The lesser-known of the two musical Blanche Merrills was mentioned in a couple of sources as possibly having composed one or more tunes, and had certainly played thousands during her lifetime. However, the confusion with the more famous lyricist and sometimes composer of the same name [see next entry] may have created a lack of delineation in terms of who composed what in a select few cases. Given Blanche Howard's associations in the ragtime world, she is still a worthy inclusion in this collection for a number of reasons.

Blanche Howard was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, to James Henry Howard and his wife Martha May Humphrey. There was performance blood in her from the beginning. Her uncle, Ed Abrams, played both bass and tuba in the famous minstrel troupe run by Lew Dockstader, and another uncle, John Abrams, a violinist, also conducted and led orchestras in the Bronx, as well as later on 42nd Street in midtown Manhattan. Yet another uncle, Arthur Sherwood, managed the Collingwood Opera House in Poughkeepsie.

Originally a chain maker, James was listed in 1900 census as an "elevator builder." Whether this meant the type used for grain or the type used for going up and down in buildings was not specified, but it was likely the latter, as in 1910 James was a wood worker who built dumbwaiters, which are really miniature elevators. Also in 1910, not yet 18, Blanche was listed as a theater musician in Poughkeepsie, but had been working in New York City shortly before that enumeration was taken. She spent a little time taking piano from Louise Virginia Gorse of Vassar College. Gorse offered to sponsor Blanche in Germany so she could become a classical pianist. However, the girl's mind was made up; it was ragtime or nothing.

Blanche's introduction to the theater had come by way of uncle Arthur at the Collingwood, since through him she was able to regularly attend shows there, many of them tryout runs for Broadway productions to shake out the bugs before they hit Manhattan. This became problematic for James, who was not so keen on show business. Blanche would come home after a show and start playing tunes she remembered from the production on the piano. James wanted her to learn music the right way, with the ability to read. He locked up the piano and bought his daughter a much quieter clavier to practice on. After a month she quit the clavier and managed to persuade her father to open the piano once more.

After graduating from Poughkeepsie high school, Blanche lived for a while with uncle John Abrams in Manhattan. She got some work playing for films with a band at the American Theatre on Eighth Avenue near 41st street, led by future big band leader Earl Fuller. She also worked for a couple of summer seasons at the Little Hungary Café on East Houston Street, reported to have been a favorite haunt of Theodore Roosevelt after his presidential years. For her theatrical and musical training Blanche attended Cornell University. How much acting she actually did is unknown, but she was known mostly as a pianist throughout her life, and later as an orchestra leader.

On April 25, 1912, Blanche's mother May passed away. May's obituary mentioned that Blanche was "formerly a pianist at the Arlington Theatre" in Poughkeepsie. This was also sad because three months later Blanche was married to Norman Watters Merrill of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As noted in the Poughkeepsie Eagle News of July 25: "Owing to the recent death of the bride's mother the wedding was a very quiet one." After the honeymoon the couple moved to Pleasant Valley, New York.

Whether or not Blanche regularly performed over the next three years is unclear, but given her passion for the ivories she very likely worked at least in the movie houses, if not on the stage or at a restaurant or two. Norman was a stage dancer as well as a teacher of "modern" dance in Pleasant Valley. The cause was not found, but Norman died very suddenly at age 26 on May 11, 1915, leaving Blanche as a widow. She would soon recover.

The time frame is unclear, likely due to the unusual circumstance, but it appears that by late 1915 Blanche was living and working in Newark, New Jersey, at Johnson's Café. Among the pianists who accompanied her when she was singing and not playing was future giant of Harlem Stride, William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholf Smith (sometimes seen as Bertholoff), later known as Willie "The Lion" Smith. While it was unusual enough to have a black pianist working with a white singer at that time, even in progressive New Jersey, a romance was more unusual. However, one ensued, and after what has been described as a "short, stormy courtship" they married.

Willie discussed Blanche in his autobiography, Music on My Mind, saying that it "so happened we were both Sagittarians and shared similar ideas." The miscegenation aspect, which was obvious given how dark Willie appeared, was downplayed at the time, and the marriage was most likely somewhat of a secret to all but their closest friends. The benefits, however, were that Willie might have had a little better access to some places that he had not before, and that Blanche learned something new about piano playing from her prodigious husband. But the relationship had its drawbacks as well, and it is possible that outside pressure from those who disapproved had some emotional impact internally.

While Willie allegedly enlisted in the United States Army in late 1916 or early 1917 "as much to escape battling with Blanche as to fight the Kaiser," official records show that he was inducted in June of 1917. Blanche was indirectly listed on his draft record. Willie was sent to the 92nd Division, 153rd Negro Brigade, 350th Field Artillery, known as "The Black Devils". He would later become part of a celebrated African American unit in France, where he would earn his "Lion" nickname, and the rank of Sergeant. His wife fought the war at home from the piano.

Blanche continued to play during and after the war, but her presence in New York and New Jersey was overshadowed by, and often confused with the somewhat older composer and lyricist who had been working with Eva Tanguay and was now writing material for Fanny Brice. So a couple of mentions of the name in various newspapers and trade papers were ambiguous unless they specifically cited her as either a player or a composer.

Willie stayed in France for some time after the November, 1918, armistice, spending much of his time playing in dance halls. He was honorably discharged in mid-1919 and returned to Manhattan and Newark to try and resurrect a playing career there. He was living, for a while at least, in the boarding house in Harlem that was run by Lottie Stokes, widow of the recently deceased composer Scott Joplin. However, by the time of the 1920 census taken in January, he and Blanche were living together once again in Newark. Willie was listed as a performer in a cabaret (the new prohibition era term for the recently defunct saloon), and Blanche as a musician in a show house. It is notable that Willie was the only person of color in the building, and perhaps on that block. When the couple finally called it quits is unclear, but they were allegedly never legally divorced nor remarried (although some contradictory information exists on that point). Blanche would continue to use her prior married name of Merrill, in spite of the potential confusion with the other Blanche Merrill in town.

Blanche had been listed in Newark directories from 1916 forward as a pianist or musician. She worked clubs, cabarets, private parties, rehearsals, dance studios, and anywhere that needed a quick study who could sight read and knew the popular tunes of the day as well as the classics. Her low-key profile and adaptability appear to have kept her employed throughout the late 1910s and 1920s. Of some interest is that in late 1920s directories she was listed as the widow of Norman, suggesting but not confirming a divorce from Smith.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Blanche took a trip down through the Panama Canal for work. She perfored for a while in Panama at Mary Lee Kelly's place (Kelly was the original Panama Hattie) in a band called the Tropical Syncopators. It is unclear how long she stayed in the Canal Zone, but she returned in September of 1932. Back in New Jersey Blanche assembled an orchestra to back her piano and singing. From early 1933 through at least 1936 they held a regular gig in her native Poughkeepsie while she continued to maintain a residence in Newark, a not undoable two hour drive each way. They were frequently advertised as performing at the Stone Chimney Restaurant by the Millbrook Round Table and other area newspapers.

In the late 1930s Blanche relocated to Manhattan and lodged with cabaret singer Margaret Sheehan. They were located in an apartment on Saint Nicholas Terrace in the Sugar Hill section of Harlem for the 1940 enumeration, with Blanche working as a pianist for a studio. Whether this was radio, recording or dance remains unclear, but it was still employment. It is also notable that Blanche, still using Merrill, showed herself to be divorced in this record, further questioning whether she and Willie made either the marriage or separation legal. However, then…

When the data for the 1950 census was released in April 2022, searches for Blanche proved to be futile, even though the composer Blanche Dreyfoos Merrill was readily located. When doing a separate search for Willie "The Lion" Smith, he was located in the Sugar Hill section of Harlem as expected. Residing with him, and listed as his wife, was Blanch (no e) Smith, also a piano player for a band as was Willie. Other than the race being marked as Negro, which could have been an error or assumption by the enumerator, the demographics all matched. Coupled with the rarity of finding black women named Blanche during many years of searching, there is a high level of confidence that they were temporarily back together in 1950. Also, as Blanche had been living just a couple of blocks from Smith for the 1940 census, the chances become excellent that they were still in contact at the very least.

In the early 1950s Blanche found herself semi-retired, just as the type of piano style she had been playing in the 1910s was gaining new popularity as "honky-tonk." She took an extended European vacation in late 1950, returning to New York in early 1951. Much of the 1950s was spent as a teacher or, as she liked to call it, performance coach, mostly for piano.

As the late 1950s rolled around and the honky-tonk albums kept on coming from Lou Busch (as Joe "Fingers" Carr) and Dick Hyman (as "Knuckles" O'Toole), a number of smaller record labels sought similar talent for their labels. In this case, it was Sunny Skylar of the small Top Rank label who got connected with Blanche. His uncle was theatrical agent Dick Henry, who was married to former blues singer Nellie Durkin, who in turn had worked with Blanche years before in vaudeville, and was still in touch with her. Skylar had an opportunity to hear Blanche first hand, then took her to the head of Top Rank, Sonny Lester.

Lester then engaged Blanche in early in 1960 to pound out some ragtime and old show tunes on an upright piano, in the new stereo format no less, and a star was reborn. As she was now in her late sixties, they labeled her as "Grandma" Merrill. The album sold fairly well through 1960 and 1961 and is frequently found in record bins six decades later in antique malls around the United States. In a syndicated article by Olga Curtis, Blanche explained her position on her new status:

Perhaps Blanche was able to eventually secure that grand piano. One would certainly hope so after the years of service she put in on those ivories. She played through part of the 1960s, and then faded from view. Blanche died in 1972 at age 79, but fortunately for us we still have her recorded legacy on that Top Rank, which is more than we have for most of the ragtime era women.