with so many connections to the popular music business; New York City Death Index entry recording the death of “Jack Richmond”, age 70, on April 7, 1959; note in the April 25, 1959 edition of the popular music publication The Cash Box expressing condolences to the family and friends of “vet music man Jack Richmond” and noting that his wife Jean would continue to run his music service at 1650 Broadway in Manhattan