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Dan Emmett
Dan learned to play the violin, as a lad. He worked in his father's blacksmith shop. He enlisted in the Army, at an underage, and was brought back by his dad. But he ran away, this time as a drummer in the Spalding and Rogers circus. He got a job with the Thomas "Daddy" Rice minstrel troupe, in which he played the banjo, and also sang. As a result of this job, Dan started writing "Negro" songs, which he would sing with the Rice troupe. In 1843, Emmett formed his own Virginia Minstrels Troupe, making their debut in New York City's Chatham Square theater, after first trying out the act in a local billiard parlor. This was the troupe that set the standards for all the troupes to follow. He took the troop to England, but met with limited success. In fact, without receipts, they were stranded in Europe. Dan finally made it back to America, where he got a job with the Dan Bryant Minstrels. In 1843, Dan had written "Old Dan Tucker" and "My Old Aunt Sally" for his Virginia Minstrels troup. But, he also had a number of other successful songs, all written before the Civil War, and all written for Minstrel Shows. Among these are:
In 1878, Dan retired, and moved home to his native town of Mount Vernon, Ohio, where he became a chicken farmer. A small pension from the Actors Fund helped, as did some occasional stage appearances. When he was 80 years old, appeared with the Al. G. Fields Minstrels. The crowd would go wild when he appeared and sang "Dixie". Dan died in 1904. In 1943, Paramount Pictures release a film biography of his life "Dixie", that starred Bing Crosby. "Dixie" Note:
"Dixie" was used as a campaign song against Abraham Lincoln in his 1860 run for the Presidency. During the Civil War, "Dixie" became the Southern Anthem. General Pickett ordered it played during the charge at Gettysburg. After the Southern surrender, Lincoln had it played by a band at the White House. It remains popular to this very day. To Dan's chagrin, he was unable to financially capitalize on the success. He had previously sold the song for $500.00. Ludwig Englander
Brief Chronology:
1896 He began collaborating with lyricist Harry B. Smith (with whom he had his greatest stage successes), producing "The Caliph" and "Half a King", both in 1896. 1899 They wrote score for The Rounders show. The two hit songs were
1901 Englander and Smith write score for 'The Strollers', with:
1904 Englander and Smith score for 'A Madcap Princess'. (This was a Broadway adaption of the best selling book 'When Knighthood Was In Flower', by Charles Major.) 1904 Englander and Stanislaus Stange write score for 'The Two Roses' show. (Operetta version of story by Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer.) 1905 Englander and Smith score for 'The White Cat' 1906 Englander and Smith score for 'The Rich Mr. Hoggenheimer'. The two best songs were:
1907 'The Great White Way', lyrics by Sydney Rosenfeld and J. Clarence Harvey. 1907 Englander and Smith score for 'Miss Innocence', starring Anna Held. This was Englander's last successful show. It was all downhill from here. 1914 'Mlle. Moselle' was Englander's last musical, with book and lyric hy Edward A. Paulton. It lasted for nine performances. In September, Englander died, in the Far Rockaway section of Brooklyn, N.Y. There were no complaints. Englander had had a spectacular run of stage successes that helped define the Broadway musical during the first decade of the 1900's. Raymond B. Evans
This son of a secondhand paper, string and burlap dealer, Ray played clarinet in his school band, and served as class valedictorian. Evans went on to earn a degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. At the university, fellow student Jay Livingston (a journalism major) had a band, which played college dances and parties, and, during school vacations, also played on cruise ships. In 1937. the two men graduated, and continued working the cruise ships before moving to New York City, where they began their songwriting collaboration. In 1941, their first success came when their song "G'Bye Now" was incorporated into Olsen and Johnson's zany Broadway revue "Hellzapoppin'." The tune also landed on "Your Hit Parade." radio program. 1944 found the two songwriters in Hollywood, where they had a hit with Betty Hutton's recording of "Stuff Like That There." They earned their first Oscar nomination with "The Cat and the Canary." While under contract to Paramount, the duo wrote one of the biggest hits of 1946: the title song for the Olivia de Havilland movie "To Each His Own." The verse began with the Evans' phrase "two lips must insist on two more to be kissed." Among the many artists who recorded the song were Eddy Howard (reached No. 1 on the US Top Ten charts), Tony Martin, Freddy Martin, the Modernaires and the Ink Spots. 1948's film "The Paleface" introduced their "Buttons and Bows," which was later recorded by Dinah Shore, among many other female vocalists. In 1950, the songwriting duo even made a cameo appearance in director Billy Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard", starring Gloria Swanson, Erich Von Stroheim, and William Holden. In 1950, the team wrote a tune, then called "Prima Donna", for the film "Captain Carey, U.S.A.", starring Alan Ladd. At the suggestion of Evans' wife, Wyn, they soon changed the title to "Mona Lisa". The team thought that the song would be perfect for singer Nat "King" Cole, and Paramount Studios (who owned the song) got them an interview with the singer. In a 1993 interview for the Buffalo (N.Y.) News, Evans said "He recorded it, and in 1951 Capitol Records decided not to release it. They said it wouldn't ever be a hit." Eventually, Capitol used the song, but only as the flip side of a Cole single the record company felt would become a hit, "The Greatest Inventor of Them All." In 1954, the team made TV history when they wrote the songs for the first 90-minute color television "spectacular," "Satins and Spurs," starring Betty Hutton, on NBC. In 1955, Livingston and Evans left Paramount Studios, and worked as freelancers. In 1956, they won their third Oscar for the song "Que Sera, Sera" ("Whatever Will Be, Will Be"), which was sung by Doris Day in Alfred Hitchcock's thriller "The Man Who Knew Too Much". The duo also wrote the music and lyrics for two Broadway musicals, 1958's "Oh Captain!", and "Let It Ride" in 1961. In 1979, two of their songs were included in the hit Broadway revue "Sugar Babies", starring Ann Miller and Mickey Rooney. In later years, the songwriting team provided special material for Bob Hope and charity shows. In 1993, Evans returned to his hometown of Salamanca, N.Y., which promptly renamed a Main Street theater in his honor. Then 78, Evans told the Buffalo News that he no longer wrote songs. Popular tastes had changed drastically since his and Livingston's heyday, he acknowledged. "There's no way we are going to be heard," he said. In 2001, Livingston died at age 86, and Evans subsequently wrote a few songs with other collaborators. However, he later told an interviewer that " it was a strange experience after being teamed with Jay for over 60 years." Among Lyricist Evans' best work (all with Livingston music):
Ray Evans is a member of the Songwriters' Hall of Fame. Redd Evans
In private correspondence, composer David Mann has said that "I came to New York in 1939, and Redd became my first collaborator. He collaborated on a song that eventually got to be a top smash hit, "There, I've Said It Again." But the song, although recorded by several important artists, was a flop for the first five years of its life. In 1945, through his persuasive power, Redd convinced Eli Oberstein, the recording czar at RCA-Victor, to assign it to a new band that the label had just signed, and the rest, as they say, is history. The song became a huge hit for Vaughn Monroe, and went on the Hit Parade where it stayed for some eighteen weeks." Redd also published a few great hits, such as "Too Young," and composer David Mann's wonderful composition "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" (a big hit for singer Frank Sinatra), and "Dance, Ballerina, Dance" (big hit for the Vaughn Monroe Orch., with Vaughn doing the vocal. Sadly, Redd Evans has passed away.
Thomas Erdelyi
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