September 22 - Dave Dreyer (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for September 22nd are here: Debby Boone (2019), Andrea Bocelli; Anton Filtz (2020), Arthur Pryor (2021), Michael Torke (2022), and Michael Torke (2023)

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Dave Dreyer (22 September 1894 –1 March 1967) was an American pianist and composer of popular songs, now chiefly remembered for his song "Me and My Shadow."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Box Office Royalty

Jolson was often given credits on sheet music so he could earn more by popularizing the tunes, but he played no part in writing this song. – Wikipedia, s.v. “Me and My Shadow”

When you wrote a Jolson song

You’d find his shadow tagged along,

For if he sang your song on stage

The credits on the title page

Would list him as a co-creator –

That’s how it worked in the theāter.

And Jolson got the extra perk,

Of partial credit for the work.

Envoi

He made your song a hit, so heck,

Accept the facts, and split the check!

 

 

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September 21 - Gustav Holst (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for September 21st are here: Gustav Holst; Billy Porter (2019), Leonard Cohen (2020), Gustav Holst (2021), Gustav Holst (2022), and Gustav Holst (2023)

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Gustav Holst (21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carefully Taught

"Here he did away with the childish sentimentality which schoolgirls were supposed to appreciate and substituted Bach and Vittoria; a splendid background for immature minds."  Vaughan Williams on Holst at St Paul's Girls' School 

The bright young women of St. Paul’s

   Weren’t patronized or coddled.

The music in their music halls

   Was oh so nobly modeled,

For Holst considered and assessed

   That music’s finest pearls

Should find a place within the breast

   Of proper English girls.

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September 20 - Frank Comstock; Benjamin Franklin White (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for September 20th are here: William Kapell (2019), Ildebrando Pizzetti (2020), Frank De Vol (2021), John Dankworth (2022), and Gottfried Scheidt (2023)

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Frank Comstock (20 September 1922 – 21 May 2013) was an American composer, arranger, and conductor for big bands and major situation comedies and variety shows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Living Room Music

He also wrote the theme and scores for the Dean Jones comedy Ensign O'Toole (1962-63); composed scores for such 1960s sitcoms as Gilligan's Island, McHale's Navy and F Troop; arranged much of the jukebox music heard during the early seasons of the 1970s hits Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley;). Perhaps most significantly, Comstock penned the original themes for several segments of the animated Rocky and His Friends (1959-61), specifically "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle," "Fractured Fairy Tales," "Peabody's Improbable History" and "Bullwinkle's Corner."  -- obituary at http://www.filmmusicsociety.org

Frank Comstock wrote the sound that we

Associate with old TV.

His list of credits never ends,

And goes from Rocky and His Friends,

Through F-Troop, Dragnet, Happy Days,

And others that define that phase

Of television’s golden times

And earns his place in present rhymes.

 

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Benjamin Franklin White (20 September 1800 – 5 December 1879) was a shape note singing master, and compiler of the shape note tunebook known as The Sacred Harp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Shape of Things

Benjamin Franklin White compiled

The Sacred Harp caused a fashion

For songbooks where the print was styled

In shape notes and was sung with passion.

Enthusiastic coteries

Of ardent singers still employ it

And dedicated votaries

Of shape note singers still enjoy it.

 

 

 

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September 19 - Ernest Tomlinson (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for September 19th are here: Cass Elliot; Rex Smith (2019), Karen Khachaturian (2020), Fred Ahlert; Paul Williams (2021), Brian Epstein; Carl Ignaz Franz Umlauf (2022), and Trisha Yearwood; Leo VI the Wise (2023)

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Ernest Tomlinson (19 September 1924 – 12 June 2015) was an English composer, particularly noted for his light music compositions. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charge of the Light Brigade

In 1984, after discovering that the BBC were disposing of their light music archive, Tomlinson founded The Library of Light Orchestral Music, which is housed in a barn at his family's farmhouse in Lancashire.  — Wikipedia

At the start of the 1990s it really did seem as if the library in the barn was a bit of a white elephant…. Then came the change. A phone call about a projected series of CDs on the Marco Polo label. The provisional title was British Light Music. Thus began the revival of interest in Light Music that gave such happiness to ET’s later years. The existence of the library was triumphantly vindicated. – adapted from https://ernesttomlinson.com/biography/

They must have felt the chance was slight 

That hobbyists or scholars might

Be interested in stuff so trite;

The music, after all, was light.

But Tomlinson declared that he

Would get it from the BBC

And keep the music’s fragile charms

Forever safe from further harms.

It’s easy to ignore or sneer

At artifacts from yesteryear,

And yet, how prudent to archive it

In case the future might revive it.

And though a barn is not a place

That brings to mind archival space,

The thought, I think, is rather splendid

Though never for this use intended.

Replace the erstwhile stalls and stables

With shelves, and chairs, and ample tables,

And scholars will, instead of horses,

Employ the former barn's resources

As fodder for their graduate courses.

 

 

 

 

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