The San Francisco call. [volume], May 29, 1910, Page 12, Image 12

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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VANISHED FROM THE STAGE, BUT SINGING
IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE
RRE they forgotten? The music sellers say no.
Old familiar songs,* they may have disappeared
from the vaudeville and popular concert stage
and have been supplanted by the rapid fire succession
of temporary hits, but forgotten they have not been.-
They still are sung in parlor and "best room" and by
many a fireside. For they live in the, hearts- of those
whom Lincoln called "the common people."
Go into a music store and ask for "Marguerite."
The salesman doesn't have to whistle up to the
stockroom for it. It may not be on the sales counter,
but all he has to do is to turn to.'a nearby shelf — and
there it is. That doesn't look much as if it had be"en
forgotten. And the same is true of many and many
a song that no longer comes over ; the footlights.
Moreover, if the singers only knew it, they could
make a bigger hit with some of these old songs than
they do with the new ones that are shouted. into pop
vUrity, soon die away like a faint echo and, when
forgotten, are forgotten forever. If any good singer
came out before the footlights tomorrow and with due
expression and charm of voice sang "Marguerite,"
that lovely little song still would be found to 'make as
*txoag an appeal to the hearts of its hearers as when
n was first written and composed and first made its
way to a sale of a million copies — something, it is
said, no other song has accomplished. A popular
finger of the day when "Marguerite" was first pub
lished used to say that she could note its effect upon
the young people in the audience, see them draw
closer together and exchange tender glances; and that
she had even known quarrels to be forgiven after
lovers who had parted in temper had heard "Margue
rite" sung.
This is a very charming song, this "Marguerite,"
and there is every reason why it should not be forgot
ten. Indeed, in actual musical merit it is rather above
the average popular song, even above those that, like
it, have gone on living unobtrusively for many years.
Its composer, the late Charles A. White, called it. a
"romanza" on the title page, and under that head : it
may well be classed. It has a broad, flowing intro
duction and a charming melody, and the name'"Mar
guerite" is repeated effectively several times in the
course of the song, and twice repeated at the end with
added effect.
In fact, the song is what musicians would call "well
composed." It is cleverly harmonized, the melody is
simple, without being primitive, introduction and in
terlude reflect the character of the "romanza,". and the
voice part works up to an excellent climax; which in
the second verse gains additional force from a
strengthening of the accompaniment.'
THE STORY OF "MARGUERITE"'
There is no reason why a singer of today in search
of a really effective sentimental^ song should hot re
introduce "Marguerite" to the footlights." It is true
that the words taken by themselves are quite common
place, but they are not noticeably so when sung to the
music. In fact, they sound appropriately" sentimental
when combined with the romantic* melody. .--.
Mr. White is said to have made $200,000 from 1 this
one song alone, and as he also wrote "Put Me in My
FmZk UUD Old bongs 1 hat
wSMOnce Set You a- Hamming
ijntf Heard in \u25a0fyßlic^.No/;Afgf&
Are Not Forgotten, but Are
IPrime Favorite&in Private Life
Little Bed," "Moonlight. on 'the Lake" and other songs
that were popular it is no wonder that he: enjoyed- a
large income from his compositions. ;He was born
in. Taunton, Mass., became professor of dancing at
the United States naval academy in '; Annapolis, and
when he died in Boston, at the age of 62, had com
posed something like 16,000 songs and instrumental
pieces. _. :,_: ,_ — . A
If you see a piece of music in a covert with a gen
eral deep glowing effect and; occasional -reditones in
it and on examining it more closely find ; that. a young
lady in evening costume is reclining in a red cush
ioned armchair >wHh the glowVof a red shaded lamp
on her face and a background of; heavy maroon/col
bred curtains— why, it's "After the Ball." :If you
take up the.music you will see also in red letters. on
the cover ""By Mr. •„ Charles R. Harris; composer of
'Would You Care' and 'Without a -Wedding Ring,' "
etc. Mr: Harris is said to have drawn $48,000 in roy
alties within a couple of years after the publication;
of this song.
"*\u25a0 He has born in Poughkeepsie and then went to Mil
waukee, where he was. living when "After; the Ball"
made him famous as a writer of popular songs. He
himself is authority for the statement that; he doesn't
know one: note of music from" the otheri Yet he -has
a natural car" for melody and a natural gift for playing
musical instruments,, for^ when .he wrote "After th©
Ball" he already was trying,. to make a; living by^ giving
lessons on the banjo and guitar. He had written a
few. songs— that is, he had conceived the tunes mi his
head and had whistled them to some one who i wrote
them out for him and harmonized them. ,
"After the Ball" was written at the request of a
friend who wanted something to sing at-.a semiprofes
sional entertainment, and as this was; to-take place
within a few days the friend wanted ; it quickly. .*' ; Mr:
Harris had not up to that time made a ; great i success
with any. of his songs, but his friends regarded him ; as
a young genius .who could knock off a song' to order in
no time. The day his friendicame to him, however,
for a song for the entertainment in ; which" he- was^to
take= part Mr. -Harris was tired. He hadrbeen'toja
dance the night before and didn't feel up' to 'the mark.
Consequently when r he. was asked ; if he would; have'a
- song ready for 'the; occasion; his; answer was,;. "Don't
\u25a0 ask- mclnow.^Doc,' I'mlsjiltired after^the ? ball^f; '\u25a0
. ', \u2666 • His friend went away disappointedi'Vbut • hardly had
he gone wheniMr. Harris ; fouhd his own , words,. "after
;'" the ball,"-- constantly recurring to s him, and: soon, as
they, .recurred, he began to -hear, music with! them.
•Before long he : had his music amanuensis at; his side
writing down' bar -af ter< bar of : "a /nelody"; that ; Mr.
Harris was whistling.' -TKat was the genesis of "After
the Ball," and" it is a good example of 'what; a] few bars
\u25a0 of -music and a" littleirhyme will; do ; toward! accelerat
ing a young man into'the rays ; of the popular;lime
light: : ' . , " \
: AFTER THE; BALL
/-There^doesi not seem- to. be muchi association: be
tween Charles. R. Harris and I the 'late - : 'AlexarTdre'-Dur
mas, but as one can not ma'ke'afsucc!^
found fault with byj those ; who] haven't,: it is, perhaps;"
not surprising that the author and composer of "After: ;
the Ball"- has. been saidi to have ' got : . his idea f or, : the
song, from, Alexandre Dumas'. "Queen's Necklace." :
This stanza is quoted as showing similarity .*; to Mr. c
Harris' words and as having, suggested them:
\ ,-.\ "After the tragedy's over, ::",.:
-\u25a0;\u25a0""\u25a0.- \u25a0\u25a0• ; After the play is done, '\u25a0'-.**
W^.miist go home with the ladies,
Couple.d," and not one by one." .
~. Aside from the fact that.it is most .unlikely; that Mr."
Harris;: was . familiar ' with .• the "Queen's Necklace," !"
; that : the; meter of the stanza- just, quoted is- by c no-;:
means an unusual one and that any writer of verse -,' ;
readily might drop into it there is little or "no" resem
blance "between; the; Dumas stanza' and ; the lines of
"After the Ball" with the familiar refrain:
: ;. "After the ball is over/ ; t \u25a0 v
\u0084 . After the break of. morn, . " /
After .the dancers' leaving,
j After the- stars' "are gone. '
Many, a heart is aching, ; if. you could read them all ;
' Many the hopes that have : vanished— after the :bafl."-^
has. composed a great rriany more songs, :
among \u25a0\u25a0\u25a0_ them^^"Somewnere/! -"Would ;' You r Care?"
"Dreaming, /Lpve, of YouV ' and "The .'Belle :of/jthe =,
•;Ball," but nothing of his" later, work Has; made v the :
same universal hit; as the song which, first brought 1
,him ; his reputation. _ : ; '-"-;
,\u25a0;To ;\u25a0 have ; a city /named ; after,;f ter, ; them .; is . not ; the lot of •
common mortals./ Musical composers, like; artists, .;
used to: be named after, cities. * This in the'daysof -the. .--'
.;old Italian painters and the old Italian \u25a0.composers -of
church music. Since theriit has nqt - happened often,: '
if at all, to any.-of the composers of -serious /music.
It is \u25a0 not > recalled that . there": is a city" rejoicing in J the '
- name jof .-Haydn,^^ Mozart or -Beetlioven. ; But;6ut in
"way down in T Indiana"' might be :';more.ap
ripropriate to ' the occasion^there ;is a city \namedv.;
Dresser;; It was thamedi after the late; Paul; Dresser
'when ;\u25a0 his ; great • song ! hit;; "On the \u25a0 Banks v of the;-Wa
;bash," .was at; the height i'of; its popularity:; .%/ V .
. ,;<Paul DresSer was al wonder- at ; writing .words .with ; -.
"the. sentimental ;home> association t that never ffaUs^toi
touch: the ; heartsVof the.; people arid «,we"ddingsthose r
rewords to .tuneful ' and /appropriate ; music. Even- if you '
; never. had^eeirthe^^X^bash^
;the:effec:f of:thjmo6nliglTtl"bn*th^
'bash, r far ; away/'; you longed'to VgoUbeVerandlookJat j'
the thing- for i yourself or [regretted ; .that '-'you * weren't i
Kbprnvtherensoithattyoutcould'shareitheipoet^ompos-'i
ers. homesickness for those picturesquely| described";
shores. Nor were you apt to be disillusioned unless
you heard the ditty sung by the comedian; who x be
tween" each verse had a habitTof saying, "Have -you
ever seen the Wabash? It's just about that , broad,"
a* gesture with his hands indicating- that the
Wabash was about .the width of a brook.
"THE BANKS OF THE WABASH"
(i Paul Dresser was 47; years old when he died, a few
: months jago, afteran illness of only three days— heart
\ failure ..induced -'by dropsy, rather a sad ending for; a
man who really had done liice work: of its. kind. -He
;.* came from the state. through which" flows the > Wabash
,;aiid he lived there until he was 20 years old/ when he
left home and went into a patent medicine house.
While he -was there he wrote "Paur Dresser's Song
ster,".; but it was not until- he gave up "business and
took to the stage, appearing opposite to "Billy" Rice
-• in a minstrel troupe in Chicago, that he wrote. his first
hit, "I Believe -It.for My Mother Told Me So," words
.in every way typical of the "home andmother" style
of songs he turned out. But "home and mother" ! are
jgood old standbys for. song ; writers if they only know
\u0084- how to work them right, and Paul Dresser did. That
first^.'home and mother" song of his took him off the
stageand took him eastlto, New York, where he set
tled down to the profession of song. writing. At one
time it seemed as if there wasn't a popular singer in
vaudeville, a minstrel troupe or a, quartet in rural
melodrama that wasn't singing "On the Banks of the
Wabash" with "weeps" in the audience.
Another wonderful "home and mother" production
; of Dresser's— wonderful, that is, from the standpoint
'of the popular song writer— was "Just Tell Them that
You \u25a0 Saw Me." The words may be banal, but in a
popular audience they somehow never failed to make
straight for the heart. ,. /
: "Just tell them that you saw me, .
;1 And they will know, the, rest;; :
\ Just tell them I was looking well, you know;
• - Just whisper, if you get a chance,
\u25a0: , To mother dear and say .
iThat I love her as I didijong, long ago."
The song is in narrative form and whatever . you
.'may think of the words from a literary standpoint
'; they, "fetch" you every time. In fact, the. charm. of
all truly popular songs'is that you don't stop to. think
of the words from a literary, point of view at all. You
hear them with'the music, and' that seems sto5 to throw a
halo of sentiment around. them and for the time being
saves them from the charge of "being maudlin and
trashy. '; ;
'._ "That's a classic."' They were speaking of "Dearie!"
The man who said "That's a .classic" is not the , first
one to pass ithat^judgment on Mrs. Claire Beecher
Rummer's song. Of course the word classic refers to
its lasting qualities, hot to anything staid or compli
cated in its melody and harmonization. It is sim
plicity itself, and in that very simplicity lies its great
merit.; ' -
.'"Plenty of songs are simple, but have! nothing else
to recommend them, but the Vdngs that are simple and
"carry; must possess some merit peculiar to them
selves or they (would' not last. In:fact, were you to
analyze.all: the songs that ever hate been popular you
never could arrive at any set of rules for. composing
a .'-.'popular, sorig.-. It is that subtle quality of getting
oyeri the footlights "and:" making: an impression^ brief
or lasting, that makes a song popular for, a short time
or forever; .. And.it.is their inability to- get over the
footlights that has made failures of many songs which
on; paper; possess- far more merit than, those that: have
succeeded:. >. ; • -.'
In any event, "Dearie!" 'got over the footlights and
got over in great shape. » Forgotten, Not at all. Ask
any music'dealer andihe wilFbe .'apt: to tell you that
its; author and composer still should be making a
comfortable«living "out ; 6f \ the*^ royalties. It may not
be ) getting ,;over' the footlights, but it still is getting
over; the [counters of. the -music, stores.'
AL.L OF'THEM^ CATCHY '
V'Pearie''" saw i- the -light of day in Charles Dil
lingham's production , of ; the musical farce "Sergeant
Brue," inji-Ayhich .Frank? "Daniels was the star.
Miss'Sallie Fisher, tl\e leadihg^yornan with the com
pany, • who is- a; friend? of - Mrs. .Kummer, . went to
Mr. -Dillingham -one-day -and told her manager that
she-could vgetValync 'from' her^friend,'; and was -told
The San Francisco Sunday Call
to go ahead and get it. Result. "Dearie!" a song with
a catchy tune and words to match; or, if you choose
. to put it another way, with catchy words and tune
to match— a very good song to fall in with and a
pleasant $ong to hear. Mrs. \u25a0 Rummer is a^grand
'niece'.of Henry Ward Beecher and a cousin of
William Gillette. She wrote a whole opera, words
and music, -by herself. It is called "Noah's Ark^W'
'but the public failed to find the olive branch. How
ever, there is ample consolation in being a successful
writer and composer of a song like "Dearie!" and
the later song hit. "Egypt." Some of the great com
posers, for example Beethoven in the scherzo of the
"Eroica". symphony, have utilizicd popular songs for
their themes. Some great composer, if another ever
comes along, could make a very attractive episode of
"Dearie!"— Mrs. Kummcr permitting.
"And Her Golden Hair Was Hanging Down Her
Back." Was -it, indeed, Yes, indeed .it was when
the simple little maiden arrived at the Grand Central
station, but when she left it was done up and there
% was t "a naughty little twinkle in her eye." This
poetical effusion, with appropriate music, is- an Anglo-
American^ product — the words American, the music
English, the work of Felix McGlennon. Mr. Mc-
Glennon is interesting because he is the composer of
"Comrades." Some years ago one of the New York
newspapers recorded with great glee that, as a polit
ical excursion sailed past Blackwells island, where
the convicts were doing time and the chain step, the
band played "Comrades." This English composer was
born in Manchester." . He.had a musical education and
first tried his hand at composing high class music.
Apparently it was high but not "class." Accordingly
-he went in for popular music, and the result was <
"Comrades" and standing contracts with 200 singers
in England. Domesticity is an aim of Mr. McGlen
non in writing his songs, so that they can be sung at
the fireside as well as on the boards.
"Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay \" Do you recall how the
queer postures and the abandon of Miss Lottie Collins
j made that song? To think, too, Jhat it actually got
into the chancery court of Londonj Chief Justice
Sterling rendering a decision, in a suit brought for
infringement of copyright, that the origin ot.the song *v
•was not discoverable — a decision that brought down *
the price of the, copies from four shillings to a penny.
This song;- which made its greatest hit in England^—.
got there by way of America. It may have originated^
in \u25a0 England, but it was an American version which
Miss Collins obtained and used in London— the song,
although the words simply are a jargon, making a
success because of the fiery elan and fierce energy of
the air, -qualities 'into -which Miss Collin3 threw her
self* with alacrity-
A London hou?e bought the copyright "from her.
Presto, there appeared upon the scene Mr. Gilbert,
a composer of most serious music, r who claimed that'
the air had been taken from his cantata "Abdallah."
Thereupon the publishers bought the cantata and
brought .out the song with Miss Collins in red ink
on the cover.
"Though full -of fun, I'm never rude,
I'm not too bad and I'm not too good."
The same might be said of the song, but it had
great vogue for a long time and still seems to hold
its own in the stores. -'At the time of its great
popularity learned dissertations in regard to, the
origin of the refrain "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay" were
published, and it .was even traced back. to Sanskrit.*
"Dave" -Braham's name recalls the homely charm
of "Maggie M urpHy's Home" and takes the old New
Yorker backto the little theater 'way down in Broad
.way where the" east side and Murray Hill came to
hear "Ned" Harrigan, Tony Hart, Johnny Wild and
the rest of that admirable group in. the "Mulligan
Guards" and other favorite productions. The east
side, auditors whistled* in the. galleries, while the
Murray Hill contingent clapped '. with gloved hands.
"Dave"- Brahani, now dead,- wrote the music, led
the 'orchestra and, played 'the fiddle. . *
But one might go ' on - and on -writing \u25a0 about songs
that apparently ; have been forgotten but really have
not ; been— song3 .that no longer come across the foot
lights, jbut still come over,, the counter! One hesitate*
to^name; any, because; there arc so many, but in add'jT
tion-'.to; those which have been named there safeiy
could '. be put on the list "White Wings," "The Blue
and the , Gray," "Sweet Violets." "Sidewalks of New
York,?;"Pretty,;Pond; Lilies," ''Never Take f the Horse
shoe; from; the /Door," "Sweet Marie," "Little Annie
Rooncy," "Whoa, * Emma;" "Over the ' Garden Wall **
"Grandfather's Clock" and many,' many another