Show A aci ko A V WROTE afen A come to ne gm filhol y Is i tr bf my illy melancholy baw baby B by y joseph R fliesler E was listed as died in action HE H on the fields of france and mourned by those who knew him he left no descendants and royalties were paid to no one when he reappeared in the flesh he had to begin life anew born in cincinnati ot of french vallan hungarian extraction he was sent abroad by a music loving father to begin his musical education at five he was schooled in milan vienna and berlin and completed his music at the conservatory of charlottenberg Char lottenberg at seventeen ambitious to become a concert pianist he returned to america to find that his parents were dead and he was penniless he played a round of carnivals cafes variety halls and emerged from the san francisco disaster ot of 1906 with only his clothes aided by relief workers he reached chicago wrote popular songs for the late publisher milton well and through well Weil got work as one of six piano players in the ends an act produced by a young vaudeville impresario jesse lasky back in san francisco he fell in tove married lost his vaudeville s job he found work in a denver 1 mcafe y cafe wired his bride to join him her train delayed by fire was fourteen hours late while he be waited in the denver station tar far into the night he wrote words and music of one of the greatest popular song hits bits of all time my melancholy baby three publishers rejected it a fourth tool a chance and sold more than two million copies codies then went bankrupt having paid the composer oser only one hundred and fifty dollars dusic features vaudeville pianist hotel entertainment tain ment director orchestra leader he punctuated alkhis activities with frequent compositions of popular songs until in 1917 he went to france with the division gassed at soissons he apparently recovered returned to america and after two years as a factor in the theatrical life of the panama canal zone suffered a recurrence of lung trouble 0 in the decade that followed he was under treatment in government hospitals and health resorts in 1927 in a chicago hospital hs he heard paul whiteman announce his bis famous number my melancholy baby for a radio program adding that the number was being played in memory of its composer who had died on the fields ot of france quickly he wired whiteman that like mark twains kwains Tw ains the report of his death was greatly exaggerated pronounced cured in 1931 the composer returned to his career in hollywood and new york he renewed acquaintances with men and women ot of music who had long mourned him as dead his old hit meanwhile had bad taken on new POP popularity its sales were so stimulated that the total to date is nearly four millions current sales yielding i profits to the composer who is a member of the american society of composers authors and publishers and shares thereby in the royalties for its public performance for profit within the next two years he will renew copyrights upon approximately one hundred songs he has just completed a new song cabin in in the Caroll carolines nes written with billy hill ot of last roundup fame his name is suing su ing photo syndicate |