Bernard A'al Adler (May 8, 1879 to September 27, 1969)
Compositions
1896 Have You Seen the Old Home Since You     Left It? [1] 1898 I Want a Real Coon: Two Step I Want a Real Coon: Song [1] Sweet Lillie Lavender: Waltz [1] I'm One of the Family Now [1] 1899 I'se Done Grown Tired of Coon Songs [1] Rebecca's Left Home with a Coon [1] Be A Good Fellow My Boy [1] 1906 The Rose and The Heart [2] Dat Lovin' Rag: Song [2] The Swellest Girl I Ever Knew [2] 1907 Love, Love, Love [2] 1908 Dat Lovin' Rag: Rag Good Morning Judge [2] The Boodle Man [2] Won't You Come Up and Spoon in Coey's     Balloon [2]	1909 That Dreamy Rag I Love My Horse and Wagon, But Oh!     You Buick Car [2] That Dreamy Rag: Song [3] 1911 When You're Not Here That Loving Waltz When I'm Away That Dying Rag [4] 1912 Just As the Ship Went Down: A Song of     the Sea [5,6]    1. w/Arthur J. Lamb    2. w/Victor H. Smalley    3. w/Harry L. Newton    4. w/Irving Berlin    5. w/Sidney Gibson    6. w/Edith Maida Lessing

     Only snippets of information are available on the life of Bernard Adler, who made at least one important ragtime contribution. The collective snippets are presented here for the first time as a long-view portrait of the composer. Bernard was born in Chicago, Illinois to Louis Adler, a German immigrant clock and watch repairman, and his California born wife Sophie (or Sallie) Adler. He was the middle of five children, including Flora (c.1876), Maurice (c.1878), Sophie (1880) and Janet (1889). While little is known of his training or home life, his abilities went beyond what would be taught at Chicago public schools. The fact that Maurice also became involved in the Music Business suggests that the brothers received some kind of formal music instruction in a town full of very competent musical talent.
     Bernard's first published composition appeared in 1896 when he was just 17. Teamed up with British immigrant Arthur J. Lamb, who over the next few years would make quite a name for himself in Chicago and New York, it was the first of several songs from 1896 to 1899 that spanned the sentimental and outright "coon" song formats. In fact, Lamb's take on the genre that had done well for him in the beginning, I'se Done Grown Tired of Coon Songs, is an indication of how many musicians and consumers had reached saturation as far as exposure to such songs. Their I Want a Real Coon from 1898 was enough of a hit on the Chicago stage to warrant an instrumental release as well. Curiously, the 1900 Census does not list an occupation for Bernard, Maurice or their father, which is likely an oversight, since all three were gainfully employed. Bernard is shown as a musician in at least one early Chicago directory, even though he was still living with his parents.
     Adler worked largely in drinking establishments and occasionally for the stage over the next few years, as Lamb had moved on. Then in 1906 his pieces started to appear again, this time with New York native journalist Victor H. Smalley. One of their first pieces was Dat Lovin' Rag, dedicated to W.B. Dixon of St. Paul, Minnesota, where Smalley would be residing by 1910. Published first in Chicago, the piece got picked up by F.B. Haviland in New York where it saw a measure of success. This simple ragtime song was integrated into a 1907 play with lyrics and libretto by the ambitious Smalley. The Merry Widower had a short 1908 run at the famous Pekin Theater. While the play did not endure, the song did through the efforts of rising star Sophie Tucker. In fact, the feedback she got from Dat Lovin' Rag convincer her to steer more towards syncopated songs in her act, soon propelling her to national stardom. The piece also became a solo piano rag with a little bit of rearranging in 1908, one of those rare instances where the instrumental version came after the song.
     Bernie and Victor continued to turn out a few more pieces through 1909 after which Smalley moved to Minnesota for a full time job in the newspaper business. Adler continued to write sporadically with a couple of other lyricists, including Irving Berlin. There is no indication that Adler lived in New York City for any amount of time, so the details of how he got involved with Berlin as a lyricist for That Dying Rag are not available. Perhaps the title was not all that attractive, as sales on the piece were only moderate, even after Berlin achieved fame late in the year for his Alexander's Ragtime Band. Bernard is shown in the 1910 Census as having been recently married to Lottie Adler. His brother Maurice appears in the same Census listed as a sheet music salesman, although no specific firm is indicated.
     For whatever twist of fate was involved, Adler did manage to become involved in one of the most visible hot topic songs of 1912. There was an almost macabre rush to get books and songs to press after the tragic sinking of the ill-fated steamship Titanic in April of 1912. Adler teamed up with two other Chicago area composers for what would become perhaps the most enduring of these entries, Just as the Ship Went Down. Somewhere between the maudlin Asleep in the Deep and the catchy The Band Played On, it found performance venues all over the country, particularly where films of the ship leaving dock and the rescued survivors pulling into New York Harbor were shown. In spite of this success, it is the last known published song from Bernie's pen.
     The trail goes partially cold there. With the proliferation of (traditional) jazz in Chicago in the mid 1910s and the influx of talented pianists from St. Louis and New Orleans, the work may simply have dried up. In 1918 Bernie was listed in 1918 working as a traveling salesman for the Roman Oil Portrait Company. Not quite 40 yet, he cited rheumatism in his left foot and a rib injury as exemptions from the draft. He is not readily found in the 1920 Census, although Maurice is still present as a sheet music salesman. Bernie is seen in a couple of 1920s directories in Chicago, but none that indicate his vocation. The 1930 Census, however, does show him as a night club musician, actually living at the club at 749 Rush Street in Chicago with other performers. That same year, Maurice was busy in a new career as the owner of a toy store. Beyond 1930, Bernard's death record seems to be all that exists of him in terms of documentation. However, he must have briefly enjoyed some new fame when Capitol Records A&R man Lou Busch recorded Adler's most famous piece, Dat Lovin' Rag, on the first all ragtime LP, Honky-Tonk Piano in 1950. Although Busch had re-titled it to That Everlovin' Rag and rearranged it somewhat, the piece was still recognizable. An even more accurate rendition was recorded by Dick Hyman in 1958 on one of his honky-tonk albums as Knuckle's O'Toole. Any further verifiable information on Bernard Adler from the 1920s through his death would be gladly accepted and acknowledged if used.

Theron Catlin Bennett (July 9, 1879 to April 6, 1937)
Compositions
1902 Pickaninny Capers 1903 Satified: An Emotional Drag 1904 Eliza Simpkins St. Louis World's Fair Waltzes St. Louis Tickle [1] She Was From Missouri 1905 Carnival Times Gravy [w/Morris S. Silver] Oh, Listen Ruth [w/Will L. Hall] When Wilderness Was King 1906 Paddy: Characteristic Two Step She's My Gal [w/John D. Puderer] The Burning of Frisco Town     [w/Bob Adams] 1907 Sweet Pickles [2] 1908 Pudnin' Tame Stung: A Teddy Bear Two-Step 1909 Pork and Beans Lovelight: An Indian Intermezzo Lovelight: An Indian Serenade In G     [w/Hal Harrett]	1909 (Cont) Lovelight: An Indian Serenade In C     [w/C.P. McDonald] 1910 Sycamore Saplin' Rag 1911 I'm Lonely Since You Went Away     [w/William Frederick Peters] Tell Tale Eyes [w/Hal Harrett] 1912 Chills and Fever Rag Ain't It Funny [3] 1914 In Dreamy Panama [3] Sweetie Be Kind to Me [3] 1916 Some Blues (For You All) 1918 That's What makes a Wildcat Wild [3] At the Old Square Dances Down in     Arkansaw [3] 1924 My Love's A Radio 1925 Fireflies on Parade    1. as Barney & Seymore    2. as George E. Florence    3. w/George Norton

     Theron C. Bennett was born in Pierce City, Missouri, to Vermont native George Nelson Bennett and his Missouri wife Hattie Bennett. It appears he was an only child to the druggist and his wife. After his schooling in Missouri, during which his mother died in the 1890s, Theron attended New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (now New Mexico State University) in Las Cruces, where he obtained a degree focused on music, but possibly with some business background. While there he engaged in organizing a minstrel troupe of around twenty members with one of the professors. As of the 1900 Census, Theron still listed Pierce City as his home base.
     Bennett's first publication, Pickaninny Capers, came in 1902, the year he graduated. It was followed by the successful and suggestive self-published Satisfied: An Emotional Drag in 1903. This got the attention of publisher Victor Kremer of Chicago who hired him as a composer and arranger and bought Satisfied for reissue as well. It turned out to be a fortuitous move for both when in 1904 Bennett took the notorious "Buddy Bolden/Funky Butt" strain from New Orleans and incorporated into St. Louis Tickle, one of many pieces exploiting the 1904 Lewis and Clark Exposition (World's Fair) in St. Louis, Missouri. It was published using the names Barney & Seymore as the composers, in part to perhaps sound like a vaudeville act, and in part to perhaps protect the composer's identity if the use of the wicked strain backfired. Fortunately it did not, and St. Louis Tickle, clearly a hit at the fair and often recorded since, ended up selling well for over two decades. Bennett also contributed a set of waltzes to the fair's musical mélange under his own name.
     Theron wrote two fine rags over the next few years, including Sweet Pickles and Pork and Beans. He also composed an Indian intermezzo, a popular genre at that time started by Theron's friend Charles N. Daniels' and his non-Indian piece Hiawatha. Lovelight was released as an instrumental, and as two songs with different lyric sets in different keys. Around 1908, as the Kremer firm began to dissipate, starting with the defection of its namesake owner, Bennett formed his own music firm which published his own works plus notable pieces like All the Grapes, California Sunshine and Melancholy Baby. His first move was to Omaha, Nebraska, in 1908 where he opened a new piano dealership. He was in Omaha for the 1910 Census as a musician in a store. Within a couple of years, he had settled in Denver, Colorado, but still traveled regularly to the retailers he distributed his works, including New York, St. Louis and Omaha.
     One of the more notorious episodes of his publishing career has to do with W.C. Handy's Memphis Blues. As the story goes, Bennett was visiting his Memphis representative L.Z. Phillips at Bry's Department Store. Phillips had agreed to print Memphis Blues for Handy on speculation based on the clear potential of good sales, and was waiting for the first 1000 copies for distribution in Memphis. Based on Phillips recommendation, Bennett told Handy he would act as a distribution agent offering him national exposure, a deal hard to turn down. Phillips and Bennett were both present with Handy when the initial delivery of 1000 copies was made. When Handy came to check on sales a weeks after the delivery, Phillips and Bennett showed him a stack of nearly the full 1000 copies, noting that sales were slow, and encouraged him to simply sell the piece outright, which a confused Handy, who knew the piece had been popular, agreed to for a mere $50. What they did not tell Handy was that this was the second stack of 1000 as the first 1000 copies had sold out quickly. A few weeks later, another 10,000 copies were ordered with Bennett's imprint, and Zimmerman was offered a job as a wholesale manager. Within months, Bennett sold the piece to publisher Joe Morris for a rather large amount. To make matters worse, Bennett's frequent lyricist George Norton was hired by Morris to add words to a song version of Memphis Blues which were only fair at best, and which Handy objected to. The whole episode compelled Handy to form his own music company, Handy and Pace, which was successful on its own merits for many years.
     Bennett pulled a similar number on Ernie Burnett's Melancholy, first getting Burnett to agree to have Norton replace the lyrics that Burnett's wife Maybelle Watson had penned, then altering the title to Melancholy Baby after having bought it outright. The piece did very well for the publisher throughout most of his remaining life. During this period Bennett also started a chain of music stores with his profits from the sales, primarily offering sheet music and records. He had outlets in Denver, New York City, Omaha, Chicago, St. Louis and Memphis.
     Bennett continued to write and publish some of his own works as well. Chills and Fevers was a good seller for his company. In Denver, Theron was listed in the mid to late-1910s as not only a publisher but as the proprietor of the Dutch Mill Cafe (a descendant of which is still in operation today), which was also a music store. It was evidently one of the great meeting places of Denver musicians and artists. In 1917 he published the song Around Her Neck She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, which is the source of the tradition for yellow ribbons in honor of those who have gone to war, and possibly the later song Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree. The authorship of this song remains disputed to this day, but it was likely an older folk melody that Bennett simply adapted and arranged. When it was later included in the John Wayne film She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Leroy Parker and M. Ottner received composition credit.
     His 1918 draft record also describes him as being short with medium build, and black hair with brown eyes. It also indicates that his father had now retired to Florida. Existing records indicate that he likely never married. In the 1920 Census Theron is listed as the manager of a department store, likely the sheet music department within the store. There is a mention of him in The Music Trade Review of December 24, 1921: "Theron Bennett, proprietor of the 'Dutch Mill' cafe and sheet music store of Denver, Col., was in San Francisco recently, visiting his old friend, B. Adkins, of the Remick Song Shop. Mr. Bennett reports that business in the sheet music trade has been quite satisfactory during the late Autumn months."
     After a decade or so in Denver, Bennett followed the crowds down to Southern California in 1922, and remained there for the rest of his life. It wasn't long before he formed a jazz band primarily composed of band students from the University of Southern California (USC) as well as his own society orchestra. His group was among the first to play live on the new medium of radio before the end of 1922. As referenced in The Music Trade Review of April 14, 1923: "Edgar F. Bitner, general manager of Leo Feist, Inc., who is touring the Pacific Coast accompanied by Mrs. Bitner, was tendered an unusual entertainment prior to his departure from Los Angeles, when an all-Feist program was broadcasted [sic] from the Anthony Studios, [KFI] station, through the courtesy of Herb Wiedoeft's orchestra... Theron Bennett, the well-known orchestra leader who conducts the Green Mill Orchestra in Los Angeles, and who has been a close friend of Mr. Bitner for many years, did much to entertain the party during its stay in Los Angeles." He also conducted the Packard Six Orchestra (sponsored by the automobile company of the same name), and still appeared with his Dutch Mill Orchestra, both frequently hear on KFI. In the mid 1920s KFI, a clear channel station, could often be heard as far off as the East Coast, reflected in the radio listings of papers like The Washington Post and The Bridgeport [Connecticut] Telegram.
     In the mid 1920s Bennett opened his own school of popular music, dance music and jazz piano at 3290 W. Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, advertising it heavily in 1926. He also served as the president of the California organization of former New Mexico students for his alma mater. As of 1930 Bennett was listed as a music teacher with a house mate, Austen Peerly, a local gardener and landscaper 30 years younger than the composer. As the Great Depression settled in, his businesses all folded and he lost virtually all of his assets. Theron Bennett died nearly destitute in 1937 at age 57 after a prolonged illness. The official obituary in the Los Angeles Times incorrectly listed Melancholy Baby and Memphis Blues as being among his compositions, which further exacerbated that lingering issue. The New York Times got it correct, however. He left behind a fair body of pieces that he either composed or published, and some of them are pieces that are still well remembered today as important works of the ragtime era. Bennett was honored at the one of the earliest ragtime festivals organized by Bob Darch in Pierce City in September 1961.

Irving Berlin (Israel Isidore Baline) (May 11, 1888 to September 22, 1989)
Compositions
1907 Marie from Sunny Italy [w/Nick Nicholson] 1908 The Best of Friends Must Part Queenie, My Own [w/Maurice Abrahams] 1909 Dorando I Just Come Back To Say Good-Bye Just Like The Rose Oh, What I Know About You Yiddle, on Your Fiddle, Play Some Ragtime That Mesmerizing Mendelssohn Tune I Didn't Go Home At All [5] Someone's Waiting For Me {We'll Wait Wait     Wait} [5] Sadie Salome Go Home! [5] Wild Cherries Rag (Song) [4] Christmas-Time Seems Years and Years     Away [4] She Was A Dear Little Girl [4] If I Thought You Wouldn't Tell [4] Some Little Something About You [4] I Wish That You Was My Gal, Molly [4] No One Could Do It Like My Father [4] Oh! Where is My Wife Tonight? [4,6] Next to Your Mother, Who Do You Love? [4] Stop That Rag (Keep On Playing, Honey) [4] Do Your Duty Doctor (Oh! Oh! Oh! Doctor) [4] Sweet Marie, Make-a Rag-a-time Dance     Wid Me [4] My Wife's Gone to the Country! [4,6] Someone Just Like You, Dear [4] Good-Bye Girlie (and Remember Me) [4] 1910 Sweet Italian Love Before I Go and Marry I Will Have a Talk     With You Yiddisha Eyes Run Home and Tell Your Mother Wishing Stop! Stop! Stop! Come Over, and Love Me     Some More Try it on Your Piano That Kazzatsky Dance Dat Draggy Rag Innocent Bessie Brown It Can't Be Did [unpublished] Alexander and His Clarinet [4] Colored Romeo [4] Call Me Up Some Rainy Afternoon [4] Telling Lies [w/Henrietta Blanke Belcher] Thank You, Kind Sir! Said She [4] Kiss Me, My Honey, Kiss Me [4] How Can You Love Such a Man? [4] Dreams, Just Dreams [4] Herman, Let's Dance That Beautiful Waltz [4] Oh, How That German Could Love [4] Sweet Italian Love [4] Bring Back My Lena to Me [4] If the Managers Only Thought the Same as     Mother [4] I'm A Happy Married Man [4] I'm Going on a Long Vacation [4] Oh, That Beautiful Rag [4] Piano Man [4] Is there Anything Else I Can Do For You? [4] Wishing [4] Dear Mayme, I Love You! [4] When I Hear You Play That Piano, Bill! [4] I Love You More Each Day [4] That Opera Rag [4] The Dance of the Grizzly Bear [w/George     Botsford] 1911 When You're In Town In My Home Town One O'Clock in the Morning I Get Lonesome How Do You Do It Mabel On Twenty Dollars     A Week My Melody Dream: A Song Poem Whistling Rag Don't Put Out The Light [5] He Promised Me Business is Business Rosey Cohen Alexander's Ragtime Band I Beg Your Pardon Dear Old Broadway Dat's-A My Gal Don't Take Your Beau to the Seashore Yiddisha Nightingale Molly-O Oh-Molly Bring Me a Ring in the Spring That Monkey Tune Bring Back My Lovin' Man Meet Me Tonight Woodman, Woodman, Spare That Tree! Everybody's Doin' It Now Cuddle Up When You Kiss An Italian Girl When I'm Alone I'm Lonesome You've Got Me Hypnotized The Ragtime Violin You've Built a Fire Down in My Heart That Mysterious Rag [4] Spanish Love [4,7] Sombrero Land [4,8] After the Honeymoon [4] Down to the "Folies Bergere" [4] Ephraham Played Upon the Piano [7] Dog Gone That Chilly Man [7] Yankee Love [8] Virginia Lou [w/Earl Taylor] The Dying Rag [w/Bernie Adler] 1912 The Yiddish Professor The Ragtime Mockingbird Goody, Goody, Goody, Goody, Good A True Born Soldier Man I'm Going Back To Dixie When I Lost You That's How I Love You Follow Me Around Becky Joined a Musical Show Spring and Fall: A Tone Poem That Society Bear Don't Leave Your Wife Alone If All the Girls I Knew Were Like You Antonio You'd Better Come Home The Rag-time Jockey Man Down in My Heart Wait Until Your Daddy Comes Home The Ragtime Soldier Man My Sweet Italian Man When I'm Thinking Of You When That Midnight Choo, Choo, Leaves     For Alabam' Take a Little Tip From Father Call Again Pick, Pick, Pick, Pick on the Mandolin Antonio A Little Bit of Everything Do It Again Keep Away From the Fellow Who Owns an     Automobile I'm Afraid Pretty Maid I'm Afraid I've Got To Have Some Lovin' Now Lead Me To That Beautiful Band The Elevator Man (Going Up! Going Up!     Going Up!) Come Back to Me, My Melody [4] Take a Little Tip From Father [4] I Want To Be In Dixie [4] When Johnson's Quartet Harmonize The Million Dollar Ball [8] He Played it on His Fid, Fid, Fiddle     Dee-Dee [8] Hiram's Band [8,9] Alexander's Bag-Pipe Band [8,9] 1913 San Francisco Bound Somebody's Coming To My House You Picked a Bad Day Out to Say Good-Bye Happy Little Country Girl Snooky Ookums Keep On Walking Down in Chattanooga Take Me Back Daddy Come Home If You Don't Want Me, Why Do You Hang     Around? At the Devil's Ball Tra-la, La, La! He's So Good To Me The Monkey Doodle Doo The Old Maid's Ball The Apple Tree and the Bumble Bee In My Harem Welcome Home Pullman Porters Parade [1] That International Rag Anna Liza's Wedding Day We Have Much to be Thankful For Kiss Your Sailor Boy Goodbye You've Got Your Mother's Big Blue Eyes They've Got Me Doin' It Now: Medley I Was Aviating Around [1,7] There's a Girl in Arizona [10,5] The Ki-I-Youdleing Dog [w/Jean Schwartz] Jake, Jake, (The Yiddish Ball Player) [11] 1914 This is the Life That's My Idea of Paradise I Want to Go Back to Michigan (Down on     the Farm) They're On Their Way To Mexico Come to the Land of the Argentine When It's Night Time Down in Dixieland If You Don't Want My Peaches (You Better     Stop Shaking the Tree) Furnishing a Home For Two If I Had You God Gave You To Me He's a Rag Picker The Haunted House Always Treat Her Like a Baby If That's Your Idea of a Wonderful Time - Take     Me Home I Love to Quarrel With You Along Came Ruth It Isn't What He Said (But the Way He Said It) Follow the Crowd Stay Down Here Where You Belong Morning Exercises Fox Trot He's a Devil in His Own Home Town [10] Watch Your Step: Musical    Office Hours    What is Love?    The Dancing Teacher    The Minstrel Parade    Let's Go Around the Town    They (Always) Follow Me Around    Show Us How To Do The Fox Trot    When I Discovered You [8]    The Syncopated Walk    Metropolitan Nights    I Love to Have the Boys Around Me    Settle Down in a One-Horse Town    Chatter Chatter    Ragtime Opera Medley (Old Operas in a       New Way)    Move Over    (Won't You Play a) Simple Melody    Look At Them Doing It    Lock Me in Your Harem and Throw the       Key Away    Homeward Bound (added 1915)    I Hate You (added 1915)    Lead Me to Love (added 1915)    I've Got a Go Back to Texas (printed 1916) 1915 When You're Down in Louisville (Call On Me) When I Leave the World Behind My Bird of Paradise The Voice of Belgium Cohen Owes Me Ninety Seven Dollars Homeward Bound Sailor Song I'm Going Back to the Farm I Love To Stay At Home Let's Go Around The Town While the Band Played An American Rag Araby Si's Been Drinking Cider Stop! Look! Listen!: Musical    Blow Your Horn    Give Us a Chance    I Love to Dance    And Father Wanted Me to Learn a Trade    The Girl on the Magazine    I Love a Piano    That Hula Hula    A Pair of Ordinary Coons    Take Off a Little Bit    Teach Me How To Love    The Law Must Be Obeyed    Ragtime Melodrama    When I Get Back to the U.S.A.    Stop! Look! Listen!    I'll Be Coming Home with a Skate On    Everything in America is Ragtime 1916 When the Black Sheep Returns to the Fold I've Got a Sweet Tooth Bothering Me (Pull It      Out, Pull It Out, Pull It Out) The Friars Parade He's Getting Too Darn Big For A Small Town I'm Down in Honolulu (Looking Them Over) Hurry Back to My Bamboo Shack In Florida Among the Palms I'm Not Prepared The Chicken Walk When I'm Out With You Until I Fell in Love With You 1917 Smile and Show Your Dimple How Can I Forget (When There's So Much to     Remember) There Are Two Eyes in Dixie It Takes An Irishman To Make Love For Your Country and My Country Mr. Jazz Himself Wasn't It Yesterday? Poor Little Rich Girl's Dog I'll Take You Back To Italy The Road That Leads To Love Whose Little Heart Are You Breaking Now? Someone Else May Be There While I'm Gone My Sweetie From Here to Shanghai Dance and Grow Thin: Musical    Way Down South (There's Something Nice     About the South) [11]    Birdie [11]    Cinderella Lost Her Slipper [11]    Mary Brown [11]    The Kirchner Girls [11]    Don't Look at Me [11]    Letter Boxes (Just Placed in New York) [11]    Dance and Grow Thin [12]    Let's All Be Americans Now [5,12] 1918 The Cohan Revue of 1918: Musical [13]    Polly Pretty Polly (Polly With A Past)    Show Me the Way    When Ziegfeld's Follies Hit the Town    Our Acrobatic Melodramatic Home    Spanish    The Eyes of Youth (See the Truth)    All Dressed Up in a Tailor-Made    The Potash and Perlmutter Ball    A Man is Only a Man    King of Broadway    The Wedding of Words and Music    The Gathering of the Slaves    The Slave Dance    A Bad Chinaman from Shanghai    Down Where the Jack O'Lanterns Glow    The Old Maid Blues    Who Do You Love?    Their Hearts are Over Here When the Curtain Falls Over the Sea Boys I'm Gonna Pin a Medal on the Girl I Left Behind The Devil Has Bought Up All The Coal The Blue Devils of France [2] I Have Just One Heart For Just One Boy [3] You're So Beautiful [3] Come Along to Toy Town [3] I Wouldn't Give That For The Man Who     Couldn't Dance [3] The Circus is Coming to Town [3] It's the Little Bit of Irish [3] Good-Bye France (You'll Never Be Forgotten)     [3] Yip Yip Yaphank: Army Musical [3]    Hello, Hello, Hello    Bevo    What a Difference a Uniform Will Make    Mandy    The Ragtime Razor Brigade    Ding Dong    Come Along, Come Along, Come Along    Love Interest    Jazz Land    (Dream on Little) Soldier Boy    Send a Lot of Jazz Bands Over There    Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning    Kitchen Police (Poor Little Me)    (I Can Always Find a Little Sunshine) in the     Y.M.C.A.    We're on Our Way To France 1919 The Canary. Fox Trot [3] [W.B. Kernell] Was There Ever a Pal Like You? Everything is Rosie Now for Rosie [10] Sweeter Than Sugar (Is My Sweetie) I Lost My Heart in Dixie Land When My Baby Smiles Revolutionary Rag I Wonder Nobody Knows (and Nobody Seems to Care) The New Moon I Left My Door Open and My Daddy     Walked Out Eyes of Youth The Hand That Rocked My Cradle Rules     My Heart I Never Knew [w/Elsie Janis] Ziegfeld Follies of 1919: Musical    You'd Be Surprised    I've Got My Captain Working For Me Now    I'd Rather See A Minstrel Show    The Follies Minstrels    Mandy (from Yip Yip Yaphank)    Harem Life    I'm the Guy Who Guards the Harem (And My       Heart's in My Work)    A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody    Prohibition    You Cannot Make Your Shimmy Shake On       Tea [w/Rennold Wolf]    The Near Future    A Syncopated Cocktail    My Tambourine Girl    Look Out For The Bolsheviki Man    We Made the Doughnuts Over There 1920 Beautiful Faces (Need Beautiful Clothes) But! (She's Just a Little Bit Crazy About Her     Husband - That's All) Lindy I'll See You in C-U-B-A After You Get What You Want You Don't     Want It Home Again Blues [w/Harry Akst] Ziegfeld Follies of 1920: Musical    Come Along    I'm a Vamp from East Broadway [w/Harry       Ruby & Bert Kalmar]    The Girl of My Dreams    Leg of Nations    Come Along: Ziegfeld Sextette    Poor Floradora Girl    Chinese Fantasy: Chinese Firecrackers    Tell Me Little Gypsy    Bells    The Syncopated Vamp 1921 There's a Corner Up in Heaven Drowsy Head [w/Vaughn De Leath] I Like It All By Myself The Passion Flower At the Court Around the Corner Music Box Revue of 1921: Musical    What's in the Queer-Looking Bundle?    Where Am I?    We Work While You Sleep    We'll Take the Pilot to Ziegfeld    Dancing the Seasons Away    Behind the Fan    In a Cozy Kitchenette Apartment    My Ben Ali Haggin Girl    My Little Book of Poetry    A Play Without a Bedroom    Say It With Music    Everybody Step    I Am a Dumbell    The School House Blues    They Call It Dancing    The Legend of the Pearls    An Interview with Irving Berlin 1922 Some Sunny Day Homesick Music Box Revue of 1922: Musical    Lady of the Evening    Pack Up Your Sins and Go to the Devil    Crinoline Days    Porcelain Maid	1922 (Cont)    Will She Come from the East?    Mont Martre    The Little Red Lacquer Cage    Bring on the Pepper    Diamond Horseshoe    Three Cheers for the Red, White and Blue    I'm Looking For a Daddy Long Legs    Take a Little Wife 1923 Tell All the Folks in Kentucky (I'm     Comin' Home) Too Many Sweethearts Tell Me with a Melody When You Walked Out Someone Else Walked     Right In Music Box Revue of 1923: Musical    An Orange Grove in California    Love to Do the Strut    Little Butterfly    Climbing Up The Scale    Learn to Do the Strut    The Waltz of Long Ago    One Girl    Tell Me a Bedtime Story    Maid of Mesh 1924 The Happy New Year Blues All Alone Lazy What'll I Do Music Box Revue of 1925: Musical    Tell Her in the Springtime    Listening    In the Shade of a Sheltering Tree    Where is My Little Old New York    Alice in Wonderland    Don't Send Me Back to Petrograd    Unlucky in Love    The Call of the South    Rockabye Baby    Who    Tokio Blues 1925 Venetian Isles Remember Don't Wait Too Long Blue Skies Always The Cocoanuts: Musical    The Guests    The Bellhops    Why Do You Want to Know Why?       (added 1927)    Family Reputation    Ting-a-Ling, the Bells 'll Ring       (revised 1926)    Lucky Boy    Why Am I a Hit with the Ladies?    A Little Bungalow    Florida By the Sea    The Monkey Doodle Doo    Five O'Clock Tea    They're Blaming the Charleston    We Should Care    Minstrel Days    Tango Melody    Gentlemen Prefer Blondes    When My Dreams Come True    The Tale of a Shirt 1926 We'll Never Know That's a Good Girl Just a Little Longer How Many Times? Everyone in the World is Doing the Charleston At Peace With The World Because I Love You I'm On My Way Home 1927 The Song is Ended but the Melody Lingers On What Does it Matter? Russian Lullaby Together, We Two Ziegfeld Follies of 1927: Musical    We Want to be Glorified    Ribbons and Bows    Shaking the Blues Away    Ooh, Maybe It's You    Rainbow of Girls    It All Belongs To Me    It's Up to the Band    Jimmy    Learn to Sing a Love Song    Tickling the Ivories    What Makes Me Love You?    The Jungle-Jingle    You Gotta Have "IT" [w/Eddie Cantor]    Now We are Glorified    Why Must We Always Be Dreaming/    Learn to Sing a Love Song    My New York 1928 Roses of Yesterday Coquette Sunshine How About Me? Marie Where is the Song of Songs For Me To Be Forgotten (Good Times With Hoover) Better Times     With Al Yascha Michaeloffsky's Melody I Can't Do Without You 1929 Mammy: Movie    To My Mammy    Here We Are    Looking At You (Across the Breakfast Table)    Let Me Sing and I'm Happy    In the Morning Hallelujah: Movie    Swanee Shuffle    Waiting at the End of the Road Puttin' On the Ritz: Movie    Puttin' on the Ritz    With You 1930 Just a Little While The Little Things in Life Reaching For The Moon 1931 Me! Beggin For Love I Want You for Myself 1932 I'm Playing With Fire I'll Miss You in the Evening How Deep is the Ocean (How High is the Sky?) Say It Isn't So Face the Music: Musical    Lunching at the Automat    Let's Have Another Cup O' Coffee (And Let's       Have Another Piece of Pie)    Torch Song    You Must be Born with It    On a Roof in Manhattan (Castles in Spain)    My Beautiful Rhinestone Girl    Soft Lights and Sweet Music    I Say It's Spinach    Drinking Song    Dear Old Crinoline Days    I Don't Want to be Marries    Manhattan Madness 1933 I Can't Remember Maybe I Love You Too Much I Never Had a Chance As Thousands Cheer: Musical    How's Chances?    Heat Wave    Majestic Sails at Midnight    Lonely Heart    The Funnies    To Be or Not To Be    Easter Parade (Her Easter Bonnet)    Supper Time    Our Wedding day    (I've Got) Harlem on My Mind    Through a Key Hole    Not For All the Rice in China 1934 Moon Over Napoli So Help Me Butterfingers 1935 Top Hat: Movie    Top Hat, White Tie and Tails    No Strings (I'm Fancy Free)    Cheek to Cheek    The Piccolino    Isn't This a Lovely Day? 1936 Follow the Fleet: Movie    I'd Rather Lead a Band    Get Thee Behind Me Satan    We Saw the Sea    But Where Are You?    Let's Face the Music and Dance    I'm Putting All My Eggs In One Basket    Let Yourself Go 1937 On the Avenue: Movie    He Ain't Got Rhythm    On the Avenue    The Girl on the Police Gazette    Slumming on Park Avenue    On the Steps of Grant's Tomb    I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm    Swing Sister    This Year's Kisses    You're Laughing at Me 1938 God Bless America (1918/1938) Alexander's Ragtime Band: Movie    Now It Can Be Told    My Walking Stick    Marching Along with Time Carefree: Movie    Since They Turned Loch Lomond Into Swing    Carefree    Change Partners    The Night is Filled With Music    I Used To Be Color Blind    The Yam 1939 Second Fiddle: Movie    When Winter Comes    I Poured My Heart Into a Song    An Old-Fashined Tune Always is New    I'm Sorry For Myself    Back to Back    The Song of the Metronome 1940 If You Believe A Man Chases A Girl (Until She Catches Him) Louisiana Purchase: Musical    The Letter    Apologia    Sex Marches On    Louisiana Purchase    It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow    Outside of That I Love You    You're Lonely and I'm Lonely    Dance With Me (Tonight at the Mardi Gras)    Latins Know How    What Chance Have I With Love?    The Lord Done Fixed Up My Soul    Fools Fall in Love    Old Man's Darling - Young Man's Slave?    You Can't Brush Me Off    I'd Love to be Shot from a Cannon with You    Wild About You    It'll Come To You 1941 When This Crazy World is Sane Again When That Man is Dead and Gone A Little Old Church in England Arms For The Love of America Any Bonds Today? Angels of Mercy 1942 I Threw A Kiss In The Ocean The President's Birthday Ball Me and My Melinda This is the Army: Musical    This is the Army, Mister Jones    I'm Getting Tired So I Can Sleep    My Sergeant and I are Buddies    I Left My Heart at the Stage Door Canteen    The Army's Made a Man Out of Me    Mandy (from Yip Yip Yaphank)    That Russian Winter    What the Well Dressed Man in Harlem       Will Wear    American Eagles    With My Head in the Clouds    Aryans Under the Sun    Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning       (1918)    How About a Cheer for the Navy    This Time    My British Buddy (added 1943)    Ve Don't Like It (added 1943) Holiday Inn: Movie    I'll Capture Her Heart Singing    You're Easy to Dance With    White Christmas (1942/1948)    Happy Holidays    Holiday Inn    Let's Start the New Year Right    Abraham    Be Careful, It's My Heart    Song of Freedom    Plenty to be Thankful For 1943 Take Me With You Soldier Boy 1944 What are We Gonna Do with All the Jeeps? There are No Wings on a Foxhole All of My Life 1945 I'll Dance Rings Around You Heaven Watch the Philippines Just a Blue Serge Suit Oh, To Be Home Again Everybody Knew But Me Blue Skies: Movie    Getting Nowhere (Running Around in Circles)    You Keep Coming Back Like a Song    A Serenade to an Old-Fashioned Girl    A Couple of Song and Dance Men 1946 Annie Get Your Gun: Musical    Colonel Buffalo Bill    I'm a Bad Bad Man    Doin' What Comes Natur'lly    The Girl That I Marry    You Can't Get a Man with a Gun    There's No Business Like Show Business    They Say it's Wonderful    Moonshine Lullaby    Ballyhoo    My Defenses are Down    Wild Horse Ceremonial Dance    I'm an Indian Too    Adoption Dance    Take it In Your Stride (cut)    I Got Lost in His Arms    Who Do You Love I Hope    I Got the Sun in the Morning    Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)    I'll Share it All With You    Let's Go West Again 1947 A Couple of Swells The Freedom Train Help Me to Help My Neighbor Kate (Have I Come Too Early, Too Late) Love and the Weather Easter Parade: Movie    Steppin' Out With My Baby    It Only Happens When I Dance With You    Better Luck Next Time    Drum Crazy    A Fella With an Umbrella 1948 What Can You Do With a General? 1949 I'm Beginning To Miss You The Honorable Profession of the Fourth Estate Miss Liberty: Musical    Extra! Extra!    I'd Like My Picture Took    The Most Expensive Statue in the World    Little Fish in a Big Pond    Let's Take an Old-Fashioned Walk (originally       The Race Horse and The Flea)    Homework    Paris Wakes Up and Smiles    Only for Americans    Just One Way To Say I Love You    Miss Liberty    The Train    You Can Have Him    The Policemen's Ball    Follow the Leader Jig    Me an' My Bundle    Falling Out of Love Can Be Fun    Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor    Mister Monotony (cut)    The Pulitzer Prize (cut) 1950 Free Call Me Madam: Musical    Mrs. Sally Adams    The Hostess with The Mostes' on the Ball    Washington Square Dance    Lichtenburg    Can You Use Any Money Today?    Marrying for Love    (Dance to the Music of) The Ocarina    It's a Lovely Day Today    The Best Thing For You (Would be Me)    Something to Dance About    Once Upon A Time Today    They Like Ike    You're Just in Love (I Wonder Why?) 1952 For The Very First Time I Like Ike 1953 Sittin' in the Sun Sayonara White Christmas: Movie    (We'll Follow) The Old Man    Sisters    The Best Things Happen While You're       Dancing    Snow    Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep    Choreography    Mandy (from Yip Yip Yaphank)    Love, You Didn't Do Right by Me    Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning       (1918)    Gee, I Wish I Was Back in the Army 1954 A Sailor's Not a Sailor ('Til a Sailor's Been     Tattooed) My House Was On Fire I'm Not Afraid 1956 IKE for Four More Years 1957 I Keep Running Away From You You Can't Lose the Blues with Colors 1962 Mr. President: Musical    Let's Go Back to the Waltz    In Our Hide-Away    The First Lady    Meat and Potatoes    I've Got To Be Around    The Secret Service    It Gets Lonely in the White House    Is He The Only Man In The World?    They Love Me    Pigtails and Freckles    Don't Be Afraid of Romance    Laugh it Up    Empty Pockets Filled With Love    Glad to be Home    You Need a Hobby    The Washington Twist    The Only Dance I Know    I'm Gonna Get Him    Once Every Four Years    Song for a Belly Dancer    This is a Great Country 1966 An Old-Fashioned Wedding     (added to Annie Get Your Gun)    1. as Ren. G. May    2. as Private Irving Berlin    3. as Sergeant Irving Berlin    4. w/Ted Snyder    5. w/Edgar Leslie    6. w/George Whiting    7. w/Vincent Bryan    8. w/E. Ray Goetz    9. w/A. Baldwin Sloane    10. w/Grant Clarke    11. w/Blanche Merrill    12. w/George W. Meyer    13. w/George M. Cohan

     Irving Berlin, perhaps more than any other composer of the first half of the 20th Century and beyond, represents America and American Music at its finest. Given his background it becomes even more extraordinary when one understands his contributions to this adopted country of his. Berlin also managed to stay right on the cusp of popular forms to which he was contributing, not mastering them, but certainly writing into them well. It is likely that he wrote AND published more songs than any other popular song writer in history, wrote hundreds of unpublished or unpublishable tunes as well, and likely created more pieces than anybody 20th century writer as both composer and lyricist. He was also quirky, but in spite of not being a movie star in stature, he was a true American favorite among the public and among the stars as well. From truly humble beginnings Berlin managed to build a musical empire and a legacy that is hard to match and remains with us in the 21st century.

     This great American was actually born in Mogilev (modern day Belarus) or Tehmen (according to his 1942 draft record, but at variance with other records), Russia in 1888 as Israel Isidore Baline, to Jewish parents Moses Baline and Leah (Yarchin) Baline. His father was a cantor who sometimes worked as a shochet (the person who kills animals in a kosher manner for sale and consumption) as well to support his wife and eight children. In the face of the increasing progroms and oppression of Jews in Russia, Baline moved his family to the United States when Israel, the youngest sibling, was around five. Perhaps the first hint of the coming name change, the family is shown on the arrival list of the Rhynland on September 14, 1893, as the Beilin family, but it is not clear whether they actually adopted the Berlin last name when they immigrated. Moses found work in New York certifying Kosher meat before it went to market, while his wife kept house. When Israel was around eight his father died, leaving the boy and his older brothers and sisters (one already working as a domestic) in the position of helping their mother survive in the New York ghetto. So he and his siblings went to work as news butchers, delivery boys, and whatever odd jobs they could find, usually at the sacrifice of sufficient schooling. He picked up some singing skills as well, although the boy never had formal training in piano, voice, or even harmony and theory. He was simply a natural.
     In 1902 Izzy, as he was sometimes referred to, left home to make try to find his own way in the world. The fourteen-year-old sang in bars, or on the streets, and continued to do whatever odd jobs he could find. The hardships he encountered would stick with him throughout his life, as even though he eventually had more money that he could imagine, he was still very cautious with it. This reality may have also formed his work ethic, feeling the need to always be productive. A side job for the boy was as a song plugger or demonstrator (as a vocalist) for Harry Von Tilzer, but this was not steady work. Still, it placed him in Tony Pastor's famed Vaudeville house, and got him some notice among musicians. By 1906, at 18, he had a job as a singing waiter at Callahan's, and then Pelham's Cafe in Chinatown. Since a rival pub had their own song published in 1907 (it was increasingly easy to get a song into print in Manhattan by this time), the owner asked Izzy if he help to write one for Pelham's. Baline fitted lyrics to a melody by the cafe's pianist, Nick Nicholson, and in short order, Marie from Sunny Italy became the first of his songs in print. This was quite a feat as he was still having some difficulty with English, as Russian had been spoken in his home, and Yiddish was the common language on the streets, but he showed a propensity for clever rhyming. Izzy made a whopping 37 cents in royalties, but he gained something more - his famous name. The cover artist and printer misread the name and put it down as "I. Berlin," but since it sounded much more Americanized, he adopted Irving Berlin as his legal name. (Note that this is the most common story, although the Ellis Island arrival list cannot be discounted as a possibility).
     The published effort managed to gain Berlin some small fame, and he next found himself singing at Jimmy Kelly's establishment, a bit closer to Tin Pan Alley than he had previously been. Encouraged by the minor sucess of Marie, and in spite of what was still an English handicap, Berlin set out to contribute lyrics to more tunes. In some cases, he would create a set of lyrics and be in search of an existing melody or a potential writer for that melody. In the year following Marie this translated into a total of two more pieces. However, 1909 would prove to be the year of his emergence as a great lyricist. Remember that Babe Ruth was initially known for his pitching prowess, so that the immigrant Berlin was utilized as a pitcher of lyrics makes for a better story, once his other true talent was revealed. Berlin had been experimenting with his own melodies, which had to be hummed to a pianist who would translate them. Through watching, he soon learned enough tricks to be able to pound out his own melodies, albeit usually transcribed by a copyist or arranger.
     The incident that spurred him on to be a music writer involved another early song, Dornado. Irving had his own definitive idea about how the melody for the piece should sound, but the collaborator who transcribed it came out with something quite different. So Berlin struck out to find someone who could literally translate the melody, and Dornado was born. It got him enough notice that Ted Snyder, who had recently come from Chicago and opened both Seminary Music and Ted Snyder Publishing in Manhattan, hired Berlin as a staff lyricist near the end of 1908. They quickly turned out She Was a Dear Little Girl, which was quickly interpolated into a show on Broadway, giving them some momentum. Snyder then tried Berlin with another newcomer, Edgar Leslie, and their song Sadie Salome, Go Home eventually helped Fannie Brice land her long-time job with the Ziegfeld Follies. While Berlin was fitted with the music of a few other Snyder composers, it soon became evident that he and Snyder were a good fit, and they started turning out a number of appreciably good tunes on a regular basis. Two rags that were turned into songs with Berlin's lyrics, George Botsford's Dance of the Grizzly Bear, and Snyder's own Wild Cherries, translated into good sales for the company. Snyder also let Irving work with transcribers to turn out his own songs, including two early lasting efforts, Yiddle, on Your Fiddle, Play Some Ragtime and That Mesmerizing Mendelssohn Tune, both from 1909. In 1910, the output from Berlin as well as his collaborations with Snyder exploded in quantity, although other than Grizzly Bear there were no enormous successes. He appears in the 1910 Census as Irving Berlin, head of household, living with his mother and his sister Augusta, his occupation that of Music Writer. The following year, 1911, would prove to be the turning point in Berlin's writing career, and his earliest major success was also touched with a bit of controversy.

     Having become more competent as a pianist, albeit in a limited fashion, but more valuable also as one who could recognize good work when it came across his desk, Berlin was also utilized to review the works of other composers for publication, and became Snyder's right hand man. One of these composers was Scott Joplin, who in 1911 was shopping his opera Treemonisha around Tin Pan Alley in hopes of getting it in print, and raising money to stage it. There is a good chance that the score came across Berlin's desk. Later in that year with the help of Snyder arranger Alfred Doyle he re-purposed an earlier unsuccessful song, Alexander and His Clarinet, with a new verse, a tune we all now know as Alexander's Ragtime Band. This new verse was highly similar to the original melody of Joplin's A Real Slow Drag which closed the opera. In fact, it was reported by his surviving wife that he may have altered the melody so it did not match the verse to Alexander's Ragtime Band. A newspaper notice of that time also noted that Joplin was looking for Mr. Berlin on a certain matter, which may have been concerning the potentially subconscious plagiarism. The issue was never fully resolved, but the facts seem plausible. The chorus of Alexander's Ragtime Band is similarly constructed from existing tunes, including the Reveille bugle call and Stephen Collins Foster's Old Folks at Home (Swanee River). While there is not a lick of actual ragtime syncopation in the piece, it quickly became and has stayed as an anthem of the ragtime era, and it permanently cemented Berlin's name in the songwriting world. The piece was immediately recorded by the Victor Military Band, and even played on the Titanic's maiden (and final) voyage the following year. It has been recorded endlessly by all stripes of music artists, including Ray Charles in a unique arrangement. In the late 1930s a movie was made based on the song. Even in its original printings at least 40 different entertainers were featured on the various covers of the piece. A piano solo version was also available for a while, likely arranged by Doyle. All of this success from one publication, and yet Irving was just beginning his contributions to the Great American Song Book.
     With Alexander's Ragtime Band, Berlin readily found the pulse of the American music consumer, and did all he could to feed it. It would be some time before he started turning out his famed romantic ballads, but for now he simply became a song machine, with many songs centered around dance or ragtime. He turned enough ragtime-centric songs to be deemed "King of Ragtime Songs," (which should not be confused with syncopated piano ragtime). In 1911 and 1912 he and Snyder continued to turn out a tidal wave of tunes, and all told there was a new Berlin song every four to five days, an astonishing feat. His output in 1911 and 1912 alone eclipsed that of the lifetime output of most successful ragtime writers and many popular writers as well. The popularity that Berlin songs were gaining were also very evident to his employer, who had concerns that he would have to either pay more than he could afford to keep Berlin around, or that his new star might jump ship for a better company. The best thing he could do was to offer Berlin a partnership. So on December 13, 1911, Snyder and his financial partner, Henry Waterson, renamed the firm Waterson, Berlin & Snyder, entitling Irving to a share of profits, including from his own substantial works. For many years their office was above the famed Strand Theater in Manhattan.
     It should be noted that because of his limitations as a pianist, which were extreme in 1911 and 1912, that Berlin never wrote ragtime, nor would he write true jazz or stride. He was and would remain a writer of popular songs. However, Irving was in some sense a proponent of ragtime, reporting on it and encouraging it through his songs. During the ragtime era the ratio of popular songs (verse and chorus tunes that were about any number of topics but not classically composed) to rags, or even rags and intermezzos combined, was at least 20 to 1, and maybe higher. So with Alexander's Ragtime Band, That Mysterious Rag, Oh, That Beautiful Rag and similar tunes, Berlin was simply voicing, or in some cases creating more interest in the music. The success of a song was clear even back then. It needs a good topic and a good musical hook that is easy to remember as well as hum. So for capturing the essence of the ragtime era and making it live far beyond its rumored end in the late 1910s, even with limited syncopation in some of his 1910s pieces, Berlin could very much be considered a viable composer of ragtime, even if not piano rags.
     Riding high on his successes, Irving gained confidence in himself and his stature as a musician. It should be noted that throughout his career this was never a solo effort, as he never completely gained the necessary skills to notate and arrange his own tunes. With his rudimentary piano skills, which as legend tells it centered around playing the black keys, usually in Gb major, he was able to play sufficient melody and chords to get the general notion of a piece across. But there was usually a ghost writer at his side who turned his ideas into a salable product. Usually in the music industry this person was cited as an arranger, and indeed a few Berlin pieces did have an arranging credit. But for the most part, whether it was initially his decision or that of the other firm's partners, Berlin's name usually stood alone. Among the assistants were composer Cliff Hess, who worked with Berlin from around 1912 to 1917, and later Arthur Johnston and then Helmy Kresa. In some cases a co-composer credit might have been fitting as they worked out some of the chord changes, but it became a Berlin tradition that if it was his melody it was his song. It also became increasingly clear during 1912 and 1913 that he was better able to fit his own lyrics to a proper melody, and collaborations with a handful of lyricists started diminishing, particularly as his solo efforts flew off the store shelves.
     His induction into ballads came about in a somewhat tragic way. Riding high on the success of his great ragtime hit, Berlin dated Dorothy Goetz, sister of one of his earlier lyricists, E. Ray Goetz, and they married a few weeks later in February of 1912. They took a honeymoon in Cuba where she contracted typhoid fever, finally succumbing to it in June. Berlin was devastated and unsure how to express his grief over the loss. Goetz suggested that he simply write a ballad about his feelings, and When I Lost You became the first of his many heart-wrenching ballads. He would show up as still single on his 1917 draft record, and remained a widower in the 1920 census. However, a tragedy of this proportion would not strike again in his otherwise charmed life. That same year he had another monster hit with When That Midnight Choo Choo Leaves for Alabam which quickly found its way to the vaudeville stage, and the following year would yield a number of fine tunes, including the comedy hit Snooky Ookums. On two tunes of that year, published with another firm, he was credited as Ren. G. May, an anagram for Germany, of which the principal city was, of course, Berlin. He also used this credit to record the tunes, still being a pretty fair singer. Yet there was another inevitability awaiting Irving, and it was literally just up the street from his office.

     Almost since his collaboration with Snyder began, Irving Berlin songs had found their way into shows on Broadway and 42nd Street through interpolation, and given his past dealings with Tony Pastor he was no stranger to the stage either. However in 1914, Berlin finally released one of the first ragtime-based (more in name than in style) musicals (by today's standards musicals of that time would be considered revues) on Broadway. Few stage musicals at that time, perhaps with George M. Cohan's (who wrote a song lauding Irving Berlin melodies a year later) being the exception, had songs by any one composer, but Berlin did provide the majority of them for Watch Your Step. His original stated intent was to write a "ragtime opera," although he ended up with a pretty decent revue featuring some syncopation and lots of dancing. For the debut Berlin and his producers already had an ace in the hole, utilizing the recent popularity of the famous dancing couple Vernon and Irene Castle as his stars. Taking some queues from the Ziegfeld Follies, there were even some extravagances displayed on the stage, including a sizable medley of popular opera themes with some syncopation added. The combination of talents in the show made it a great success, and it played initially for 175 performances, a good run at that time. Most of the songs also ended up in print and were sold in the lobby as well as in stores, an added bonus. For the purposes of publishing this show the composer formed his own company, Irving Berlin, Inc., but still remained with Waterson and Snyder who published his popular tunes. One of the tunes in this show quickly gained hit status and eventually became a standard, the finely double-layered Simple Melody (later renamed Play a Simple Melody). The following year he contributed the majority of pieces for Stop! Look! Listen!, which ran for a respectable 105 performances. The standout hit of that show, still with us today, was I Love a Piano, reportedly his favorite tune of all time.
     After a rather uneventful, and somewhat less prolific year in 1916, Berlin contributed to another show in 1917, Dance and Grow Thin, and tackled the latest musical craze - jazz - with some supposed jazz of his own. The word, which had proliferated into popular usage from late 1916 on, was new, but many song titles started featuring it, including Berlin's own Mister Jazz, Himself. He then did a rare collaboration with the other more established big fish in the Broadway pond, George M. Cohan, and their co-written The Cohan Revue of 1918 previewed on New Year's Eve and ran for 96 performances. Berlin also published the bulk of Cohan's pieces from this period. However some time before that, not yet a U.S. Citizen, Irving was drafted into the United States Army late in the year, and assigned to Camp Upton at Fort Yiphank. He very quickly took advantage of this situation by writing about it, one of the earliest pieces being a protest song (especially for the musician's lifestyle), Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning. In an effort to keep to his true talent, he persuaded the brass to let him stage an Army-based show utilizing enlisted men, and they agreed. Now not having to keep to regulation hours, Berlin completed Yip Yip Yiphank and staged 32 performances of it utilizing 350 troops. While there was no Over There embedded in the work, two of the songs went on to become big standards, one of them held back for two decades. Mandy, which many associate with the Ziegfeld Follies of 1919, was actually first heard in the Army show, but retooled a year later. However, a more somber tune which was prepared for the Army show ended up being pulled, perhaps even before the first performance. It would not be until 1938 that Berlin would pull out the everlasting God Bless America for its first public performance by singer Kate Smith on Armistice Day of that year. It has since become the most revered and most sung tune in America composed by a Russian Jew simply trying to survive the army. The publications of Yip Yip Yiphank were printed with his promotion clearly shown, composed by Sergeant Irving Berlin. On February 6, 1918, Irving Berlin became a naturalized citizen of his adopted country.
     Since Irving ended up not actually going into combat he was able to maintain a good songwriting pace, and soon after the war he increased the scope of his own firm, taking on works by other composers as well, finally leaving Waterson, Berlin & Snyder at the end of 1918. In 1919 Florenz Ziegfeld, no stranger to Berlin tunes, asked him to contribute as much as he could to that year's Follies. Along with a revamped version of Mandy he came up with what would become the signature Ziegfeld anthem, A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody. In 1920 he is shown as a widower living in Manhattan with a secretary and a housekeeper, his occupation as an author of songs. That same year, Berlin similarly contributed a bounty of tunes to Ziegfeld for the 1920 Follies, but he had something else in the works. Carefully using his considerable profits from his musical endeavors, Berlin decided to exercise more control over the environment that his musicals would be in, as well as the availability of a place to stage him, and along with his new partner Sam Harris financed the construction of his own 1025 seat Music Box Theater on 45th Street. The opening show there was his Music Box Revue of 1921 which ran for a rather astonishing (at that time) 440 performances. Three more similar revues were staged over the next four years, each with declining attendance and shorter runs, although still far from tepid. The last of these Music Box Revues in 1925 featured Fannie Brice, but ran for only 194 performances. The theater remained busy with other productions that leased it, and is still in business in the 21st century, and in 2007 ownership passed from the Berlin estate to the Shubert Theater Organization. The majority of Berlin's song output from this period was what was featured in the Revues, but there were some notable exceptions. He was also able to use his name as leverage on the covers, many of the titles starting with his name, such as "Irving Berlin's All Alone," something most publishers shied away from. But they weren't publishing such the most prolific songwriter of the age either.
     In 1924 Irving started to date socialite Ellin Mackay, 15 years younger than himself, who would become his second wife. But there seemed to be many obstacles in the way of his convincing her to marry him. Among them, his Jewish heritage and upbringing in poverty, contrasted with the fact that she was a devout Irish-American Catholic and heiress to the Comstock Lode mining fortune. Some of his more stirring ballads came as a direct result of songs he wrote for Ellin, including All Alone, Remember, and the wistful weeper What'll I Do. Finally he won her with singing (a theme repeated in the movie Holiday Inn several years later), and just before they were married in January of 1926 he wrote the simple and elegant Always for her as well, assigning all of the (considerable) income from the song to Ellin. She was immediately disinherited by her father, and for a time they were snubbed by many members of society for the inter-marriage. They had their daughter, Mary Ellin, within the year. Linda Emmett and Elizabeth Peters would follow, as would Irving Berlin Jr. who would sadly die in childbirth.
     Following the traveling patterns of Berlin throughout the 1920s, particularly after marrying Ellin, becomes quite an endeavor, since he is listed on dozens of ship manifests going to Europe, the United Kingdom, the Bahamas, Hawaii, and other exotic ports of call. Berlin liked cruises, but when called upon to perform or accompany (as best he could) on these trips he was often stymied by his Gb playing. So he had either four or five special transposing pianos built for him which allowed the keys to slide back and forth underneath the action, facilitating his playing in a suitable key for any occasion. One of these usually accompanied him on a cruise ship, one in the theater, one at the office, one at home, and there may have been a spare. One of these unique pianos resides today in the American History collection of the Smithsonian Institution.
     Irving's cleverness would pay off for both him and a group of brothers looking for a vehicle that would exploit their singularly unique talents. So in 1925, based on a book by playwright Irving Kaufman, he came up with a nearly schizophrenic set of songs for The Cocoanuts starring the Marx Brothers in their recently redefined personas as Groucho, Chico, Harpo, Zeppo and Gummo. The first incarnation would run 276 performances, with the brothers constantly adjusting the material to the point where it worked flawlessly. It was revived in 1927 with an additional tune for another healthy run, cementing their inevitable success. Berlin's biggest song of 1926 would turn out to be Blue Skies, soon to become a standard through the voice of a new kid on the block, crooner Bing Crosby, who would be a great proponent of Berlin songs. His final contribution to the stage in the 1920s was for the 1927 Ziegfeld Follies, one of the most ambitious years of Ziegfeld's career in which the entrepreneur staged four shows at one time. That same year brought the beautiful instrumental Russian Lullaby. However, through Bing and the Max Brothers and other connections, a new medium was soon to call for the great Berlin.

     While Berlin songs sold well throughout the country, they were mostly performed live in New York through the 1920s. However, in 1927, as synchronized sound film became a possibility, a Vitaphone short came out called The Little Princess of Song starring 13-year-old Sylvia Froos, singing Blue Skies. There was enough interest in the piece that Al Jolson, no stranger to Berlin songs by this time, used it for his pivotal "live dialog" scene in The Jazz Singer shortly thereafter, reportedly with ragtime performer Paul Lingle at the offstage piano. The movie, that scene in particular, was a sensation, and Blue Skies certainly did not suffer. It went on to be heard on recordings and in movies a panoply of styles, including one 21st century rendition by singer/actor Brent Spiner as Data in the tenth Star Trek movie. But it also meant that Berlin songs could potentially be heard virtually anywhere as performed by stars of the screen. In the early days of sound when dialog was still difficult to capture, but music was much easier to record, many of the earliest sound films became musicals, and they drew on whatever they could find in order to both have new material and capitalize on the subsequent sales of sheet music or records. Berlin was happy to oblige this new trend, and stepped up to the plate.
     The Cocoanuts finally made it to film via Paramount in 1929, but more than half the tunes were cut from the movies, because without intermissions like live stage shows, people seemed less likely to sit through a full two hour production. However, MGM and other studios would eventually find a way to pack almost as much music into a film as a stage production, often focusing on a single composer for those films. One Berlin song composed in 1929 for a film released in 1930 would actually have four more resurgences over the next few decades, and is clearly an exciting standard today. Written just ahead of the depression, Puttin' On the Ritz (for the film of the same name) combined ragtime and jazz with danceability in a song about snooty rich people. It was retooled in 1946 for Fred Astaire in the movie Blue Skies, becoming much more popular with the newer lyrics. Mel Brooks made it a centerpiece of his 1974 film Young Frankenstein, and later in 2007 for the stage version of the story. And in the early 1980s an artist called Taco made it into a techno-pop retro-hit. Also in 1929 ragtime veteran Al Jolson asked for more material for his new film career, and ended up with five new Berlin songs in My Mammy, released 1930. One more film keeping Irving busy was Hallelujah with another pair of songs. While traveling to Hollywood to facilitate the incorporation of his tunes into film from time to time, Berlin still stayed firmly based in Manhattan while not off on a cruise ship. He is shown there in the 1930 Census with Ellin and Mary Ellin, a self-employed composer of music.
     Notable films over the next decade that would feature Berlin music include Top Hat (1935), featuring Cheek to Cheek; Follow the Fleet (1936), featuring Let's Face the Music and Dance; the all-Berlin film On the Avenue (1937); another Berlin song extravaganza filled with ragtime-era classics - Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938); and Carefree (1938). At least a dozen more films of the decade featured Berlin pieces, old and new, albeit in a less musical context. Yet Irving remained dedicated to the live stage as well. Broadway took quite a hit during the Great Depression as it was much less expensive to create and distribute a film than it was to employ fifty or more people every night for a stage production. So some of them were scaled back or less performances held. Just the same, there were enough people in Manhattan well enough off and in need of entertainment that the producers pressed on, including Berlin and Harris. In 1932 he came out with the political satire Face the Music, and the following year with a play lauding the new president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in As Thousands Cheer, a play in which cast members played several different roles, perhaps a cost-cutting measure. This show ran more than a year, achieving 400 performances in the first run. It also had an embedded tune called Heat Wave which found plenty of favor in the 1950s when sexy new star Marilyn Monroe infused new meaning into it. One other piece, Her Easter Bonnet, found success later retitled as Easter Parade. Berlin's publishing empire remained consistent and busy throughout the 1930s as well, and he had the good fortune to have been contracted by Walt Disney to put many of that studio's works into print, including all of the songs from the stellar hit, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and later Pinnochio and Dumbo.
     The face of Broadway would change in the wake of musicals such as Snow White and The Wizard of Oz where gradually the songs featured in these stories would actually be part of the story, forwarding the plot, rather than just assembled for the sake of putting a song at a certain point in the story. Many consider the dawn of the modern musical to be Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma in 1943, and it does contain the elements of character-based songs that have more context within the story than if sung alone. However, Berlin approached this concept fairly successfully in 1940, at age 52, with the satirical comedy Louisiana Purchase, a similar idea to that of Oklahoma. It ultimately ran a respectable 444 performances, and in 1941 was made into a less than successful Paramount film with Bob Hope in the lead. Given the tone of the musical and the story emphasis on the songs, it yielded no lasting hits. But there were other worries in the world at that time, and they came to a head in December of 1941 with the American entry into World War II. Again, Sergeant Irving Berlin would be there to rally for the cause.

     Patriotic was once again very much in vogue in 1942, and this time it was Uncle Sam that approached Berlin, asking him to repeat what he had done for morale in World War I with Yip Yip Yiphank. He quickly revived some of the old tunes, came up with new ones, and This Is the Army was born. It cleverly included the staging of Yip Yip Yiphank in the plot, spanning both of the wars. While the initial run was only 113 performances, as personnel were constantly being shipped off, but continued to tour the country and the world throughout the war. The unit formed to stage this and other shows for the military still exists into the 21st century. This Is the Army was made into a fairly successful movie in 1943 featuring future California politicians George Murphy and Ronald Reagan, with a cameo by Berlin himself singing Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning, which required some technical prowess by the sound crew to pull off since his voice recorded so softly. Berlin also toured extensively during the war, playing in the African, European and Pacific theaters, often shortly after a location had been liberated. After the war, President Harry Truman awarded him the American Medal of Merit for his contributions to troop morale.
     But his contributions to morale at home were also important, and again extended to film, with the big hit of 1942 yielding quite a surprise. Asked by Paramount to come up with pieces for a film based on American holidays, with a special song for most of them, Irving was sure that his Easter Parade would finally be the hit he had hoped for when featured in Holiday Inn with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. What he didn't see coming was that Bing would turn a simple Christmas tune written by a Russian Jewish immigrant into the biggest song hit in history, White Christmas. Except for the initial surge of Elton John's special recording of Candle in the Wind honoring the late Princess Diana of Wales, White Christmas has consistently been the top selling song on records, CD, and digital media combined, the standard to end all standards. Written in the summer of 1940 while he was in Los Angeles, but not released, Berlin found it difficult to capture the religious spirit of Christmas, so called upon the feeling of the season instead. He used the contrast of heat in Beverly Hills in the verse with the desire to be back in the North or Northeast, and seemed to tap that desire in everybody in the country during the difficult war. White Christmas handily won the Oscar for best song at the 1943 Academy Awards as well. There were only a few song releases over the next couple of years, but he did make a handful of contributions in 1945 to the film Blue Skies, again with Astaire and Crosby, released in 1946. Just the same, Berlin, now approaching 60, had something up his sleeve, and the best was yet to come.
     Rodgers and Hammerstein, after successes with Oklahoma and Carousel, decided they wanted to produce as well, and hired the stalwart and similarly successful Jerome Kern to write a musical based on the life of Annie Oakley. However, he suddenly and literally dropped dead, leaving them with a project and no composer. They decided to take a chance on the aging Berlin, who even though he was getting on in years seemed to be able to turn out viable contemporary melodies. The end result was Annie Get Your Gune, which became a prime vehicle for an already seasoned Ethel Merman. Yet it could have been different, as Irving nearly pulled one of the songs from the production because he was under the impression that his musically-inclined producers did not like it. Fortunately, they kept it in and There's No Business Like Show Business proved to be the show stopper, and put another lasting Berlin hit into the American Songbook. Annie ultimately ran for an astonishing 1147 performances with the original cast, and was made into a similarly successful movie with a couple of new songs added in 1950.
     In 1948 Berlin contributed new songs to the film which finally made a hit of the title song, Easter Parade. He then put his efforts into another stage musical called Miss Liberty which proved to be somewhat of a disappointment in the shadow of Annie Get Your Gun. Based on events around the Statue of Liberty, and starring Eddie Albert St., it somehow managed 308 performances in the first run, but very few since that time. Determined to score again, Berlin cast Merman in Call Me Madam in 1950, this time with a greater measure of success at 644 performances, and a movie version in 1953. Even more fine hits and recycled favorites appeared in the now-perennial hit White Christmas in 1954, again giving Crosby, this time teamed with Danny Kaye, Vera Ellen, and newcomer Rosemary Clooney, a chance to croon what was by now his most famous tune.
     A conservative in his politics, Berlin took up the cause of General Dwight D. Eisenhower in the late 1940s, helping him in song as well during his two presidential campaigns with "I Like Ike" songs. In 1955 he was rewarded with a special gold medal for his efforts in contributing to American song. Except for some reprints of earlier material, 1955 appears to have been the first year in almost five decades in which no new Berlin songs materialized, an astonishing run. It appeared that the 67 year old composer was approaching retirement, and there was very little output over the next 6 years. However, at age 74, Berlin graced his Music Box Theater with one last production, Mr. President, starting Nanette Fabray and Robert Ryan. A fictional account of life in the White House, trying to capture the magic of the Camelot idyll of the Kennedy administration, it was not well received by critics or theater goers. After 265 performances it retired, and so did Irving Berlin. In 1966 he would add one final song to his extensive list, An Old-Fashioned Wedding for a revival of Annie Get Your Gun, then would be relegated to the status of an American Icon who appeared on talk shows and the occasional tribute. One of this was the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1968. By the mid 1970s Berlin had all but disappeared from view. His final public appearance was at the 1986 Centennial Celebration of the Statue of Liberty, but he was a no-show for his 100th birthday celebration held in 1988. Ellin Berlin died in 1987 at age 85. Irving Berlin finally was taken by a heart attack at the age of 101, and this humble Russian Jew who honored his adoptive home by giving it lasting musical voice was interred in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York. He left behind his three daughters, nine grandchildren, six grandchildren, and a grateful public who still enjoy his creativity today.
     Famed composer Jerome Kern, when asked about Berlin's place in American music, said that Irving Berlin has no place in it. "Irving Berlin is American Music." God Bless America and the memory of Irving Berlin.

John William "Blind" Boone (May 17, 1864 to October 4, 1927)
Compositions
c.1880 Marshfield Tornado 1886 Cleo 1891 Whippoorwill: Romance for Pianoforte 1892 When I Meet Dat Coon To-Night Whar Shill We Go When de Great Day Comes 1893 Grand Valse de Concert, Opus 13 Caprice de Concert, Number 1 Caprice de Concert, Number 2 Dinah's Barbecue You Can't Go to Gloria 1894 Melons Cool and Green Sparks That Little German Band 1899 Dat Mornin' in de Sky	1902 Caprice de Concert, Number 3     (Dance des Negres) 1907 Aurora Waltz 1908 Geo'gia Melon Blind Boone's Ragtime Medley #1     "Strains from the Alleys" 1909 Blind Boone's Ragtime Medley #2     "Strains from the Flat Branch" Last Dream: Waltzes c.1912 Gavotte Chromatic Woodland Murmurs 1913 Love Feast Unknown or Uncertain Josephine Polka The Hummingbird
Piano Rolls - October/November 1912
Gavotte Chromatic [QRS Autograph 80254] Woodland Murmurs [QRS Autograph 80268] Rag Medley No. 2 [QRS Autograph 200142] Camp Meeting Medley No. 1 [QRS Autograph 400034] Dixie (Dixie's Land) [QRS Autograph 400038] When You and I Were Young, Maggie [QRS Autograph 400044] Nearer My God to Thee [QRS Autograph 400048]

     The legendary ragtime pioneer John William Boone was born to mother Rachel Boone in 1864. Census records have indicated a range of birth years from 1862 to 1866, but 1864 is the most accurate date according to research. His mother was an escaped slave who found a position as a cook for the Union Army in Miami, Missouri. A mulatto, she claimed to be a descendant of famed American Daniel Boone and kept that name. John's father was reportedly a bugler with the Union Army, but little else is known of him. Shortly after his birth she moved to Warrensburg, Missouri. She is shown there in 1870 working in washing and ironing, and was working for many prominent families in the area. Curiously, John, now called Willie, is shown as only 4 years old in that Census, and he has another brother, Wyatt, father unknown, who is shown as 2 years old in 1870.
     When Willie was around 6 months old he contracted what the doctors called "brain fever," most likely some form of meningitis by later accounts, and their cure was to have his eyes surgically removed to relieve the pressure, his lids sewn shut. Working through this supposed handicap, Willie made it into a gift. His skills and listening and recreating were clear when he was just a toddler. He could mimic bird calls and accurately drum out rhythmic patterns on tables or pans as a toddler. Having access to pianos around the neighborhood, Willie learned how to create melodies on them, and by age five had formed a small band with some of his friends. Supported by many residents of his neighborhood, they encouraged him to grow his talents. At age 7 he received a French harp as a gift, quickly learning to tune and play it. This allowed him to earn some extra income, even before he was 8, playing it at various functions or in people's homes. When he was eight, Rachel ended her life as a single mother by marrying Harrison Hendrix, and eventually the couple added five more siblings to Willie's family. They moved to a one room cabin, but by all reports it was a loving household, and Willie remained close to his step-siblings throughout his life.
     In an effort to accommodate her son's needs, Rachel enrolled Willie at the Missouri School for the Blind in St. Louis, with the generous help of donations by neighbors and townspeople, both black and white. Some also funded the train trip, and made him clothes to take along. His blindness and pure joy in life helped make all of them color blind as well. He left Warrensburg in the fall of 1873. It was clear early on that Willie was not happy at the school, and instead of communing with his own classmates, he preferred to listen to older students practice in the music room. One of them, Enoch Donley, befriended Willie and taught him basics of technique, and also introduced him to a piano teacher at the school. After a year of work, Boone was able to play virtually anything he heard with commendable technique. The situation at the school changed within a couple of years, and a new supervisor was put in place, changing the way black students were treated. Willie was removed from most of his musical access and taught to make broom instead. In order to play he escaped the school at night (presumably with some assistance) and started hanging around the nearby tenderloin district where early forms of what would become ragtime were being performed. While he was able to pick up a lot from listening to the brothel and bar pianists, he was eventually caught enough times that he was expelled from the school. Forced to live on the streets, he played where he could, often in churches, and even sang to people in public places like train depots for money. Nearly starving, a conductor found him and managed to get him back to Warrensburg and his mother.
     Back home, Willie continued to play in homes, halls and churches. It was in a church where he was giving a small concert that John Lange, a local contractor and successful black businessman, first heard Boone play. He was substantially impressed, and after some time decided to expand his scope of business operations, becoming one of the first African American managers of a concert artist. In preparation for sending Willie out into the world, Lange sent him to Christian College in Columbia for advanced musical training with Anna Heuerman. It was here that he learned a great love for classical music, which he was quickly able to emulate, and even duplicate, sometimes on the first or second hearing. After sufficient training, Boone came home, and with Lange formed the Blind Boone Company, adopting the motto Merit, Not Sympathy, Wins. Based in Columbia, the pair set out to make Boone famous, with resounding results - albeit slowly resounding.
     Boone's first official public performance under Lange's management was on January 18th, 1880 at St. Paul's Methodist Church in Jefferson City, the capitol of Missouri, when he was only fifteen and a half years old. Among the pieces he played there and in future concerts was Franz Liszt's Second Hungarian Rhapsody, Moonlight Sonata and other sonatas by Ludwig von Beethoven, and selections from famous operas. Later in the year he added his own Marshfield Tornado. This was Boone's own pianistic representation of an F4 tornado that tore through Marshfield, Missouri on April 18, 1880, killing 99 people and injuring at least another 100. Descriptions of Boone's performance conjure up a tour de force of effects that potentially had a detrimental effect on the instrument, and it became his signature piece. Marshfield Tornado was never recorded or printed as Boone wanted it to be entirely his, each performance to be unique. In truth, it is questionable whether a player piano could have fared well with the onslaught of notes from Boone's hands.
     The early years of the show were difficult, but necessary to build Boone's reputation. Lange, Boone, and perhaps a couple of other, traveled the Midwest in a wagon carrying a piano with them, allowing them to set up wherever they needed and avoid the reservations some white piano owners might have about the boy's taking over of their instrument. However, this was hard on the instrument physically, and part of the budget from the income was set aside for replacement pianos every few months. As Boone's reputation grew, it seems that a good piano was more readily available at their destinations, and eventually they did not have to travel with one. They also often stayed with a local sponsor to avoid hotel expenses, but the home base was in Columbia. In the June 1880 Census, Boone is shown as one of many residents in the home of Columbia farmer Alfred Woods and his large family, although no profession is listed. As Boone and Lange grew their show, Lange would hire somebody to set out a week or more ahead of the troupe for public relation purposes, advertising the coming of Boone with posters and word of mouth. By the end of five years, when Boone was approaching 21, the company had no problem getting booked in towns or cities of every size. The reviews were positive and more money was also coming in, so Boone and company were living well by the time the 1890s came around. In 1891, Boone married Eugenia Lange, his manager's youngest sister. They remained together for the rest of his life.
     According to and article in a May 1893 edition of Kunkel's Musical Review, the Blind Boone Concert Company was in town for four weeks, and the star was greatly lauded. "His playing is remarkable, not because of his blindness, but because of his artistic excellence. John W. Boone is justly considered the successor of the celebrated [Louis Moreau] Gottschalk. He grasps with marvelous rapidity any composition played for him, and the most difficult pieces are played after single reading. His engagements here drew crowded houses nightly." The company also grew in size over the next decade, as Lange and Boone added vocalists to the show, including Emma Smith, Melissa Fuell, Marguerite Day, Stella May (just 16 when she was recruited) and Josephine Huggard They also expanded their reach, performing at least 8,000 concerts in the United States between 1880 and 1895, along with performances in Canada, Mexico and Europe. One of Boone's greatest joys was sharing his gifts and enthusiasm with children. He would openly promote his desire for parents to bring their children to his performances in order to bring them to music, and would sometimes bring large groups of them inside the performance hall for free, simply so he could encourage them to also learn the thrill of playing and sharing that gift. It evidently effected a great many youths who ended up working hard to learn to play, some actually becoming fine pianists in churches or theaters. He also gave back to the church community that supported him, providing funds for a great many church and school building or repair projects wherever he went. According to the 1900 Census, Boone was firmly ensconced in Columbia, and Eugenia was now the treasurer for the company. He is also listed in 1910 in Columbia as a traveling musician, but Eugenia does not have any vocation listed even though she was still active with the company, a common oversight of that time regarding women's roles in society.
     Boone entered his fourth decade of concertizing in 1910. Over the years he had written a number of songs and classically styled pieces that made it into print. In 1908 and 1909 he contributed two Medleys to the ragtime collective, largely made up of folk themes and some original derivatives. Blind Boone's Rag Medley Number One: "Strains from the Alleys", and Blind Boone's Rag Medley Number One: "Strains from the Flat Branch", were not the same type of ragtime that many other composers had been writing by that time. They did represent, however, a more authentic look at the melodies and rhythms that would be the foundation of ragtime; a window into that time when Boone was a youth wandering through the St. Louis tenderloin hearing banjos and pianos pound out these tunes. In late 1912 Boone recorded Rag Medley Number Two and six other tunes from his repertoire to piano rolls for the QRS Piano Roll Company on their Autograph series, one of the first black artists to do so. It is said (hard to verify) that on his recording of When You and I Were Young Maggie that he actually jammed or overloaded the recording mechanism because of the number of notes he was playing in rapid succession at great velocity. One of his favorite concert segments was asking somebody from the audience to play a piece he didn't know (and that was a limited list), after which he would sit down and play it back for them, something that impressed even the highest ranking musicians. It was clear that not only could play virtually anything in the classical style, but that he could also make it his own, infusing Afro-American rhythms and other tricks into the performances. While he didn't quite "rag" the pieces, he did give them a kick that most performers at that time were perhaps not as adept at. The Chickering Piano Company> in Boston, Massachusetts, perhaps Steinway's biggest U.S. rival at that time, offered him a large oak nine food concert grand which he enjoyed enormously. (It is now kept in the Boone County Historical Society in Columbia, Missouri, and can still be played.)
     By 1916 it was estimated that the Boone Company had played over 26,000 concerts in 36 years, suggesting many days where three or four performances were held. But that was perhaps the peak of his career, and his long-time friend and manager John Lange died that same year. The novelty had started to wear off, particularly with a world that was progressing ahead, a world that was at war, and a world that was looking for change. While Vaudeville was still thriving in 1920, the beginning of the "jazz age," and movies were coming into their own, Boone's act was old hat by now. Without Lange the bookings diminished greatly and Boone, once flush with money, found himself and Eugenia struggling to make ends meet. In 1920 he and Eugenia are listed in Columbia with her as the head of household, and neither with an occupation listed. His last concert was May 31, 1927. When John W. Boone was felled by a fatal stroke in October, his estate was worth $132.65 in spite of a report earlier in the year that his annual income was around $17,000. Eugenia was soon reportedly found to be insane, although any record of commitment is difficult to locate. There was not enough money left to even afford a marker for his grave.
     Fortunately the people of Columbia have since successfully resurrected the memory of Boone, forming the Blind Boone Memorial Foundation, Inc. in 1961. The Chickering oak grand was restored for a concert that same year by the Joplin Piano Company, and the first memorial concert was held using that instrument. They were responsible for marking his grave in 1971, and opening a museum dedicated to him and Missouri folk music. There is an annual ragtime festival held each June in Columbia, Missouri, named in Boones honor, in the grand Missouri theater. His last words speak well of his mission in life, which was most certainly accomplished wherever he went. "Blindness has not affected my disposition. Many times I regard it as a blessing, for had I not been blind, I would not have given the inspiration to the world that I have. I have shown that no matter how a person is afflicted, there is something that he can do that is worthwhile." He proved this beyond the shadow of any doubt, opening doors for a number of African-American artists and businessman through his generosity and extraordinary talent.

     Some of the information for this biography was taken from Blind Boone: Missouri's Ragtime Pioneer by Jack A. Batterson with Rebecca B. Schroeder, available from many sellers including Amazon.com. Thanks also to the Blind Boone Ragtime Festival and Blind Boone Park in Warrensburg, Missouri, for their continuing efforts to keep Boone's memory and message alive.

George James Botsford (February 24, 1874 to February 1, 1949)
Compositions
1899 The Katy Flyer 1906 In Dear Old Arizona When Other Hearts Grow Old Traveling [w/James F. Devins] 1907 Pride of the Prairie (Mary) [1] 1908 Klondike Rag Love Watches: Valse Caprice Denver Town [1] Black and White Rag The Big Jubilee 1909 Old Crow Rag Dance of the Gowns The Pianophiends Rag Fat Men On Parade Texas Steer Wiggle Rag 1910 Grizzly Bear Rag Dance of the Grizzly Bear [w/Irving Berlin] Venetian Beauties Lovey-Dovey Rag Maybe You're Not the Only One Who     Loves Me [w/Alfred J. Bryan] Chatterbox Rag 1911 Somebody [2] Royal Flush Honey Girl [2,3] Honeysuckle Rag Hyacinth	1912 Oh, You Silv'ry Bells [2] Erry-Merry Rag Eskimo Rag [2] 1913 Join Our Jubilee [2] Universal Rag Rag, Baby Mine The Buck-Eye Rag Sailing Down the Chesapeake Bay [2] I Want to Go Back to Dixie Land [2] The Incandescent Rag 1914 Come Over to Dover [w/Stanley Murphy] 1915 Honey-Moon Bells [2] 1916 On the Old Dominion Line [2] Boomerang Rag 1920 It's the Way That You Have     When You Smile [w/Tom Post] 1932 A Basso Profundo Am I [w/Al Bernard] 1939 When Big Profundo Sang Low     [w/Marion T. Bohannon] 1951 (Posth) Meanderin' [w/Cy Coben & Charles Grean]   1. w/Harry J. Breen   2. w/Jean C. Havez   3. w/J.B. Lampe as Ribé Danmark

     George Botsford was a man who knew how to write tunes the public liked. He was born in Dakota Territory (South Dakota near present day Sioux Falls) to James G. Botsford (mother's name is shown only as H.M.), and had a younger brother, Charles. George spent his formative years in the Midwest, specifically in Iowa. There was a great deal of pre-ragtime style and influence in this region, as evidenced by the amount and quality of ragtime that eventually emerged from Iowa and Nebraska, so it is likely he was exposed to some of it. After formal musical training, Botsford married Della Mae Wilson, the daughter of a music teacher with whom they lived for a time in Centerville City, Iowa. He is listed in 1900 as a "Theatrical Pianist" so was already likely expected to know some of the latest ragtime tunes and cakewalks. Among his first published compositions was the song Traveling, which was adapted in 1921 by another set of composers as the Iowa Corn Song.
     George was able to establish a foothold as a composer in 1906 with a couple of pieces published by the New York firm of M. Witmark and Sons. The Botsfords subsequently moved to New York City in late 1906 where he would stay for most of his career. One of the first mentions of him there is for a July 4 "Pop Concert" on Long Island, where he played along with several other entertainers, including the Edgemere Club orchestra. This was around the time of his first minor hit, Pride of the Prairie (Mary. Botsford soon secured steady work as an arranger and writer for the Tin Pan Alley giant Jerome H. Remick in late 1907. The following year would be a breakout one for the composer as he introduced his most famous and long-lived rag.
     Of Botsford's many rags, primarily composed from 1908 to 1913, most contained at least some of the secondary rag pattern, or repeated three over four, of which Black and White Rag of 1908 and Grizzly Bear Rag of 1910 are prime examples. As a result of this pattern, Black and White Rag was easy and enjoyable to play for the average pianist, and it became a runaway hit in short order. It has remained his most enduring syncopated work, and was also one of the first piano rags ever recorded to cylinder, as well as being ubiquitously in use in early sound cartoons of the 1930s. The piece further enjoyed many recordings during the ragtime revival of the 1950s and 1960s. His subsequent hit, Grizzly Bear, began a dance craze during a time of animal dances, including the Turkey Trot and the Fox Trot, which prompted publisher Ted Snyder to have his new protégé Irving Berlin fit some lyrics to it. In this way it counts less as a genuine popular song than it does a retrofit hit, but either way it swept the country.
     Botsford's momentum clearly picked up in 1909 with a number of good instrumentals. However, that was what he was getting known for, and a changes was in the works. Early in 1910 he joined the staff of the Ted Snyder Publishing Company, but ended up back at Remick later in the year. As noted in a November 1910 clipping in the Music Trade Review: "George Botsford is probably best known as a composer of the more difficult syncopated or ragtime instrumental successes, but with Alfred Bryan, he has turned out a new one in the popular song line that may put him in that class of song writers who write the 'Remick hits,' and a Remick hit means a lot to a song writer in monye and fame." The best was yet to come for Botsford in the song department. George and Della Mae are shown in Manhattan 1910, where he was listed as a music composer. Mrs. Botsford also often made the society pages of the New York Times throughout the 1910s in various organizations or hosting public parties, particularly for the Iowa New Yorkers.
     George often served as a choral arranger and conductor both on and off Broadway, working in genres such as miniature opera (an opera staged with a minimal cast and a small instrumental ensemble), Vaudeville, Broadway shows as a pianist, Minstrel show revivals, and with the New York Police Department Glee Club. He also wrote the music for a few hit songs, of which Sailing Down The Chesapeake Bay of 1912 remains the biggest of them, and was a great musical boost for the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area. In an article in the New York Times on July 24, 1913, it was stated that prima donna Cecil Cunningham would appear in vaudeville for the first time at Proctors, "using a singing sketch entitled 'The Married Ladies' Club,' by Jean C. Havez and George Botsford." Another article on March 8, 1915, highlighting an actor's fund benefit vaudeville entertinament, mentioned that it was directed by Botsford, and that he and his Harmonists took part by closing the program. George became one of the charter members of ASCAP in 1914.
     Maintaining a position as a bandleader or conductor, Botsford managed to make inroads with some major publishers who kept his compositions in front of the public for many years. In his capacity as an arranger with Remick, George worked with manager Jens Bodewalt Lampe as part of one of the more efficient staffs in the industry, an organization with incredibly high standards for turning out socres without errata. He is shown on his 1918 draft record as employed by Remick in the capacity of musician, and not composer, doing much less of the latter by this time. Among his contributions to the Remick catalog were pieces in Bodewalt's Star Dance Folio series of the 1910s and 1920s. Botsford's composition and performance revenue was fairly substantial, and the Botsfords had a home address literally on Broadway by the mid 1910s. A passport issued in August 1918 indicates the possibility of his having traveled to England, where many Broadway shows and American performers were finding success. One of the last public notices of him in the Times is on April 21, 1919, when he is mentioned as arranging a specialty number of a "Cycle of Songs from 1850-1919" in a program headlined by comedian Ed Wynn
     The Botsfords are shown still living in Manhattan on Broadway in 1920, but his profession is obscured on the records, presumably still as a pianist or composer. He seems to have pretty much retired from composing in the 1920s, except perhaps occasionally for special stage shows or radio appearances, as little else was published. In the mid 1920s Botsford took a position with San Francisco based publisher Sherman Clay & Company as an assistant manager. It is unclear if he relocated for this position, but if so, it was a short term move. At a meeting of the Western Music Trades held in Seattle, Washington, in July 1926, Botsford was a featured speaker who, in his managerial capacity, spoke on collections, the difficult end of the business in which accounts with dealers and jobbers needed to be rectified. In his address, Botsford noted that there was a balance that needed to be struck in "individual thought, fact and sympathy on the part of the collection manager, and also the necessity of close and regular observation on his part of every account on the books at least every ten days."
     In 1930 he is again listed as a pianist on Broadway, now also having added radio to his credit, although it is unclear what radio stations or specific shows he may have played for. Interestingly, as with many ragtime composers when they grew older, George seems to have selectively trimmed a few years off his age, listing himself as 50 in 1930. One specialty composition for male voice appears in 1939, but he evidently spent most of his last three decades playing rather than writing. George Botsford died early in 1949 just short of his 75th birthday. His obituary in the New York Times of Februay 3 was posted by Fred E. Ahlert, the presedint of ASCAP at that time. "We announce with profound sorrow the death of our beloved member and colleague, George Botsford, in New York City on Feb. 1, 1949." Within the next year, some of his rags would once again find their way into recordings with a renewed popularity, including his famous Black and White Rag interpreted by the "Hollywood Pianist," Ray Turner, on a Capitol Records single. It remains one of the most performed rags into the 21st century.

Euday Louis Bowman (November 9, 1886 to May 26, 1949)
Compositions
1914 12th Street Rag 6th Street Rag 10th Street Rag 1915 Petticoat Lane Colorado Blues Fort Worth Blues Tipperary Blues Kansas City Blues 1916 Rosary Blues Shamrock Rag 1917 That's Teasing Them All, One     and All (1917) 11th Street Rag 1919 12th Street Rag Song 1921 Water Lily's Dream Then They Wonder Why a Boy Will     Leave His Happy Home [1]	1922 Jolly Jazz Blues [1] 1925 C.C. Blues [1] 1926 Lie'in Papa [1] Chromatic Chords 1934 Jubilee's Ball [1] 1936 Texas Centennial Jubilee [1] 1938 I Dreamed of Paradise [1] Hiding Your Love [1] She's the One for Me [1] Dream Island [1] Old Glory On Its Way [1] 1945 Spider on the Wall [1] 19?? Forgotten Rose [w/Edward Payne] [2]   1. Library of Congress Collection   2. University of North Texas

     Often associated with Kansas City (at least in composition), Euday Bowman was actually a native of Texas, and his pieces fall under the category of "Texas Ragtime", a unique style all to itself. He was born in Tarrant County near the Fort Worth area to Kentucky native carpenter George A. Bowman and his Dutch immigrant wife Olivia (Lambin De Eske) Bowman. Euday was the youngest of three siblings, including his sister Mary (5/1877) and brother Julius (9/1880). While his birth year has traditionally listed as 1887, it is listed specifically as 1886 in the 1900 Census and on his 1918 draft record, therefore 1886 will be assumed here as most correct. Olivia was a a music teacher, so it is likely she was partly responsible for Euday's earliest exposure to piano and composition. Mary is also listed as a music teacher at 23 in the 1900 Census.
     After a few attempts at writing in his teens and early twenties, he struck out on his own as an itinerant pianist, playing largely in the prostitution districts of large towns and cities where the better bordellos were located. It was during this period that young Euday allegedly lost a leg while trying to hop a train. However, this story is contradicted by his 1918 draft record which showed no infirmities to prevent him from being enlisted, so this dismemberment would have happened later, if at all. In 1910 Bowman was living in Fort Worth, at least part of the time, with his now-widowed mother Olivia and older sister Mary, both working as music teachers. Euday was listed as a teamster.
     After spending some time working and playing piano in the districts in both Fort Worth and Kansas City, Bowman composed the 12th Street Rag. He claims it was as early as 1905, but this is hard to confirm. Ultimately simple due to its secondary rag three over four pattern, it was easy to play and easy to improvise on, making it a durable hit once it was published many years later. The first self-publication of this rag was deemed nearly impossible to play, particularly the introduction, and it was revamped for the second edition (with a hand-stamped copyright). After limited success in trying to market the piece by himself, and looking to cover his costs, Bowman sold the rag to the Jenkins Publishing firm in Kansas City for a mere $300. They marketed it well and helped convert the piece into the popular version that is still available into the 21st century. Whether 12th Street Rag was named after 12th Street in Kansas City, or the same in either Dallas or Fort Worth, all of which had a 12th Street in the entertainment and red light district, is a question of where he was when he wrote it or where he was thinking of, and this is not entirely verified. However, the first of three sets of lyrics added at a later date start out "Down in Kansas City...", likely a choice of the rag's Kansas City publisher.
     Based on his post-sale success with 12th Street Rag Bowman wrote rags for Sixth Street, Tenth Street and Petticoat Lane, and had a minor success with the Eleventh Street Rag. Most of his compositions from this point were blues that were based in his Texas musical heritage, but also contained elements of good ragtime. They were initially published by a house he set up with a partner, Bowman and Ward. Unfortunately, once he sold 12th Street Rag and later some of the other Bowman and Ward scores to Jenkins for a relatively paltry sum, he did not see any more revenue from any of them in spite of the enormous national hit status of his most popular piece. For them it was just business, but it haunted Bowman for many years as he struggled to make a living. On his 1917 draft record he lists himself as a musician, but also as "not employed." Bowman was still living in Fort Worth in 1920 with his mother and sister, working as an equipment operator of some kind. In 1930 he was still living with his sister, their mother having died in 1922, but Euday now was shown as a pianist and jazz teacher, having gained some fame from his most famous work. During the 1920s and 1930s Bowman also submitted a number of other pieces to the Library of Congress, likely wary of repeating his 12th Street Rag experience, but they were not published, remaining in manuscript form (but now available at the Library of Congress site for viewing).
     Finally in 1942, when the original copyright renewal was available, Euday was able to get the rights back to his beloved and now long famous 12th Street Rag, but made little return from it during the war years and even soon after, in spite of reprints and promotion of the piece. In early 1948, big band leader Pee Wee Hunt inadvertently recorded Bowman's most famous opus during a radio show transcription session in Nashville for Capitol Records, when the engineer informed him there was still a little space left on the disc. The arrangement was silly in places with a doo-wacka-doo chorus by the trumpets, and the questionably pitched piano used for a solo passage was at least a quarter step flat. Not intended for airplay, the recording was nonetheless broadcast by stations all over the country, ironically during a musician's strike when studio recordings other than for the radio were being boycotted. The public demand for the track was nearly immediate, and caught Capitol Records by surprise. They soon released it on a 78 RPM single, and as a result the 12th Street Rag once again became a nostalgic hit. Bowman reportedly bought a very nice car with his first royalty check, but it was the only such check for that piece he would ever see. He tried to capitalize on the success of Hunt's recording by promoting himself and his other works, but his health had deteriorated and the strain was too much for him. Euday Bowman succumbed at age 62 just as his star was rising again. Even after he died, artists as diverse as the Firehouse Five Plus Two and Liberace were keeping his memory alive through that one ubiquitous tune, born and raised in the brothels of Texas.

Sanford Brunson Campbell (March 26, 1884 to November 23, 1952)
Compositions
c.1900-1908 Barber Shop Rag Blue Rag Brun's Slow Dog Campbell Cakewalk Fragment #1 Fragment #2 Ginger Snap Rag Grandpa's Stomp Lulu White Reminiscences Rendezvous Rag Salome's Slow Drag 1 Salome's Slow Drag 2	c.1898-1908 (Cont) Short Rag Slow and Easy Tent Show Rag Unnamed Strain #1 Unnamed Strain #2 Unnamed Strain #3 Variations on a Theme by Joplin c.1942 Barrelhouse Rag <1947 Chestnut Street in the 90's Essay in Ragtime

     Brun Campbell and his personal ragtime history as narrated to the world have been at the center of everything from reverence to ridicule since after his death. Never having actually made a full living as a performer or composer, he nonetheless provided a somewhat credible link to Scott Joplin and his peers, one of the earliest or only non-Black pupils, or as often stated, disciples, of the famous composer of Maple Leaf Rag. This biography will not overtly attempt to either feed or assuage any controversy, but merely address some variances. It will try, as best as possible, to sort out the facts of Campbell's life, and be as clear as it is feasibly possible on what was relayed by Campbell as opposed to what was known about him. Note that much of what was relayed of his life exists in recordings and interviews made in the early 1940s, four decades after the fact, and that a number variances are found even between those declarations by Campbell, which can be attributed to either memory issues or some fanciful embellishment acquired over the years.
     Sanford Brunson Campbell was born in early 1884 in Oberlin, Kansas to Luther E. Campbell of Wisconsin and Lulu (Emilie) A. [Bourquin] Campbell of Indiana. A brother, Harold A. Campbell, was born in Oberlin, Kansas on July 15 of 1891. Luther (sometimes later referred to as Lou or Lew) was only 17 when his first son was born, and he did not yet have a steady trade. Life was not always easy at that time on the northwest Kansas prairie, so diversions were welcome. The family also moved often, stopping for a time in St. Joseph, Missouri, after Harold was born. Possibly looking for adventure and opportunity, Luther was one of many who attempted to secure property when the Cherokee Strip Land Run commenced in September of 1893 in what would become a part of northern Oklahoma. While he failed to secure anything, Mr. Campbell settled the family near the starting point in Arkansas City, Kansas. Between 1893 and 1900, according to various city directories and records, the family was also in Guthrie in Oklahoma Territory, as well as Oklahoma City and El Reno, before returning to Kansas and Arkansas City.
     During this time Luther tried his hand as a traveling salesman, often bringing goods into the newly settled territory. He eventually abandoned that for a steadier career, and became a barber. Luther played some guitar and appropriately sang in what we would now consider a barbershop quartet. Lulu picked at the banjo as well. So it would seem obvious that during this period that Sanford would develop an interest in the piano. By the mid 1890s he received some musical training, equipping him enough to grasp the fundamentals of performance and structure, and become a competent player and reader. The family is shown in the both the 1895 Kansas Census and the 1900 Federal Census in Arkansas City, the latter with Luther employed in as a barber, while Sanford and Luther were still in school. This is important because the data reported in the 1900 Census is a bit at odds with Campbell's recorded recollections.
     This is Brun's story as relayed in the 1940s. It was in 1898, when Campbell would have been around 14, that he said he ran off from southern Kansas, finding his way to Oklahoma City. He then played for a while for the Armstrong-Byrd Music Company. It was possibly in that capacity that he met Otis Saunders (possibly Sanders), one of Joplin's colleagues. Saunders reportedly handed him a manuscript of Maple Leaf Rag to read through, which depending on the exact time frame was either nearing publication or had just recently been published. A manuscript would have constituted a hand written copy of Joplin's original, and some minor doubts could be cast on this possibility. Just the same, Campbell played through the copy and quickly became enamored with the soon to be famous rag. After returning home he ventured to Sedalia and became friends with Joplin and Saunders while taking lessons from the former. At the end of his time there, Saunders, or in some accounts, Scott Joplin, was supposed to have handed the teenager an 1897 silver half dollar, telling him that this was the date that the composer wrote his first "original rag." Then he went back home to Kansas, musically changed forever.
     That Sanford was listed as still in school in Kansas in early 1900 does not totally enforce the credibility of this tale, or even the less likely scenario that he returned home after this journey to Sedalia simply to attend high school. Also, if the year it happened was indeed 1898, there is the matter of a 14-year-old surviving on his own at that time, including provisions for lodging and food, although that was not unheard of. Just the same, here is a more likely scenario. Please note this is an educated opinion gathered from known facts and likely probabilities. That he traveled to Oklahoma in 1898 is likely, albeit for a short time. He and a friend of his, the son of a local doctor, went to Oklahoma City in 1898 (this was possibly the period in which the Campbell family was living there) for a celebration, probably for Oklahoma Day on September 16, 1898. He became separated from his friend and ended up at Armstrong-Byrd where he bided his time playing through music. Whether Saunders came by and heard him or not is still questionable, although he certainly may have received some complements and advice from others while he was there. It is likely that once reunited with his friend that the pair returned home.
     Instead of going to Sedalia at that time, it is more plausible that Campbell left for Missouri in the summer of 1900 at age 16, after the family was back in Arkansas City, and once school was out. Then the story would have logically progressed from there. In his autobiography Brun states, "I had been taught how to play by Scott Joplin in 1898 when I was 15 years old." As he was not fifteen until at least 1899, and that Joplin was not at all well known until after Maple Leaf Rag was published, and then only gradually, this further amplifies the plausibility that Campbell instead studied with Joplin in 1900. Another possibility suggested by They All Played Ragtime is that he may have spent the summer of 1899 in Sedalia, since it mentions his returning to Kansas after his time with Saunders and Joplin, and then returned the following summer.
     Otis Saunders/Sanders (whose true identity is currently a mystery since he does not appear in any Census) was indeed involved with helping Joplin get Maple Leaf Rag heard, played and widely promoted. However, it may potentially be considered unusual, based on data from interviews and knowledge of the past, that a mulatto pianist who was at least a decade older, would approach a white youngster in a music store to have him read a manuscript. It is more likely that the interchange involved Saunders giving Campbell a published copy of the rag, hoping to have it played locally and promoted for sale. In a 1945 Record Changer article, Brun contradicts his earlier story, saying that he learned the rag personally from Joplin as it was first written, a tale which seems even less likely given other facts. To further confound things, the Maple Leaf Club for which the rag was named and dedicated would not open until late November of 1898, meaning that Saunders would have been carrying a manuscript that was either unnamed or had a working title. So we can't be sure what Campbell saw or heard.
     This time line still works with the 1900 Census findings, and with Saunders going to Sedalia in mid 1900 or even early 1901 when Joplin was still there, and following him to St. Louis in 1901 as well. A further reinforcement of this contention is that Campbell became a barber like his father, a trade better learned in his mid-teens rather than at age 12 or 13, just prior to when he allegedly left home. It also indicates that he maintained better family ties than the previous scenario might suggest. The element of Campbell having seen the rag in manuscript form before it was published would indeed make for a more colorful story, but it is hard to confirm, while other known facts appear to diminish (but not eliminate) this possibility.
     There is evidence to support Campbell being in Sedalia around 1900. The extent of tutelage he received from Joplin of anybody else there is unknown. Sedalia was a fairly tolertant town in terms of race relations, so that the 16 year old might have been seen in a black neighborhood (and perhaps a bit less likely in one of the Negro clubs along the north side of Sedalia's Main Avenue near Ohio Street) would not necessarily have raised too many eyebrows. Campbell later claimed to have been Joplin's only white pupil, although there is little in the way of hard evidence to fully support even this. Given his playing style, what would he have learned from Joplin at that time? Perhaps it was the fundamentals of syncopation or composition, or even notation. Campbell's recordings reflect more of a folk ragtime style that would have been equally indigenous to central Missouri, convincingly suggesting that much of what he learned was influenced by a wide variety of players less skilled than Joplin. On Joplin's playing, he variously said that Joplin was a master at playing his own rags, which needed no embellishment, and that while Joplin was a competent pianist, his playing wasn't going to "set the world on fire."
     While in St. Louis, and later in Kansas City, Campbell was able to pick up work in saloons and sporting houses. It was there that he became familiar with the playing of Arthur Marshall, Scott Hayden, Tom Turpin, Tony Williams, Melford Alexander, Jim and Ida Hastings, Louis Chauvin and Charley Thompson, claiming to also have taken lessons with at least some of them. This is what he said of their playing in general. “None of the original pianists played ragtime the way it was written. They played their own style. Some played march time, fast time, slow time and some played ragtime blues style. But none of them lost the melody and if you knew the player and heard him a block away you could name him by his ragtime style.” Of the St. Louis crowd he claimed that Thompson was the best of them, eclipsing even the short-lived Chauvin who was known for his pianistic prowess. Campbell eventually fulfilled some of his wanderlust by traveling as an itinerant pianist throughout Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, and points south and southwest of the region, allegedly billing himself as "The Ragtime Kid". Variations on that include "The Original Ragtime Kid," "The Dude," the curious "The Indian Kid," "Kid Campbell," and "Brunnie Campbell."
     Brun played anywhere he could find, including honky-tonks, barrelhouses (which had tables made of beer barrels), white brothels, pool halls, and riverboats. This is most likely the time that he developed his unique playing style, absorbing the influences of other pianists he encountered, and the period in which he wrote the bulk of his compositions that were recorded in the early 1940s. But there is again some question about how long he was on the road, and whether or not he maintained a home base. Among those he claims to have met, and likely did at some point, include Tony Jackson and Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton. Given that Morton was six years his junior, it was not so plausible that they met before even 1904 when Morton was fourteen and first ventured up to St. Louis. However, in the 1940s Campbell stated: “I would like to give the late 'Jelly Roll' Morton, of New Orleans, credit for his early contribution to ragtime, which was King Porter Stomp, of 1906. He named it after Porter King, a great Negro pianist of the Gulf Coast. Another great Negro pianist of New Orleans was Tony Jackson, and he could out-play the great 'Jelly Roll' Morton. The music these great Negro composers developed will live forever, and I am proud of the fact I was associated with them at the beginning.” It seems more probable that Campbell would have developed a relationship with Morton when they were both in Los Angeles in the early 1920s, but either scenario is possible.
     During his time on the road he claims to have played for many luminaries from politicians to outlaws, of which some of the claims have been considered a stretch by other historians. Among those he claimed to have performed for include President Teddy Roosevelt, Buffalo Bill (William C. Cody), Governor Thompson B. Ferguson of what was then still Indian Territory before it was Oklahoma, minstrel leader Lew Dockstader, O.K. Corral veteran and lawman Bat Masterson, and famed outlaws Frank James (Jesse's brother), Cole Younger, Emmett Dalton and Henry Starr. His stated that his greatest thrill was playing Maple Leaf Rag at the Kerfoot Hotel in El Reno, Oklahoma for Bill Cody's friend and rival, Pawnee Bill (Gordon Lillie). He and his wife, May Manning, were the proprietors of the Pawnee Bill Historical Wild West Show, which was most often held at their ranch at Pawnee, Oklahoma. In They All Played Ragtime, Campbell said that “Twenty years later I met him in Tulsa and he asked me to play it again.”
     The 1905 Kansas Census shows Campbell (erroneously listed as Branson) once again living with his brother and parents in Arkansas City. It could be that he was discouraged during his travels either by a limited skill set or the popularity of the talented black performers that populated the region. There is less of a possibility that he just happened to be visiting the day that Census was taken, given that he is shown to be working as a barber, not a musician. Some time around 1907 to 1908 Campbell claims he retired from the playing life (it was likely earlier), and was married to G. Ethel Campbell (little is known about her). He then settled in to his father's line of work, albeit now in Tulsa, Oklahoma where Luther and Lulu had also moved. Sanford (he was invariably listed in each Federal Census as Sanford B.) and Ethel are shown there in the 1910 Census living on Second Street, with Campbell working as a barber in his own shop. There is no indication that he was working as a musician by this time, although it remains a possibility.
     Brun, as he was more often referred to by this time, continued to live in Tulsa for most of the decade. However, his first marriage broke up within a couple years. On May 14, 1913 he got applied for a marriage license in Tulsa, this time with Lena Louise Burrough of Fort Smith, Arkansas. She was 18-years-old to his 29 (he claimed to be 27). It is assumed they were soon married as on his 1918 draft card he lists a "Mrs. Sanford B. Campbell," although living at a different address than his. He was at 111 E. Fourth and Lena was living at 110 E. Independence. Brun was working as a barber for Hodges and Clements. Under the claims for potential disqualification due to physical issues, he claimed he was "Shot through joint of big toe in right foot." The story behind this is unclear, but given his earlier life as an itinerant pianist, it is very plausible. They were likely divorced soon after this as Campbell is next seen in Venice, California in 1920. He was now living with his parents and brother again. Luther was the sales manager for a coffee company, Harold worked as what appears to be a traveling salesman in the grocery business, and Brun had opened his own barber shop in Venice. The community had been founded just west of Los Angeles on the shore a couple of decades prior, with the gimmick of having recreated the essence of Venice, Italy, complete with canals and gondolas. Only a couple of the canals exist today, but Venice Beach is still a popular destination for locals. Brun remained there for the rest of his life.
     Campbell was married a third time, either in the mid to late 1920s or as early as 1918, to Marjorie (May) Campbell. According to the 1930 Census they had three daughters, Dorothy (c.1919), Louise (c.1923) and Patricia (c.1925). Given that all three girls were born in Oklahoma where their mother was from, he possibly acquired them in the marriage.

Brun Campbell looks through a display of his first ragtime teacher's works.

May was also potentially a previous acquaintance from his time in Tulsa. However, there remains the possibility that the girls were his, Lena having been Dorothy's mother, depending on the reliability of the Census data. Both Brun and May claim to have been first married 12 years prior, yet although he shows as being married in the 1920 Census, there was no wife living with him in Venice. The 1930 record also shows that the father for all three girls was born in Kansas, which could be either a coincidence or an error. Once the 1940 Census is made available, perhaps some of this will become clearer in terms of their relationship. For the time being, the late 1920s marriage appears to be the most credible story.
     Brun's shop was at 711 Venice Boulevard nest to the Venice City Hall. In interviews in the 1940s when he was being "rediscovered," he claimed to have not touched a piano through the 1920s and 1930s. However, Norm Pierce, a barber supply salesman in during the depression who later owned a San Francisco record shop, said he visited Brun's shop frequently in the 1930s, and that there was a piano in the back room of the shop that Campbell played often. This kept his playing chops in good shape, which came in handy in the early 1940s. There was a revival of 1920s jazz in the works, led at this time by Lu Watters and Wally Rose in San Francisco. In 1942, just as World War Two was underway, they recorded several tracks as the Yerba Buena Jazz Band, reviving the works of Joseph "King" Oliver and others, throwing in a little ragtime for good measure. While the progression of this revival and the YBJB was interrupted by the war, jazz enthusiasts and writers started seeking out the originals from this era. Paul E. Affeldt started visiting Brun around this time, and said that when he'd visit the shop and ask the barber to tell him something about the ragtime years, the "Closed" sign would go up and the stories would come forth in great numbers. Campbell also had a number of home-recorded acetate records dating possibly back to the 1910s. Trombonist Turk Murphy, as quoted by pianist and historian Terry Waldo in This is Ragtime, said, "You could always tell the guys who were going to see him, because of their haircuts. He wasn't really that good of a barber, but he played good ragtime."
     Hoping to do some good on this new interest in old music, Brun set out to do a favor for an old friend. He had heard that Lottie Joplin, Scott's widow, was going through hard times. So Brun recorded Maple Leaf Rag in his shop on an old $50 upright he says he refurbished, simply so the royalties would go to help her out of her situation. He recorded for Ray Avery's Echoes record company, and also did some sides for Watters' own West Coast label (eventually acquired by Lester Koenig's Good Time Jazz and then Fantasy Records). Somewhere during this time period and prior to 1947, Campbell composed and recorded Chestnut Street in the 90's, which remains his best known and most often played rag. Many of the other pieces he ended up recording around 1947 had a similar and earthy style, but there were also quotes or paraphrases of well known rags of the past. In some cases, he recorded snippets of a minute or less that are considered potential fragments of a larger piece, or perhaps just a riff that inspired him. Each of the privately recorded discs that Brunson did were initially released on one-sided records because, as Campbell later told writer Floyd Levin, "If they want to hear two tunes, let them buy two records."
     Based on his growing fame among jazz fans and his links to Scott Joplin, it was inevitable that Campbell would be interviewed in 1949 by Rudi Blesh and Harriet Janis for their upcoming book They All Played Ragtime. Brun also penned his own autobiography which now resides at Fisk University, a largely black institution in Nashville, Tennessee. A release of his previous recordings as well as the publication of They All Played Ragtime in 1950 brought new found fame to many previously unsung composers and performers, ranging from Joseph F. Lamb and Charley Thompson to Brun Campbell. Another researcher and fan who exchanged mail with Campbell was then high school student, now historian Mike Montgomery. He was among the first of the ragtime revivalists to have learned and then spread Campbell's full name to other ragtime writers. However, Campbell was not able to revel in his growing fame for long. Scott Joplin's only white student passed on in late 1952, leaving behind a legacy of unique views of the ragtime era, as well as a number of still unanswered questions. Affeldt eventually acquired many of the acetates cut by Campbell, and released a pair of records on his Euphonic label, named after Affeldt's favorite Joplin Rag. It became clear to those who listened to these tracks that while other players, at least those who continued working in that capacity into the 1920s and 1930s, changed their style to fit the times, Campbell retained what he had learned in those early days of ragtime. In that regard, his 1940s performances are perhaps among the most authentic of those done during that time, giving us a good view into what some saloon piano players may have sounded like during those glory days in St. Louis. For all of those questions left behind by Campbell, the answers that we know of, including his performances, are still a treasured look into a time long past.

     In addition to the author's own research on Campbell, based largely on public records, his recorded comments and snippets of his autobiography, acknowledgement should be extended to other good sources of information on the composer. These included Richard Egan who transcribed 22 of Campbell's pieces and wrote a short biography to accompany them in Brun Campbell: The Music of the Ragtime Kid, which can still be found with a little effort. Further reviewed research was compiled by Peter Hanley, of which more can be read at Mike Meddings' extraordinary Doctor Jazz site.
     Some quotes came from an article by Campbell in the April, 1949 Jazz Journal, and his autobiography published in a 1968 edition of Jazz Report. One other article was penned by Floyd Levin in December of 1970 in Jazz Journal. An important two part article on early ragtime written by Campbell and R.J. Carew appeared in the Record Changer in the spring of 1945.
     Two recommended CDs of Campbell's work include Delmark 753, Brun Campbell: Joplin's Disciple, which includes many of his early 1940s recordings, and composer/performer David Thomas Roberts' fine recreations of Campbell's rags, The Collected Brun Campbell, on the PianoMania label.
     While it was not used as a source of any kind for this biography, author Larry Karp has to date published two books in a series about Scott Jopin featured in what will be a trilogy of historically-based mysteries involving Brun and other known ragtime artists. Brun is a main character in The Ragtime Kid, about which more can be discovered at http://larrkarp.com. Larry also uncovered the marriage certificate for Brun and Lena in 1913, which Fred Hoeptner kindly forwarded to me.
     One other helpful note for researchers, from which I have heard that the 1900 Census does not have the Campbell family. It actually does have them, although the registry, and apparently the spelling on the form have it mangled as Camble. Everything else matches, however, so the listing does indeed exist and is otherwise correct.

Axel Waldemar Christensen (March 23, 1881 to August 17, 1955)
Compositions
1902 Ragtime Wedding March (Apologies to     Mendelssohn) 1908 Irmena Rag 1909 The Cauldron Rag Marching Thro' Georgia The Ragtime King Flower Song [Gustave Lange] [1] 1910 Star and Garter: Rag-time Waltz     (aka Nightie Night) 1912 The Glen Oaks Rag The Press Club Rag 1913 In My Mercer Racing Car [w/John S.     Meck] The Minnesota Rag Pathetic Rag Christensen's Picture Show Collection     for the Piano [2] 1915 Ragtime Rings the Bell Webster Grove Rag Annie Laurie [Traditional] [1] Auld Lang Syne [Traditional] [1] Home Sweet Home [Henry Bishop] [1] Believe Me, If All Those Endearing     Young Charms [Thomas Moore] [1] Massa's in the Cold, Cold Ground     [Stephen Foster] [1] The Last Rose of Summer [Thomas     Moore] [1] My Old Kentucky Home [Stephen     Foster] [1] Old Black Joe [Stephen Foster] [1]	1915 (Cont) Swanee River (Old Folks at Home)     [Stephen Foster] [1] When You and I were Young, Maggie     [George W. Johnson & James A.     Butterfield] [1] 1916 That Potatoe Bug Rag Hurry (Pursuit and Capture) [2] Moonlight [2] 1917 Pantaloon (Dance Grotesque) [2] Coronation March [2] For Introductions, Lively Scenes,     Western Pictures, Etc. [2] Quarrel or Struggle Scenes [2] Turkish [2] 1923 Nobody's Business Teasing the Klassics 1924 Axel Grease: A Slick Novelty Take it Easy Love of My Dreams Walking Blues [disputed] 1925 Syncophonic Number 1 Syncophonic Number 2 Syncophonic Number 3 Syncophonic Number 4 Syncophonic Number 5 1927 Boogie Woogie Blues 1929 Syncophonic Number 6   1. Arrangement in Ragtime   2. Silent Film Cue(s)
Instruction Books - Various Years
Christensen's Ragtime Instruction Book Number 1 (1906) Christensen's Ragtime Instruction Book (1908 ed.) Christensen's Ragtime Instruction Book (1909 ed.) Christensen's Ragtime Instruction Book (1915 ed.) Christensen's Ragtime Instruction Book (1918 ed.) Christensen's Ragtime Instruction Book (1919 ed.) Christensen's Ragtime Instruction Book No. 2 (1922) Christensen's Ragtime Instruction Book No. 2 (1924 ed.) Instruction Book for Vaudeville Playing Book 1 (1912) Instruction Book for Vaudeville Playing Book 2 (1912) Instruction Book for Vaudeville Playing Book 3 (1912) Instruction Book for Vaudeville Playing Book 4 (1912) Instruction Book for Vaudeville Playing Book 5 (1912) Christensen's Instruction Book for Playing Rag, Jazz and Popular Music on     the Tenor Banjo (1922) Axel Christensen's New Instruction Book for Rag and Jazz Piano Playing (1920) Axel Christensen's New Instruction Book for Rag, Jazz and Popular Music (1922) Axel Christensen's New Instruction Book for Rag and Jazz Piano Playing (1925 ed.) Axel Christensen's Instruction Book for Jazz and Novelty Piano Playing (1924) Axel Christensen's Instruction Book for Jazz and Novelty Piano Playing (1927) Axel Christensen's Instruction Book for Modern Music(1931) Axel Christensen's Instruction Book for Modern Swing Music(1936) Axel Christensen's Instruction Book for Modern Swing Music(1945)
Rollography
1912 Cauldron Rag La Reine Annette - Ragtime Waltz 1924 Mindin' My Bus'ness Blue Bird Blues Lonely Little Wallflower Love of My Dreams—Waltz Teasing the Klassics	Matrix and Date [QRS 100005] 07/1912 [QRS 100011] 07/1912   [U.S. Music 41878] 04/1924 [U.S. Music] 04/1924 [U.S. Music] 5/1924 [U.S. Music] 5/1924 [U.S. Music 11398] ?/1924
Discography
1921 Teasing the Klassics 1923 Old Black Joe/Auld Lang Syne Cauldron Rag/Star & Garter The Girl I Kissed on the Stairs Teasing the Klassics 1927 Axel at the Baseball Game Axel Receives a Letter Axel and the Ducks Axel Pleases and Surprises Walking Blues Syncophonic [#1]	Matrix and Date [Paramount 846] 09/1921   [Paramount 1302] 01/1923 [Paramount 1303] 01/1923 [Okeh S8500] 10/1923 [Okeh S8501] 10/1923   [Paramount 20367] 02/1927 [Paramount 20368] 02/1927 [Paramount 20369] 02/1927 [Paramount 20370] 02/1927 [Broadway 20242] 12/1927 [Broadway 20243] 12/1927

     Axel W. Christensen was an important figure in ragtime, not so much as a composer but as a promoter, trying to get the concepts of the music into the hands of the average pianist while making a nice profit at the same time. He was born to Danish immigrants Charles C. and Mary Christensen in Chicago, Illinois, a decade after the great fire that had leveled the city. Axel was the oldest of four boys and one girl. He had a typical musical upbringing that included piano lessons and harmony and theory. Contemporary reports described him as only average in his ability. There was reportedly an incident in his mid teens in which after playing marches and some forms of classical music at a party he was shown up by a much better pianist playing early cakewalks or ragtime, something that the females reacted to in a very positive way. This evidently affected him deeply, and it was then that he became passionately interested in popular piano styles, including ragtime. By 1900 he was still only peripherally involved with music, as the Census shows him working in mechanical engineering of some kind, the same field his father was in.
     The young entrepreneur finally managed to compose and publish a rag in 1902, The Ragtime Wedding March (Apologies to Mendelssohn). The main point of this piece was to prove that virtually anything could be syncopated into a ragtime style, a catalyst for what was to come in his career. Determined to make good with his musical education and passion, Christensen opened his first ragtime instruction school in Chicago's Fine Arts building in 1903 with the promise of "Ragtime Taught in Ten Lessons." He had developed a curriculum that consisted of exercises in various syncopated patterns on easy melodies. His goal, although not overtly stated, was to teach the person not so much how to play a piano rag, but how to rag any music that they encountered or already knew. This was akin to turning around his own bad teenage experience into something positive - taking the 98 pound weakling pianist and making them popular with syncopated muscles. With good advertising and positive results, he was able to grow the business fairly steadily. Axel soon married Reine Annette Swanson in September of 1903, and she would eventually become materially involved in the burgeoning business. They soon established Christensen's headquarters in the Kimball Building.
     Business reached a point of saturation in the Chicago area by 1908 with four school branches in various parts of the city. However, Christensen had been selling his books by mail order and in selected music stores in an effort to get to people outside of his Midwest radius. The first of these was published in 1906, Christensen's Instruction Book Number 1 for Rag-Time Piano Playing, the very title forecasting a series of such books. The basic course was updated at least five times during the ragtime era. Many of the exercises could be equated to a syncopated version of the famous Hanon exercises, repeating a syncopated pattern up and down the scale. Other focused courses also soon appeared in print, including a course on playing for Vaudeville, a fairly lucrative profession at that time. Going beyond how to play, these books also outlined how to build up a well-paced set of anywhere from 20 minutes to an entire evening concert, important lessons for an entertainer to know in order to engage an audience.
     Axel was finally confident enough in the strength of his teaching methodology, which was frequently updated to include new styles as they came along, and opened a branch of his school in San Francisco in late 1908. The results encouraged him to expand to Cincinnati by 1910, and even St. Louis, a hotbed of ragtime activity for a decade by that time. He also expanded his personal repertoire of compositions with a number of fine rags and songs over the next few years. In July, 1910 the Christensens were shown living in a fairly nice area of Chicago with their recently-arrived only son, Carle Alexander, born July 27, 1909. They also had a live-in servant, so the publishing and teaching enterprise was paying off fairly well by then. He listed himself as a proprietor of music schools.
     By 1910 Christensen was truly the Czar of Ragtime, a title which would stay with him for many years and that he used often in Vaudeville. In 1915, utilizing his passion for rearranging older tunes with syncopation, Axel released a series of these arrangements that were included in some of his courses and sold separately as well. His educational reach would eventually extend to 25 different cities by 1918, near the end of the ragtime era. Axel's 1918 draft record shows him still in Chicago as the owner and manager of the Christensen School of Popular Music.
     In May 1918 in Melody Magazine, Christensen wrote a provocative article titled Can Ragtime Be Suppressed which extolled the virtues of the genre, and made clear that those who would try to prevent its continuation would ultimately fail in their endeavors due to the public thirst for more ragtime. While its origin was only a mere two decades in the past, he postulated on the mystery of that very genesis. "Many writers have endeavoured to trace ragtime down to its origin, but there are almost as many opinions as to where ragtime had its source as there are writers on the subject. Ever since there has been such a thing as ragtime, there have been people who would tell you that ragtime was on the decline, and that it would soon be a thing of the past. Twelve or thirteen years ago a well-known music publisher told me in all seriousness to devote my efforts to something besides ragtime, because the knell of ragtime had been sounded; it had run itself to death and the publishers would soon stop printing it altogether. He sagely told me that if I had only gone into business a few years previous I might have made something out of it, but there was no longer any hope. That was twelve years ago and ragtime is now stronger than ever." The truth is that it was on the way out, and the Christensen schools would have to adapt in order to follow the national musical trend to jazz.
      It was reported in They All Played Ragtime that some 200,000 students had registered nationally with the schools by 1923. A 1923 edition of the Music Trade Review noted that Christensen had ninety-two branches around the country. Totals would eventually rise to 350,000 by the onset of the Great Depression, with another 200,000 by 1935, although the latter figure can likely be disputed given the economic climate. In any case, the school was likely responsible for a great many ragtime pianists that ranged from hobbyists to small town heroes, many of them perhaps playing either in Vaudeville or for movie houses of the era. Much of the success of his program, beyond the frequently updated exercises and examples, was his willingness to trust other teachers to follow the program and succeed as he had with it. Many of them also had careers as performers or composers. Among those who are known are Robert Marine from New York, Bernard Brin from Seattle, Marcella Henry from Chicago and Edward J. Mellinger from St. Louis. It has been noted that at times 500 or more students would attend recitals as Mellinger's St. Louis branch, and some of them became large celebrations of playing with student/teacher duets, trios, and perhaps even more, creating good press for Christensen.
      In addition to running this enterprise, Axel continued to write rags at this time, sometimes published separately but more often included in the courses. While not quite of the same quality as some of the better selling pieces of the time, they were still carefully crafted and accessible to his students. In 1912 he reportedly became one of the first artists to record "hand-played" piano rolls for the QRS company, a claim later contradicted by ads for another company saying he had not recorded for anybody else before 1923. Nonetheless, the QRS rolls state that each piece was "Played by the Composer." Christensen also published selected rags by other composers, favoring those who taught for them.
      Another great promotional tool was his monthly Ragtime Review magazine which ran from December 1914 to late 1918, and included tricks and tips, humorous stories, articles on performers, composition reviews and reprints of rags by many publishers who licensed the pieces to him, perhaps in exchange for advertising which was prominent in most editions. Among those was John S. Stark, who allowed one of his ragtime publications or articles to be published in the magazine each month during at least the first year, and sporadically from 1915 on. The bulk of pieces that appeared subsequently were by Christensen or others who taught at his various branches in the Midwest.
     The Ragtime Review magazine's subscriber base was eventually bought by publisher Walter Jacobs around 1918, and he incorporated it into his own Melody Magazine, which was largely managed by composer George L. Cobb. The circumstances of this buyout are unclear, but it likely removed some competition for Jacobs as well as giving him a greatly increased circulation. It should also be noted that many others tried to emulate Christensen's publishing and teaching success, and some of the literature for smaller ragtime or piano schools are obviously directly derived, and in some cases plagiarized from the Czar's own work. However, his name dominated the field, particularly in cities where his schools continued to do good business. His Los Angeles branch even claimed a few movie stars in the late 1910s among their clientele.
     As ragtime languished and jazz thrived with the approaching 1920s, Christensen quickly adapted, and soon his ragtime instruction books and schools became jazz-oriented. As novelty piano became popular in the early 1920s he added novelty riffs and licks to the course, as well as some novelty compositions of his own. There were even books on how to execute piano breaks in a variety of ways, an indispensable aid to the amateur jazz band pianist. On a few occasions in the 1920s Axel recorded some sides for the Okeh and Paramount record labels. In 1923 he signed a contract with the United States Music Company to record piano rolls of his own works, as well as instruction rolls of the Christensen system. That same year he opened a music store at 526 South Western Avenue in Chicago, featuring musical merchandise, Okeh records, music rolls and radio amplifiers.
     Axel

Christensen in 1923 with Indianapolis conductor Modest Altschuler discussing his tour.

himself ventured out more in the mid 1920s as well, having long progressed beyond being an average pianist, and now even billing himself as a "Pianologist." As reported in the Music Trade Review of January 5, 1924, he announced a tour "featuring recorded number on piano." It goes on to say that the "popular and entertaining pianist syncopator, who records exclusively for the U.S. Music Company of Chicago, will being the first of a series of acts in a theatrical tour which calls for appearances at many of the best-known motion picture theatres. He will favor his audience with well-known and snappy piano skits, which are responsible for his popularity throughout the country." One of those was a by then famous parody of the poem "The Face on the Bar-room Floor." He had also worked up a set of "synco-symphonies" for performance.
     The tour opened at the Circle Theatre in Indianapolis, Indiana, for a two week stay in January 1924. It was presented with the cooperation of and promotion by the U.S. Music Company. So as expected, many of the pieces he played just happened to be available on rolls in the lobby. He gave his own shows around the country in both private and public venues, and occasionally with Vaudeville troupes. His own shows were sort of a one-man Vaudeville evening with music, singing and stories (no dancing was reported). Among the advertised treats were syncopated versions of classics like the ubiquitous Poet and Peasant Overture. This is in line with his comment that "classical music is one of the finest of arts and dwells briefly upon the original narratives of some of the best-known classics." In the act he also demonstrated how some of these classics were often used as the basis for a popular tune, including his own syncopated versions of the such works. Overall, the tour was a success for both the artist and the sponsor, who reported an increase in roll sales in each city Christensen appeared in.
     The entertaining Mr. Christensen continued to tour for much of the rest of the decade. In 1925 and 1926 he was put on the popular Orpheum and Keith circuit of vaudeville theaters earning at least $1,000 per week. At that same time he appeared on many of the earliest radio stations in the country, including KYW (Philadelphia), WEBH, WGN, WMAQ, WQJ and WLS (all Chicago stations). He also recorded some of his ethnic comic monologues used on stage on the Broadway label, a subsidiary of Paramount. He also attended or hosted many events in Chicago when he was in town. On December 7, 1926, a "stag dinner" was given in honor of the maestro by the Chicago Piano Club which he had joined several years prior. The affair was reportedly a great success, and Piano Club members awarded him with a solid gold pocket watch. In early 1927 Christensen started a series of programs on Chicago station WHT owned by the Wrigely corporation. One of the highlights of the first show was an imitation of the late Bert Williams singing Somebody Else, in addition to his usual comedy.
     Axel's regular haunt in Chicago in 1926 and 1927 was the Palace Theater, which no longer required his services after their conversion to sound in 1928. Over the next three years he continued to regale audiences everywhere on radio and in person with his humorous anecdotes, which more and more took the balance of an evening with less piano playing. A book of many of these stories, Axel Grease for Your Funny Bone, was published in 1930. Also by 1930, his son Carle had joined the act, performing at the piano more frequently on stage with his famous father.
     By the time the Great Depression set in around 1930, Axel's schools and even his publications were likely considered a frivolous expense by most consumers in light of the economic downturn, and he had to scale back the operation. It had clearly become a family business, as in 1930 Mr. Christensen, now living in the exclusive River Forest suburb of Chicago, lists himself as the proprietor of his small empire, with Reine as a manager and Carle, now 20, as an assistant manager. Many of the schools closed, although he still published courses in learning jazz, and later swing music, throughout the decade. Axel still managed to find performance work in the final days of Vaudeville and for many private functions and conventions. By this time he was promoting comedy, a much needed commodity, as a major part of his entertainments. This included promotional material with examples of his jokes and humorous stories.
     Carle Christensen married Alyce Oglozinski in Chicago on April 20, 1931. The couple subsequently moved to California soon after, perhaps to manage a Christensen school there or even pursue an additional degree (the circumstances are still under investigation). Alyce gave birth to Carlos Christensen on March 15, 1933 with David G. Christensen following within a couple of years. However, the couple was back in Chicago at some point later in the decade with Axel and Reine, as Carlos was schooled in Illinois. In the mean time, the elder Christensen switched radio stations in 1934, now performing regularly in WJJD in Chicago. The schools there remained in business throughout the 1930s and into the 1940s. Indeed, an advertisment run in Chicago papers from the summer of 1945 through the following spring promoted the Christensen School of Popular Music, urging the reader to "Learn Swing Piano the Axel Christensen Way." The ads appear to cease around June, 1946.
     At some after World War Two, the extended family relocated to Southern California. Carle and his brood returned there permanently around 1946 and Axel and Reine followed in late 1947 or early 1948. As related by Chris Christensen, Axel was a strong believer in the Baha'i faith, and there was a particularly notable temple and school in Ojai, just east of Santa Barbara. It does help to clarify why Carle had an Ojai address for many years, and indeed retired there. It also speaks clearly on the strong faith base for the Christensen family that kept them together.
     According to his grandson David, Axel not only kept on performing in Los Angeles after his move, but made a rare television appearance. He was listed as appearing on KLAC 13, October 4, 1951, on the show You're Never Too Old. Christensen performed all over the Los Angeles area for a variety of functions nearly up to his death. Many were private functions for small civic organizations, and there is at least one notice published as late as April 3, 1955, in a Long Beach, California newspaper. The music school entrepreneur died months later in Los Angeles at age 74 leaving behind a wake of happy people who somehow had managed to learn the joy of ragtime through his methodologies. His wife survived him through 1962.
     Carle continued to issue Christensen publications through the mid 1960s. He retired to Ojai and lived there until his death in 1996. Carlos, a music enthusiast by birthright who became a computer scientist in the 1960s, died in the spring of 2007 in Concord, Massachusetts, where he had been collecting memories of his youth with grandfather Axel. David G. Christensen is the sole remaining member of the family who knew Axel, and has followed the Christensen creative bent as producer of video and music projects, residing in Port Townsend, Washington.

     Many thanks to Canadian Ragtime historian Ted Tjaden who provided some of the information here to supplement my research, as well as posting many Christensen items on his site, including the entire run of the Ragtime Review. Please visit his site at www.ragtimepiano.ca. Also, Robert Perry for providing the QRS piano roll information and Andrew Barrett on a couple of the recordings. Thanks also to Chris Christensen, the family of Carlos Christensen, and David G. Christensen for some additional clarifications.
     Of particular help has been research done on the St. Louis branches of the Christensen schools by Bryan Cather of the Scott Joplin House in St. Louis, including Axel's link with publisher John Stark.
     Some additional information is provided in the book That American Rag by Dave Jasen and Gene Jones, which should be in every ragtime enthusiasts' library. The rest was uncovered by the author in public records, periodicals, and other varying sources.

Edward Browne Claypoole (December 20, 1883 to January 16, 1952)
Compositions
1899 Prancin' Jimmy 1900 Cake Walk Lindy 1904 Hike to the Pike 1906 My Prairie Wildflower Sioux 1908 I Don't Want to Marry You My Sahara Belle [w/Henry B. Smith] 1910 My Guiding Star (When in Joy or in     Gladness) [1] Little Echo [1] 1913 Nuvida: Oriental Intermezzo Alabama Jigger 1914 Reuben Fox Trot In Revolutionary Mexico     [w/Leonard Weinberg] 1915 Ragging the Scale	1916 American Jubilee - Patriotic Rag Spooky Spooks 1917 Echoes Unique Kirmanshah: Oriental Intermezzo 1922 Dusting the Keys Jazzapation - Fox-Trot Waltzing Jim Changes 1923 Skidding Dusting the Keys (Song)     [w/Edward J. Killalea] 1924 Bouncing on the Keys Gay Birds 1929 Oriental Fantasy 1941 Tapping on Ivory    1. w/James R. Brewer

     Edward Claypoole was truly a court composer; literally. In spite of a pretty good legacy of great compositions, he spent his career working in the courts. Born in Baltimore to court clerk Captain James Yeardley Claypoole and his wife Mary (Molly) Claypoole, both Maryland natives, Eddie was the youngest of five children, including Robert G. (11/1875), James Y. Jr. (11/1876), Genevieve W. (6/1879) and Martha A. (10/1881). Captain Claypoole was also involved in politics in Baltimore, part of his circle of friends in his position as a clerk in the Court of Common Pleas. Edward would spend virtually all of his life in Baltimore.
     Little Eddie was drawn to the piano at an early age, and in his formative years his abilities were demonstrated by his proud mother as he was propped up on cushions picking out tunes. There was a brief foray with formal lessons that did not work out, so they were soon abandoned. As a result, Eddie was mostly self-taught, focusing on popular music forms, and without harmony or theory training unable to notate. His high school music teacher helped him out with the latter when Eddie decided he wanted to submit pieces for publication. Some of the earliest were written for school or community theater presentations. But instrumentals were soon to follow. The first of these was Prancin' Jimmy when he was just 16, which did fairly well for Baltimore publisher Cohen and Hughes. It also encouraged him to do more than just play in local venues, so he kept writing. His father died in the October 1895. As of the 1900 Census, Eddie's mother was shown as widowed, and Eddie was still in school. Curiously the enumerator caused some confusion by listing her name as Martin, and showing her as male, and a court clerk. But given confirmation of James' death and an apparent change on the record, this was a sloppy oversight as the other information matches.
     One of Edward's big breaks came in 1903. Sort of. That was when he decided, in spite of some early musical successes, to get a real job. His older brothers Robert and James were also employed as clerks as their father had been, making it kind of a family affair. Whether older sisters Jessica and Martha followed is not clear. So he applied to the Baltimore courts and got a job as an apprentice court clerk. They were very forgiving of his performance habits, however, and Edward was one of their best representatives in that regard. Having a few pieces under his belt and a reputation as a good pianist, Claypoole found his way to the 1904 Lewis and Clark Exposition in St. Louis where he performed, and also had his own contribution to the large catalog of "Pike" pieces published, the Pike being the strip just outside of the fairgrounds where most of the ongoing entertainments were housed. Hike to the Pike did well at the fair, but so many pieces like this were soon forgotten. It was touted in the July 9, 1904 edition of The Music Trade Review as "a ready and rapid seller, and bands and orchestras in and around St. Louis and the fair are playing it right along."
     In his new capacity as a court clerk in training he was able to turn out just a few pieces a year, if that, but they were usually accepted for publication. Two breaks came on Broadway as three of his songs were interpolated into two stage shows. The first, Nearly a Hero of 1908, including I Don't Want to Marry You and My Sahara Belle, ran for several months. The second, The Echo of 1910, included My Guiding Star and ran for a shorter time. But it helped cement his reputation. But clearly by 1910 his footing was more solid in Baltimore, as the census shows him with Adele (Addie) C. (Spurrier) Claypoole, who he married in 1908, and with a daughter, Audrey C. Claypoole, born in late 1909. He was listed as a Law Court Clerk as well, not a musician.
     Mildly diminutive at 5'4", Eddie was a local celebrity in Baltimore in the teens, and in demand for a number of musical functions. It was also one of his more productive writing periods. Alabama Jigger became a popular band hit, and his Reuben Fox Trot a decent seller. Then he tipped the scales of justice in his favor with - the scale. The simple concept of applying syncopation to a scale - a scale played in five different tonalities no less - earned Claypoole a permanent place in the ragtime hit parade.
     Appearing first in a beautiful but limited edition clown cover (inexplicably replaced by a fairly generic notated cover), Ragging the Scale was a sensation for Eddie, as well as for Will Von Tilzer's Broadway Music Corporation, where it landed following it's initial and more colorful printing on Von Tilzer's ArtMusic subsidiary. It sold well, was performed often around the country, and was one of the most cleverly simple pieces of the ragtime era. Within in year the piece had found its way to several different piano roll renditions. This sensation earned the erstwhile court clerk a total of $25.00, since he sold it outright rather than opt for royalties. Why take chances on a fad? But his tunes were still in demand. Ragging the Scale also made a comeback in a 1930s edition through ArtMusic However, shortly after this Claypoole took a break from writing. Again in 1920, the census shows the happy family still in Baltimore, with Edward listed as a Court Clerk at the Court House.
     In the early 1920s he decided to test the waters again, and came up with the clever Dusting the Keys which actually included a little gimmick where the player was to literally dust the keys with a cloth on their index finger in the trio. With lyrics added in short order to create a song edition of the piece, it was yet another hit, but now completely in the novelty genre. Encouraged, he wrote four piano novelties that were all readily printed up by Mills Music, the leader in that genre during the 1920s. He also joined ASCAP in 1929.
     While very few pieces followed his Mills novelties into print, Claypoole became a popular fixture on the radio in the late 1920s and into the 1940s. His daughter Audrey, shown still living in the family home in 1930 (when he had graduated to his ultimate position as Deputy Clerk) sang with him as well both on the radio and at live venues. He eventually retired from music and in 1948, after a 45 year career, from the Baltimore City courts as well. One might imagine the sense of loss felt by the court when their finest musical representative left for retirement. Sadly that retirement was a mere four years, but thankfully his many fine tunes have since come out of retirement to entertain us all. If it should please the court.

     Some of the narrative of Claypoole's life was derived from the extraordinary efforts of Dave Jasen and Gene Jones in the book That American Rag published in 2000. It is a highly recommended source for a very different look at where ragtime came from and how it eventually reached the public. The rest was uncovered by the author in collective public records and articles from the ragtime era. The error in the 1900 Census was pointed out to the author by researcher Barry Champan who found the misalignment with the death of James five years prior.

George Linus Cobb (August 31, 1886 to December 25, 1942)
Compositions
1905 Dimples (March) Mr. Yankee (March) 1906 Fleetfoot Western Life (March) The Chauffeur (March) 1907 Parade of the Teddy Bears Idylia 1908 A Happy Group - Barn Dance 1909 Rubber Plant Rag Buffalo Means Business [w/Louis C. Snyder] Moonlight Makes Me Lonesome [2] 1910 Aggravation Rag Canned Corn Rag That Hindu Rag (1910/1924) The High Brows (March) I Used to Be Lonesome ('Till I Found     You) [2] 1911 I'd Like to Take a Chance with You [2] 1912 Jolly Dancers Ostende Mister Melody Man Down On de Levee Every Little Note Means Love When Billy     Plays That Way Honey Lou! ('Neath The Big White     Honey-Moon) Lady Of The Lake Jolly Dancers Ostende Stunning Grenadiers Mister Melody Man Oh That Lovey, Dovey Glide 1913 All Aboard for Dixie Land [2] The Baboon Bounce Bring Me Back My Lovin' Honey Boy [2] Bunny Hug Rag Lonesome Moon [2] You'll Be Sorry [2] Roll Along Old Georgia Moon The Get Away (March) I Long To Be Way Down In Tennessee If I Only Had You Again [3] Take Me Back To The Days Gone By If I Find Another Boy Like You [2] On the Good Ship Nancy Lee [2] 1914 After-Glow (A Tone Picture) Just For To-Night Knock Knees On The Q.T. (March) Mammy's Golden Wedding Day [2] Mammy's Little Angel Child [2] On A Summer Night [2] Listen to That Dixie Band [2] Dance That Dengozo With Me: Oo-La-La     [w/W.L. Beardsly] I'm Coming Back in Springtime [2] Fleur D'Amour (Waltz) La Parisia (Hesitation Waltz) Mona Lisa: Valse That Tangoing Turk Sing Ling Ting That Tantlizing Tango Tune [2] On The Banks of Honolulu Bay A Holiday in Dixieland [w/Lucius Pratt] Huskin' Time 1915 Alabama Jubilee [2] Are You From Dixie [2] It's All A Dream [2] Golden Dawn (Tone Picture) On Honolulu Bay [2] [w/Ted Barron] Dancing 'Round the U.S.A. [2] [w/Harry     Carroll] Rabbit's Foot White Narcissus (Waltz) Law And Order (March) Brass Buttons (March) Barbary (Valse Algerienne) When Oscar Played the Flute On The Road To Dublin Town [2] Roses Mean Memories (Mem'ries Mean     You) [2] Three Nymphs (Dance Classique) Dreaming [3] Young April (Novelette) Virginia Sue You Didn't Care [w/W.R. Williams] Buds and Blossoms (Waltz) 1916 Good Bye Blues See Dixie First [4] Mazie King Midnight Trot Red Rooster I'm Goin' To Hit The Trail For Alabam' Georgia Rainbow [1] See Dixie First [4] Drift Wood (Novelette) I Can't Forget [w/Richard A. Whiting &     Gus Kahn There's Someone You've Forgotten Who Has     Not Forgotten You When You Dream Of Old New Hampshire,     I Dream of Tennessee [4] Cheops (Egyptian Intermezzo) In The Beautiful Garden of Dreamland Frangipani When You're Five Times Sixteen [4] Won't You Come and Love Me [4]     [w/H.C. Weasner] 1917 Nautical Toddle aka Nautical Nonsense Blue Sunshine (Waltz) All Aboard For Rock-A-Bye Bay [5] Blue Bird (Waltz) Levee Land Mississippi Volunteers Some Shape Down Where It's Always June Columbia's Call [w/Bob Wyman] Send Me A Line (When I'm Across the     Ocean) [6] The Picture That The Shamrock Brings to     Me [5] When the Moon was Hanging Low There'll Come A Night	1917 (Cont) Bone Head Blues [1] Hang Over Blues [1] Just Keep The Roses A-Blooming [7] Down on Blue Bird Bay [6] Mississippi Volunteers [7] The Battle Song Of Liberty Waiting You and You Waltz [1,8] Ladder of Love Waltz 1918 Calcutta: Oriental Fox Trot In the Old Front Parlor [7] Cracked Ice Rag Maori Love [w/Treve Collins] Irish Confetti Russian Rag Treat 'Em Rough In the Glow of the Alamo Moon [2] Peter Gink (from Peer Gynt) Sunshine (Spread All the Sunshine You Can) My Little Pal [7] Toy Poodles Moonbeams (Novelette) What Next Opals (Waltz) Here's How When the Lilies Bloom in France Again [7] Say When 1919 Alhambra: Spanish One Step Boodiewah Dixie Lullaby Feeding the Kitty Mother's Love and Kisses Fancies (Novelette) Hawaiian Sunset (Waltzes) Four Roses [w/Aaron Neiberg] Memoirs Javanola Stop It! A Little Later On [7] Rose of Burgundy [7] Tokio [7] Water Wagon Blues 1920 Dust 'em Off Asa's Toddy Bohunkus I've Been Living in the Land of Sunshine [6] Crystal Ball [7] Give My Love to Dixie [7] Over The Rockies (Down Frisco Way) [2] You've Been A Dear Old Pal (Mother of     Mine) Umpah! Umpah! One-Step Oddity Peek In When You Made My Dreams Come True 1921 Hop Scotch Wild Oats The Faun (Danse) Let's Take a Trip Back to Dixie Torrid Dora (Toreador) The Faun - Danse Almond Eyes Asia Minor Across the Hot Sands Shivaree Squares and Compass (March) Put and Take Love Lessons (Waltz) 1922 Burglar Blues Ghost Walk Carnival Revels Dance Love and Laughter (Novelette) Broken China March of the Walking Dolls Potato-bug Parade: An Aroostook Episode 1923 Dance of the Flower Girls Piano Salad Doll Days (Novelette) Mist of Memory (Waltz) High Brows (March) The New Russian Rag Morning Kisses (Waltz) A Night In India Slumber Song 1924 The American Broadcast March Puddle Ducks (March Grotesque) Dance of the Satyrs Summer Furs (Scarf Dance) Cortege of the Cyclops Mountain Laurel (Waltz) [8] Spooks (Eccentric Novelty) 1925 The Days Gone By Chromatic Capers Dementia Americana Suite    Static and Code    Hop House Blues    Owl On The Organ)    Savannah Sunset 1926 The Lion Tamer (Galop) Old Ironsides (March) That Twilight Melody [2] Patrol Of The Pelicans Hero Of The Game Power and Glory (March) 1927 Procrastination Rag Lindy: Youth With The Heart Of Gold     (w/Norman Leigh) Piano Sauce The Tipster (March) Cubistic Rag 1929 Snuggle Pup 1942 Uncle Sam Goes To Town (Mow 'em Down,     Mow 'em Down, Mow 'em Down)    1. as Leo Gordon    2. w/Jack Yellen    3. w/Phil Volz    4. w/Jack Mahoney    5. w/J. Will Callahan    6. w/Irving Crocker    7. w/Robert Levenson    8. w/Thomas S. Allen

     A native of New York state born to Linus Cobb and Jeannette (Maine) Cobb (often called "Nettie"), George L. Cobb was a versatile composer who displayed inherent musical talent at a young age. Spending most of his early years in Mexico, New York, where his father worked as a real estate broker, George eventually received training from the School of Harmony and Composition at Syracuse University, attending there from 1905 to perhaps 1908. His earlier compositions helped him win writing contests, the most notable of these being a promotional rag of sorts titled Buffalo Means Business, the prize being publication of the promotional piece. At the very least it attracted the attention of his eventual frequent lyricist Jack Yellen, who was a reporter with the Buffalo Courier through at least 1913 (potentially a bit longer).
     The subsequent submission of Cobb's Rubber Plant Rag garnered him visibility and significant exposure the firm of publisher Walter Jacobs of Boston who published the work. Cobb would end up spending several fruitful years with Jacobs. His earliest rags saw moderate success and distribution, and he started to compose pieces much more intricate in nature. Jacobs had hoped he had an exclusive arrangement with Cobb for his instrumental compositions, but later found out otherwise. A number of these compositions were released in packets in the early teens and beyond as orchestrations arranged for bands or movie theater ensembles.
     As per a Music Trade Review notice from March 12, 1910, this practice was clearly already in process. Concerning an announcement by Jacobs of the premiere of his new magazine, Orchestra Monthly, they noted that "This [publication] is to be to the orchestra what his 'Cadenza' is to the banjo, mandolin and guitar fraternity. In this number [75,000 copies] is a new instrumental piece, 'The Aggravation Rag,' by George L. Cobb, composer of the popular 'Rubber Plant Rag.' This is given on orchestra-size plates for ten pieces and a similar new selection will be made a feature each month. These selections will not be printed or published in any other form and can be had only in the Orchestra Monthly." In spite of this proclamation, both pieces did appear as piano solos in short order.
     A facet of Cobb's life that until this biography was researched went largely unknown is a high probability that Cobb did a stint with the United States Marine Corps as a private, as there is a George Cobb shown at Camp Elliot (later Camp Gaillard) near the Culebra Cut in the Panama Canal construction zone in 1910. There is also a definitive gap in his compositional output that coexists with this stint from early 1910 through early 1912, when the flow of tunes resumed. According to military historians from that branch of the Armed Forces, the U.S. Marine detachment in Panama was purely a show of force to keep Colombians and Panamanian dissenters from disrupting the construction which progressed from 1904 to 1914. As no battles of note are recorded there during that period, this was likely a fairly benign assignment, malaria and mosquitoes aside.
     George's sole 1911 composition with Yellen may have been submitted at the same time as their initial 1910 works, and simply published later. It is an intriguing bit of information that casts him as perhaps adventurous enough to briefly see the world on the government, perhaps building a little personal equity at the same time. Virtually none of his music reflects this experience (tunes about Panama or the military) but that may be nothing more than the astute Cobb concentrating on topics that would sell. After he returned George was briefly married to Clara (or Claire) Bailey, the estimated marriage and subsequent divorce between mid-1912 and late 1915. A Clara Bailey of upstate New York was found that could be his first wife, as she was single in 1910 and divorced in 1920, and was in the right area and time frame to have encountered Cobb.
     Often overlooked are the songs that Cobb wrote or co-wrote. They had the undercurrent of piano-based ragtime with the salability of popular songs. He also had some success at writing his own lyrics from time to time. Just the same, upon his graduation in 1913 from the University of Michigan, Jack Yellen came to Buffalo, then later to New York where Cobb had moved to write songs with the composer he so admired. Among the most frequently performed are a number of "Dixie" tunes. These include All Aboard for Dixieland, Listen to That Dixie Band, See Dixie First, and Are You From Dixie?, an early Al Jolson hit. One of their biggest successes was the now ubiquitous Alabama Jubilee, still a favorite of ragtime pianists and banjo players everywhere. Yellen's down-home lyrics certainly contributed to the popularity of these songs, as they fit to Cobb's melodies so well. Many of the pair's collective works became million-sellers in both printed and recorded form.
     Noting that Cobb was submitting his works to many different New York firms, Jacobs finally thought to offer Cobb steady work as a staff arranger, which Cobb soon accepted. As announced in The Music Trade Review of September 30, 1916, "Walter Jacobs, whose establishment in Bosworth street, Boston, is a busy hive of industry, has now associated with him two able men who will prove without doubt of the most valuable assistance in his work. One of these is George L. Cobb, of Buffalo, who is widely known as a composer, and, who besides writing popular compositions, will do more or less traveling. Mr. Cobb is best known for his song, 'Are You from Dixie?' which is having an enormous vogue. Another of the Dixie numbers is entitled 'See Dixie First,' and this is being put out by Jacobs." (The other staff member mentioned was the largely unknown banjoist C.V. Butterman.) However, to Jacob's regret, he did not specify exclusivity as a composer for the firm in Cobb's contract, so his employee was free to shop around for the best deal for his songs and instrumentals. Cobb moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts in late 1916 to facilitate this new position, bringing his parents with him. On November 20, 1916 he married his second wife, Mary Belle Barr, formerly of Buffalo and also Saxton, Pennsylvania, in Boston. As reported in The Music Trade Review of December 9, 1916: "The ceremony was performed at the parsonage of the Union Congregational Church by Rev. Ernest G. Guthrie, the pastor. Mr. Cobb and his wife are making their home in Allston, and will be at home to their friends after January 1."
     One hit that Jacobs was able to get his hands on was the 1917 patriotic war booster song The Battle Song of Liberty by Cobb and Yellen. Cleverly adapted from F.E. Bigelow's famous march Our Director, it was one of many tunes that managed a swell of popularity until George M. Cohan's Over There swept the world. He also spent some time traveling in 1916 promoting his employer, with sightings in Chicago and Michigan. Whille still selling his tunes to Jacobs and other publishers, George was assigned to write for the Jacobs' company newest music trade magazine, The Tuneful Yankee. He held this post for a few years starting in January of 1917. Cobb's role there was as a music critic or commentator on compositions submitted by amateurs, which he handled quite deftly, but also with brutal honesty at times. In 1918 the magazine was recast as Melody, and his column was called "Just Between You and Me," which ironically was often a not-so-private venue for the occasional evisceration of amateur composers. If he thought something submitted to the magazine for analysis was tripe, he had little trouble saying so.
     Many of Cobb's later compositions also appeared only in the magazine, and not as separate sheet music publications. There is speculation that pieces attributed to other composers might be by Cobb, with Leo Gordon being his primary pseudonym, and that some of the compositions from this time were simply not at the same level as his more notable sheet music pieces because of the rigors of contribution and editing deadlines.
     Even though he worked for Jacobs during the teens and later, Cobb still published where he could get the best deals and distribution. One of his overall biggest successes, and personal favorites, was his Russian Rag, based on Sergei Rachmaninoff's famous C# minor prelude, released by Will Rossiter of Chicago. The esteemed contemporary classical composer was reportedly nonplussed by this adaptation, but it did provide him good exposure, particularly when recorded and endorsed by the famous Brown Brothers ragtime saxophone group, which is also shown on the cover of many editions of the piece. The rag was so popular that a few years later it was re-written as The New Russian Rag to reflect Cobb's more advanced Novelty Ragtime compositional style. George also composed a number of great novelties both within and separate from The Tuneful Yankee or Melody, such as Piano Salad, Snuggle Pup and Chromatic Capers.
     As of the 1920 Census, George was living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his wife and mother, and his father Linus listed as the head of the household. George was listed as a musical composer with his "own company," although the nature of that assertion is unclear. Linus was listed as a broker with his own office. At some point in the 1920s Cobb divorced Mary and moved to Somerville, then in the 1930s to Brookline, both suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts. The 1930 Census shows him as a publishing salesman, as he seems to have mostly retired from music composition by this time. It also shows that he had his mother living with him. Cobb's 1942 draft registration, perhaps the final official document of his life, has him still in Brookline, working for the Chamber of Commerce, with his "person who will always know you" reference being one Evelyn F. Eaton (b.1894) in nearby Cambridge. We do not know the nature of their relationship His last piece, written after an absence of more than a decade, appeared in 1942, the year he joined ASCAP. George Linus Cobb died of coronary thrombosis at age 56 on Christmas Day in Brookline, Massachusetts. His gravesite is in his home town of Mexico, New York.
     The instrumental compositions of George L. Cobb, which span over two decades, have generally been put into three categories of development. His earliest pieces are thought to be in the Popular vein, which was in part written as something for the sake of getting sold, although with a bit more aplomb in Cobb's case. By the mid 1910s he was getting much more adventurous and clever, so given the chord changes he was using and the complex trios, the rags and intermezzos from this period fall into the advanced ragtime category. Finally, he had little trouble adapting to the novelty style invented or adopted by many of his younger peers. While his novelty works never sold in large numbers, they were still very worthy entries into the collective. The strength of his many songs lies in memorably simple melodies with chord progressions that enhanced, but did not get in the way of those melodies.

     Many thanks to Canadian Ragtime historian Ted Tjaden who provided some of the information here to supplement my research, as well as rediscovery of many of the previously unknown Cobb pieces. Visit his site at www.ragtimepiano.ca.
     Thanks also to retired librarian Marilyn McClure who sent Ted and myself a copy of Cobb's second marriage license, and gave us the name of Claire (likely Clara) from his death certificate as his wife. His marriage certificate to Mary shows as his second marriage and her first, putting Claire in that time between the Marine Corps stint and 1916 when he remarried.

Charles Cohen (March 26, 1878 to Unknown)

Compositions

1910 Carnival Bingo Riverside Rag I Love You Still [w/Kenneth Lacey] Baby Lou [w/Kenneth Lacey] 1912 Fashion Rag - A Stylish Two-Step

     This was a tricky biography to research because there were no less than three musical Charles Cohens in the same general geographic area. With a little extra guidance and help from researcher Keith Emmons of hulapages.com, the author has settled on one, but will discuss the other two briefly and what they composed, or potentially composed. This is an unusual biography entry, but given that second and third Cohens both made contributions to music during the ragtime era their stories should be told.

     The first target is Arthur Charles Cohen in Philadelphia born in Germany in 1875 and immigrated to the United States in 1892. He was a piano teacher and self-employed musician throughout his life. That there was little ragtime published in Philadelphia would suggest the possibility that this Cohen, who could have used his middle name to avoid being confused with Arthur M. Cohen of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, might have published primarily with Vandersloot Music Publishing Company in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. However, after information uncovered on two other Cohens and the presence of a couple of popular pieces published in Cleveland, Ohio, it seems likely, in the author's estimation that this Cohen was potentially responsible only for a series of five pieces released between 1932 and 1936 attributed to a Charles Cohen. There is some possibility that that it was also the second Charles Cohen discussed below. These were five songs composed to known stories or lyrics, somewhat in the matter of Texas composer David Guion who had been resurrecting old American tunes in new arrangements. The last of the five, Rivets, was a contemporary look at American workers. All five were released as a set in New York in 1936. No further information was available on the Philadelphia Charles Cohen.

     The second Charles Cohen was born in rural Kansas to German (Prussian) immigrants Henry and Sarah Cohen. He was one of six children, four of which survived their childhood. Others include Lenah (c.1873), Ralph (c.1877), Mattie (c.1879 but deceased by 1900), and Hannah (c.1882). As of the 1880 Census, the family was living in Saint Marys, Kansas, in Pottawatomie County, northwest of Topeka, with Henry working as a retail merchant in dry goods. While the family is difficult to track over the next decade, by 1894 they had moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where Henry was listed in the directories as a tailor or finisher. Charles had received some formal piano training during this period, perhaps at the fine conservatory in Cleveland. In the 1899 directory he is listed as a music teacher, living with the family on 251 Sawtell Avenue. By the following year the family had moved to 5 Ledge Avenue, where Charles was now listed as a musician. The same was true in the 1900 Census, where he is shown to be a Musical Director, possibly in a theater or for a band.
     In 1903, the Cleveland Cohen was married to Pearl R. [Mayer] Cohen, a Kentucky born girl who had been working as a stenographer. Playing in local theaters as a soloist and, according to local directories and ads, in bands, he was likely doing some musical arranging, leading to composition. His first known published work was Tatters issued in Cleveland in 1906 by the dominant local house, Sam Fox Publishing. It is a pleasant two step that was easily adaptable for band. Three years later he would follow with it up with the pleasant waltz, Dream of the Flowers, also published by Fox. In 1908, Charles and Pearl had their first of two daughters, Lenore. Florence would follow in 1910. The couple is shown living in Cleveland in 1910 with Charles listed as a musician in an orchestra.
     In 1918 on his draft record, Charles was listed as employed in the Duchess Theater at 5708 Euclid Avenue, where he worked with stage plays and musicals for many years. Much of the fare at this time was comprised of Yiddish musicals and melodramas. He was likely still working there in 1920 when he listed himself as a musician playing piano. Little is known of his activities in the 1920s save for a couple of notices of him in the Duchess and one other Cleveland theater. It appears that he also played for a movie house at some point in the early to mid 1920s. In 1930 the entire Cohen family is still living together, but with hard economic times coming upon the country they had taken in a lodger as well. Charles was still working as a musician in a theater, potentially the Duchess which was still in business at that time. That he was still working suggests the possibility that he may have been the source of the New York publications of the mid 1930s, but this is hard to verify.
     The Ohio Cohen spent his remaining years in Cleveland. He is not seen in any newspaper billings after 1940 or so, and at 66 may have retired from daily work. Around 1960 he became ill (cause not made available) and was committed to long term care in nearby Parma, Ohio, where he succumbed in 1961.

     Now to the Charles Cohen who was responsible for some of the better known rags published in Pennsylvania in the 1910s. While the expectation might be that he, like the other two Cohens, was of European or Russian Jewish heritage, this is not the case. This Charles Cohen was a black composer, born in Georgia (he cites the town of Cuba which may be in error) in 1878. He was the youngest of what appeared to be a mixed family of whites, blacks and mulattos, likely dating back to the time of slavery. The family was found in Rome, Georgia in 1880, with all of the non-white members shown as servants in a house run by tobacco merchants. This includes his mother, Susan Cohen, and at least three potential siblings who were also listed as Black (Julius [1873], Lizzie [1870] and Jacob [1868]), and perhaps two more listed as Mulatto (Celia [1856] and Julia [1852]). While Susan shows as married no spouse was specified in 1880 Census. Charles cites his father as having been born in England (making him potentially Mulatto) in the 1900 Census, but all others cite South Carolina for his origin. Nothing definitive was found on his upbringing or musical training. However, many well-to-do families in the South at that time had a keyboard instrument of some kind in their home. At some point, Charles recieved some formal training in music as well as piano tuning and repair, as he would engage in both as a career later in life.
     Cohen was listed in the 1900 Census in Montrose, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, boarding in the home of local physician Benjamin Carey, who headed a white family. While this would be unusual in many parts of the country then, there was a higher tolerance in the northeast for such living accommodations, something which would be tested by Cohen in years to come. It is likely that Charles was associated with two of the sons of his host, both musicians, including Ralph L. Carey, who was the same age as Cohen and his older brother George B. Carey.
     Working primarily as a musician in Northern Pennsylvania and Southern New York State, Charles moved to Binghamton, New York some time between 1905 and 1909. He is listed in Binghamton in the 1910 Census as boarding with Miss Parmelia Tiffany, working as a music teacher. According to a book on Binghamton written by Ed Aswad and Suzanne Meredith, Charles found work in this southern New York town as a musician, a music teacher, and as a piano and organ technician. There was an amusement park in Binghamton located in town on Riverside Drive, where he potentially performed, as was common in the 1900s and 1910s. It was a drawing of this park that appeared on one of his first compositions, Riverside Rag, self-published in Binghamton in 1910. A similarly themed piece titled Carnival Bingo appeared that same year, also under the moniker of the Cohen Music Company. However, Carnival Bingo was printed in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, home of two publishers at that time, so was possibly jobbed out to one of them. The most likely candidate would be Vandersloot, since on the Riverside Rag cover there is a reference to a song Cohen co-composed with Vandersloot manager and resident composer, Harry J. Lincoln, even though it was actually written with his Binghamton colleague Kenneth Lacey (possibly a pseudonym since an identity could not be ascertained).
     In short order, both rags would be obtained and reissued by Vandersloot, along with I Love You Still, the song that Cohen cowrote with Lacey. Riverside Rag now had a much different cover by Vandersloot resident artist Walter J. Dittmar, which while clever was also, in retrospect, one of the more offensive ones of the ragtime era. It featured two little black boys at the riverside taking a swim while two alligators (crocodiles?) discuss them as a potential meal. However, the piece itself is still popular a century later. The original cover was likely abandoned since it was specific to Binghamton. Just the same, the choice for the replacement is curious given the possibilities that would go with the name Riverside. Another Vandersloot reissue followed in 1911 with Baby Lou of 1910, lyrics also by Lacey. Then in 1912 they issued Fashion Rag, another fine piece of Cohen's that has remained popular as well. That was the last that was seen of Charles Cohen in print for some time. The pieces listed above comprise the bulk of the output of Charles Cohen number three.
     Cohen had married his wife Lillian in 1911, and as she was white theirs was a mixed marriage. However, he had obviously gained the respect of those in Binghamton and was thought of very highly, and miscegenation in general was better tolerated in this area of the country. During the 1910s and beyond Charles worked in one or more movie houses in the area providing music for films, as well as his other duties as an entertainer and piano expert. On his 1918 draft record he is listed as a musician working for a Mr. Gibson, probably a theater owner. His address was 38 Haendel Street, a house which he and his wife owned. In the 1920 Census he oddly enough counted as white, suggesting that he may also have been a mulatto member of the Georgia Cohens. Cohen was still working as a musician in a theater, possibly the Star Theater where he was known to have been employed in the 1920s. The 1930 Census shows him still listed as a musician in a moving picture theater, but history would declare that his job there would soon evaporate, thanks in part to a stage actor named Al Jolson who sometimes ironically sang in blackface. During this period a younger white couple, Fred and Helen Merk, was boarding with the Cohens.
     The trail grows cold here, but efforts are underway to search Binghamton and Williamsport records for more information on the Cohens' activities, and perhaps even a date of death. In the early 1960s, Riverside Rag and Fashion Rag were reprinted in folios issued by Mills Music, who had obtained the Vandersloot catalog, and Cohen's name became known to a new generation of ragtime fans and players.

     Many thanks go to research Keith Emmons who helped to pinpoint the harder to find Cohen in Binghamton, the one who didn't initially pop to the top in the Census searches. Once his identity was made clear the rest of his story was easy to construct. The information on the first two Cohens was compiled entirely by the author.

Glover John Compton (January 6, 1884 to June 11, 1964)
Compositions
1904 The Clock of Time [w/Tony Jackson] 1911 Monkey Rag [disputed - likely Honky-Tonky Monkey Rag by Chris Smith]
Known Discography
1922 Lonesome Monday Morning Blues [1] You Can't Have it All [1] 1923 Play That Thing [2] Jazzbo Jenkins [2] 1956 Meet Glover Compton [3]    1. w/With Alberta Hunter    2. w/Ollie Powers' Harmony Syncopaters    3. w/Recorded by Birch Smith	Number and Date [Paramount 12007-B] 09/1922 [Paramount 12008-A] 09/1922   [Paramount 12059-A] 09/1923 [Paramount 12059-B] 09/1923   [Windin' Ball WB-106] 04/11/1956

     Glover Compton is one of those frustrating ragtime figures who is often mentioned and was everywhere playing with everyone, yet little concrete information can be found directly about him. His narrative was also part of the core of the 1950 book They All Played Ragtime, including parts of the extensive interviews of Glover taken by authors Rudi Blesh and Harriet Janis. Yet even that left holesracies in his story. This biography represents an attempt to fill in more than has often been seen on this beloved and often busy ragtime performer.
     Glover's mother, Laura Compton, had her first child, Maud, at just 13 or 14 years old. She is listed in the 1880 Census in Bergin Knob, Kentucky, married to 22 year old farm laborer John Compton, and as 19 herself, with Maud as 1 year old. However, all subsequent records give her birth year as 1866 or 1867, so there may have been some obvious but understandable deception in this case. When she was around 17 to 18, Laura gave birth to Glover in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, about 50 miles north from Bergin Knob. The birth year is most consistently shown as 1884 on most documents, but on his draft record in 1918 it shows as 1883. His death record shows 1884, so that is the most consistent date. Laura is shown in Harrodsburg in 1900 working as a cook and as having been widowed. In that same Census, Glover is listed as a boot black, a common occupation for black teens at that time. They also had two lodgers in their home, possibly for income reasons. Note that while his name is often shown as J. Glover Compton, he was listed consistently as Glover Compton on Census records and travel manifests, and as Glover John Compton on his 1918 draft record. The origin of the J. Glover derivation of his name is unclear, but he may have originally been John Glover Compton after his father, having changed it by his teens.
     Compton's name first appears as a pianist/entertainer in Louisville, Kentucky around 1904. The best-known pianist in town was "Piano Price" Davis, who fostered Compton to some extent and hooked him up with occasional jobs, sometimes by simply not showing up to his own gigs in favor of gambling instead. One venue mentioned was Jimmy Boyd's Cafe at 10th and Walnut where he played upstairs for $10.50 a week. Compton also says he visited the fair in St. Louis in 1904, but did not play in any venues there. It was during a 1904 musical tour to Louisville that a slightly disgruntled Tony Jackson, tired of the road, first met Compton. The two soon became friends, performing for a time at the Cosmopolitan Club. They also wrote a song together, which remains unpublished, but Compton recorded it in his later years. Jackson eventually went back to New Orleans for the next couple of years. It wasn't long before Glover was well regarded for his playing skills and reliability. But he didn't stay put for very long, choosing the life of an itinerant pianist for the next several years. In 1906 he spend time in Chicago playing at Elite Number 1 on State Street, run by Art Cardozo and Teenan Jones.
     In spite of his travels, Glover remained based in Louisville, and is listed there in 1910 in both the Kentucky and Federal Census records with his mother Laura working as a laundress, and Glover as a dance hall musician. During his travels he spent time in Wyoming, Washington, New York and Chicago, the latter where he met up with one long-time partner and one partner from the past. The long-time partner was singer Nettie Lewis who he married around 1911. Chicago became Compton's new home base, and he moved his mother Laura there as well. One of his most frequent haunts when he wasn't on the road was the Elite Club on South State Street, which also featured notable musicians like Jelly Roll Morton and Earl Hines during its 18 year life. The other partner was Tony Jackson, who had come to Chicago from New Orleans for good, and the two quickly got back together. They worked as a dual piano act from time to time over the next several years. Glover and Jackson exchanged many ideas as well, expanding the scope of how each of them played. Another occasional playing partner and friend was composer Shelton Brooks, who in 1916 dedicated his piece Walkin' the Dog to Compton and local actor Bud Joyner.
     In the mid 1910s wanderlust struck Compton again for a while. There is a story about Glover that comes from when he worked on the Barbary Coast in Northern California, as early as January of 1913 by his own reckoning. One of his favored venues there was the St. Francis club between Pacific and Broadway. According to West Coast pianist Sid Le Protti who he met there, Le Protti played one of his original tunes for Compton who quickly learned it. In 1915 Le Protti heard his tune played again, but this time it was named Canadian Capers. Evidently Compton had played it back in Chicago at the repeated request (with the lure of dollar tips) of pianist Henry Cohen, and Cohen collaborated with three of his friends to "compose" the piece Canadian Capers, which included Le Protti's melody in the A strain. At a later time when Le Protti asked Cohen about this, the latter pointed to Compton as the one who taught him the melody, and when asked if he could use it, Compton had no argument. Compton confirmed this story at some point as well.
     It is known that Compton was on the road in the latter part of the 1910s, but work in playing ragtime was not always available. He says he "palled around with Jelly Roll Morton" during the latter's visit to the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition San Francisco. Most of the local performers played at the Exposition because the Barbary Coast clubs were temporarily shut down during the event. Then he went back to Chicago for part of late 1916 through early 1917, playing with Nettie at the Panama Café until it was shut down. Another act playing there, the Panama Trio which included Florence Mills and Ada "Bricktop" Smith, helped forge a friendship with the latter that would later provide him a great European connection.
     From late 1917 to 1918 Glover and Nettie spent six months down in Los Angeles at the Waldorf Cafe while Jelly Roll played at the Cadillac.While they did perform along the Barbary Coast following that gig, Compton's September 1918 draft record shows him employed as a porter for the Southern Pacific Railroad, with the couple living in the Oakland/Alameda area.In 1919 they went up to Seattle, Washington for a while where he played at the Entertainer's Night Club on Main Street with a small combo. The Comptons are shown there as late as January of 1920 in the Census, sharing quarters with some of the other entertainers. Glover is listed as a "cabaret musician" and Nettie as a "cabaret actress." Curiously his birth state is listed there as Missouri, yet it is clearly the same person. Since the 1920 Census was not taken consistently at that same time across the country, they managed to show up in it again in February in Chicago, back with Laura, who was working as a cook, and now with Nettie's mother living there as well. It is also indicated that Glover owned his home, so it is probable Laura had been living in it while the couple had their adventures out west.
     With the jazz age in full swing in Chicago, Glover readily adapted his style, and was soon playing with musicians such as jazz and blues singer Alberta Hunter, clarinetist Jimmie Noone, and drummer Ollie Powers, both of the latter disciples of leading jazz performer Joseph "King" Oliver. For the next few years he would travel back and forth between Chicago and Seattle with small bands. Compton recorded a couple of energetic sides in 1923 with Ollie Powers' Harmony Syncopators later known as J. Glover Compton and the Syncopators. Glover's group performed for some time at the Oriental Café on South State Street, in the former location of their old haunt, the Panama Café. There he worked with both Ms. Hunter and Nettie. Another mentioned venue was the Dreamland Café where Oliver would join Compoton's band on

Glover Compton with a Seattle ensemble c.1925. From left, Leon Hutchinson, John Slocum, Compton, trumpeter Frank Waldron.

Monday afternoons for "Blue Monday" sessions. He also ventured to New York on a few occasions, cutting a couple of sides with Hunter as well (although incorrectly billed as Grover Compton). The sultry singer had also recorded with Duke Ellington and Perry Bradford during that period. Yet Compton was not able to achieve the status of many of his peers, perhaps in part because he was not writing his own material as most of them were. Even in some travels with Jelly Roll Morton he was relegated to the role of relief guy and sidekick. This frustration eventually drove him to try Europe, and starting in 1926 he spent much of the next 13 years commuting between Chicago and Paris. Compton was obviously not living full-time in Europe like some of his peers, including the notorious soprano sax player Sidney Bechet, and appears in Chicago in the 1930 Census as an accompanist, Nettie with no occupation listed, and rooming with some other vaudeville actors.
     Compton settled in at a cafe started by Chicago expatriate, Ada "Bricktop" Smith who he had reconnect with. It was the famous Chez Bricktop in Paris. Ada had first invited Compton over to France in 1926 after her pianist was killed by his girlfriend in a dare situation that he finally lost. Glover played there with the existing group, The Palm Beach Six. Compton is described during this period as an early version of Willie "The Lion" Smith, a consummate entertainer, complete with the cigar hanging out of his mouth, the large repertoire, and his direct engagement with the audience. Another place he frequented was the Royal Box in Paris owned by Joe Zelli. While in Paris seemed to be good for Glover's career and finances, it did not help his status in the U.S. as many simply forgot who he was. But the French knew who he was, particularly after the famous shooting incident of December 20, 1928. Many of the transplanted musicians were gathered at Bricktop's early that morning when an argument broke out between Sidney Bechet and banjoist Gilbert McKendrick. The cause was evidently a dispute about chord changes of all things, which Bechet found offensive to his musical intellect. Another story had to do with who had failed to buy a round of drinks. Whatever the cause, Compton, who already had an ambiguous relationship with Bechet going back several years, evidently tried to intervene. As McKendrick emerged from the bar, Bechet, who had gone to fetch his firearm, started shooting. McKendrick was completely missed, but two witnesses were wounded, and Compton was shot in the leg. Both men got 15 months but served a year. Compton spent several months in the hospital, and says that Bechet and McKendrick had promised to pay his bill, but they were never able to. When released in 1929, Bechet found out that Compton was planning on suing him for compensation for the wound. Bechet quickly got word to Compton to watch out for his other leg, and the suit idea quickly evaporated. Even though Bechet and McKendrick became friends to some degree, Compton remained on Bechet's bad side from that point on. Fortunately for Glover, Bechet and McKendrick were asked to depart France permanently soon after their sentence was served. Compton continued to play at Bricktop's, eventually favoring a long-term gig at Harry's New York Bar owned by jockey Ted Sloane, also in Paris.
     Glover and his wife continued to cross the Atlantic into the late 1930s, with one final voyage documented in October of 1939. He came back to New York City this time, forced in part by the onset of war in Europe, playing in a jazz piano joint, reportedly the type where people are there to drink and talk, not to listen to music. Within a couple of years the Comptons returned to Chicago, and he reassociated himself with Noone for many years. Author Rudi Blesh found him there in 1949, and interviewed him at length for his upcoming book They All Played Ragtime, getting a wealth of information (although not entirely accurate) about various ragtime players in the Windy City. In the early 1950s he opened his own bar in Chicago, a place where he could have some control over the playing environment. It was here that he spent his last few years, and seems likely that it's where his 1956 taped interview set with archivist Birch Smith took place, Compton's only true recorded piano solos. Another artist that spent considerable time with Compton and befriended him was rising star Johnny Maddox from Gallatin, Tennessee. Johnny has a considerable number of memories and interesting stories about Compton from talking with him in Chicago.
     Glover Compton suffered a debilitating stroke in 1957, and finally succumbed in 1964 at age 80. We have only one piano rag - which may or may not actually be his (he claimed he wrote the music to Chris Smith's Honky-Tonky Monkey Rag) - and a handful of recordings to remember him by, but we also have great stories and his evident influence on some of his peers as part of the makeup of the collective of ragtime performance.

     Thanks to Adam Swanson who provided a couple of extra elements on Compton, and Australian historian Bill Egan who came up with more of his association with Ada Smith. Some of the narrative comes from They All Played Ragtime by Rudi Blesh and Harriet Janis, and from unpublished notes by Rudi Blesh, but the bulk was pieced together by the author from recordings and public and private archival records.

Thomas R. Confare (October, 1866 to January 6, 1943)
Compositions
1895 Don't Leave Your Dear Old Southern     Home [1] 1904 I Was Only Fooling (A Song Oddity) [2] Fighting for the Cause of Old Japan [2] The Burning of the Iroquois [2] South Haven's the Place for Me [2] They are Sleeping in the Land of Love     Tonight [2] 1905 Not for Love [2] Come Home Soldier Boy in Blue [2] Carolina Dinah (I'se a-Waitin' Fo'     You) [2,3]	1905 (Cont) Love Me [2] A Sail in the Summertime (Sailing) [2] 1908 Sunbeam (Good-bye, Good-bye) [2] 1909 Bomb Shell: Characteristic Rag [2] 1929 Dreams, Just Dreams [4]    1. w/Barry Gray    2. w/Morris Silver    3. w/Joseph C. Northup    4. w/Don Fina
Arrangements
The March of Union Labor [J.C. Maloney] (1901) Minnehaha: Dance Grotesque [Paul Loering] (1903) Cannon Ball - A Characteristic Novelty [Joseph C. Northup] (1905) Just for Fun: Band Arr. [Hampton Durand & Morris Manley] (1905) Sunlight: An Indian Intermezzo [Harry L. Newman] (1908) That Tuneful Rag [Buel B. Risinger] (1911) That Dahm Rag [Phil J. Dahm] (1912) The Camel Walk [Sam L. Rosenbaum & Joseph M. Verges] (1916) I Didn't Mean Goodbye [N.J. Clesi & Arthur Le Clerq] (1916) I'm From Chicago [Leo Edwards & Blanche Merrill] (1917) Tallahassee [Frank Bannister, Sam Gold & Dave Waters] (1924) Bobbed Head [Hampton Durand, Evans Lloyd, Herman Kahn] (1924) Roll Up Your Sleeves, Buddy Boy, and Let 'Em Have It [Morris Silver] (1942)

     Thomas R. Confare was born to carpenter George M. Confare and his wife Rosetta (Reach) Confare in Union, Iowa, just a short while after the Civil War had ended. He was the middle child of three, including his older sister Kate (1865) and younger brother John (1870). How much musical training Tom had while in school is uncertain. He was still in school as of 1880, but also working in a railroad office in Sabula, Iowa. George was now a wagon maker during a time of great expansion in the area. As of the 1885 Iowa Census he appears in the family business as a carpenter, just short of 18 years old.
     At some point in 1891 Thomas married his first wife, Dorothy Confare, and moved to the Boston, Massachusetts area for a while, perhaps to try and get a start in music as it was just a bit more active at that time than Chicago. On May 8, 1892 Dorothy gave birth to Thomas Newell Confare. The couple had moved back to Chicago by 1895, where Confare's first published song appeared. In the 1900 Census Confare is shown living in Chicago with his wife and child, and is listed as a musician, albeit unemployed for two months at that time. So life was likely a bit hard, even in that bustling city.
     That was the point when Thomas likely decided to start working for publishers as a free-lance arranger, and as an orchestra and band director/arranger as well. One of his first credited arrangements was a union song released in 1901. As was likely the case, many of the arrangements, some of them perhaps just preparing a piece for typesetting, were not credited, so there are likely more. A second credit appears on a 1903 intermezzo, Minnehaha, part of the early surge of Indian-themed pieces.
     Tom was either divorced or widowed around this time (confirmation was difficult to come by), and 1904 he remarried to Clara E. Confare. Then Confare met Morris S. Silver, and the two started to click as a songwriting team in 1904. His work with Silver got Tom employed by publisher Victor Kremer at a time when Kremer's ragtime catalog was starting an impressive build-up. So in addition to Confare/Silver songs, Tom's name appeared on other pieces as well. One of those was among the most famous and best-selling of the Kremer rags, Cannon Ball: A Characteristic Novelty, by Joseph C. Northup. The research on Northup shows that he was at least a fairly competent working musician, but apparently had minimal notation skills. So it is probable that there was as much Confare in the rag arrangement as there was Northup. The end result was a moderately difficult but very pianistic score that was fun to both play and listen to. It also spread Confare's name prominently as it had Northup's.
     Confare was shown to have created some band arrangements for Kremer from 1905 to 1908, but only a couple can be verified. He continued to write sporadically with Silver, but soon their output diminished to almost nothing. Two fine pieces appeared in 1908 - Sunbeam composed by Confare and Silver, and Sunlight: An Indian Intermezzo arranged by him. That same year saw the birth of his daughter Clara R. Confare, named after her mother.
     In addition to composition and solo performance, Thomas was working for the 25 piece De Baugh band as their director. This was mentioned in a Chicago Tribune notice of February 1, 1908, which painted an unfortunate picture of bad behavior by a married man. Evidently Confare had forced his intentions on Miss Agnes Lang, a cashier in Arnold Brothers, a State Street restaurant, and after a brief chase by the police was arrested and charged. A follow up on the disposition of this was not found. Then a strange item appeared in The Music Trade Review of November 28, 1908. "Thomas Confare, the well-known musician, who has been doing the arranging for Harry Newmann, western representative of Harry Von Tilzer, passed away suddenly on Thursday of this week at his home in this city [Chicago]." Reports of his demise were obviously quite exaggerated, but the cause of this mistake is unknown.
     In 1909 Confare teamed once again with Silver to bring out Bomb Shell, more than just an obvious sequel to Cannon Ball. The similarity between the two rags, plus other examples of Confare’s work, again suggests that he had a heavy hand in Cannon Ball. Bomb Shell did not sell anywhere nearly as well, but is still a very fine rag in its own right. While that was his last rag, two more arrangements with a Confare sound appeared in 1911 and 1912, That Tuneful Rag and That Dahm Rag. He was also working more steadily in Chicago theaters with the De Baugh Band and independently, and in the 1910 Census appears in Chicago with wife Clara and daughter Clara, listed as a musician and director. His son, Thomas N. Confare, was also living with the family, and is listed as a music arranger in his own right. Kremer sold his catalog around this time to engage in other business, so Thomas had to search for employment elsewhere.
     The credited arrangements appear to have ceased for a while after 1912, but Tom was still working in theaters according to some Chicago sources. His third and last child, Edith, was born in 1912. There is not much available on him in the 1910s, but he moved west to the Chicago suburb of Winfield around the middle of the decade. Thomas N. shows up in the 1917 draft as a self-employed music printer, working in the famous Schiller Building above the Garrick Theater on West Randolph Street. A couple of arrangements by the elder Confare appeared under the Triangle Publishing moniker in New Orleans in 1916, but it seems unlikely he had moved there for even a short while, as a 1917 New York publication ironically titled I'm From Chicago also featured his name as arranger. Thomas was still established as a self-employed music director as of the 1920 Census, living in Winfield with Clara E., and daughters Clara R. and Edith.
     The 1920s were busy with music directing, but at least two more arrangements and one song appeared, with a few more likely not credited. Attempts to ascertain if Confare was with a group that was recorded at any point turned up empty, but even in Chicago with its many studios, this was not unusual. One final song composed with Buddy Fina appeared just at the cusp of the depression. As of 1930, the Confare family was still living at the same Winfield address, but 63-year-old Tom now listed himself as a music arranger, not a director, possibly because a number of steady hotel and theater gigs started to dry up around this time, and possibly because he was looking to retire. Interestingly, the last known piece released with Confare's name on it was a 1942 war song with attitude, Roll Up Your Sleeves, Buddy Boy, and Let 'Em Have It, composed by his old friend Silver and arranged (perhaps even enhanced) by Thomas. He passed away the following year at age 76, just a few years short of the ragtime revival in which Cannon Ball would play a starring role.

Cecil Duane Crabb (May 23, 1890 to April 27, 1953)

Compositions

1907 Fluffy Ruffles 1909 Orinoco Trouble [w/Will Morrison] 1911 The Klassicle Rag

     Cecil Duane Crabb, or "Cece" as some of his peers called him, was part of the Indianapolis group of young composer friends who contributed just a few but still significant pieces into the ragtime collective. He was the youngest of two sons born in Centerville, Indiana to James and Sarah E. Crabb. After several years of struggling to get by in Centerville, the family had moved westward to Indianapolis by 1900 where Cecil's older brother Earl, now 16, worked as a clerk in a phonograph store, and their father was a real estate agent. By the age of 18 he was evidently not living with his parents in Indianapolis. After a roller skating accident Cece was taken in for a time by Mr. E.D. Staley and his wife. The Staleys discovered in short order his propensity for both piano and graphic arts. In an effort to provide stability and a positive direction for Crabb, Mr. Staley set him up in a sign making shop, producing outdoor and on door signs for businesses. During this time he befriended May Aufderheide, fresh from finishing school, and quickly helped her to get her Dusty Rag into print, something she was trying to do over her father's objections. Another new acquaintance, composer Paul Pratt, arranged the piece and Cecil did the cover art. It was the only piece published by the Duane Crabb Publishing Company. Because of May's determination to have her work in print, her father, John Henry Aufderheide, admired the efforts of the teenaged trio to the point where he started J.H. Aufderheide & Company just to publish their works, and Cece was also rewarded for his efforts in helping her.
     Although Crabb was retained for cover art work, possibly even having designed the distinctive logo, he also published a few pieces with the firm. The first of these was Fluffy Ruffles, one of a number of ragtime era pieces with this name. He had composed it in 1907 and another Indianapolis composer, Will Morrison, helped him publish it. It was quickly picked up by J.H. Aufderheide for his new company, but was preceded by Crabb's latest rag in 1909, Orinoco. That same year Cecil co-wrote the piece Trouble with Morrison. He also contributed artwork for some of the Aufderheide rags, including Candle-Stick by Abe Olman and A Totally Different Rag by May. Pratt, who like Cecil was not yet 20, was hired as the manager and arranger for the Aufderheide company, as shown in the 1910 Census. By then, Crabb was once again living with his parents, his occupation listed as sign painter, music being a sideline to work which brought needed income in. Pratt later recalled that even though there has been no historical confirmation of contracts for those published by Aufderheide, he received a 1.5 cent per copy royalty for this piece, so the same was likely true for Cecil. This would also include his Klassicle Rag, perhaps a nod or even a swipe at the genre of "Classic Ragtime" which was fairly well known by 1911.
     The success of the firm from publicity, as well as additional composers in the stable like Morrison, Olman, Gladys Yelvington and Julia Lee Niebergall, allowed John Aufderheide to expand his enterprise with a second location in a better distribution hub, Chicago. He sent Pratt there to manage the new branch, with Niebergall taking over some of the arranging duties in Indianapolis. Unfortunately for all involved in the expanding company, fortunes quickly dried up. May lost her desire to continue on track with her well-crafted rags, and with sales suddenly slowing, her father also lost interest in continuing the company. His sale of the J.H. Aufderheide catalog to the Mentel Brothers in Cincinnati left the Pratt in Chicago without a job and Cecil without his friends close by. His final submission, Orinoco, was published by the Mentel Brothers.
     Cecil was married to his first wife Ethelene Griffing in 1913, and welcomed their daughter Jane into the world the following year. On his 1917 draft record, Cecil indicates his occupation again as sign painter for the Staley and Pratt Sign Company, and lists construction as well. The 1920 Census shows the family living in Indianapolis, and Cecil merely as a proprietor, as he was still in business for himself. He also engaged in light graphic arts, and even starting an early outdoor advertising firm. In the early 1920s he and Ethelene went their separate ways, and he remarried to his second wife Stella Seidensticker. Together they had a daughter and two sons. Business in outdoor advertising must have been fairly good as their busy household had a maid according to the 1930 Census. At some point in the subsequent decade Cece went into the florist business, owning a shop on Monument Place in Indianapolis for many years. In his later life he also enjoyed fishing, and playing ragtime for grateful friends and fans, seeming to be perfectly happy for his brief flash of fame in Indianapolis. Cecil Crabb died in Wisconsin just short of 63 years old.

Ford Thompson Dabney (March 15, 1883 to June 21, 1958)
Compositions
1908 You Can Learn the Hootchie Kootchie [1] Call Me Dear [1] 1909 Oh! You Devil 1910 Haytian Rag The Pensacola Mooch Porto Rico Rag Anoma That's Why They Call Me Shine [2] That Minor Strain [2] 1911 Oh! You Angel 1914 Congratulations Valse (aka Castle Lame      Duck Waltz) [3] The Castle Walk [3] Castle's Half and Half [3] Castle Innovation Tango [3] The Castle Combination [3] Castle Maxixe [3]	1914 (Cont) Castle Perfect Trot [3] Enticement: An Argentine Idyl [3]     [as Eporue and Yenbad] The Castle Doggy [3] Last Waltz (c.1914) 1915 Georgia Grind 1919 You Can't Shake That Shimmie     Here [w/Alec Rogers] 1927 Rang-Tang [w/Jo Trent] Brown Jungle Rose 1934 Honey Dear [w/Edward Heyman &     Con Conrad]    1. w/Henry S. Creamer    3. w/James Reese Europe    2. w/Cecil Mack
Selected Discography
1917 Cheer Up, Lisa Melody Land/Beautiful Queen of the Nile The Darktown Strutter's Ball Paddle-Addle In Your Little Canoe That's It The Jass - Lazy Blues Pussy Willow Sally Trombone Sliding Sid 1918 A Winning Fight Old Sammie's March Hello Central Give Me No-Man's Land I'm Sorry I Made You Cry Feist's All-Hits Medley You Keep Sending 'em Over and We'll     Keep Knocking 'em Down [1] You'll Find Old Dixieland in France [1] Springtime Swinging Along Just Blue 1919 Mr. Sousa's Yankee Band Indigo Blues Sarah, Come Over Here [1] Johnny's in Town [1] I Want a Doll [1] Rainy Day Blues A Foxy Cure for the Blues Lassus Trombone Keep Smiling How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down On The Farm? Easy Pickins In Miami (Where Mammy's Waiting for Me) [1] You Can't Blame the Girlies at All     (They All Want to Marry a Soldier) [1] Missouri Blues Old Glory Goes Marching On Miss Trombone (A Slippery Rag) 'Frisco's Kitchen Stovers Squealing Pig Blues Beautiful Ohio Blues Slow Drag Blues Spanking the Baby [1] There's A Lot Of Blue Eyed Marys Down     In Maryland [1] There's A Lump Of Sugar Down In Dixie Florida Blues Lonesome Blues/Broken-Hearted Blues On the Streets of Cairo Sahara (We'll Soon Be Dry Like You) [2] All the Quakers are Shoulder Shakers     Down in Quaker Town [2] Breeze (Blow My Baby Back to Me) I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None O' This     Jelly Roll The Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me Now I Know Camp Meeting Blues My Laddie What's Worth While Getting/Poor Butterfly 'Round the Corner 1920 Wedding and Shimmie and Jazz When My Baby Smiles 1922 Sweet Man O' Mine [3] Doo-Dah Blues [3]    All tracks 1917-1920 by Dabney's Band    1. w/Arthur Fields    2. w/Billy Murray    3. as Ford Dabney's Syncopators	Matrix and Date [Aeolian Vocalion 36002] 08/1917 [Aeolian Vocalion 36002] 08/1917 [Aeolian Vocalion 1219] 08/1917 [Aeolian Vocalion 1219] 08/1917 [Aeolian Vocalion 1218] 11/1917 [Aeolian Vocalion 1218] 11/1917 [Aeolian Vocalion 1243] 11/1917 [Aeolian Vocalion 1243] 11/1917 [Aeolian Vocalion 12017] 11/1917   [Aeolian Vocalion 12004] 01/1918 [Aeolian Vocalion 12004] 01/1918 [Aeolian Vocalion 36202] 05/1918 [Aeolian Vocalion 36202] 05/1918 [Aeolian Vocalion 36205] 09/1918 [Aeolian Vocalion 12051] 09/1918   [Aeolian Vocalion 12051] 09/1918 [Aeolian Vocalion 12066] 10/1918 [Aeolian Vocalion 12066] 10/1918 [Aeolian Vocalion 12068] 10/1918   [Aeolian Vocalion 36205] 01/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12097] 01/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12101] 01/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12101] 01/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12102] 01/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12105] 02/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12105] 02/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12119] 02/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12125] 04/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12125] 04/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12126] 04/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12130] 04/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12130] 04/1919   [Aeolian Vocalion 12152] 04/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12167] 05/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12167] 06/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12179] 06/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12179] 06/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12195] 07/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12195] 08/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12206] 09/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12206] 09/1919   [Aeolian Vocalion 12207] 09/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12211] 09/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12211] 09/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12217] 10/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12221] 10/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12221] 10/1919   [Aeolian Vocalion 12229] 10/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12229] 10/1919   [Aeolian Vocalion 12245] 11/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12245] 11/1919 [Aeolian Vocalion 12246] 11/1919 [Vocalion 5003] 12/1919 [Vocalion 5005] 12/1919 [Vocalion 5007] 12/1919   [Vocalion 5257] 02/1920 [Vocalion 5260] 02/1920   [Banner 1017] 03/1922 [Banner 1043] 05/1922

     Dabney was a naturally talented musician who was born and raised in Washington D.C. His parents were James Dabney, a black Virginia-born undertaker, and his mulatto wife Laura Dabney. He had one older brother, Edward, born in 1879. Tracing what happened to Laura Dabney in the 1890s is still in progress. However, James remarried to Ruby H. Dabney in 1895. Dabney had employed a servant as early as 1880, and the Dabneys owned their own home at 1132 Third Street NW as of 1900, which indicated that they were fairly well off for a black family of that time.
     As a youth, Ford got some of his education at the Armstrong Manual Training School in Washington, a black-oriented technical school. His musical training was through his father, his music educator uncle Wendell Phillips Dabney, and D.C. music teachers William Waldecker, Charles Donch and Samuel Fabian. The displays of his musical talent through his father's connections brought him his first "court composer" position as the official musician to the President of Haiti from 1904 to 1906. He is shown returning through New York from St. Marc on the Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm on May 18, 1906. On his return to Washington Ford co-owned a theater in the capital, traveled a bit in vaudeville, and even had an act titled Ford Dabney's Ginger Girls.
     Following this venture Dabney went to New York in 1910 to pursue a career in composition and performance. There is a likely probability that he engaged in an alternate career as well. In what is most certainly his listing in the 1910 Census, Dabney (as Thompson) is shown in Manhattan as a self-employed pharmacist. (The age, birth location and parent's birth locations match, so this fairly well confirms that it is indeed the same Ford Dabney.) It is also possible that he learned this skill in technical school in DC or from one of his father's associates, and was applying it to earn some income until more music work started coming in. Dabney was still the proprieter of a large vaudeville and movie house in Washington, and divided his time between the two cities until around 1913.
     As early as 1910 Dabney did well enough to publish a few interesting piano rags, starting with the popular Haytian Rag, and in including Oh You Devil and Oh You Angel. Haytian Rag in particular quickly found itself onto at least two different piano roll renditions before the year was out. However, he first gained real fame as a vaudeville performer and writer with his initial hit, a song he co-wrote with New York composer R.C. McPherson (aka Cecil Mack), That's Why They Call Me Shine. It was reportedly based on a real person they both knew who went by that nickname. This song opened more doors for him and he was soon one of the elite of black New York musicians. He quickly became friends with famed bandleader and composer James Reese Europe. They both played for famed showman Florenz Ziegfeld in his secondary show, Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolic, staged on the roof of the New Amsterdam Theater in Manhattan. Dabney was an integral member of Europe's famous Clef Club which was made up of only the finest black musicians in the east. A band for any occasion could quickly be formed from its formidable membership. It was, in fact, Dabney who introduced blues composer W.C. Handy to the Clef Club and Europe, with whom he became fast friends. Ford also formed his own organization when he permanently settled in the New York in 1913. By 1914, Europe had left the Clef Club to form The Tempo Club and Europe's Society Orchestra, and Dabney soon joined him.
     Among the best of Dabney's pieces were a set of eight that were co-composed with Europe specifically for the famed husband and wife dance time of Vernon and Irene Castle. The Castles found Europe's Society Orchestra among the best they had worked with, and hired Europe as their band leader and Dabney as their arranger. One of these pieces, the Castle Half and Half, was written in 3/4+2/4, or actually 5/4 time, over 4 decades before that time signature would become popular through the efforts of Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond. All of these were issued within a two month period in 1914, an extraordinary output for the quality of work the two invested into the project. Soon after this, Europe left the Tempo Club and Dabney took on some of his responsibilities until he formed his own orchestra, which was essentially from the remainders of The Tempo Club. In 1915 he released his final rag, actually a slow dance tune named The Georgia Grind. The grind in question and the music that accompanied it were not the same as the "dirty dancing" move of the 1950s, but a slow dance intended to give couples a bit of a rest while remaining on the dance floor. The tune had great success on piano rolls.
     Dabney's orchestra had the opportunity to introduce many great songs of the late 1910s to the world by way of records. This also made him one of the earliest black pianists to record. He is shown on his 1917 draft card as employed by Florenz Ziegfeld, presenter of the famed Ziegfeld Follies in the New Amsterdam Theater. His role was as both pianist, arranger and director for the The Ziegfeld Midnight Frolics, a position that lasted for eight years. Likely due to his workload, there appear to be no published compositions from this period. Dabney married Martha J. (Davis) (Gans) Dabney of Baltimore around 1916, her second marriage. She gave birth to Ford Jr. in mid 1917. Since Ford Jr. was born in Washington D.C., it indicates that he still had ties with his home town, as this may have occurred during a family visit to the area.
     From 1917 to early 1920, Dabney's Band cut a number of sides for the Aeolian Company's Vocalion line. The progression of dates indicates that Ford was not drafted to fight in the war like his former partner Jim Europe had been. The recordings show less inspiration and excitement than Reese's recordings of a couple of years prior, but they were still fine examples of late ragtime era dance band performances. They also recorded a few sides as the accompaniment band for white singers Arthur Fields and the inimitable Billy Murray. After one early 1920 session the band simply recorded no more, even as they continued to perform live. A regrouped ensemble called Ford Dabney's Syncopators did two sides in 1922.
     The Dabney family is shown in Manhattan in the 1920 Census with Ford listed as a theater musician. There are some indications that Dabney also dabbled in real-estate investment following the war. In August 1921 he sold off two three-story dwellings at 231 and 235 West 138th Street. In May 1921 he purchased a large five-story flat at 75 West 128th Street, and in July, a three story dwelling at 163 West 131st Street. Yet another puchase was reported in December 1922, a five-story tenement building at 807 West 146th Street facing Colonial Park. Similar notices appear in New York real-estate transactions through the early 1930s.
     After the unfortunate death of his friend and musical partner Europe at the hands of one of Europe's own drummers in May of 1919, and that of Vernon Castle in a training plane accident in Texas, some of Dabney's arranging spark seemed to dissipate, as is demonstrated in subsequent recordings of his orchestra. Innovations that had existed in earlier tracks, including variances applied to repeated sections, all but disappeared from 1919 on. The demand for his band steadily waned through the mid 1920s as Ford did not embrace jazz with the same vigor as younger bandleaders. His stead gig with Ziegfeld became less steady when the Dabney band was replaced by Art Hickman's Orchestra for the 1920-1921 season. Dabney was retained for some rooftop shows and special events, however. One example of the type of events the band played outside of their Ziegfeld show was an August 1922 fashion show held at the 71st Regiment Armory and Grand Central Palace. This was actually a fairly prestigious event as according to the New York Times of August 7, 1922, "Ford Dabney's orchestra from Ziefgeld's Follies will furnish continuous music, while a special arrangement has been made with Florenz Ziegfeld whereby Sergei Pirnikoff, heading a company of artists, will put on the Lestwich ballet 'Le Sacrifice.'" Still, it was a step removed from playing for the Society 400. Ford even briefly opened his own entertainment bureau in 1923, but other pressing demands made it difficult to maintain on a full time basis.
     Dabney remained in New York City until his death remaining mildly active with the music community from the 1930s on. In 1927 he contributed some music to the Broadway musical Rang-Tang, including the title tune, getting some notice in the New York papers for his efforts. Daney appears in the 1930 Census with his family, still in Manhattan, as an orchestra musician. One of his steadier gigs was at the Palais Royale in Atlantic City during peak season times. Branching out a little bit, he co-wrote one song for the film The Social Register in 1934. Dabney was finally able to join ASCAP in 1937, more than two decades after it was founded.
     Ford was still working in some capacity in the 1940s, as his 1942 draft record indicates him simply as self-employed, living at the same Manhattan address seen previously. By this time, his memory and musical skills were occasionally called upon by historians. He was reportedly a consultant for the 1943 all-black film Stormy Weather which chronicled black musicians of New York, including his contemporaries Europe and Handy, through the first decades of the 20th century. That same year, Ford Jr. enlisted into the military, his record showing that he had achieved a degree from a four-year college. The aging musician and composer finally retired fully by the late 1940s. Ford Dabney passed away at 75 in New York City in 1958. Martha Dabney died in December 1961 at the Rest Haven Nursing Home in the Bronx.

Charles Neil Daniels (April 12, 1878 to January 21, 1943)
Compositions
1898 Margery Only a Bugle Boy [1,6] My Rag-Time Lady [6,7] 1899 Without Thee [w/Earl Fitzhugh] [1] The Poster Girl - March You Tell Me Your Dream, I'll Tell You     Mine [6,7] You're Drifting Further From Me, Day By     Day [w/Scott Frederick] 1901 My Dream Lady [1] My Sugar Baby [6] Actions Speak Louder than Words [6,7] When the Cold, Cold Wind Begins to      Blow [6] Hiawatha - A Summer Idyl [1] (1901/1902) 1902 'Neath Southern Skies [1] Dolores - Cubanola [1] The Arrival of the Gecks [1] The White Slave [2] 1903 Hiawatha - His Song to Minnehaha [1,8] Me Heart Breaker "Rags" [w/Eddie Dustin] The Jolly General Show Girl [1] 1904 My Cherokee [1] [w/Eugene Parker] Poppies - A Japanese Romance [1] A Deed of the Pen [1] One Little Soldier Man [1] [w/Edward     Madden] Say You Forgive [2,5] Moonlight - A Serenade [1] 1905 Moonlight - Song [1,8] Niccolini [1,8] Cleopatra Finnegan [1] Silverheels [1] Silverheels - Song [1,8] Sombrero - Mexican Serenade [1] Autumn: The Woods Are Ablaze [1] Cherry - Intermezzo [3] 1906 Cherry - Song [3,9] Heartsease [1] 1907 Louisiana [3] Senorita [3] Dark Eyes - A Mexican Dance [1] Clematis - A Garden Dance [3] Musette [1] Musette - Song [1,8] Strong-Heart [1,8] Innocence - Valse Lente [1] Indian Summer [1] After Vespers [1] 1908 Sleepy Chile: Lullaby [1] 1909 Classic Rag [1] Mary - March [1] Truly Southern - Rag Pearls: Novelette [1] Chung Lo: A Chinese Monkey Doodle [1] Under the Tents Hearts of Gold [3] Honka-Tonk Rag [3,10] Love's Serenade [1] 1910 Fifty Years Ago - Dear Old Chum [3,10] By the Moss Covered Well, Dear     Estelle [3,10] Cotton Time Cotton Time - Song [10] The Lady Bug's Review [1] Woodland Dove (My Gypsy Love) On Mobile Bay [10] Cupid's Patrol: March [1] Sayonara: Intermezzo [1] Mondschien: Seranade [1] When the Moon Swings Low [w/John Page] 1911 In Maple Sugar Time [10] Fare Thee Well, Lizzie Lee [10] Texas [10] Borneo Rag - Oriental Pastime [10] Sugar Plum [3] Abide With Me [w/Charles F. Shermer] The Island of Roses and Love [1,10] I Think of Home and Mother When it's     Christmas Time [10] Have You a Little Fairy in Your Home? [9]     [w/G.H.E. Hawkins] The Only Pal I Ever Had Came From Frisco     Town [10] Love is a Weaver of Dreams [1,10]     [w/L. Lockwood Moore] I Never Thought I'd Miss A Girl Like     You [1,10] Bye and Bye [1] Virginia Love [10] The Heart That Sighs Too Late [1] Enchanted Nights [1] When My Dark Diana Dreams of Me [10] 1912 Echoes of Seville [1] It's Such a Little Pansy [3,10] That Banjo Rag [1,10] Where the Moonbeams Gleam [10] A Real, Live, Regular Town [10] Gee, I Love A Beautiful Girl [10] Kill That Bear [10] On Long Island Sound [10] That Rag [1,10] I'll Come Back to You, My Honolulu     Lou [10] Beedle-Um-Bo - I Love You in Zulu [10] 1913 The Beautiful Dawn of Love [1,10] In Apple Blossom Time {Down on the      Farm) [10] It's a Rocky Road to Dublin (But I'm Coming      Back to You) [w/George J. Moriarty] 1914 My Little Baby Rose [1] [w/Mannie      Lowenstein] Pretty Wild Thing [1] At the Panama-Pacific Fair [5] Peter Pan [5] 1915 In Monterey [1,11] Hula Lou [1,11] The Lord and Master of Mine [w/Charles R.      McCarron] Nadja [1] Thelma [1] 1916 My Sweet Moana [1] My Pearl of Honolulu [5] [w/Charles B.      Brown] In the Purple Twilight 1917 Underneath the Tennessee Moon [11] Hawaiian Dreams [5,12] The Smiles and Tears of Killarney [1] 1918 Arabian Dreams [5,12] Mickey [1,11] Yearning [1] [5]	1918 (Cont) Aloha Soldier Boy [5,13] Roses of Lorraine [5,13] 1919 Yankee Doodle in Berlin [11] When You Come Back to Me [1,11] Dreamy Moon [5,13] When it's Over, Over There Molly Darlin' [1]      [w/Ben Purrington] Peggy [1,11] Dancing with the Girl You Love [1] Some Night [1,14] Hindu Rose - The Oriental Vamp [1,14] Rose of Romany [1] [w/Louis Weslyn] Rose of My Heart [1,15] [w/A. Bollaert] Sunshine Mary [1,11,13] My Buddy [1,16] 1921 Sicily: Waltz [1,11,15] Love Moon [1] Mello Cello [1,11] 1922 Without You [1,17,18] Just Plain Folks [1,17,18] Babylon: A Romantic Fox Trot [1,11] 1923 Alexandria [1,18] Trip Along [1,18] Betty - A Dancing Song [1,19] [w/Barton      Mac] Half Past Ten: Chinese Waltz [1,19] 1924 On the Way to Monterey [1] Nancy [1,18] 1925 Moonlight and Roses [1,18] [w/Edwin H.      Lemare] Beside a Silv'ry Stream [1,18] I'm In Love with You [1] She's Funny That Way [1,20] Moon Deer [1,20,21] 1926 Song of the Wanderer [1] Sandman Lullaby [w/Billy Baskette &      Coleman Goetz] Don't Sing Aloha When I Go [1,13,18] 1927 Chlo-E (Song of the Swamp) [1,22] An Old Guitar and An Old Refrain [1,18,22] Rose of Monterey [1,16] Persian Rug [1,22] Up in the Clouds [1,18] God's Greatest Gift [1] [w/Merton H. Bories      & Paul Cobell] 1928 Happy - My Baby Just Said Yes [w/Larry      Yoell] Evenin' [1,20] Ready for the River [1,22] 1929 Song of Siberia [1,23] Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane [1,23] Chinky, Chinee Boogie Man [20,24] Feelin' the Way I Do [20,24] [w/Charles     Cooke] Singin' River [25] Varsity Rhythm [1] One Moment More with You [1,20,21] 1930 Sally, I'm Lovin' You, Sally [1,24] Blue Mountain Shack [26] [as Charlie Hill      w/John Forrest] When It's Harvest Time (Sweet Angeline) [1]      [w/Charley Kisco] My Dream of Love [1] [w/Mabel Musante] Kiss Me to Sleep [1] [w/Leverett Edwards] 1931 I'm Gonna Get You [4,27] Hills of Idaho [4,6,27] Sweet and Lovely [4,27] Within This Heart of Mine [4] [w/Milton      Brockman and Jimmie Lederer] A Pillow Wet with Tears [1,26] Put Your Little Arms Around Me [4,27] 1932 Give Her a Kiss for Me [1,26] It Might Have Been You [1,26] Goodnight My Love [4,27] From AM to PM, I Love You All the      Time [1,14,27] Thank You for the Evening [1,29] 1933 Dancing in Blue [1,25,27,29] Here You Come with Love [1,27] Lady Lou [1,27] Swanee Woman [25] Lou-Anna [1,14,27] Oo-oo-ooh! Honey! What You Do to Me      [1,27,30] 1934 Give Me Your Answer Tonight [1,25] Call of the Rockies [1,27] A Pretty Girl, A Lovely Evening [1,14,27] Wild Honey [1,27,28] Swanee River Dream Man [1,27,30] 1935 Here Comes Your Pappy With the Wrong     Kind of Load [4,27,28] In the Merry Month of May [1,27]      [w/Charles Tobias] Love is the Thing [1,27] Darling Ella-May [4,25] [w/G.S. Piermont] What's the Use of a Silv'ry Moon [1]      [w/Carl Winge & Sylvester L. Cross] 1937 Lovely Debutante [1,27] O Heart of Mine [1] [w/Raymond Eldred] 1938 White Shadows [1,27] [w/Gene Wilbur] A Gentleman and A Lady Were in Love      [1,29] Kahala [1,27] [w/Harry Owens]    1. as Neil Morét    2. as Paul Bertrand    3. as L'Albert    4. as Jules Lemare    5. as Sidney Carter (lyrics)    6. w/Albert H. Brown    7. w/Seymour Rice    8. w/James O'Dea    9. w/Arthur Gillespie    10. w/Earle C. Jones    11. w/Harry Williams    12. w/Herbert B.Marple    13. w/Walter Smith    14. w/Ted Fiorito    15. w/Weston Wilson    16. w/Byron Gay    17. w/Art Hickman    18. w/Ben Black    19. w/Paul Ash    20. w/Richard Whiting    21. w/Raymond B. Egan    22. w/Gus Kahn    23. w/Al Lewis & Al Sherman    24. w/Haven Gillespie    25. w/Jo Trent    26. w/George Waggner    27. w/Harry Tobias    28. w/George Hamilton    29. w/Gordon Clifford    30. w/Cliff Friend

     Charles Neil Daniels, born in Leavenworth, Kansas, actually spent most of his youth in St. Joseph, Missouri, with his family moving to Kansas City, Missouri when he was 15. He studied a panoply of musical disciplines, including piano, music theory, and musical calligraphy (a viable skill for prospective typesetters and arrangers). Charles also studied harmony and theory with Carl Preyer in Kansas City. Among his first positions were various gigs as a pianist in department stores, an accompanist at the Kronberg Concert Company, and demonstrator for the Carl Hoffman publishing house, which gave him his first break. It was there, in response to a competition, that he composed his first published piece, a two-step called Margery. It won the $25 prize, and soon the attention of no less than bandleader John Philip Sousa, who put it in his repertoire and created a quick demand for it. Even though sales for Margery were brisk, going as high as 275,000 within a few years, Daniels saw nothing of it since the prize money also constituted ownership of the piece by Hoffman. Pressing onward, Charles composed the music for an even bigger hit the following year, You Tell Me Your Dream, I'll Tell You Mine, which soon became a standard in the American Song Book, but also caused a further rift with Hoffman who refused to offer royalties on this piece as well.
     In December of 1898, Daniels utilized his position to help another young composer, Scott Joplin, and arranged to have a rag of his published, the first one of many for Joplin. Titled Original Rags, the cover cites that it was "arranged" by Daniels. However, according to family history passed down to from his son to Charles' grand niece, Nan Bostick, Daniels did nothing more to the piece than help transcribe and typeset it directly from Joplin's performance of it, and apply his newly-famous name to it to help with sales in markets where he was known. Original Rags would be eclipsed by Maple Leaf Rag in short order, but it remained in print with Daniel's name on the cover for many years. It may have been from this experience, plus the music scene in Kansas City, that Daniels caught the ragtime bug to some extent. Dissatisfied with the treatment he received from Hoffman, Charles formed the Western Music Publishing Company to release the tune on his own. This later became Daniels & Russell when another Hoffman refugee, Albert Russell, threw his hat in with Daniels. They headed for St. Louis around 1901 in anticipation of the coming Lewis and Clark Exposition/World's Fair, and reformed as Daniels, Russell & Boone with offices in the Benoist Building, also working as music demonstrators at the Barr Dry Goods Company.
     It was in late 1901 that by happenstance Daniels inadvertently created a new sub-genre of popular music. On a trip from Kansas City to Hiawatha, Kansas, he focused on the rhythm of the train wheels against the track joints, and came up with an intermezzo melody that he named after the destination, which itself was named for the Native American hero from the famous Longfellow poem Hiawatha. Originally subtitled A Summer Idyl (tone poem), this was also picked up by the Sousa, now his friend. Sousa's exposure of the piece resulted in a sale of his catalog to Jerome H. Remick for the extraordinary sum of $10,000, just so Remick could obtain Hiawatha, such was the public's response to it. As part of this deal Daniels was put in charge of a subsidiary company, Whitney Warner, which subsequently tried to exploit the Indian name aspect further. With lyrics added in 1903 by James O'Dea that incorporated a brief retelling of the romance between Hiawatha and Minnehaha, Hiawatha became even a bigger hit, as well as a template for many so-called Indian pieces to follow over the next two decades that would be incorporated by many famous composers, including Joseph F. Lamb, Percy Wenrich, Kerry Mills, and another friend, Charles L. Johnson.
     One of the ironies is that Daniels brought Hiawatha out using a pseudonym, Neil Morét, which was derived in part from his middle name. Given the exposure of that name through his early hits, Daniels ended up using it more than his own name throughout his career, more so than any of his contemporaries who also used pseudonyms. He also used L'Albert on a few pieces, and infrequently attributed his own lyrics to Sidney Carter for variety. Charles followed Hiawatha in 1905 with an intentional Indian intermezzo and song titled Silverheels. He also started composing a number of Mexican or Spanish-tinged pieces, forecasting another craze among composers and the musical consumer. One of his mood intermezzos, Moonlight, was so appealing to Remick that he bought it from Charlie's firm for $20,000, double what was paid for Hiawatha and the earlier catalog.
     Daniels traveled for Remick for some time, setting up music departments in stores around the East. While many towns had their own music shops, department stores in particular prided themselves on having a music department with a piaist demonstrator. Daniels took that one step further using new technology. One such description of his methods was found in the Music Trade Review of October 29, 1904: "The new music department inaugurated by the R. H. White Co., Boston, Mass., is under the management of Charles N. Daniels (Neil Moret) the composer of 'Hiawatha,' 'Moonlight' and the new song, 'Poppies.' Mr. Daniels has inaugurated many ideas of his own for the display of sheet music and is using the phonograph as an effective demonstrator." While people like Daniels "managed" these departments,

The Jerome H. Remick building in Detroit pictured in the 1970s.

it was usually on a rotating long-distance basis, making sure that the products for his company were properly represented through occasional visits or other supervision. Also in 1904, it was announced that: "Albert H. Russell, of Detroit, has assigned all his interest in the music firm of Daniels & Russell, Wetherbee building, to his partner, Charles N. Daniels, and the latter has assigned it to Shapiro, Remick & Co., including all copyright music, plates and manuscript." It was not a permanent exit from the publishing business by any means.
     While working in Detroit in 1906 for Remick and Whitney Warner, and still writing for his own firm as well under the pseudonym of L'Albert (as in partner Albert Russell), Charlie opened a subsidiary shop in the old Barr's firm, now the Grand Leader Department Store, where future composer Irene Giblin worked as a demonstrator. Daniels acquired Dill Pickles from Hoffman, a rag composed by his friend Charles L. Johnson. It has been stated that the two Charlies may have extended the ragtime craze by as much as a decade with this single tune, because Johnson set a standard for easy to play rags that appealed to the average pianist, and Daniels promoted it well in markets nationwide, which included getting it played and recorded by many bands. His efforts helped make Remick one of the largest publishers of both piano rags and popular ragtime songs, and Daniels was perhaps as much a proponent of piano rags as classic ragtime magnate John Stark, one of it's biggest champions.
     Two other pieces he picked up from Hoffman included Johnson's Iola, again named for a town in Kansas and not a particular Indian (although O'Dea also added lyrics to this one as well), and Peaceful Henry by Hoffman arranger E. Harry Kelly. These made plenty for Remick and their composers, but not so much for Hoffman, who may have been regretting his earlier fiscal treatment of Daniels by this time. It probably didn't help that the Kansas City branch of Daniels' company settled in right next door to Hoffman's office! While promoting ragtime heavily during this period, Charles wrote very few of his own pieces that were touted as rags, rather releasing them as intermezzos or similar genre titles. He was also concentrating on the more lucrative song business, eventually hooking up with lyricist Earle C. Jones who helped create even more best-sellers for Daniels, or more properly, Morét. He also married during this period.
     Charles' enthusiasm for making good music and the benefits that could be had from interpolation into popular music forms was made clear in an October 1910 article in The Music Trade Review:

     Mr. Daniels is convinced that the popular taste is improving. Some of the means by which this desired end is being achieved may be such as to make the musically judicious grieve, but are none the less effective, he declares. '"The popular songs introducing strains of classical compositions are actually having the effect of creating the desire to know more of the music suggested," said he. "Thousands of people know the Mendelssohn 'Spring Song' to-day who had never heard it or heard of it before. Last year our house published 'That Loving Melody Rubinstein Wrote,' and I know it to be a fact that Rubinstein's 'Melody in F' came into great demand in Detroit as a consequence. People went into the music stores and asked what the 'Loving Melody' was and bought it. Of course, this is one factor working toward the creation of a taste for gcod music. Why, the other day in Detroit a vaudeville singer won tremendous applause from the gallery with an aria from 'Rigoletto.' Now, all this means that the people want good music. It doesn't mean that there will soon be no market except for the productions of long-dead composers, but it does mean a gradual raising of the standard all along the line."

     By late 1913, his primary lyricist partner, Earle Jones, had died at 35 of typhoid. Charles' young daughter had long been suffering from diabetes (misdiagnosed as lung disease), and hoping to save her life he gave up his position with Remick and relocated to a climate that was recommended as more conducive to her health, that of the desert around San Bernardino, California. Sadly, his daughter died of her ailment in 1915. However, by this time, he had started again on his own as a publisher, first founding his own self-named firm, then partnering with a younger graduate of Stanford University, Weston Wilson, to form Daniels & Wilson. Daniels also imported lyricist Harry William from Remick, and they continued to turn out hits in California. His reputation got him a turn at composing a title tune for a 1918 Mack Sennett film starring one of Hollywood's more popular actresses, Mabel Normand. Mickey worked well as a two-way promotion for both the film and the song, garnering Daniels and Williams a good-sized wartime hit. Many historians consider it the earliest popular song directly associated with a film title, and it did very well after being picked up by Waterson, Snyder and Berlin in New York. The following year Daniels and Williams turned out another nationwide hit, Peggy. However, the lucky streak was not to last. His young partner Wilson joined the military for the war, never to return to the firm but later to get into the oil business, which left Charles to run the company by himself. Then in 1922 Harry Williams died while visiting Daniels, sadly ending another successful partnership.
     Daniels regrouped after these tragedies and worked for a time as a west-coast arranger for Waterson, Snyder and Berlin, but after getting back on his feet he founded the San Francisco firm of Villa Morét (House of Morét) in 1924. Now living across the Bay in Oakland, he partnered with bandleader Ben Black to compose one of Villa Morét's first issues. Adorned by a beautiful cover, it was a fox-trot version of organist Edwin Lemare's andantino Moonlight and Roses, which became a dance band hit in short order. This was the beginning of several years of big hits turned out by the successful firm, including some penned with now-famous lyricists Richard Whiting and Gus Kahn. The most famous of these pieces by Morét and Kahn was Chlo-E - Song of the Swamp of 1927, which featured a plaintive cry to the titled lady. Some will remember the famous parody of this work in the late 1940s by Spike Jones and his City Slickers, but it received serious attention at this time, and put him once again on a par with many contemporary East Coast composers like Duke Ellington. In 1928, with Richard Whiting, he turned out She's Funny That Way, which later became an early theme for crooner Frank Sinatra. By 1926 Villa Morét had an office at 1596 Broadway in New York City, and Daniels became a bi-coastal traveler between the two bases. Offices in ten other cities were opened by the end of the year, giving Daniels an excellent distribution and acquisition network.
     Trends were changing in 1929 in advance of the Great Depression, and Daniels saw these coming. Many of the publishers were being bought up by film companies now looking for material for sound movies. Also, sheet music was losing its luster in light of phonograph records, talking pictures, and radio, all of which required little effort on the part of the listener to enjoy. Daniels moved to Los Angeles, but could not convince the company, of which he was president but not owner, to move their operations to Hollywood. He wrote a few pieces as Jules LeMare while trying to legally separate from Villa Morét publications, and spent the 1930s working with younger lyricists, primarily for publisher Jack Robbins, who was associated with the MGM Studio. Many of these credited bandleader Gus Arnheim as co-composer, a courtesy title for the leader who introduced the pieces - including the big hit Sweet and Lovely - on his radio show, a common practice in the 1920s and 1930s. That courtesy also included 33% of the royalties. Charles composed up until a few years before his 1943 death in Los Angeles at age 64. While he is less remembered under his own name, Daniels had a fairly substantial role in both the style and the spread of music in the early 20th century, working from outside of Tin Pan Alley, and yet contributing to it in a big way. This includes ragtime music, early popular song, and well beyond.

     I would like to add a personal note of thanks to my friend and ragtime performer Nan Bostick who was responsible for much of this research on her great uncle, as well as historian Phil Stewart whose research on Charles L. Johnson had useful cross references on Daniels.

Homer H. Denney (March 26, 1885 to September 20, 1975)
Compositions
1905 No-Ze The Coney Island Girl 1906 Water Queen 1908 Hot Cabbage 1909 Cheese and Crackers 1910 Chimes	1911 Monograms: Rag Two Step 1912 Ham-Bones - An Easy Picked Rag My Lovin' Yiddisha Queen     [w/Ben Rafalo] Unknown/Uncertain Tangle Fingers Rag Miss Gossip

     Homer H. Denney was part of the group of Ohio Valley composers that produced compositions steeped with folk heritage. He would consider himself as much a river man as a musician right to the end, and history spans both ragtime and the last sement of the riverboat era in Ohio. Born in Gallipolis, Ohio, on the border with West Virginia. It is hard to get a direct fix on his parentage as Census records are unclear, but it appears he was born to Thomas W. and Harriet L. Denney. There were three sisters including Nora J. (7/1882), Martha H. (11/1890) and Mary F. (6/1894). By the early 1900s the family had moved to Highland in Muskingum County, Ohio, just east of Cincinnati, which places him near where he would spend much of his life.
     The first verified fix on Denney as a musician is in 1905 when he self-published his first rag, No-Ze, in Cincinnati. By this time he was already making a name for himself as a calliope player on the Ohio River. His next piece, Coney Island Girl, refers to the Coney Island in the river at Cincinnati, which has had a long history of amusement parks and recreation since the late 19th century. The paddlewheel steamer boat he spent most of his life working for during two of its incarnations was the Island Queen. Built on the frame of the former Saint Joseph, the Island Queen was launched in 1905. As a result of his employment on the ship, many of Denney's pieces were fairly simple yet innovative, making the best possible use of the limited yet demanding calliope keyboard. His next piece, Water Queen was likely dedicated to the Island Queen.
     By 1907 Homer was starting to make somewhat of a name for himself on the river. He was married around 1905 Bertha Kraft, and late in 1908 their daughter June D. Denney was born. One other child had not survived infancy. In 1907 one of Homer's more notable rags, Hot Cabbage, was self-published. He followed this up with the popular Cheese and Crackers.

The Island Queen pictured in the 1910s.

Both of these first rate works were soon picked up by larger publishers. The same was the case with Chimes, perhaps his best known rag. It was inspired by the sight of a group of children at a dock and their excitement at the approach of the Island Queen and the sound of Homer's calliope. By 1910 he listed in both the Census and the Ohio Miracord as a steam boat musician living in Cincinnati. His partially obscured age appears to be 20, but it is likely 24. Homer's widowed mother-in-law, Jennie Kraft, was living with the couple by then, as she would through most of her remaining life. Denney did not meet the same success with his next two rags, Monograms and Ham Bones as he had with Chimes. He also co-wrote an ethnic Jewish piece with comedian Ben Rafalo, but it had a limited shelf life. Ironically, one of the pieces most associated with him was Caliope Rag, actually composed by brothers Sylvester and Charles Hartlaub. Homer was known for his nightly performances of this popular piece, and its wide distribution helped make him somewhat famous. Another such piece was The Queen Rag by Floyd Willis.
     The Island Queen was a well-known ship, running between Cincinnati and Coney Island, with various entertainers on board, but Denney reportedly being the star. Given the sheer decibel volume of a typically steam calliope, he was hard to avoid in any event. The ship carried some 4,000 passengers at a time, and was covered with around 7,000 electric lights. For longer excursions there was a 20,000 square foot dance floor, for which Denney often led the ship's dance orchestra. Homer continued to work on it for some time, and in an additional capacity in 1914 as the tuner of new steam calliopes built at the Thomas J. Nichol factory,

Homer Denney playing the Island Queen's Nichol Calliope in 1946.

most of them built by Nichol himself. But either Homer's personal fortunes started to sag or that of the steamer's ownership, affected by World War I in part. By 1917 he had long since ceased composing, and his frequency on the ship is uncertain. He was instead primarily employed at the Universal Car Company as an inspector and motor tester, as listed on his draft record, and shows the same position as of the 1920 Census. In November of 1922 the Island Queen burned along with other ships at the Cincinnati docks, so the backup employment was a good plan for the Denney family. During the gap and well beyond, Denney continued to play a Tangley air pressure calliope in the Shrine Circus, being an active member of the Shriners.
     A new oil powered steamer Island Queen built on a steel hull was launched in 1925, and with it, a resurrection of Denney's career as a calliope player. His new instrument was made on a substantial iron frame, and the echoes of nostalgia for riverboats made them popular again, in part due to Edna Furber's novel Showboat, soon to become a Jerome Kern stage musical. Denney rode this wave for many more years, right on through the Great Depression. The 1930 Census lists him as a musician on the ship. As of the late 1930s he was considered an employee of the city of Norwood where the family had moved years before. Whether this was on the ship or in a separate capacity is unclear. It is known that he continued on the Island Queen literally through the last gasp of its second life.
     Many steamships during World War II had been retrofitted and repainted for military transport and war related purposes. After the war they were taken to the ship yards in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for repainting and refitting back into their civilian functions. The Island Queen was moored at Pittsburgh on September 8, 1947, when a welder's torch set off fumes from a fuel tank, causing a major explosion. The crew and a number of passengers had come up to Pittsburgh where the work was being done, including Denney, and most of them had left the ship to go into town. Denney had literally just walked off the ship with his camera when the explosion occurred, and ended up taking most of the only photographs of his beloved second home on the water going up in flames, along with 19 remaining crew members. All that was left of his beloved calliope was the steel frame and four brass keys. Having no instrument to play on, he was forced into retirement from his riverboat days.

The fiery death of The Island Queen, 9/8/1947.

One of the end results of a career playing an instrument as loud as a jet plane was that he was mostly deaf by that time. Years of playing a mere four feet from the pipes took a permanent toll.
     In his later years Homer played the Tangley in parades, and electric organs in other venues. He also took an interest in crank street organs (the type often associated with monkey grinders), not only restoring them but also creating rolls for them by hand. He did own one large instrument, a Wurlitzer 105. Denney did write about his time on the river, and helped leave a legacy about the golden days of steamships on the Ohio. He eventually moved to Springfield, Ohio, where his wife passed on in the late 1960s. Homer was a guest at the first St. Louis Ragtime Festival in the 1960s, according to coordinator Trebor Tichenor and performers Mike Montgomery and John Arpin, but he did not play, perhaps due to his hearing issues. It has been said that he never talked about the rags he had composed in earlier years. Denney left us in 1975, just as a new generation of ragtime fans started discovering some of the great folk rags of the ragtime era, including those of the well-known calliopist.

     Thanks go to performer and historian Fred Hoeptner who provided some additional information on Denney through a back issue of the Rag Times. More can be found on Denney and the Island Queen at the comprehensive www.steamboats.org

William John Donaldson (April 21, 1891 to December 16, 1954)
Compositions
1915 When You Sit Beside the Fireside in     Winter [1] 1916 Cold Turkey The Original Chateau Three Step Prepare the Eagle to Protect the Dove [1] 1917 Rialto Ripples [w/George Gershwin] Are We Downhearted? No! No! No!     [w/Ray Shwerwood] 1919 Play Me That Tune (Ya-Da-De-Dum-Dum) [2] China Dragon Blues [2] Good-Bye Pal [2] Everybody's Crazy Over Dixie     [w/Rubey Cowan] All That I Know of Love (I Learned     from You) [5] 1920 Time Will Tell [5] A Trip to Hitland: Musical [3,11]    Laughing Vamp    Underneath the Skies (of Home Sweet       Home) [3,12]    I'm Tellin' You    You're Just Around the Corner from Heaven       (When You're Just Around the Corner       from Home)    We'll Still Be Together (You and I)    Scissors    Wow    Think of Me (I'll Think of You) 1921 Tell Her at Twilight [4] 1923 Oh! How She Lied to Me [13] Oh Sister, Aint' That Hot [13] I Don't Know Nobody, and Nobody Knows       Me [14] Love Ain't Blind No More [14] Won't You Be My Sweet Man [14] Rainy Nights [14] [©1972] 1924 Down in Wah-Wah Town [3,15] When You Come to the End of the Lane [6] Doo Wacka Doo [15] [w/George Horther] Come Back to Me (When they Throw You     Down) [w/Billy Rose] In the Shade of Her Parasol [13] 1926 The Cohens and Kellys Step on the Blues [w/Con Conrad &     Otto Harbach]	1927 Gold Digger [w/Duke Ellington] Rhapsody for Saxophone [w/Ross Gorman] Why Can't We Be Sweethearts All     Over Again? [w/Jan Barger & Roy Turk] 1928 The Dark Madonna [16] Danse Barbare [16] Speed Maniacs Sultan of Swat: Baseball One-Step Piggly Wiggly 1929 Hurrah for the Wonder Bakers! Yo-Ho!     Yo-Ho! Yo-Ho! [w/Frank Moulan] 1937 Black Jack March [18,19] Come to the Barn [18,19] We're On Our Way [18,19] 1938 March Moderne 1940 I Can't Resist You [17] Spellbound [17] Life is Sweet Again [17] [w/Harold Lambert] Uncertain/ASCAP Chevrons March Onions Bring Memories of You I Gave You a Rose by the River of Dreams Femmes Qui Sont Ici Les [w/Paule Emile G.     Briollet & Paul Auguste Van Trappe] Mon Coeur est a Barcelona [w/Marcel     Israel & Joseph A. Vincentelli] Ne Cherchez Pas Cest l'Amour [w/Andre     Despax Louis & Lucien Pierre Paul Rives]    1. w/Harry Bunce    2. w/Irving Caesar    3. w/Leon Flatow    4. w/Bernie Grossman    5. w/Bobby Jones    6. w/Billy Frisch    7. w/Nat Vincent    8. w/Billy Baskette    9. w/Sam Ehrlich    10. w/Al Siegel    11. w/Jimmy Brown    12. w/Ted Shapiro    13. w/Harry White    14. w/Jo Trent    15. w/Clarence Gaskill    16. arr. William Grant Still    17. w/Ned Wever    18. w/Muriel Pollock    19. w/Madge Tucker
Known Rollography
1916 Cold Turkey - One Step [Will Donaldson] - Uni-Record 202827 Adeste Fideles [Trad] Assisted by E. Bergeson "with Beautiful Chime Effects" -     Connorized 10276 1919 Everbody's Crazy Over Dixie [Jones/Donaldson/Cowan] - Rythmodik Song Roll J104393

     Will Donaldson had a hand in the start of a career of one of the great American composers, but in the end did not do too badly for himself either. Born in New York to John and Rose.Donaldson, Will was the youngest of three children, including older sisters Beatrice and Agnes. His early musical trainingwent beyond normal New York School System classes, as Donaldson attended the Pratt Institute, and was a part of the Art Students League. By 1910 Will was working as a theater pianist, playing for the early Ziegfeld star Elizabeth Brice (no relation to Fannie Brice) and Adele Rowland among others. Within a few years he also accompanied early superstar Elsie Janis when she was in London in the mid 1910s. Will started making his way through both Vaudeville and movie houses over the next several years. He started arranging and producing piano rolls in 1915, and one of his first compositions appeared in 1916, and he soon had a job as arranger and plugger with Jerome H. Remick and J.B. Haviland, perhaps in a free-lance capacity. His 1917 draft record indicates Haviland as his employer, and also indicates poor eyesight as a handicap that likely kept him out of the trenches in World War I.
     While at Remick, Donaldson met and befriended 16-year-old George Gershwin who had been hired a year prior as a song plugger. Gershwin had repeatedly been thwarted in his efforts to get his employer, or more directly manager Mose Gumble, to do anything with his own compositions. Donaldson helped him in some way with George's only rag, Rialto Ripples, making it the sole Remick publication of a Gershwin tune at that time. Will's role is unclear, whether it be as an arranger making the piece playable for the average player, or actually adding some content to the piece. In any case, he got co-credit for the rag, and Gershwin got the boot soon after by Gumble who made it clear he should "leave composing to the composers." Donaldson was a friend and admirer of Gershwin for many years thereafter, as noted in later correspondence between the two men.
     Having proven himself as a capable song writer, in addition to some interesting instrumentals, one being the well regarded syncopated waltz The Original Chateau Three Step, Donaldson was readily able to get music into print for several years. However, he was also a very capable pianist, and did some audio recordings for a couple of companies, including Edison's Diamond Disc label. Even before he was in print, at some point around 1915 Will started working with Rythmodik Music Corporation, a branch of the Aeolian Piano Roll Company. According to roll historian Robert Perry there is a good chance Will was on staff, as his name showed up on a number of "hand-played" rolls in the capacity of arranger or perhaps third hand; "Assisted by W.E.D." For his first two years this was pretty much exclusively applied to rolls recorded by Pete Wendling, but by the time Aeolian dropped Rythmodik in late 1920 he had appeared with other artists as well. Only one Rythmodik roll credits him as the sole artist, playing his own piece Everybody's Crazy Over Dixie in 1919. One of the people he likely met during these years was artist Muriel Pollock who would become his wife around 1926. There is no indication he was ever involved in the creation or editing of her piano roll performances.
     As of 1920 Will was still living with his mother Rose and sister Beatrice, listed simply as a composer of music. It was in this year that a number of New York songwriters, including publisher Ted Shapiro and lyricists Nat Vincent and Billy Baskette pooled their talent into a stage show called A Trip to Hitland. The sheet music shows anywhere from eight to ten names for composer credit on each piece. In spite of the title, it turned out no hits. After a couple of dry years, Will had a strong showing in 1923, the same year that he joined ASCAP, which had been founded in 1914. In addition to working with Jo Trent on pieces that would be included at one point or another in the hit musical Runnin' Wild, which introduced the Charleston into the world, he co-wrote Oh Sister, Ain't That Hot, which became a substantial jazz age hit still performed and recorded in the 21st century.
     The following year Will took a 1920s catch phrase and with a couple of lyricists turned it into another hit, Doo Wacka Do, a term that eventually became as annoying to some as "vo-de-o-do" due to its frequent usage. Around 1926, Will, who had been a movie pianist off and on, started composing some works specifically for film performance, including one for what became a series spanning silent and sound films, The Cohens and Kellys. Some of his works were spread out over a series of folios released in 1928. In 1927, and some historians speculate even earlier, he co-composed a tune with Duke Ellington called The Gold Digger, part of the Ellington play book for many years. One group that Donaldson was briefly involved with was the Edisongsters, a male trio with Will as the accompanist and arranger. They were broadcast as an Edison Radio presentation every Monday evening. The singers were Jack Parker, Frank Luther and Phil Dewey.
     The 1930 Census shows Will lodging in Manhattan, while Muriel was elsewhere when the roll was taken. At some point in the early to mid 1930s Will and Muriel moved out to the West Coast. Their son Theodore (Ted) Donaldson was born in 1934. Will, like Muriel, also traveled back and forth for a few years between Hollywood and New York. In spite of the presence of radio and the possibilities for movies, Muriel did not fare so well in the West as she had before. Still, she remained in Hollywood until her death, as did Will. In the late 1920s and later Will was working as a voice coach for radio artists, and was also involved with either writing commercial jingles or adapting them. Among them was a song for the Wonder Bread company used often on the radio. ASCAP records indicate, although it is hard to confirm for certain, that he likely adapted the popular song Mm Mm Good into the well known jingle used to this day by Campbell Soups.
     Will remained bi-coastal for some time, as his 1942 draft card, taken in Manhattan, shows him working for Air Features Incorporated (AFI), a clearing house and distribution arm of the American Federation of Radio Artists which would later become AFTRA. He also became known as a vocal coach for the Hollywood studios. With Muriel he wrote The Boys and Girls Quiz Book in 1940. Even the Donaldson's son Ted became an actor before he was ten, appearing on the radio, on stage, and in some movies as a talented child performer. His big screen debut was with Cary Grant in 1943. After the war he spent his remaining years in Hollywood, passing at the end of 1954.

     Thanks go to New Zealand piano roll historian Robert Perry who contributed information on Donaldson's involvement with Rythmodik

William Eckstein (December 6, 1888 to September 23, 1963)
Compositions
1910 Royal Highlanders March and Two Step Some Rag: A Real Live One Down in the Meadow Where the Daisies     Grow [1] 1911 The Sunny Summertime [2] 1916 Beautiful Thoughts Valse Deluxe All Erin is Calling Mavourneen [3] 1917 Delerious Rag: One Step [4] Perpetual Rag [4] Good-Bye Soldier Boy [4,5] You Are My All in All [4,5] 1919 Goodbye Sunshine, Hello Moon [6] 1920 I Just Can't Help Lovin' 'Em All Oriental Fan-Ta-Si Valse Liane The Sunshine Trail Egypt [7] When I'm Dreaming of You [8] 1921 Romance of Love Rose-Land [9] Trail O' Dreams [10] 1922 Valse Inspiration [4] Valse Amoureuse [11] You've Got to Hand it to Me [12,13] Just a Memory of You (Ton Souvenir) [14] 1923 S'Nice (Naughty But It's Nice) [4] Lest You Forget [12] You, Just You [15,16] My Heart Wants Love and You [17] Lonesome Rose [12,18] Hey! You Want Any Codfish? [19] Music (Makes the World Go     Round) [12,19] My Baby Just Cares for Me [19] A Musical Massacre [20] 1924 I'm Going Back to My Home Sweet     Home 1927 I'm All A-Twitter [21] 1928 If You But Knew [22] 1929 Uptown 6303 Won't You Meet Me at Murray's	1932 The Lost Melody 1933 Where the Niagara Flows 1935 Dance to a Lovely Melody (La Saison     Du Bonneur) [23] 1939 To the King and Queen (From Over     There) [24] 1941 The Song That Leads to Victory Cheers for the C.P.C. Hats Off to Canada The "V" Song [25] 1944 Ode to Ike Tessa From Odessa 1945 Montreal, Montreal, Montreal 1948 Got a Date at the Chateau     (for Chateau St. Rose) Strollin' on the Mountain 1951 Bonsoir Chérie! [26] 1959 Queen of Canada    1. w/A.C. Guerin    2. w/T.H. Yull    3. w/Katherin Ward    4. w/Reginald Thomas Broughton as       Harry Thomas    5. w/Walter Bruce    6. w/Gene Buck    7. w/Frederick Whelan    8. w/Gilbert Draper    9. w/Frederick Groves    10. w/Armand Meerte    11. w/Beaudry    12. w/Sam Howard    13. w/Marcel Fortier    14. w/Arthur La Pierre    15. w/Maurice Zpringer    16. w/Henri Deyglun    17. w/John Anderson    18. w/Vera Guilaroff    19. w/Bill Munro    20. based on Frederic Chopin    21. w/George Whiting    22. w/Clarence Davis    23. w/J.L. Theriault    24. w/Harold Moon    25. w/Ludovic Huot    26. w/Pat di Stasio
Selected Discography
1919 Doughboy Jack and Doughgirl Jill [2] Tumbledown Shack in Athlone [1] Oh Helen [1] Burmah Moon [1] I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles [1] London Town [1] Love Will Find a Way [1] Tulip Time [1] When You Look Into the Heart     of a Rose [1] Eyes That Say I Love You [1] Mandy [1] 1921 Kitten on the Keys [3] Poor Buttermilk [3] 1922 Just a Memory of You [4] Lovely Lucerne [4] Lest You Forget [4] You Tell 'Em Ivories Greenwich Witch 1923 Knice and Knifty Coaxing the Piano A Musical Massacre Kitten on the Keys Chimes Turkey in the Straw Love Sends a Little Gift of Roses Mellow Moon Nickel in the Slot Chansonette Maple Leaf Rag Broken-Hearted Melody Where the Niagra Flows Kiss in the Dark Fine Feathers 1924 Dizzy Fingers Dansopation Puttin' on the Dog A Kiss in the Dark 1926 Soliloquy Valse Primrose 1927 Ain't She Sweet So Blue 1928 My Ohio Home Mississippi Mud Nola Sweetheart of Sigma Chi Valse Exquisite Popular Melody Pickin' Cotton Jumping Jack 1929 Where the Shy Little Violets Grow My Old Girl's My New Girl Now I'm All A-Twitter The Wedding of the Painted Doll Moanin' Low Love Me I'm in the Market for You The Woman in the Shoe 1930 My Baby Just Cares for Me Here Comes the Sun Today I Feel So Happy Live, Laugh and Love    1. w/The Strand Trio    2. accmp. Geoffrey O'Hara    3. as Vi Palmer    4. w/Willie Eckstein Trio	Matrix and Date [HMV 216059-B] [HMV 216060-A] [HMV 216060-B] [HMV 216061-A] [HMV 216061-B] [HMV 21606?] [HMV 21606?] [HMV 21606?] [HMV 21606?]   [HMV 216064-A] [HMV 216064-B]   [Regal 41996] 10/??/1921 [Regal 41997] 10/??/1921   [Apex 583-A] 08/12/1922 [Apex 583-B] 08/12/1922 [Apex 585-A] 09/22/1922 [Regal 42202] 02/??/1922 [Regal 42203] 02/??/1922   [Apex 597-A] 01/23/1923 [Apex 597-B] 01/26/1923 [Apex 605-A] 02/20/1925 [Apex 605-B] 02/20/1925 [Okeh 71483] 04/??/1923 [Apex 71484] 04/??/1923 [Okeh 71485] 04/??/1923 [Apex 71501] 04/??/1925 [Okeh 72024] 11/09/1923 [Okeh 72025] 11/09/1923 [Okeh 72026] 11/09/1923 [Okeh 72027] 11/09/1923 [Okeh 72030] 11/09/1923 [Okeh 72031] 11/09/1923 [Okeh 72032] 11/09/1923   [Okeh 72379] 03/??/1924 [Okeh 72380] 03/??/1924 [Okeh 72442] 04/15/1924 [Starr 655-B]   [Famous Artists 802-A] [Famous Artists 802-B]   [Apex E2933] [Apex E2934]   [Apex 3213] 03/06/1928 [Apex 3214] 03/06/1928 [Apex 26108-A] [Apex 26108-B] [Apex 26115-A] [Apex 26115-B] [Apex 3498] 10/22/1928 [Apex 3499] 10/22/1928   [HMV 216539-A] 02/??/1929 [HMV 216539-B] 02/??/1929 [HMV 216541-A] 05/??/1929 [HMV 216541-B] 05/??/1929 [HMV 216546-A] 06/??/1929 [HMV 216546-B] 06/??/1929 [HMV 216552-A] 06/??/1929 [HMV 216552-B] 06/??/1929   [HMV 216557-A] 03/??/1930 [HMV 216557-B] 03/??/1930 [HMV 216573-A] 04/??/1930 [HMV 216573-B] 04/??/1930

     Known in his youth as "The Boy Paderewski", Willie Eckstein would never let up from his enormous drive and amazing abilities, becoming Eastern Canada's premier pianist even before the death of fellow musician Jean-Baptiste Lafrenière in 1912. Short only in height, but not in talent, Willie's path was evident before he was even in school. He was the youngest of what was reportedly fourteen children (only nine were confirmed) born to Swedish immigrant George Hugo Eckstein (shows as Eckstine in 1881) and his German wife Wilhelmina (Hidebrandt) Eckstein in Pointe St. Charles, a mostly Irish district of Montréal, Quebec, where they were shown in the 1891 Census. His musically trained parents had come original from Sweden to New York City, then Hamilton, Ontario, and had moved to Montréal just a year before Willie's birth. Among his siblings were August (1872), George Hugo Jr. (1874), Wilhelmina (Mina) (1876), Henry (1878), Emily (1880 - died in childhood), Augusta Bianca (1882), Clara Henrietta (1883), John Ion Adolphe [or Jack] (1886) who would also enjoy a somewhat successful musical career. William was baptised in early December 1889 along with many of his siblings at the Presbytarian Church of Saint Mathew in Pointe St. Charles.
      Willie must have known where his heart was early on, because it is said his first demonstration at the piano was at age three, when he plucked out the melody of Home Sweet Home just after a visitor had played the same piece a day before. Obviously the Ecksteins knew from their own musical passions that they should have the toddler trained to make the best use of his inherent abilities. The earliest lessons may have been given at home, but it was clear that a career teacher was necessary to handle the child prodigy. At some point in the mid 1890s the family moved to the Hochelaga area of Montréal where they were shown in the 1901 Census. George is listed as a furrier, George Jr. as a bookkeeper, Mina as a machine operator, Clara worked in a paper box factory, and John, only 15, was already a clerk.
      Eventually Willie was put under the tutelage of music teacher Moretzky Upton of McGill University, along with assorted other instructors who taught him piano, theory and harmony. He studied constantly from late 1894 to around 1900. One issue that Eckstein had to overcome was a paralyzed finger, which was either a birth defect or became disabled at a very early age. Another was his diminutive size and therefore slightly smaller hands. As an adult he came in at only 4'10" (reports vary, but that is the average height), shorter even than famed American pianists Eubie Blake and Charles "Luckey" Roberts. It seems in the end that neither problem held him back, and perhaps encouraged him to achieve more. During these years Willie also worked to earn money for his training, dressed up to attract attention while playing at a store near his home. Billed as the "Swedish Boy Wonder," he was employed by the Bell Piano Company as a salesman for two years running at the Canadian National Exhibition.
      Around 1900 the boy prodigy was offered a scholarship in music to attend a local conservatory (McGill Conservatory has been cited, but it was likely McGill University as the Conservatory did not open until 1904). He achieved this goal by memorizing 47 pages of Mendelssohn's Concerto in D Minor. But the money was not enough to address the concerns of his large family and keep him in school. He was heard by someone who was in effect a talent scout while playing in Montréal and offered a job playing in New York City for a time.
      It is said he was performing in a storefront in New York when he was heard by yet another agent and quickly offered a $15,000 per year contract on the Keith/Albee, Proctor and Orpheum vaudeville circuits. Hoping to have obtained regular recitals for his living instead, Willie knew how much his family needed the funds, so reluctantly accepted with his father's prompting. Eckstein was billed as the "Boy Paderewski" and was routinely dressed in little boy's clothing, taking advantage of his diminutive height to make him appear much younger than his actual age. The great Paderewski came to see him as well, fully approving of the use of his name in regards to the talents of the amazing youth. Willie toured most of the population centers of the United States and Canada from coast to coast during his vaudeville tenure. While performing in Washington D.C. in 1905, he was offered a performance at the White House for President Theodore Roosevelt. He was often billed over other well known stars on the same program, including Harry Houdini and the husband and wife team of Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth. Around 1905 (some sources cite 1901, so this is uncertain) Willie traveled to hie parent's home country of Sweden, where he spent time there and in Germany receiving musical training while earning money performing, even giving a royal command performance along the way. Eckstein was on his way to the top, or so it seemed.
      Nature can't be stopped, and neither could the onset of puberty. Willie's voice deepened and his facial hair growth accelerated to the point where he reportedly needed to shave twice daily in order to maintain the illusion of being a pre-teen. Suspicions grew, and eventually bookings started to diminish as he seemed more adult and less child-like. At the end of one of the tours Eckstein was back in New York City struggling to make ends meet while playing in storefronts and restaurants. So in late 1906 the 18-year-old boy wonder returned to Montréal to find steady work. This he did at the Lyric Music Hall on St. Catherine Street, similar to many of the vaudeville venues he had been through over the last several years. He spent much of the next six years there, evolving from a theater accompanist for live singers to an accompanist for actors on screen. It was said he was among the first accompanists for a teen-aged Beatrice Lillie who graced the stage there. It was also where he was working when he composed and published his first compositions in 1910, including his first piano rag, Some Rag: A Real Live One. He is shown living in St. Jacques, Montréal, still with his family in the 1911 Census, and listed as a musician.
      By 1910 films started to draw audiences more so than live performers. So progress came to downtown Montréal in 1912 when the 1,000 seat Strand Theater,

Montreal's Strand Theater pictured
in the 1920s

intended primarily for movie exhibition, was opened by George Ganetakos. Willie was offered a job there even as the theater was under construction and he was still plugging away at the Lyric. From opening day on it was evident that the former child prodigy had a gift for fitting the proper musical settings to otherwise silent films, enhancing not only the story for those in attendance, but the overall ambience of the theater as well. He was also somewhat of a celebrity piano demonstrator for the J.W. Shaw Piano Company.
      During his 18 year tenure at the Strand, Willie enjoyed great celebrity not only in Montréal but far outside of it as well. In his compositions and publicity he used many variations on his name, including Billy and Billie, and occasionally Wm. for William, but the theater publicity machine further dubbed "Mr. Fingers," and ultimately "The World's Foremost Motion Picture Interpreter," a claim that was likely very valid. In fact, it has been said that many who attended the Strand, including a bevy of musicians, paid more attention to Eckstein's varied scores for the film than they did to what was on the large screen. Among the notables who expressed amazement at the big sound coming from the little guy were Eubie Blake, Joseph Hoffman, Vladimir de Pachmann, and even the brilliant pianist and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff who reportedly expressed utter amazement at what he was hearing, stating "I don't believe it." For many years he worked with percussionist Armand Meerte, who provided both rhythm and some of the sound effects. One future starlet of note, Miss Norma Shearer, remembered attending matinees instead of high school in order to hear Willie play his own composition Beautiful Thoughts and other favorites. And while the stars of the pictures got their names on the marquee, Eckstein had a two-story wall all to himself with a painting depicting him at his craft.
      Willie started putting more of his own works into print after a few years at the Strand, and even took on at least one young protégé during his tenure, someone who could fill in when the maestro wasn't around. He was Reginald Thomas Broughton, a British import, whot would soon take on the stage name of Harry Thomas. Harry had enough of a foundation as a performer to go to Chicago in 1916 and record two of their as yet unpublished collaborations, Delirious Rag and Perpetual Rag, to piano roll for QRS. He later went to New York City to record Delirious Rag and his own Classical Spasm for Victor, making him the first Canadian musician to record ragtime piano. In spite of their sometimes difficult but fruitful time together, Thomas ended up with little traction in the performance world beyond the mid 1920s, and tragically died from the ravages of alcoholism in 1941. But he did help to spread Willie's name further into the United States. One other young British protégé, Miss Vera Guillarof, would have much more success as his substitute and later as a replacement for Thomas. She would occasionally work with Eckstein on the radio, and in nightclubs in later years.
      Willie continued to write, often providing lyrics for somebody else's tune, and working as his own lyricist as well. His command of most music forms was impressive, but his ragtime skills were stellar, in part because of the types of music that ragtime was culled from. However, even before the term was coined, Eckstein was adding tricks to his playing which equated to the genre of "Novelty Ragtime," something that would become very much in vogue by the 1920s. But in doing so his improvisation was more or less laid out rather than spur of the moment, which kept him perhaps an arms length from being a full-fledged jazz musician, even though he would embrace and play jazz well once it made the rounds in Quebec. During the First World War he collaborated on a couple of patriotic numbers. Due to his height he was excluded from serving in the Canadian Armed Forces, even though he did try to enlist. So he fought by playing at rallies to help sell war bonds. In 1919 Eckstein was teamed up for a one-shot song with American composer/artist Gene Buck. Goodbye Sunshine, Hello Moon was featured in the Ziegfeld Follies of that year as well as comedian Ed Wynn's Carnival, providing him with something of a hit. In the end, however, the demand for his tunes on Broadway never panned out. But it was also the same year he was first heard on radio station XWA (later CFCF), accompanying singer Gus Hill and playing some on his own, making him the first Canadian to play ragtime piano over the air, and history records that it was likely the first live broadcast ever in North America.
      The next step starting around 1919 was to get Willie's playing archived on recordings. His first forays onto record were as part of the Strand Trio with his brother Jack on the violin and Armand Meerte (or so it seems likely) on the xylophone. These were released on the Canadian subsidiary of HMV (His Master's Voice) records, the British equivalent of the Victor label. Jack would also start his own jazz band, the first in Montréal, which often featured Willie at the piano both on records and for occasional live performances. Willie also recorded (often as Billy Eckstein) with the Melody Kings, of which another song collaborator, Billy Munro, was a member. They were more of an improvisational "hot jazz" group than Jack's band. Most of the tunes were covers of current popular jazz hits.
      In 1923, Herbert Berliner, son of the pioneer phonograph inventor Emile Berliner, started the Compo company in Canada, being one of the first to use the electronic recording process in North America, a clear advantage over the acoustic horn recording that had been common at the time. Willie did his first solo recordings for Compo, choosing Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag for his first cut. While it is not the first known recording of the piece, it is the oldest surviving acoustic recording of the well known rag. These early records saw good distribution on the Okeh, Apex and Starr labels of Compo in North America. Another notable recording done that same year was his A Musical Massacre, a ragtime take on Frederic Chopin's Revolutionary Etude. It would not be in print until the late 1990s when Canadian pianist Mimi Blais, one of the only other performers of the piece who could fully capture Eckstein's ferocity and whimsy, would supervise its publication. Willie would be very supportive of Berliner over the next several years, sometimes recording as Vi Palmer. He would later also record for the Victor label from around 1929-1932.
      But after almost two decades as one of the biggest celebrities in Eastern Canada, Willie Eckstein was upstaged by no less than one of the top celebrities of the United States, Al Jolson. The arrival of The Jazz Singer signaled an obvious end to movies without sound, meaning movies that would no longer need accompaniment. When The Strand finally made the latent conversion in 1930 (most Montréal theaters had already been fitted for sound) there were very few movies coming in that required Eckstein's soundtrack. So he finally left the lucrative position and struck out for new venues.
     It didn't take the popular pianist long to find new spots. Given how popular Canada had become over the previous decade for those south of the border who were suffering through a national prohibition, Toronto and Montréal were definitely hotspots for visitors looking for the nightlife and the alcohol that went with it. "Mr. Fingers" found work in The Clover Cafe and the Lido Club. However, once he reached the Château Ste. Rose in Laval, a northern suburb of Montréal, he found his new home. Along with pianist Robert Langlois, who he often played duets with, and Langlois' house orchestra, Willie started a two decade and more stint at the club. He also did regular performance with occasional radio and early television appearances during this time. He often performed broadcasts with Vera Guillarof, billed together as The Piano Ramblers. Willie continued to compose as well, writing To the King and Queen in honor of a 1939 visit from the residents of Buckingham Palace, who in turn sent him letters of appreciation.
     As with World Was One, the Second World War was not a place for short soldiers. But Willie still did his bit for King and country, writing more patriotic tunes and performing to raise bond money, once even taking to the streets on the back of a flatbed truck. Remaining ever popular through the end of the decade, Eckstein started slowing down a bit as the 1950s approached. Still, he was able to reunite with Beatrice Lillie as her accompanist once again in a 1954 show honoring the singer. He also scored again with royalty in 1959 with Queen of Canada, composed for a visit by Queen Elizabeth II to open the St. Lawrence Seaway. But years of performance and moderate drinking took their toll, and before the decade was out, Eckstein had difficulty performing due to the pain of arthritis. He finally had to retire from even occasional performance in his early seventies after he broke an arm.
     Willie Eckstein was not forgotten by his legions of fans and countrymen. On May 27th, 1963, a special Eckstein Night was held for the 74-year-old entertainer at His Majesty's Theater in Montréal. Unable to perform, he simply enjoyed the tribute and accepted an award, saying that the whole experience had given him the will to recover from his ailments to make a comeback. "I'll be back with bells on." Sadly, the bells never rang. The strain of the evening may have contributed to a major stroke the pianist suffered hours after the tribute. Eckstein reportedly remained in a coma over the next four months, finally losing the battle. One his favorite spots was Mount Royal, for which he wrote a song to benefit the Kiwanis Club day camp situated there. His ashes were spread there for him to enjoy the view perpetually. Through recordings by Willie and his protégés, as well as those he inspired, including (the late) Oscar Peterson, (the late) John Arpin, and the incomparable Mimi Blais, his music still lives on nearly a half century later.

     Among those who have done the best research on Eckstein are Jack Hutton, who wrote an article in The Ragtimer (Nov/Dec 1986) and John Gilmore in Swinging in Paradise (1988). Additional information and music resources can be found on historian Ted Tjaden's site at www.ragtimepiano.ca, and another site run by Eckstein's family, williameckstein.com/. Additional information and Census data was researched by the author.

Hans Engelmann (June 16, 1872 - May 5, 1914)
Compositions
1896 Variety King 1897 Love Letter Waltzes - Opus 228 The Four Leaf Clover: Waltz Over Hill and Dale March of the Guards - Opus 252 Consuela: March - Opus 262 Hawaii: Dance Characteristic - Opus 267 1898 The City Troop: March Rosebud Schottische Rough Riders: Military March Dance of the Snowflakes - Opus 356 1899 The Night Before Christmas The Arrival of Santa Claus (or St. Nicholas)     Opus 360 The Whirling Dervish: Tarantella - Opus 370 The Chapel In The Valley - Opus 371 1900 Parade Review: Marche - Opus 307 Concert Polonaise - Opus 308 No. 4 Ideal Waltzes: Rondo A Joyful Departure: Rondo The Start-Up: Waltz Curly Locks: Polka - Opus 408 No. 2 Little Boy Blue: March - Opus 408 No. 5 1901 Day Dreams Playtime and Pastime: Easy Piano Solos The Pixie's Carnival Little Home Pets: Four Pieces - Opus 469    Waltz    Redowa    Schottische    Polka On the Home Stretch: March - Opus 505 1902 Revel of the Goblins Mountain Elves - Opus 592 Think Not This Heart Can Alter The Little Hostess Characteristic Pieces for Piano    The Whirlwind: Tarantella    The Wave-Maiden: Barcarolle    The Bridge of Dreams: Cradle Song    In Jolly Mood: Polonaise Six Easy Dances    Waltz in G    Polka in F    Redowa in B    Schottische in G    March in C    Galop in G 1903 Cinderella: March Gavotte - Opus 562, No. 4 Dolly Varden: Waltz Song [w/Richard     Dillmore] Robinson Crusoe Impressions of the Heart Melody of Love - Opus 600 Melody of Love (Song) [w/Tom Glazer] Album of Twenty Four Pieces for Small     Hands In the Arena: March - Opus 608 Six Instructive Pieces for Piano    Reverie in G    Scherzo in G    Nocturne in B    Gavotte in C    Polonaise in G    Tarantella in Am 1904 Melody Of Spring Mother Hubbard: Waltz Old King Cole's March Humpty Dumpty Hungarian Rhapsody: Opus 602 Forget-me-nots: Idyl With Flying Colors: March Nocturne Romantique Shell Dance Queen of Morn: Waltz - Opus 705 No. 1 King's Delight: Mazurka - Opus 705 No. 2 Queen of Twilight: Mazurka - Op. 705 No. 4 Tender Avowal - Opus 706 Venetian Boat Song Cherry Blossoms - Opus 733 Three Easy Dances    Softly Gliding: Valse    With Graceful Steps: Mazurka    With Coquettish Swing: Schottische Three Piano Pieces Grades Two and Three    Gavotte in B    Nocturne in F    Reverie in G Six Easy Dances    Waltz in F    Polka in G    Schottische in F    Maruka in G    March in C    Galop in G 1905 Merriment: Tarantelle Caprice Grand Valse Caprice Youthful Pride: Petite Poloniase Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining [w/Harry M.     Kramer] Restful Moments Bees and Flowers Dreamland In Festal Array Valsette Berceuse in A Zenita: Petite Gavotte With Heart and Hand: March In the Alhambra: Danse Espagnole Message of Peace: Reverie Dancing Shadows Love's Message (Liebesbotschaft Come, My Dearest: Serenade Love and Art: Waltzes I Love Thee (Ich Liebe Dich) Shadow Dance - Opus 740 Apple Blossoms: A Springtime Idyl Six Melodious Little Pieces in Dance Form    Dashing Troopers    Dear Little Dollie    A Lively Time    Little Sweetheart    Foxes and Hounds    Across the Fields Six Merry Moments for Piano    Idylle    Gavotte    Petit Impromptu    Rondo    Scherzo    Tarantelle 1906 Russian Dance - Opus 753 Valse Impromptu At Vespers: Meditation Presto a la Tarantella Forget-me-nots (Song) [w/M.V. Freese] A Prayer 'Neath Weeping Willows: Reverie Nanette: Dance Gracieuse Dandelions: Intermezzo Cord and Tassel Dance Heart's Beloved (Herz-Liebchen) Impromptu Nocturne Episode Oriental Ball Scenes: Caprice La Flora: Intermezzo When the Lights are Low: Reverie The Swan: Reverie The Minute Men's Parade Marcia España March Hongroise Rose of Normandy: Valse Caprice Lover's Lane: Waltzes The Journal The Flower's Greeting The Philadelphia Record March Stray Thoughts for Piano    In Summer Fields    Chasing Butterflies    On the Dreamy Hudson    The Brooklet and the Willow    Dance Grotesque Six Lively Dances for Piano    Merry Sailors    Song of the Hammock    Sunny Hours    Village Holiday    Holly Blossoms    Clown Dance Three Miniatures for the Pianoforte    Bohemian Dance    Raillery    Gipsy Life 1907 Cupid's Appeal Cupid's Wooing The Sea-Gull What the Moon Told: Waltzes Eternal Spring: Reverie Troubadour's Farewell Concert Polonaise Father in Heaven Flight of the Gipsies [sic]: Caprice The Bachelor Maid: March A Mountain Idyl The Debutante's Dream: Waltzes Ever of Thee Bitter Sweets The New Beauty: Waltzes Only You Golden Tresses: Dance Gracieuse The Fairest Rose Moonlight in the Forest: Tone Poem The American School March The Rising Moon: Nocturne Echoes of the Fatherland: German March     Melodies Days Of Yore The Wasp: Dance Characteristique In A Moorish Garden Twining Garlands: Schottische Suwanee River [Foster] Blue Eyes, True Eyes: Waltzes Parting Vows: Reverie Romantique Valse Novelette Three Easy Piano Pieces    Swing Song    Bijou March    Melody Eight Little Piano Pieces    Little Bolero    Little Hungarian Piece    Little March    Little Minuet    Little Polka    Little Schottische    Little Tarantella    Little Waltz Four Characteristic Dances for Pianoforte    Hungarian Dance    Bohemian Dance    Polish Dance    Spanish Dance 1908 Rustic Dance Our Gallant Officers: Polka Militaire Polka Militaire - Opus 475 (as above?) Wild Ride: Petite Galop Poppy Buds Heart's Melody Ever Faithful: Romance The Trumpeter: Polka As You Like It: Valse Daughters of the Revolution Sunset in the Valley Spanish Serenade Arcadia Sweet Dreams of Home: Meditation Kaleidoscope: Charcteristic Dance Mid Palms and Roses: Intermezzo Darkie's Secret: Dance Caprice Flowers of Love: Reverie Dialogue: Valse Impromptu The Toreador's Sweetheart: Waltzes Hallowe'en Dance Garden of Roses: Reverie Loretta: Caprice Six Melodic Studies of Medium Difficulty At a Children's Concert: Four Pieces Holidays Diversion: Six Pieces    Athletic Sports    Under the Mistletoe    Mirthful Momenets    Fairest    Love Tales    At the Regatta Seven Second Grade Piano Pieces    Bagatelle    Bijou Schottische    Little Alpine Piece    Petite Gavotte    Rondo-Scherzo    Rustic Dance    Spanish Dance	1908 (Cont) In the Holidays: Five Dances    The Coming Year: March    Christmas Dance: Waltz    Facing the Wind: Polka    Dancing Snow: Schottische    Winter Fun: Caprice 1909 Rainbow Dance Reflected Beauty: Waltzes Sunset at Sea Meditation: Reverie The Caged Coquette: Valse Valse Arabesque Valse Fantastique Boots and Saddles: March School Comrades Wiegenliedchen (Cradle Song) Snow Flurries Frolic of the Fairies Wistaria: Intermezzo On the Alert: March Call of Spring: Waltzes Loyal Hearts Love and Sunshine Behind the Scenes: Intermezzo Valse Caprice in E Serenata Diablo Wedding March Belles and Beaux (after Melody of Love) The Toy Ark Valse Caprice Elegante West Point Cadets: March - Opus 803 1910 Dreaming Ocean Bells En-Route: March - From The Little Tourist Tender Thoughts The Shah: Persian Intermezzo Romance of Youth: Waltz Don Quioxte: Marche Grotesque Sonatina in G Danse Antique Spanish Dance Fair Maid of Spain A Lone Flower: Reverie Blue Ribbon: Danse Gracieuse Pure and True On Escort Duty Dreaming Of Thee Glittering Jewels: Mazurka Caprice Remembrance Birds of the Sea: Tarantella Confiding Hearts The Thoroughbred Seven Piano Etchings In Dance Form: Four Pieces    On the Stage    Pretty Little Dolly    Two's Company    Marathon Storiettes: Four Piano Pieces    In the Fair Grounds: March    College Girls: Schottische    In the Willow's Shade: Waltz    Going for a Spin: Polka In Lively Rhythm: Six Dances    Naval Cadets    On the Pier    On Tip-Toe    Happy Anticipation    Celebration Festival    Hop! Skip! Jump! Six Amusements for the Pianoforte    Exhibition Drill: March    Poetry of Motion: Waltz    Best of Friends: Polka    From Russia: Mazurka    From the Orient: Caprice    At the Horse Show: Galop 1911 Twilight Strains Thoughts Of Thee - Souvenir Polka Through Field and Meadow: Waltz Echoes of Fairy Land Return from Victory: March Colonial Times The Heart's Answer: Reverie d'Amour Between Friends In Days of Chivalry Step by Step: March A Little Story Sylvan Sprites: Valse Bianca: Barcarolle Barcarolle in F Truants: Rondo Scherzo In Camp: Waltz A Jolly Yachting Party Ma Lady Old English Dance Love's Devotion Petite Romance Dance of the Goblins Momento Capriccioso Roly-Poly: Waltz Reverie For Home and Country: March Spring Blossoms: Gavotte Seven Instructive Pieces for Piano    Fleurette Polka    Happy Fay    Just for Instance    La Tyrienne    Purple Heather    Rosalie Galop    Tarantella In Fragrant Bower: Four Dances    In Lilac Time    Under the Orange Blossoms    Wreath of Honeysuckle    Climbing Roses 1912 Clover Blossoms Nature's Awakening (When Nature Wakes):     Waltzes Corals: Caprice In a Gondola Melodie d'Amour Hopes and Fears-Reverie Merry Clowns: Mazurka Spirit of Progress German-American Festival March April Violets Haunting Strains: Waltz Fe'te Joyeuse In the Balkans Moon Shadows: Nocturne Daphne: Valse Caprice Fond Memories: Meditation At the Carnival: Five Dances    The Gallant Cavalier    A Soubrette    The King's Jester    The Merry Clown    The Gentle Sheperdess In Cheerful Vein: Six Dances    When Duty Calls    Blissful Moments    Bright Days    Ardent Hopes    Graceful Steps    Fox Hunters In The Bass Clef    Easter Morning    Hansel and Gretel    March of the Pilgrims    Jolly Elves    Song of the Forge 1913 At the Window: Reverie In Bohemia: Polka A Flower Message Idylle Marche Militaire A Delightful Dance: Mazurka Sweethearts Ever Random Thoughts: Four Dances for Piano    Follow the Flag    Rose Land    Joy and Sunshine    Jolly School Girls Fun at Home: Four Dances    Parade of the Dolls    Parlor Games    Ready for the Ball    Fido's Pranks Pierrot and Columbine: Four Dances    Jolly Revelers    Charming Columbine    Pierrot's Pranks    Pierrot and Columbine 1914 On the Links: March The Winning Jockey: Galop Taps!: Military March Token of Love The Debutante: Four Second Grade Pieces    The First Ball - Waltz    To the Banquet - March    In the Moonlit Garden - Reverie    In Quaint Costume - Old English Dance Posthumous Joy of Youth (1915) March of the Cadets (1916) Festival Overture (1916) Return of the Volunteers (1916) Ysmita: Japanese Seranade (1917) Glorious Morn: Waltz (1917) At the Wayside Shrine: Idyl (1918) Young Sentinel (Petite Marche) (1918) The Little Admiral: March (1918) The Birth of Spring [w/N. Weir] (1924) True Love (may be Melodie d'Amour) (1928) March of the Animals (1931) Melody of Love (aka Whisper That You Love     Me) [w/John Klenner] (c.1942) Unknown or Uncertain After the Charge Bagatelle-A la Mazurka Berecuse in Ab Best Of Friends-Polka Bohème, La-Bohemian Dance The Bride's Kiss Waltzes Butterflies and Daisies Butterfly Schottische Castello-Spanish Dance Cathedral Chimes at Christmas Eve Colonial Sonatina The Coming of the Band A Coquettish Smile Cosey Corner: A Poem of Love Dance Mystic: Characteristic Danse Burlesque Encore: Intermezzo Escamillo: Spanish Dance Farewell My Dear Old Home: Reverie Frances Minuet Game Of Tennis: Three Step Glistening Pearls: Danse Caprice The Golden Road: Reverie Grand Festival March Holiday Spirits In the Springtime In The Surf-Schottische In Time and Trim Intermezzo Pizzicato Joyful Sounds: Polka The Last Train Laughing Waters Little Drummer Boy Love's Sigh: Intermezzo Loved and Adored Lover's Nook: Three Step May Day Festival Mercedes-Caprice Espagnola Merry-Go-Round The Mischievous Child ('L'enfant Terrible) Moonlight Dance Mountain Romance My Blue Eyed Dolly 'Neath Twinkling Stars New Life, New Spirit On the Drive On The Ranch: Polka On Yonder Rock Outdoor Sports Outward Bound: March Piff-Paff Preparing For The Ball Promenade Gavotte Puck's Story: Polka Scherzo Purity: Reverie The Return of the Heroes Ring Out The Old, Ring In The New Rowing Slavic Caprice Song to the Stars Souvenir d'Amour Spinning Wheel The Tennis Party Those Loving Eyes: Petite Valse Caprice Toodles Under the Nation's Colors The Village Church When Love is Young The Zither Player Of Annenthal

     Hans Englemann provides a fascinating look, at least what we can see on the surface, at what could be considered somewhat of a musical enigma, given the time, place and volume of output from his hand as opposed to what we can actually find out about him. His is not another ragtime story, but a story of survival in the ragtime era when popular music was starting to make inroads into classical studies and composition. Virtually any pile of large format sheet music from the 1890s to the 1910s is sure to have some H. Engelmann compositions in there. While he was a household name in that regard, particularly among collectors who often encounter his pieces, finding out who he really was is quite a different matter. Here is the best information to date that the author has been able to assemble.
     Engelmann was born in Berlin, Germany in 1872, the son of a German military officer. Virtually all male children went through some type of musical training during this period, which was the time of Johannes Brahms, and the up and coming Ricard Strauss. The main Western European forms in Germany at that time were the waltz, march, and similar genres that would become the parent of the oft-maligned intermezzo or the reverie. As a result, Englemann likely had little or no exposure to indigenous American forms such as folk melodies or spirituals. He immigrated to America on his own in January of 1891, not yet 20, and soon found himself in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Given the scope of his later output, it may be ascertained that Engelmann continued some of his musical training there with the goal of composing and teaching.
     Hans was married to his Pennsylvania-born wife Marie in early 1895, and by November their only daughter Frances joined the family. While the first published pieces from his hand show up in 1896, including one composition and one arranged piece for Philadelphia publisher M.D. Swisher, there are strong indications that the youth had been composing and cataloging his works for some time, since as early as the following year many of them have opus numbers attached starting in the 200s. One early work, Love Letters, published in 1897 by Joseph Morris, was "affectionately dedicated to my wife" on the cover. For the next several years, Englemann would free-lance, most likely from his home, sending in classically-structured works to Philadelphia publishers Eclipse Music (specializing in re-arrangements of older works), Hatch Music, Orpheus Music Company and Joseph Morris. Some of these contributions, particularly those for Eclipse, were reworked piano arrangements of operatic numbers. By the middle of the decade Hans seems to have settled in with Theodore Presser as a staff composer and arrangers. There are also a couple of advertisements in Philadelphia newspapers and directories indicating that he was also a piano teacher, which makes sense considering what his future output would be comprised of.
     Hans had already gained some notoriety in the composing world by the early 1900s. In a February 1, 1902 pseudo-advertisment in The Music Trade Review, he was quoted as speaking highly of the Steck brand of piano: "The following voluntary testimonial from H. Engelmann, a bright young composer, whose compositions have become quite popular, is one of many letters which are being received from time to time by Geo. Steck & Co., and their representatives in all sections of the coutnry, expressing the same sentiments regarding the 'old reliable' Steck. It speaks for itself: Engelmann's Studio of Music, Philadelphia, Pa. Gentlemen: - I desire to express my appreciation of the Geo. Steck & Co. pianos. The piano I purchased from you last year, 'Elite' grand, I find to be more than satisfactory. The Steck piano has been a familiar instrument to me for years, and this is one reason for selecting it. In my professional work I have seen almost every piano of note, home and abroad, and I an conscientious in saying that I consider the pianos manufactured by Geo. Steck & Co. the best in tone, action and general workmanship. Yours as ever, H. Englemann." That Hans was quoted this liberally in a trade magazine gives credence to his stature as a composer in a time when those writing piano rags were looked upon with a wary eye.
     While a look at his list of compositions seem to make Engelmann a veritable composing machine, in reality less than half of that output is intended for anything other than the parlor, and rarely the concert hall. Most of the rest is comprised of a number of first through third grade teaching aids. A study of many of these works indicates that the German trained musician in his guise as a teacher was not only trying to present a wide scope of dance forms to young students, but make them sound like their more difficult counterparts, encouraging the youngsters to grow in their desire to improve. There are several suites that demonstrate dance or classical themes, and some could be played as a sonata of sorts as well. Engelmann's best known tune was Melody of Love in 1903, which soon had lyrics added and did not take long to find a wide overseas market.
     Engelmann was not loyal to any one publisher, as the variety of his pieces fit different needs from teaching to parlor melodies. While many of his early works originated in Philadelphia, he eventually had a considerable presence in the catalogs of M. Witmark and Sons in New York and The Oliver Ditson Company in Boston. One popular Philadelphia publication was the 1906 piece The Philadelphia Record March, of which arrangements were created for bands and piano rolls in short order. It remains a favorite band march into the 21st Century. While it appears that Hans never actually recorded, a handful of his pieces did make it to piano rolls. In the 1910 Census, Engelmann, Marie and Frances are shown living near downtown Philadelphia, and he lists in a crowded space the occupations of musician, composer and piano teacher.
     Hans Engelmann died in 1914 at just 42. Attempts to find a definitive cause of death have fallen short of an answer to date. A notice appeared in The Music Trade Review of May 16, 1914, stating that "Hans Engelmann, composer of much meritorious music which has won a large vogue with teachers, died late last week in Philadelphia." It is possible that either Marie submitted his remaining works to publisher, or those such as Witmark, who had put out much of his material, had a backlog of works to issue. Either way, previously unreleased H. Engelmann compositions came out sporadically over the next several years. Melody of Love stayed in continuous print for many years, and was a staple of piano roll companies through the 1920s. Around 1942 this piece was fitted with new lyrics and became a perennial favorite as Whisper That You Love Me, his longest surviving work. Marie is shown as a widow living with her married daughter in the 1920 Census, still in Philadelphia. As Herr Engelmann appears to have been a corporate composer of sorts, that paradigm and a look at various copyrights indicates that he likely did not own much, if any of his music, leaving only his current estate behind and little future revenue.
     What is interesting in this instance is that Englemann demonstrates something often overlooked in the ragtime era - somewhat of a dearth of ragtime compositions from the Philadelphia area. When Harry J. Lincoln moved there several years later he brought some ragtime with him, but much of his output was like Engelmann's in many ways. The closest Hans came to ragtime in a highly competitive music market was the occasional schottische or polka. While many other European immigrants like J. Bodewalt Lampe and John Zamecnik adapted their training to either arrange or compose American popular music forms, Engelmann seems to have held out to the very end, resisting ragtime and holding true to the fading forms of waltzes, reveries, caprices, and other time-worn genres. Virtually the last piece he wrote, released shortly after his death, was called Taps!, a march, not the familiar evening bugle call. His name will be forever embedded in numerous important music collections around the world, and what little is known of him personally will likely be best revealed through studied performances of that music.

James Reese Europe (February 22, 1880 to May 9, 1919)
Compositions
1904 Zola (Jungle Song) [w/John Larkins] My Heart Goes Thumping and     Bumping for You Blue-Eyed Sue Nubiana 1905 Obadiah (You Took Advantage of Me) The Coon Band Parade 1906 On the Gay Luneta [1] 1907 When I Rule the Town A Royal Coon Likin' Ain't Like Lovin' 1908 Sambo [1] Ada, My Sweet Potater! [1] I Ain't Had No Lovin' in a Long Time 1910 Pliney Come Out in the Moonlight Sweet Suzanne [w/Henry Troy] That Minor Strain [2] Breezy Rag [Unpublished] (c.1910) 1911 The Clef Club: Grand March Droop Dem Eyes [3] 1912 I've Got the Finest Man [3] 1913 Someone is Waiting Down in     Tennessee [w/Cecil Mack] 1914 Enticement: An Argentine Idyl [2]     [as Eporue and Yenbad]	1914 (Cont) Congratulations Valse (aka Castle Lame      Duck Waltz) [2] Castle House Rag Castle's Half and Half [2] Castles in Europe: The Innovation Trot The Castle Walk [2] Castle Innovation Tango [2] The Castle Combination [2] Castle Maxixe [2] Castle Perfect Trot [2] What it Takes to Make Me Love You -     You've Got It [w/James Weldon     Johnson] Ballin' the Jack (Instrumental) [w/Chris     Smith] 1915 The Castle Doggy [2] Monkey-Doodle Syncopated Minuet [3] Father's Gone to the War [3] 1916 Hilo (Hawaiian Waltz) 1918 I've Got the Lovin'es' Love for You [4] On Patrol in No Man's Land [4] Mirandy (That Gal o' Mine) [4] 1919 All of No Man's Land is Ours [4] Goodnight Angeline [4]    1. w/Bob Cole    2. w/Ford Dabney    3. w/Henry Creamer    4. w/Noble Sissle & Eubie Blake

     Born in the deep south in Mobile, Alabama, James Reese Europe would eventually become a major influence on the role of black music in ragtime-era America through both his compositions and his efforts to bring respect to the race. He was one of six children of musical parents Henry and Lorraine Europe, including older sisters Minnie and Ida, older brother John, and younger sister, Mary L. Europe. While 1881 is often cited as his birth date, James appears quite clearly in the June, 1880 Census taken in Mobile, showing as 2 months old (only off a little bit), making his birth year clearly 1880.
     Raised in the post-slavery era, James was likely exposed to both classical and black forms of music from an early age. His father had multiple jobs, working as a barber, newspaper reporter, school teacher, and finally with the Mobile Post Office. When James was nine the family moved to Washington, D.C. as his father got a job with the National Postal Service. It was there that James received formal training in the violin from the master Enrico Hurlei, who was at the time the assistant director of the Marine Corps Band under John Philip Sousa. He also started composing in his teens, and even entered a composition contest at one point, earning a second place award to his younger sister Mary. James received training as well in the M Street High School drill company, serving as the color sergeant. By the time the 1900 Census was taken, James' father Henry had passed away.
     Europe ventured to New York City in 1904 where he would be based for the remainder of his life, save for war service, to help earn money for his family. He immediately became involved with the musical scene, playing in cabarets, and also composing for groups like the Memphis Students run by Ernest Hogan. By 1907 he also became involved with the growing Musical Theater movement in New York, started in 1902 with the ground-breaking In Dahomey. Europe composed for Cole and Johnson's Shoo-Fly that year, and later for Bert William's Lode of Coal, perhaps the play that influenced famed showman Florenz Ziegfeld to hire both of them. It was during this period that he also became associated with another Washington, D.C. Composer, Ford Dabney. The were soon both playing for Ziegfeld's secondary show, Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolic, staged on the roof of the New Amsterdam Theater in Manhattan.
     At this time there were only a few loosely formed black musician organizations, but no coherent force that was truly looking out for their collective best interests and employment. Around 1910 Europe founded the legendary "Clef Club," New York City's all black musician's union, along with Dabney and composer/arranger Will Tyers. His goal was to create a coherent high-quality musical force in the city that could earn equitable fees for its members and garner better treatment from white employers, both private and public. In turn, he demanded the very best from all musician members, including the ability to sight read in several genres, and owning the best possible formal wear for engagements. For some time after, Europe and his Society Orchestra were the leading purveyors of dance music for New York's elite. A band for any occasion could quickly be formed from its formidable membership. It was Ford Dabney who introduced blues writer W.C. Handy to the Clef Club and Europe, with whom Handy became fast friends. Europe held Clef Club members to the highest standards of performance, demeanor, attitude, professionalism and overall appearance. While the Clef Club did not outwardly discourage ragtime performance, they did try to emphasize the member's skills in classical and popular song forms, particularly for society gatherings. It wasn't long before his organization, bolstered by some extraordinary public concerts, were not only commanding the best jobs in New York and surrounding areas, but many white musicians petitioned to join the formidable union as well so they might also find work.
     There is some confusion that still exists about Reese's role in one of the big hits of 1913, Ballin' the Jack. The most consistent story is that it was one of those rare pieces in which the instrumental version came out of the song version, instead of the other way around which was a common practice during that time. Reese may or may not have been involved with the original song by Chris Smith and James Burris, but he evidently did help fill out the instrumental version of the piece in 1914 by tacking on a bouncy chorus from his song What it Takes to Make Me Love You - You've Got It at the end. Subsequent recordings and performances, including by Reese's own band, created a sensation, and the piece is still viable and performed often in the 21st century.
     Among the best-known of Europe's pieces were eight that were co-composed with Dabney specifically for the famed husband and wife dance time of Vernon and Irene Castle, plus two others by Europe alone, one that would become his signature. The Castles found Europe's Society Orchestra among the best they had worked with, and hired Europe late in 1913 as their preferred band leader with Dabney as their arranger. He was intuitive and in tune with the duties of a dance conductor that Irene Castle later wrote, "[Europe's] was the only music that completely made me forget the effort of the dance." One of the eight pieces by Dabney and Europe, the Castle Half and Half, was written in 3/4+2/4, or actually 5/4 time, over 4 decades before that time signature would become popular through the efforts of Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond. All of these were issued within a two month period in 1914, an extraordinary output for the quality of work the two invested into the project. It was Europe's brisk Castle House Rag, however, that became the best known of the compositions associated with both the composer and the Castles themselves. Soon after this time, Europe left the Clef Club owing to disputes with some of the other members, and Dabney took on many of his responsibilities until he eventually formed his own orchestra.
     Europe formed the Tempo Club with Dabney and Tyers after leaving Clef Club, and by the end of 1915 had left the Castles (now tended to by Dabney and Tyers alternately) to pursue other musical interests and composition. In 1917 he enlisted in the United States Army as a private and took officer training. After successful completion of the courses he was asked about the possibility of forming a band for both performance and combat duties. It was Europe's formidable tenacity and reputation and allowed him to convince a number of musicians to join him in this endeavor. They became the 369th U.S. Infantry "Hell Fighters" Band, and their reputation as both musicians and soldiers was second to none. Lieutenant Europe's troop was the first all-black unit to enter France in 1918, where he stayed for the remainder of the war and beyond entertaining both troops and the local citizens. It was Europe who largely introduced what was becoming known as Jazz to France, where it took hold and has never left.
     Early in 1919, with his reputation preceding him, Europe received a warm welcome back to the U.S. He saw to publishing some of his songs about the travails of war, followed by time with the Infantry band in the recording studio. He then took the band on tour, where they ended up in Boston on May 9. It was there at Mechanic's Hall where one of his two drummers suddenly decided he had experienced enough of Europe's allegedly overbearing direction, and stabbed the leader during intermission, fatally cutting into his jugular vein. The outcry in the papers against this murder, along with the clear public mourning underscored his acceptance and his clear ability to bypass the racial barriers that were so prevalent at the time. Europe was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. His grave can be found in Section E Div Site 3576.
     Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake often attributed their success on Broadway in the 1920s and 1930s to the foundation of respect for black musicians that was laid by Europe. One of the best belated tributes to James Reese Europe was the prominent recognition of his work in the 1943 all-black film Stormy Weather, which chronicled black musicians of New York, including Europe and W.C. Handy, through the first decades of the 20th century. Ford Dabney was reportedly a consultant for the project. Europe was further recognized and commended for his contributions in the 2001 Ken Burns documentary Jazz.

Harry Augustus Fischler August 23, 1879 to 1965?
Compositions
1909 (Ragged) Rastus (Possibly ≈ 1905) 1910 Someday Someone Will Whisper     "I Love You" My Old Plantation Home Chili-Sauce Chili-Sauce Song Pepper Sauce - A Hot Rag Nigger-Toe Rag	1911 Hot Scotch Rag Black Wasp Rag-A Stinger Weeping Willow Rag 1914 Keefers Grenadier 1916 When Yo Mammy's By Yo Side     (A Negro Lullaby) When the Summer Days are Over     Will You Love Me Just the Same?

     Harry A. Fischler was born in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania to German immigrant parents Frank R. Fischler and Zwila Fischler, who were among many that had settled in central Pennsylvania during the mid 19th century. The year of birth varies between 1879 or 1880 depending on which records are accessed. The 1900 Census shows 1879 as his birth, as does his World War One draft record. However, records from the 1910s forward including his World War Two draft record indicate 1880. That he appears in the June, 1880 Census as 9 months in age confirms an 1879 birth year.
     Harry's father was a grocer in Wellsboro. A January 1882 advertisement in the Wellsboro Agitator states that "Frank R. Fischler... had bought out the interest of Mr. Andrew J. Tipple in the Wellsboro Meat Market, and will hereafter conduct the business in such a manner as to merit the confidence and patronage of the public." It was both in Wellsboro and nearby Williamsport that documents from as early as 1892 offer the likelihood of Harry as a potential eventual member of the Stopper and Fisk Orchestra founded in 1877. The leader was one Charles Fischler, and the orchestra also listed a second or "annex" orchestra, usually a staple of many groups so they could cover two performances on the same evening and still have money coming into the same pot. He spent his days as a piano tuner as well. Other members included John Fischler, Jr., Frank Fischler, Edwin Fischler Ernest Fischler and Peter Fischler. They were relatives of the Wellsboro Fischlers, so Charles may have given Harry his first musical break before he even reached adulthood. The first indications of this come from an article referencing a 1897 engagement of a band that Harry had formed, the Wellsboro Quartette, mentioned in a June 1900 article in the Agitator. There was also mention of a 1901 engagement of Harry with the Stopper and Fisk Orchestra, usually accompanied with good reviews of his performances. Harry left for Williamsport, Pennsylvania in the summer of 1901.
     In late 1903, 25 year-old Harry was married to 19 year-old Beulah Evelyn Neece. The couple lived variously in Williamsport and Loyalsock, Pennsylvania. They had three children, the first one being Harry M. Fischler born September 5, 1904. There was also one daughter born in early 1909 who died during infancy in September that same year. Harry is initially listed as a musician and instructor in the 1910 Census, around the time his first pieces were published by Vandersloot Music Publishing Company in Williamsport. This would likely include his role in the Stopper and Fisk organization, but may have also referenced engagements he had with the renowned Repasz Band and the Wellsboro Military Band, both of which he had worked with, or even his roles as solo pianist, cornetist or accompanist.
     Harry most often played cornet in the ensembles. Some sources have incorrectly cited Fischler as a pseudonym of Harry J. Lincoln, the composer and general manager of Vandersloot Music. This may be in part because he was also published as H.A. Fischler, never using his full first or middle name. Yet his name did show up in the papers. A July 22, 1914 article in the Williamsport Gazette and Bulletin reviewed a recent concert in which "Every number was good with several standing out pre-eminently. It opened with a rattling march, "Keefer's Grenadier," by Harry Fischler. This march was well received, and was enjoyed by everyone. It is brand new and last night was its first rendition, but it gives promise of being extremely popular. Mr. Fischler has dedicated it to Bura C. Keefer." As further proof of his not being Lincoln, his final two songs were published by Star Music in Eldred, Pennsylvania, not by Vandersloot..
     Newspaper reports in Wellsboro through the 1900s, 1910s and 1920s indicate several visits of Harry to his parents and other relatives in that town. He evidently participated in a yearly inventory of his father's market each January, as noted in several mentions in the Wellsboro papers. Subsequent census records and articles keep Fischler in the music business as a music teacher in 1920, and a salesman for the Imperial Band Instrument Company from the 1920s through the early 1930s. In 1922 he was appointed as the secretary of the company. Fischler was also a music and orchestra director at St. Luke's Lutheran Church. Harry Jr. died of pneumonia in late February 1933. His parents both passed on in the late 1930s. Harry's 1942 draft record shows him as a "Band Instructor - specializing in trumpet & cornet teaching." His role changed a bit during the war, as in August 1942 he was appointed the "city sealer of weights and measures" for Williamsport, continuing in this role into the mid 1950s. He also turned into a poet, having a poem, I'd Like to Go A Fishin', published on the cover of Pennsylvania Angler in late 1945. Beulah was also visibly involved with the local G.O.P. organization, and is often mentioned as having organized the music for their events.
     In late 1946 a reunion was held for former members of Wellsboro bands in that town, and Fischler was among the esteemed alumni asked to attend, along with Charles Fischler. Some forty invitees were listed in the Agitator prior to the event. Harry evidently retired by from music by the early 1950s in favor of his role as the weights enforcer of the city, as there are no further mentions of his performances. After Harry's death, which is likely around 1965 or 1966, Beulah continued to remain active in Williamsport society throughout the 1960s. She lived to the age of 92, passing on in 1976.
     Fischler rags were not all that complex, but possessed a simple vitality that was likely more effective on the piano at a good clip than with a band. While many were cleverer than some of Lincoln's rags or marches, they did not quite match the quality of most of Charles L. Johnson pieces in the same mold. However, accompanied by the sometimes clever but sometimes offensive Walter Dittmar covers through Vandersloot, his rags sold relatively well throughout the eastern U.S. It is not clear who named some of his pieces, as publishers often took precedence over composers in this regard. For example, Nigger-Toe refers to the nut, though it may or may not be a thinly veiled use of the racial slur common at that time. But titles like Chili-Sauce and Pepper Sauce were not only great for covers, but to entice the consumer into buying what he expects to be a spicy little piece. In the case of Fischler they were rarely disappointed.

Tremendous thanks for additional information and verification go to historian Sue Attalla who cited many articles, and researcher Reginald Pitts. Without their efforts and inquiries made by myself and Harvey Kaplan who lived near Fischler while growing up, Harry Fischler may have been all but forgotten, or at least continue to be misrepresented as a pseudonym.

Malvin Maurice Franklin (August 24, 1889 to July 9, 1981)
Compositions
1908 Magpie Rag Hot Chocolate [w/Arthur Lange] 1909 The Lobster Glide The Midnight Whirl [1] You're Getting Better Looking Every Day     [w/Addison Burkhardt] Curiosity [2] Strolling Through Maiden Lane [2] 1910 The Jingle, Jingle, Jingle of the Money in My     Pocket is the Sweetest Music to Me [4] That La-La-Melody [4] The Wife Hunters: Musical [3]    My Little Havana Made    Down at Mammy Jinny's 1912 Love Me Like You Used to Love a Sugar     Lump [w/Ned Moray] 1913 Elephant Rag Oui, Oui, Marie, Oui, Oui [w/Lew Brown] All Aboard: Musical [5]    All Aboard    Good-Bye, Poor Old Manhattan    Mr. Broadway, U.S.A.    Captain Kidd    Over the Ocean    Ragtime Yodeling Man    Tulip Time    In My Garden of Eden for Two    Love is Just the Same Old Game    (My) Cubist Girl    Under the China Moon    The Wriggley Rag 1914 The Foxy Fox Trot Society's Pet - Half and Half Lulu Fada (Dance) Pele Mele (Ragtime Waltz) Modern Dances: Society's Latest Dance Folio Hesitate Me Around, Bill [w/William     Jerome] Moving Picture Folio    Grand March    Hurry Music    Mysterious Burglar Music    Chinese or Japanese Music    Oriental Music    Spanish and Mexican Music    Pathetic Music    Death Music    War Music    Call to Arms    Bugle Call    Battle or Storm Music    Hunting Music    Gallop    Indian Music    Church Music    Fairy Music 1915 Miserable Rag Lu Lu Fado Mosha from Nova Scotia [6] 1916 Flirtation Song [w/Floyd Gerret]	1917 Shades of Night [1.6] Pollyanna [7] It's a Peach {What Are You Going to Do) When the     Animals are Gone [7] Welcome Song to Digger Bill and Sailor     Jack [1,6] I'm Old Enough for a Little Lovin'     [w/Will Skidmore & Dave Kaplan] Set Aside Your Tears ('Till the Boys Come     Marching Home) [1,6] 1918 Let's Get Behind the Man Behind the Gun Ragtime Mose's Oldtime Bomboshay [8] Every Once in a While [8] 1919 Will o' Wisp [9] [w/Otis Spencer] A Lonely Romeo: Musical    Influenza Blues [9]    Underneath a Big Umbrella [9]    Sweets to the Sweet [9]    Don't Do Anything 'Till You       Hear from Me [9]    Flirtation Fantasies [9]    Candy Jag [9]    I Want a Lonely Romeo [9] 1920 Dearie: Musical    After You're Married A While [10]    Dearie, My Dearie [10]    Derby Day [10]    Following the Hounds [10]    I Think So Much of All the Boys [10]    In Days of Long Ago [10]    Johnny from London Town [10]    My Easy Ridin' Man    My New Kentucky Home [10]    Southern Nights [10]    That Linger Longer Look [10]    Take a Little Tip from Me [10] 1921 (I Was Born in) Michigan [11] Irene Rosensteen [11] Every Girlie Wants to Be a Sally [11] 1922 When the Lights Go Down in Chinatown 192? Good Fellows Polka 1939 If They'd Only Fight Their Battles with     Little Toy Men [w/Bill Gaston] Rhythm of Romany [w/Gloria Franklin &     Alfred Bryan] 1975 The Baby Song    1. w/Anatol Friedland    2. w/Jeff T. Branen    3. w/David Kempner    4. w/Harry S. Burkhardt    5. w/E. Ray Goetz    6. w/L. Wolfe Gilbert    7. w/Thomas J. Gray    8. w/Van & Schenck    8. w/Robert B. Smith    10. w/John P. Wilson    11. w/Alex Gerber
Rollography
1913 International Rag He'd Have to Get Under (Get Out     and Get Under Puppchen Waltz I'm Crying Just for You 1914 Won't You Come and Waltz with Me? Down in Chattanooga The Irish Suffragette When You Are In Love The Movie Rag My Arverne Rose 1917 Leave It to Jane [1] Sally Down Our Alley [1] China, We Owe a Lot to You [1] So Long, Sammy [1] Hello Wisconsin [1] Nippon, Land of the Rising Sun [1] Goodbye, That Means You [1] Yock-A-Hilo Town [1] Some Sweet Day [1] 1918 I'm Old Enough for a Little Lovin' ? La Guapa - (La Jolie)    1. w/Victor Arden	Matrix [Rythmodik B6462] [Autopiano Solostyle B7272]   [Rythmodik A7302] [Rythmodik A7672]   [Rythmodik] [Rythmodik] [Rythmodik] [Rythmodik] [Rythmodik] [Rythmodik]   [Rythmodik G18823] [Rythmodik G19073] [Rythmodik G100463] [Rythmodik G100473] [Rythmodik G100512] [Rythmodik G100563] [Rythmodik G100573] [Rythmodik G100813] [Rythmodik G100823]   [Rythmodik]   [Stoddard Ampico 3827]

     Malvin M. Franklin was born to German father Richard Franklin, a commercial salesman, and his Pennsylvania born wife Rosa (Pollock) Franklin in Atlanta, Georgia. A younger brother, Raymond, was born when Mal was four. The family moved to Anniston, Alabama where he had some of his primary schooling. His first piano teacher there was Carl Schmidt. The family moved again to Cairo, Illinois, on the banks of the Mississippi River, in 1901. For many years his father worked in the mail order liquor business.
     One of the first bands he played in was formed by a doppelganger of the mythical Professor Harold Hill of The Music Man fame. Fred Culver was a cigar maker who came to Cairo and offered to put together a boys band. According to Franklin, "Everybody wanted in. What a mad scramble to find instruments. Every hock shop and store as far as St. Louis was cleaned out. I beat the gang to Wunderlich's barber shop and for five bucks came up with a rusty cornet which hung on the wall. Our first practice session was held over Swoboda's saloon uptown and forty fellows attended. Many, of course, dropped out later. I believe I was the only one with a previous knowledge of music but in a short time Culver had whipped us into a pretty good band."
     Already musically inclined and experience, Malvin took up piano again in High School with Nellie Louvenia Hall, then in Chicago with Edna Gochel at the Ziegfeld College of Music run by the father of the famed New York theater entrepreneur. By 1908, Mal had moved in with his maternal grandparents, Henry and Angeline Pollack, in the Bronx where he would spend much of the rest of his life. His first piano rags were published that same year in New York by Jospeh W. Stern, including his popular Hot Chocolate Rag. Mal continued his education at the National Conservatory of Music on a scholarship, taking piano performance from Raphael Josephy and harmony and theory from Frank Sudler.
     The 1910 Census is the first time Malvin lists himself as a pianist at age 21. However, he apparantly had already done some writing as well. According to an article on composer Anatol Friedland, just a couple of years older, in the The Music Trade Review of September 17, 1910: "Malvin Franklin, a former [and continuing] collaborator of Mr. Friedland's in the Trebuhs days, is at work on the music of the musical commedy in which Bud Fisher's 'Mutt and Jeff' will be represented." Along with Friedland and lyricists Edgar Allen Woolf and David Kempner, Franklin had contributed to the musical comedy The Wife Hunters, which was given a boost by it's dynamic star, singer Emma Carus. Malvin also started turning out ragtime compositions and popular songs at this time, including some fast-paced pieces like Hot Chocolate, the lumbering Elephant Rag and the peppy Lobster Glide, the latter being a popular dance number.
     In 1913 Mal started recording and arranging a number of piano rolls, many for the Rythmodik Company, although several of them were never credited to him, as was often the case. A notice in the September 13, 1913 edition of The Music Trade Review read as follows: "The music roll department of the American Piano Co. has just issued a special folder to introduce six new Rythmodik record music rolls played by Malvin M. Franklin. These rolls will be ready for the trade on September 15, and judging from the advance orders already received from all parts of the country, these new Franklin rolls are destined to score a marked success." It was said in his obituary that he was responsible for producing "thousands of rolls," but perhaps a quantity in the hundreds would be more accurate. In 1914 Franklin self-published a small folio with dance tunes and specific instructions for certain steps, including the half and half (3/4-2/4) dance. That same year he became one of the 90 charter members of ASCAP. In 1964 Franklin would be honored again as one of the few surviving members of that original group in a ceremony in New York City.
     Mal's inherent talents secured him a staff composer position with publisher Theodore Morse in 1914. The origin of one Franklin's pieces, and perhaps his acquisition of the position, made it into a column in The Music Trade News of April 11, 1914 as follows: "Some songs, especially those of the popular variety, have been written under particularly interesting and peculiar circumstances, and among them is to be included the new waltz song, 'Hesitate Me Around, Bill.' According to the story, William Jerome, the well-known and successful lyric writer, visited the offices of the Theodore Morse Music Co. for the purpose of keeping an appointment, and while there heard Malvin M. Franklin, a young musical comedy composer, playing over a waltz from one of his new scores. Mr. Jerome was impressed with the possibilities of the number, and although not acquainted with Mr. Franklin, persuaded the latter to permit him to collaborate in supplying the lyrics for the piece. The pair got together and the complete song is said to have been completed within ten minutes. William Schultz, the arranger, then took the number and had it ready for the hands of the printer the next day. Just a case of hitting while the iron is hot." A follow-up article noted that, "The Theodore Morse Music Co. feels that it has a real 'find' in Malvin Franklin, who recently joined the company's staff of composers and whose first effort under the Morse signature, 'Hesitate Me Around Bill,' has been particularly well received by the profession and the trade."
     Oddly enough Franklin did appear to have an alternate line of work, and on his 1917 draft card (no mistake that it is his) he lists himself as a salesman for the Union Thermometer Company, selling surgical instruments to doctors and hospitals. This evidently did not interfere with his musical creativity, as Mal had already written one of the earliest music folios for film pianists and small ensembles. He additionally contributed to some musicals being put together by Anatol Friedland and L. Wolfe Gilbert, including The Wife Hunters, making him somewhat of a fixture on Broadway. Franklin co-wrote the musical comedy A Lonely Romeo in 1919 with Robert Hood Bowers, Robert B. Smith and Lew Fields, which also featured early work by Rodgers & Hart. It was well recieved by Theater Magazine in July, 1919, with special mention given to Franklin and his writing partner Robert Hood Bowers for the "simple and harmonious" score. Another Franklin success included songs composed with the famed vaudeville team of Gus Van and Joe Schenck who would later introduce Ain't We Got Fun. Franklin also started writing ad-hoc instrumental scores for silent films which were performed at select theaters.
     Ever a busy performer in addition to his arranging and composition tasks, Mal also worked as an Artist and Repertoire (A&R) man for Columbia Records, recording some sides of his own playing as well, including A Bag of Rags with Wilbur C. Sweatman in 1916, and as an accompanist for all varieties of singers on various sized records of the Emerson label throughout the mid to late 1910s. Franklin is absent from the 1920 Census, perhaps overseas during the poll, or just on the move as he played with some bands from time to time. He was back in New York City by July 1920 when it was announced he had signed a new contract with M. Witmark and Sons as his exclusive publishing outlet. According to The Music Trade Review of July 3, 1920, "A big popular song-hit published a year or so ago was 'Shades of Night,' for which Mr. Franklin was partly responsible, and he has met with success in his compositions for many and varied vaudeville acts. It is not merely as a writer of music that he has made a name, for Mr. Franklin has a reputation not only as conductor in the making of phonograph records, but also as a maker of player piano rolls... He is a decided acquisition to the Witmark staff of versatile writers."
     In 1921 Malvin was married to Caroline (Weinstein) Franklin, and their daughter Gloria arrived October 16, 1923. She inherited some of her father's talent, and by five was already playing several instruments. At age 12 in 1937, Gloria was part of the cast of Billy Rose's Jumbo on stage.

Mal playing for the West 75th Street Block Association in the early 1970s.

She had later successes as well on Broadway and in assorted film musicals. Among the bands she played saxophone with were those of Ray Noble, Vincent Lopez, and Hal Kemp, the latter for which future honky-tonk recording star Lou Busch played piano. In addition, some sound recordings still exist of Gloria accompanied by her father with the Harry Harden Orchestra on Decca Records. Malvin, however, continued to work in sidelines that he declared as his living, and in 1930 is shown as a sales manager for what may be a furniture outlet. Still, he never left music entirely. Given his connection to the furniture business he was likely relocated to North Carolina during part of the 1930s, as that is where his Social Security number was issued. However he was back in Manhattan by 1939.
     Mal published some books on songwriting around this time including Malvin M. Franklin's Magical Melody Charts (the Automatic Songwriter) in 1940 and Practical Song Writing (in two volumes) a year later, both of which sold well to composers of all abilities. In 1942, and likely before, Franklin was employed by ASCAP at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, but his address was in Culver City, California. His mother Rose died on August 21, 1943, then Caroline died in 1946 after which he returned to New York for a time. In the 1940s he was also employed regularly at Bill's Gay Nineties where pianist Mike Bernard had appeared in the previous decade, likely performing some of his own ragtime era rags and songs. Mal often accompanied Bill's wife, an opera singer, on radio broadcasts. He continued to compose as well, contributing background music for New York-based films and radio shows into the 1950s.
     Never too far from musical activity, Franklin was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 1970. He also did work with charities and performed for parties throughout Manhattan, one of those being the West 75th Street Block Association that mentions him playing for some of their events. There is a high probability that he lived in Venice, California for a while, likely in the mid 1970s and as late as 1980, as he received some government benefits there. While in California he contributed one final song to his catalog included in a 1975 MGM promotional film, The Lion Roars Again (currently available on the extras disc in the That's Entertainment box set). It was The Baby Song performed by his friend, comedian George Burns, who was just starting a second career in movies after having taken time off following the death of his wife Gracie. The piece was very well received at the premiere. Malvin died back in New York City in July, 1981 at the age of nearly 92. Mr. Franklin left behind a vast legacy of music which will likely never all be accounted for, but affected many people with smiles or tears at some point.

     Thanks go to performer Todd Robbins for additional information concerning Mal in the 1930s and 1940s.

Lucian Porter Gibson (August 8, 1890 to August 28, 1959)

Compositions

Jinx Rag (1911/1915) Cactus Rag (1916)

     Lucian Porter Gibson left us with only two known compositions, and a lot of question marks as to who he was. Very little is available, but the author has pieced together a probable narrative from what facts are accessible. He was a mulatto born in St. Louis in 1890 to William Henry Gibson and Nellie (Porter) Gibson. The disposition of his father is unknown, and a picture of him from this time suggests he was perhaps terminally ill and did not survive long after Lucian's birth. Both parents were teachers, working in the St. Louis School System. Nellie was a college graduate and a pioneer black educator as well as active contributor to the black community. As of 1900 Lucian and Nellie, now widowed, were living with Nellie's parents, James and Lucy Porter (sometimes Lucie), suggesting that Lucian (a multi-gender name) was named after his maternal grandmother. It can be assumed that his grandparents likely had a piano in their home, more than just a status symbol at that time, and usually an essential piece of recreational furniture. Lucian also probably had access through his mother's school connections or as a student. As with most children, he likely received some minor music education in the St. Louis schools. Certainly, living there as a teen when the 1904 Lewis and Clark Exposition was in town he probably wandered off to the non-admission Amusement Pike, as did so many other St. Louis youths, and was able to hear the strains of ragtime throughout the Pike and in many of the St. Louis neighborhood drinking establishments.
     In 1909 Lucian was married to Sadie (Sarah B.) Dunbar of California, who had moved to St. Louis with her family a few years before. He also got a job as an elevator boy in an office building at a time when elevators were still far from automatic. Sadie, two years his senior, had a hairdressing business in their home. Whether they also owned a piano is unknown, but Lucian likely had access to one somewhere, enough to keep up his performance skills. His mother again may have been able to provide him with one, as she had remarried to real-estate entrepreneur and barber John A. Agee in 1908, and St. Louis listings show several properties in both John and Nellie's names. Mr. Agee died in 1912 at age 61. Lucian and Sadie had one child, Lucian Dunbar Porter Gibson, who survived through 1989.
     There are no stories readily found in social columns that he performed in any of the St. Louis venues, but so many pianists were filling in after the migration of many of the top players to Chicago and New York around that time that this is a probability. Gibson evidently had some level of notation skills, or access to somebody who did. In late 1911 he penned the very creative and somewhat eclectic Jinx Rag, a fan tribute to the St. Louis based comic strip Penny Ante (aka Eddie's Friends) which had a character named Jinx, drawn by Jean Knott. Somehow he managed to get a vanity run done of the sparse arrangement. Whether Gibson later approached John Stark or Artie Matthews encountered the piece and brought it to Stark is not clear. However, Matthews filled in the arrangement along the lines of his famous Pastime Rags, and with a cover drawn by cartoonist Knott, the piece was reissued in 1915 under the Stark logo. This was followed in 1916 by the Matthews arranged Cactus Rag with an unusual 24 bar opening strain. Whether Gibson was influenced by Matthews' rags or Matthews' arrangements made it sound that way may never be known, but the collaboration was certainly a worthy and challenging effort. It also garnered a reprint in Axel Christensen's Ragtime Review magazine of February, 1918, a pretty high honor even if it was potentially paid advertising. Given Stark's propensity towards both honoring the composer but minimizing reverse revenue, Gibson was likely given the usual $25 to $50 for each piece with no royalties.
     By 1917 Gibson was single again, living with his mother (who may have been simply on a long term visit) in St. Paul, Minnesota, and working for the Great Northern railroad. His draft record also shows a claim that he was supporting a child, but the disposition of his marriage is also not properly known, whether as a separation or a divorce. They were definitely divorced by 1920 as Sadie was now remarried to William H. Barrett, living with her parents and Lucian Jr. His mother was back in St. Louis in 1920 showing still as widowed. Lucian is not found in 1920 in spite of deep searches, but this could be the result of the transient lifestyle of the railroad. It is likely that since his mother was back home that he was not far behind. By 1930, Gibson is back living with Nellie and a new wife of several years, Corinda L. Gibson from Iowa. He had settled down somewhat as he was approaching 40, and is listed as a waiter in a club. It could be hoped that he was also occasionally called on to perform, but there is no concrete evidence of this either way.
     Nellie Gibson died in 1944. There is no record of Lucian after this time other than his cemetery records at St. Peter's Cemetery in St. Louis. He was likely married one more time as he is buried with a Bernice Gibson who died a decade after he did. Fortunately Gibson is not totally lost to history, thanks to the efforts of Matthews and Stark. If anything more surfaces in future searches, it will be duly added to this biography.

     Following my initial research on Gibson, the first done to date, a very nice follow up on his family was completed by ragtime historian Reginald Pitts who filled in some of the blanks on his home environment, and found his date of death. Nothing else was found on Gibson himself, but the information on his mother and family do help give a better picture overall and make for a more accurate story with less speculation.

Harry P. Guy (July 17, 1870 - September 16, 1950)
Compositions
1887 The Floweret Waltz 1888 My Wooing 1889 When the Dew Begems the Lea 1898 Now For a Stranger Don't Cast Me Aside Echoes From the Snowball Club 1899 Belle of the Creoles Cleanin' Up in Georgia 1901 Pearl of the Harem Pepper Pot Rag 1902 Daughters of Dahomey Song of the Western Hunter 1904 Down in Mobile 1906 Walkin' and Talkin'	1907 Sixty-Six (Intermezzo) 1914 As Long As There Is Love (I Will Love     You) [1] 1915 Love's Eternity 1917 We'll Stand By Our Flag and the U.S.A 1918 Yankee Doodle's In the Fight To Stay 1921 You and I That Home In Paradise (Love and Home     Forever) 1928 Big Hearted Baby [2]    1. w/Eddie McGrath    2. w/Raymond B. Egan

     Harry P. Guy was in Meigs, Ohio, about 70 miles south of Zanesville, home of the famous Y-shaped bridge over the Muskingum River and Licking Creek along the original toll road laid out by Col. Ebenezer Zane which is present-day Interstate 70. His Ohio born father Samuel Guy was a shoemaker, and his Virginia born mother Lucy Ann Guy was a homemaker. Both were mulattos. The family moved to Zanesville shortly after Harry's birth. As a child Harry studied piano, violin and pipe organ. The family is shown in Zanesville in the 1880 Census. Harry worked as a newspaper boy for the Cleveland Gazette to earn extra for the family, along with his younger brother and sister, Erin and Ella. After his graduation from Hill High School, the family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1886 or 1887. Guy continued his musical education there in public and private institutions and private instruction, sometimes working as an accompanist for local groups, including the Cincinnati Opera Club. It was there that he published his first work, The Floweret Waltz, in 1887.
     In 1889 Guy went to New York on a scholarship to attend the National Conservatory of Music where the famed operetta and popular song composer and cellist Victor Herbert was one of his professors. Harry became heavily involved in Black musical affairs in New York, opening his own piano teaching studio, and even appearing once on stage at Carnegie Hall among other concerts. He also accompanied the famed Fisk Jubilee Singers of Fisk University Nashville when they visited Manhattan. On completion of his studies he taught at briefly at Paul Quinn College in Waco, Texas before moving to Detroit in 1895 where he would spend the remainder of his life.
     It was in Detroit where Guy married his wife Julia E. Owens, who he had met in Texas and followed to Michigan. The city was a fortuitous choice in the pre-motor age, since Detroit was one of the major stops on both the vaudeville and theater circuits, so there was a lot of fresh musical activity in both black and white venues. He quickly became involved with the black musical community in Detroit, eventually becoming a founding member of Fred S. Stone's Black musicians union. This organization largely dominated the future motor town musically in the 1900s and 1910s to the point that some white musicians had petitioned to join it so they could get work. Detroit also hosted the Colored Musical Society and the Iroquois Club. Harry played with a number of Detroit ensembles, including the Finney Orchestra, the Detroit City Band, and some groups of his own makeup. More importantly, he was the Music Minister at St. Matthew Episcopal Church in Detroit where he started and led a boy's choir during his twelve years there, having a positive influence on many of the black youth of Detroit. He also co-founded the first African American Music Academy there. Harry and Julia had a son, Maurice H., in August 1899.
     One of Guy's earliest publications in Detroit was his often recorded Echoes From The Snowball Club in (1898), named after his own early musicians union, and considered to be the first "rag-time waltz". It was picked up along with some of his other pieces several years later by publisher Jerome H. Remick. Snowball Club is notable for some syncopation, but in general is also a fine concert waltz. Another piece that followed in 1901, Pearl of the Harem, became a popular ragtime intermezzo and favorite of banjo player Harry Van Epps. A few compositions followed this, but none quite as popular as those two works.
     Guy is listed in the 1900 Census in Detroit Ward 8 working as a musician, and the same in 1910 and 1920 in Ward 5. It has been suggested that many musicians came to Detroit to either listen and learn from or perform with Guy given his fine pianistic skills. But the composition and band leading also led to engagements as an arranger, and Detroit firms like Remick also contracted him for that purpose. By 1920 his steadiest non-performance work was as an arranger for Harrison Music Company in Detroit, where he helped refine pieces by some well-known composers for many years. Many of Guy's arrangements went uncredited over the decades since he was admittedly more about making the music than he was about the fame or the money. Among the most notable of these were Japanese Sandman by Raymond Egan and Richard Whiting, Sleepy Time Gal by Egan and Whiting with Jos. R. Alden and Ange Lorenzo, and Weary by Allie Wrubel. Guy had also arranged music for Broadway stars Eddie Cantor, Bert Williams and composers Walter Donaldson and Buddy G. DeSylva.
     Harry still listed himself as a composer in the 1930 Census, though not much had been published