Richard Grant "R.G." Grady (O'Grady)
(January 18, 1885 to March 24, 1944)
Compositions    
1908
Don't Tell Lies [1]
1909
Pin Cushion: Rag
Indian Summer: Intermezzo [2]
1910
The Glad Rag: Ragtime Essence
The Angel's Dream: Reverie
Eventide: Meditation
Robin Hood: Intermezzo
Chimes at Twilight
Musical Echoes from Teddy Bear Land
  Sunrise
  Teddy Bears Going to School: March
  Teddy Bears in School: Three Step
  Teddy Bears Coming from School: Polka
  Teddy Bears Playing Foot Ball: Schottische
  Teddy Bears in an Air Ship: Dance
  Teddy Bears at Home
  Teddy Bears at the Dance: Waltz
  Teddy Bears Coming from the Dance: Patrol
  Teddy Bears in Slumberland: Meditation
Our Nations Colors: March [2]
Sunshine and Roses: Flower Song [2]
Boys in Blue [3]
Echoes of the Brook: Three Step [3]
Sunset Limited: March [3]
Vacation Time: March [4]
Fairyland Waltz [4]
Do You Love Me As You Loved Me Long
    Ago [4]
Wreath of Roses: Waltz [4]
Royal Blue: March and Two Step [5]
Chanticleer: Waltz [5]
1911
Nonesense: A Ragged Sensation
Flower Festival: March [3]
Rippling Waves: Three Step Mazurka [3]
Convent Chimes [4]
By the Old Red Mill [4,6]
The Haven of Rest: Reverie [5]
Golden West [5]
In the Valley Where the Blue Grass Grows [7]
1912
Trinity Chimes
Chimes of Venice
That Brass Band Rag
The Old Church Bell
When the Village Band was Playing on the
    Green
That Devilish Glide
That Dixie Rag [2]
Golden Eventide [2]
Enchanted Woodland: Meditation [2]
Isle of Beauty [4]
Sunbeams [4]
1912 (Cont)
Eugene Mack Melody: Waltz [5]
Maple Leaf: Waltz [5]
Boys and Girls: March [5]
Song of the Leaves [5]
Spring Flowers [5]
Oak Leaf: March [5]
Under the Elms [5]
Dreams of Childhood Days [8]
That Devilish Glide: Song [9]
That Good Old Rag [9]
Meet Me in the Moonlight, Dearie [10]
Sing Me an Old-Fashioned Song [11]
1913
Happy Rag
Leaves of Autumn (Autumn Leaves): Idyl
Old Swanee Rag
Sweet Simplicity
Our Brave Heroes: March [5]
When I Lived with Grandma on the Farm [5]
My Dixie Rose [11]
1914
Playing Tag [2]
Swinging: Waltz [12]
1915
The Dreamer: Meditation
Roll Along Harvest Moon [13]
1916
Squirrel Food: Rag
1917
Keep the Home Lights Buring [14]
1918
We'll All Be Glad to See You When It's
    Over [15]
1919
Christmas Chimes
Those Were Years of Sunshine [5,16]

1. w/Bessie Boneil
2. as Victor Moulton
3. as Henry Bartell
4. as Violet Hudson
5. as Eugene Mack
6. w/Edward Stanley
7. w/Jack Donnelly
8. w/Bessie Grady
9. w/Haven Gillispie
10. w/A.J. Clarke
11. w/Ruth De Long
12. as Bessie Barrett
13. w/J. Will Callahan
14. w/William H. Dixon
15. w/Clyde N. Kramer
16. w/F.H. Beilfuss
Richard G. Grady seems to have almost intentionally left mystery behind him in his life. He was one of those part-time musicians who was public when it mattered, but stayed out of virtually any kind of trouble, making it hard to track major events in his life. He was born in Newport, Rhode Island to British stone mason Michael O'Grady and his bride Ellen Barrett. His death record indicates Anna Marion as his mother, but that name is in error as it was his stepmother. Ellen appears to have died soon after Richard's birth, as Anna and Michael were married in 1888. He had six step-siblings who were born in New Jersey from 1890 to 1892, and Connecticut from 1895 to 1899, indicating that Michael had relocated the family to New Haven, Connecticut by that time, as shown in local directories.old swanee rag cover The 1900 enumeration showed that Richard was boarding in a Connecticut school for boys in New Haven, a likely place for him to have received basic musical training. His father and family were living in nearby Norwalk. At that time Richard was still using his birth name of O'Grady, but within a few years he would drop the Irish connotation, adopting Grady. While there is no confirmation, there is enough accumulated evidence to suggest that Richard had some difficulties with his family situation, which would explain the boarding school and name change.
The next location where Richard was found is Chicago, Illinois, where he apparently lived from around 1905 to the mid-1910s. It was there he met his wife, Bessie McKeown, a native of Kentucky. According to a later census record they married in 1905 or so, and had one child, their daughter Helen Grady, born on Chicago on November 25, 1906. Grady's first known song appeared around 1908, Don't Tell Lies, written with New York composer Bessie Boniel, who would go on to write some early movie scenarios. His first syncopated instrumental appeared a year later, Pin Cushion Rag.
The Grady family is virtually impossible to find in the 1910 census, but given Richard's output of that year, he probably listed himself as a musician. Among his more popular works was a set of ten Teddy Bear pieces, Musical Echoes from Teddy Bear Land, aimed at third or fourth grade piano students. Anything musical combined with Teddy Bears was a good seller, even though their namesake, President Theodore Roosevelt, was out of office by 1910. He also turned out a number of fairly ordinary but nicely written parlor pieces. Perhaps preparing for a more prolific career than he actually ended up having, Grady, working largely with McKinley Music in Chicago, having adopted at least six pseudonyms by 1910. The first was an Italian variation on his Irish name, R.G. Gradi, used largely for classically oriented parlor pieces. The others were Harry Bartell, Eugene Mack, Violet Hudson, Bessie Barrett after his mother, and Victor Moulton, all verified during a period of re-copyrights of his works in the late 1930s and early 1940. There was a Eugene Mack in vaudeville, whose real name Eugene Schuler, but as he was based in New York City and most of the works under these names were issued under the McKinley banner, there was no clear connection found linking the two. In spite of all these identities, 1910 to 1912 was ostensibly the peak of Grady's known output under the collective names.
Richard managed to snag a good opportunity in 1911. He formed a band that traveled with the Cole and Rice Railroad Show, a combination vaudeville and circus outfit, through their spring and summer season. (The Coles would eventually split from Rice to form the Cole Brothers Railroad Circus.) His band got a mention in the news in the New York Clipper on April 1, 1911:
my dixie rose rag cover
The Cole & Rice R. R. Shows will open Saturday, April 22. The opening town has not been selected, but it will be near the Geneva. Ohio. Winter quarters. J. D. Harrison is at headquarters now organizing the side show and concert. Bert Rickman handles the candy stands and lunch car; he is also at the quarters getting ready. R. G. Grady, of Chicago will furnish the big show band. The first consignment of animals have arrived. Prof. Berris has his ten trained animal acts all ready for the road. All new canvas will be shipped to Winter quarters April 3. Everything is lovely, and the goose hangs high.
Grady would turn out a rag in 1911 and two in 1912, plus a fairly popular number, That Devilish Glide, penned with future star lyricist Haven Gillespie. One other sentimental piece composed with Mrs. Grady also debuted. Richard's two most popular rags emerged in 1913, Happy Rag and the commonly found Old Swanee Rag. These works showed promise that would never really be cultivated. In the 1913 Chicago directory he was listed as Richard G. Gradi of R.G. & Co., music pubs, a short lived venture. There were a couple of Eugene Mack pieces issued under that banner. Richard had at least one more rag in him, however, Squirrel Food from 1916. His output having dropped, perhaps his muse had left him or he just wasn't making it in the highly competitive Chicago music world. By 1917 the Grady family had moved to Ohio, where he would spend the rest of his life.
In 1918 on his draft record, Richard was living in Dayton, Ohio, and working as a stock keeper for a local engineering lab company. There is no mention of his music career in that record, even though he was listed as a musician in the city directory. He apparently was not called to serve in the final weeks of World War I. The last known Grady piece, Christmas Chimes, one of many chimes or bell pieces he had composed, was published in 1919, possibly a holdover from his time in Chicago. The 1920 enumeration proved to be as fruitless as the 1910 record, so while his whereabouts are assumed to have been western Ohio, his occupation was not known.
By 1930 Grady had brought the family into the act, suggesting perhaps that his wife Bessie had been a performer when he first met her. They were living in Cleveland in an apartment at 1924 Prospect Avenue for that year's census, and three of them, including 23 year old daughter Helen, listed their profession as theater musicians. By 1932 they had relocated south to Columbus, Ohio, where Richard was listed as the director of the Richard G. Grady School of Music through at least 1934. The advertisement claimed that "All Band and Orchestra Instruments [were] Taught." It was probably not the best time in America to launch such an endeavor, due to the Great Depression. He was then listed as a pianist in the 1937 directory. During the mid-1930s, Helen left the fold to pursue her own career. The 1939 Columbus directory had Richard working as a teacher for the Rudolph Wurlitzer Piano Company.
As noted in his 1942 draft record, Richard was still living in Columbus, Ohio, but lodging at the central YMCA on West Long Street. He was working, presumably as a pianist, but possibly as a salesman for the F&R Lazarus Company, a large department store in Columbus. The 1941 Columbus directory showed him to be a salesman there, but the 1942 listing showed him curiously enough as a teacher for the company. Richard also indicated that he worked at the Town and High, another large department store, which suggests he played piano at both stores as well, or perhaps was a Wurlitzer piano representative. Even though she is listed with him in both the 1941 and 1942 city directories, it is possible that Bessie was separated from her husband since she would not have also been living at the YMCA. Richard Grady would pass away in Columbus in early 1944 at age 59, sadly having only achieved the mid-level status that so many ragtime era musicians and composers would attain, but still having left a few assorted gems behind for us to enjoy today. Bessie, still evidently married to him, survived Richard until June 1972, also dying in Columbus.
Thanks to researcher Reginald Pitts who turned up a couple of helpful details on Richard Grady's whereabouts
Article Copyright© by the author, Bill Edwards. Research notes and sources available on request at ragpiano.com - click on Bill's head.