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Isadore Harold Jentes (August 28, 1887 to January 19, 1958) | |
 Compositions | |
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1911
Rhapsody RagCarmenita: A Cuban Rag How Would You Like to Be Loved [1] I Never Could Get Used to That [2] 1912
I'll Be Welcome in My Home Town [1]Only a Rose to Remind You [3,4] 1913
Madrid: A Spanish IntermezzoCalifornia Sunshine You'll Be Welcome When You Get Back Home Take Me to Loveland (That Beautiful Land of Love) [5] Soup and Fish Rag [6] If Your Wife Wants to Go to the Country, Let Her Go, Let Her Go, Let Her Go [7] The Girl I Left Behind [8] I'm Goin' Back to My Gal [9] 1914
When They Christened Brother Johnson'sChild [1] I'm Going Back to My Old Pal [10] Morning Glory [10] Turn The Hands Back, Father Time [10,11] Where the Oceans Meet in Panama (That's Where I'll Meet You) [12] They Get a Little Bigger Every Year [12] When They Launch That Steamboat Alabam' [12] Now She Knows How to Parle Voo [13,14] 1915
Good-Bye, Paradise, Good-Bye [10]I'm Going Back to My Old Pal [10] You'll Be Sorry [10] Good-Bye, Jennie Dear [10] I Ought to Hate You, But I Love You [10] Follow the Trail of Love [10] The Cats Have Gone Away (Since Nellie Learned to Sing) [10] Put Me to Sleep with an Old-Fashioned Melody (Wake Me Up with a Rag) [10,15] At the Fountain of Youth [12,16] 1916
Bantam StepYou Ought to See Him at Home [1,16] 'Mong the Whispering Pines [10] Cats Have Gone Away [10] You Don't Know and I Don't Know (Where He Goes Every Night) [16] Since Sarah Saw Theda Bara [16] You Hate to Do It (But You Do It Just the Same) [16] Honor Thy Father And Mother and Good Luck Will Follow You [16] He May Be Old but He's Got Young Ideas [16,17] Our Military Home [16,17] Some Girls Do and Some Girls Don't [16,17] Call Again, Mr. Calligan [16,18] 1917
Pussy Willow: Fox TrotYou Don't Have to Go to Borneo (The Girls are Wild Enough Here) [16] Steam Up that Choo Choo Till We Land in Jacksonville [16,19] And They Call It a Popular Song [17] At the Yankee Military Ball [17] I Don't Want To Get Well [17,20] Put On a Bonnet with a Red Cross On It (And I'll Meet You Over There) [17,20] Knit, Girls, Knit! [17,20] She's Saving it All for Me [17,20] How Can Any Girlie Be a Good Little Girl (When She Loves a Naughty Little Boy?) [17,21] Do Your Bit Over Here for the Boys Over There [20,21] There it Goes Again [22,23] 1918
A Kiss is A Kiss in Any LanguageKicking the Kaiser Around [17] Knit, Girls, Knit [17,20] Put on a Bonnet with a Red Cross on It (And I'll Meet You Somewhere Over There) [17,20] Oh! What a Lovin' the Girls will Get when the Boys Come Home [17,20] Take Me Back to That Rose-Covered Shack [24,25] 1919
Rag-man-i-noffAmong the Whispering Pines [retitled] [10] I Wonder Why the Homely Men Get the Beautiful Girls[22] We Couldn't Have Heroes Over There if it Wasn't for Those Heroes Over Here [17,26] 1920
Way Down Barcelona Way (That Diddle-E-Um-De-Dum) [27] All By Myself: A Blues Novelty [28] Somewhere in Poppyland [29] 1921
There's a Million Girlies Lonesome To-Night andStill I'm All Alone [1,19] Oh My, Yes! [19] 1922
Cuban SunshineSmiles and Kisses The Cat's Pajamas 192?
Sortin' the Mail [Cover page mention]1923
Tricky TrixRainbow Waltz Blooey Blues [30] Cla-wence (Don't Tweat Me So Wuff) [31,32] 1924
AmericarabiaRag-O-Rhythm Monkey Bizness |
1924 (Cont.)
Flying FingersMur-ru-ru-ru-ria (Come On - On - Out To-night) Jump Fritz, I Feed You Liver [31,32] 1925
Twinkles: NoveletteNormandy Chimes I'm Happy Go Lucky (There's Nothin' On My Mind) [23,33] 1926
Lopez Speaking1927
Paul Ash Folio of Novelty Piano Solos [34]Fidgety Fingers Triplets Fleurette Finger Prints Juggling the Ivories Rag-a-la-Russe 1936
The Duchess Threw Her Crutches Away[27,35] You Can't Tee Off My Fairway (and Putt with Somebody Else) [27] Russian Rhumba [27,35,36] 1937
Now Will You Be Good? [20,39]Hy Diddle Diddle Diddle Bum Bum [40] 1939
Blue GuitarTally Ho Alice in Rhythmland Scissors and Knives to Grind [41,42] How Would You Like to be Loved? [43] Sailing Little Boats in the Bathtub [44] 1940
When It's Winter in Havana [37,38]I Fell All Over Myself [45] It May Not Rain At All [45] The Flamenco [45] Ev'rybody Sings with Oley at the Organ [45] Shure, There's No One Like the Likes of You, Me Darlin' [46] There'll Always Be a Santa Claus [46] Wild Maracas (Rumor de Maracas) [46,47] Alice in Rhythmland (Song) [48] 1941
The Ranger Rides Again [45,49]Tall Cedars [47,49] Throw the Boys a Kiss [50] 1942
If You'll Say You're Sorry1946
Lazy Mary, Will You Get Up (Before theSun Goes Down)? [40,51] 1948
Since I Saw the LightDown in Bermuda, I Met a Beautiful Yehuda The Bride Sat There and Cried Condemned Am I, Without Your Love [52] 1950
Spell of the BayouCan I Help It If I'm Helpless in Your Arms? [53]
1. w/William Tracey
2. w/J.J. Roberts 3. w/"Happy" O'Neill 4. w/Oliver E. Story 5. w/Robert R. Roden 6. w/Pete Wendling 7. w/Charles A. Bayha 8. w/Louis Klein 9. w/Victor Wood 10. w/Richard Howard 11. w/Lewis F. Muir 12. w/Charles R. McCarron 13. w/Edgar Leslie 14. w/Joe Young 15. w/Sam M. Lewis 16. w/Alex Gerber 17. w/Howard Johnson 18. w/Jeff T. Branen 19. w/Murray Roth 20. w/Harry Pease 21. w/Alfred Jentes 22. w/Leon Flatow 23. w/Coleman Goetz 24. w/William Jerome 25. w/Milton Ager 26. w/Grant Clarke 27. w/Fred Fisher 28. w/Eugene West 29. w/Jack Glogau 30. w/Phil Phillips 31. w/Joe Manuel 32. w/Mack Henshaw 33. w/Henry Creamer 34. w/Paul Ash 35. w/Basil Adleman 36. w/Sam Adleman 37. w/Doris Fisher 38. w/George B. McConnell 39. w/Arthur Turker 40. w/Robert "Duke" Leonard 41. w/Ira Schuster 42. w/Paul Cunningham 43. w/William Tracey 44. w/Bradford Browne 45. w/Artie Jones 46. w/Emilio de Torres 47. w/Richard Sanford 48. w/Walter Hirsch 49. w/Elton Britt 50. w/Gladys Shelley 51. w/Al Lewis 52. w/Molly Ann Eager 53. w/Mitchell Parish |
Isadore Harold Jentes (some sources cite Isobel or Isidore) was born to German father Henry Jentes and American mother Rebecca Barnet, in Manhattan, New York. He was a life-long New York city resident. Isadore was the oldest of four boys in the family, including Jerome A. (7/16/1890), Alfred Russel (11/26/1891) and Herbert Jules. (12/16/1897). His father, Henry, was a furrier by trade. By the early 1900s, Isadore had all but dropped his first name and adopted Harry derived from his middle name. In 1909 he was listed on a passenger manifest for the Prinz August Wilhelm sailing to Cologne (Colon), Germany.
Whether this was to visit his father's homeland or receive further musical training is unclear. For the 1910 census the family was shown in Manhattan, with Henry evidently retired, and Harry being the only one in the household who was employed, working in a brokerage office.
Whether this was to visit his father's homeland or receive further musical training is unclear. For the 1910 census the family was shown in Manhattan, with Henry evidently retired, and Harry being the only one in the household who was employed, working in a brokerage office.Harry's first known professional position was as a pianist for the firm of Frederick A. Mills in 1910 or 1911. By the 1912 Harry had become a proficient enough performer in his twenties to work in vaudeville and do some arranging. His first instrumental was Rhapsody Rag, a worthy effort that is still heard today on occasion. Starting in 1912 Harry teamed up with a number of lyricists and turned out some fine songs as well. One of those, I'll Be Welcome in My Home Town, became a big hit for lyricist William Tracey who also published the piece and several others. Jentes joined his staff as the manager of the professional department, but the company was ultimately short-lived. It was reported in the Music Trade Review of December 11, 1912, that publisher Leo Feist paid around $250,000 to acquire the song that year (although this price clearly included some other properties of Tracey's publishing company), but Harry did not benefit quite so much from this transaction as he might have hoped. Still, he was looking ahead stylistically as well, writing material that was out of the ordinary for popular ragtime. Among those pieces was his jaunty California Sunshine of 1913, forecasting elements of jazz in its unusual progressions and riffs. Harry's eclectic Soup and Fish Rag was also quite unique, and a challenge to perform.
Jentes was also an early piano roll performer and one of the earliest ragtime recording artists on records, covering a great many tunes besides his own. Harry's works showed a leaning towards traditional jazz and beyond early on, incorporating advanced chords and rhythms into his rag and song performances,
and when possible, in their published renditions. One of the earliest concerns he played for was the United States Music Company based in Chicago. When one analyzes his recorded performances in comparison with the printed score, it underscores his improvisational abilities, as well as those to create harmonies and progressions that composers like George Gershwin or Cole Porter would later include in their own works. Near the end of 1913 he secured a position on the staff of Broadway Music run by composer Will Von Tilzer, working as a composer and song plugger. In 1914, with writer Charles McCarron, Harry formed a music publishing house at the Crown Music Company, who worked as their selling agent. The firm lasted only a few months before they sold off the copyrights.
and when possible, in their published renditions. One of the earliest concerns he played for was the United States Music Company based in Chicago. When one analyzes his recorded performances in comparison with the printed score, it underscores his improvisational abilities, as well as those to create harmonies and progressions that composers like George Gershwin or Cole Porter would later include in their own works. Near the end of 1913 he secured a position on the staff of Broadway Music run by composer Will Von Tilzer, working as a composer and song plugger. In 1914, with writer Charles McCarron, Harry formed a music publishing house at the Crown Music Company, who worked as their selling agent. The firm lasted only a few months before they sold off the copyrights.Harry married Mae Gibbons around 1915 (a 1910 birth for Mae was indicated on their shared tombstone, but that is clearly optimistic at best, as the 1910 and 1930 censuses showed it to be more likely 1893). It was in 1915 that Harry also joined ASCAP which had been founded by many of his peers during the prior year. One of his more significant hits came in 1915, Put Me to Sleep with an Old-Fashioned Melody (Wake Me Up with a Rag). That song made Harry even more in demand as a composer. The following year would see the innovative Bantam Step, an adaptable rag that could be played in a variety of ways, as he later demonstrated on a piano roll. Harry appears to have also become involved with the Werblow-Fisher Corporation, a publisher jobber and syndicate that placed sheet music in ten cent stores such Woolworths, Kress and Kresge, and even some department stores. He was mentioned in an advertisement in advance of their IPO (Initial Public Offering) in 1915 as they were looking for investors.
His talent was enough to land him a position with Leo Feist, as announced in the December 9, 1916 Music Trade Review:
Harry Jentes, who has for the last two years been on the writing staff of the Broadway Music Corp., was recently added to the writing and professional staff of Leo Feist, Inc. Mr. Jentes has written two of the best novelty songs published this season. His first production for Leo Feist, Inc., was the fall novelty hit, 'He May Be Old, But He's Got Young Ideas,' which has been quickly followed with his latest Hebrew song, 'When Sara Saw Theda Bara,' a song which is predicted will be the season's sensation in its class. Mr. Jentes is best known by his 'Put Me to Sleep With an Old Fashioned Melody,' and the 'Fountain of Youth' song, and it is stated that he is working on ideas for several songs calculated to further his reputation.
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On Jentes' 1917 draft record he is shown to be employed by Feist. Among his frequent partners there was the busy lyricist Alex Gerber. However, soon after Jentes was established with Feist, the firm published one of his greatest comic World War One hits, composed with Harry Pease and the prolific Howard Johnson. I Don't Want to Get Well. It helped to bring a brighter view of wounded or sick soldiers in hospitals populated by attractive nurses. Harry was also employed by the Rose Valley Company, playing on some of their Ideal piano rolls, and appeared on a few Universal Song Rolls as well.
In early 1919 Harry was employed by Jack Mills, whose new firm was just then gaining a reputation as a publisher of novelty piano works, among other items. However, by October he had defected to Irving Berlin's company as a staff arranger and composer. Jentes had a string of minor hits from that point on into the early 1920s. The 1920 census showed Harry and Mae in Manhattan, and he listed himself as a songwriter and publisher.
In 1922 Harry became part of case law in a decision based on a lawsuit he had brought against his most recent employer, as detailed in The Music Trade Review of April 1, 1922:
A recent decision by Judge Julian W. Mack in the United States District Court in the Southern District of New York is of much importance to songwriters and music publishers. The action was that of Harry Jentes against the music publishing firms of Jerome H. Remick & Co. and Irving Berlin, Inc., Jentes contending that he had placed a song called 'All By Myself' with Jerome H. Remick & Co., signing the usual contract and release. He further claimed that at a later date Irving Berlin, Inc., published a song called 'All by Myself' which he alleges was an infringement of his song placed with the Remick house. The court held that a songwriter, after having assigned a copyright of a number to a publisher, does not retain an equitable right to institute a suit for infringement. It therefore failed to see how Jentes was aggrieved insofar as he had assigned a song to Remick & Co., and if any suit was to be brought against Irving Berlin, Inc., 
Remick was the one to sue. The Remick Co. failing to bring such suit closes the case.
Remick was the one to sue. The Remick Co. failing to bring such suit closes the case.Just the same, from around that time on Berlin would frequently use his own name in the title to avoid further problems, such as Irving Berlin's Blue Skies.
Jentes was one of the earlier performers to take advantage of the new medium of radio, and radio certainly liked him. His unique jazz piano style was heard frequently on AT&T owned WEAF from New York starting in 1923, and soon after on WJZ and WOR, as per a plethora of listings in New York newspapers. Many of them described him as a Jazz Pianist. Harry's fingers flew across the airwaves throughout the mid-1920s, and some of the stations he was on reached halfway across the country. As novelty piano took hold in the 1920s, Harry managed a few hits, many of which he played on the air. They were largely more popular on rolls or records than in print, given their inherent difficulty. Among them, The Cat's Pajamas and Juggling the Ivories were innovative, and stood up fairly well to the output of novelty composers like Roy Bargy and Zez Confrey. Many of these compositions ended up in folio of novelty pieces published in 1924. Harry then contributed some music to a 1925 production of Earl Carroll's Vanities on Broadway, and possibly had something to do with the staging or script as well. But his fortunes diminished as the Great Depression took hold. For the 1930 census Harry and Mae were still living in Manhattan, but now he was listed simply as a music clerk in a publishing house. As there were no copyrighted pieces of his found from 1928 through 1935, this appears to be correct. There was no indication that Harry and Mae ever had children.
A handful of pieces were composed by Jentes in the 1930s, most published by Mills, but no hits of any significance. The 1940 enumeration showed that he and Mae had moved a few blocks from their previous residence into a Fort Washington Ave. apartment, and he was once again listed as a composer of songs. Harry's 1942 draft record showed no employer, and it was likely that he was either retired or self-employed. After a surge of songs in 1942 and a few throughout the decade, the last known output from Harry was a 1950 tune co-written with Stardust lyricist Mitchell Parish. Little is known of his life beyond this point through his later years. Harry Jentes died of complications from pneumonia in 1958 at age 70. He was survived by his brothers and his wife. Mae passed on in 1963 in New York City. They are interred together at Saint Raymonds Cemetery in Bronx, New York.