The Story of the House of Witmark: From Ragtime to Swingtime

I. The Prophecy, 21

II. Daddy and Queen, 25
1. Prussia and America, 25
2. Happy Ending, 31

III. Isidore and His Brethren, 35
1. Jobs — and a Declaration of Independence, 35
2. The Original Hell's Kitchen, 42
3. Going to the Stage, 45
4. The Eden Musee, 46
5. Domestic Blueprints, 48
6. Cruelty to Children, 51
7. Minstrels, 52

IV. The Beginning of Tin Pan Alley, 60
1. The Late Eighties, 60
2. President Cleveland Marries, 65
3. Butchers and Blizzards, 70
4. Organ Music, 76
5. "Austerlitz", 78
6. A Gallery of Old-timers, 82

V. Expansion, 94
1. Moving Ahead, 94
2. Charles Graham, 96
3. Copyright — Abroad, 99
4. Tally-Ho!, 103
5. Final Days at 841 Broadway, 105 
6. Fitzsimmons-Corbett-Benrimo, 106 
7. An Elephant Wags Its Head, 109 

VI. Transition, 111
1. 49-51 West 28th Street, 111 
2. Song Slides, 116 
3. Branching Out — Sol Bloom, 118
4. “In Old New York”, 122
5. Bureau of Entertainment — Marie Dresslku, 124 
6. Louis Mann — David Warfield, 127
7. Wandering Minstrelsy, 130
8. Marshall Wilder, 136

VII. Cast of Characters, 133
1. Evans and Hoey, 133
2. “The Yankee-Doodle Dandy”, 139
3. “Woozy” Leffler — Ford and Bratton, 143
4. B. C. Hilliam, 143
5. Brother Frank, 147
6. Anna Held and “Zicgy”, 148

VIII. Pioneers, 152
1. Ragtime — Ben Harney — Max Hoffman, 152
2. Bill Devere — Temptations, 155
3. Julie in the Movies — Early Disc Recordings, 159

IX. Some Popular Old Timers, 164
1. Orchestra Leaders and Arrangers, 164
2. Gus and Gene Salzer, 173
3. William Loraine, 174
4. Charles Hambitzer, 175
5. Theodore Bendix, 175
6. The Witmark Monthly, 175
7. Hits of the Nineties, 178
8. Louis and Paul Meyer, 181
9. The Klein Family, 182

X. 1898: A Pivotal Year, 185
1. Counter Irritant, 185
2. Weber and Fields, 187
3. Peter Dailey, 189
4. The Roger Brothers, 191
5. Raymond Hitchcock, 192
6. Sam Bernard, 193

XI. “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, 195
1. Cook and Dunbar, 195
2. J. Rosamond and James Weldon Johnson, 197
3. Harry Thacker Burleigh, 199

XII. Flourish — Enter Victor, 201
1. Herbertiania, 201
2. Anecdotage, 208
3. Songs, Singers and Names, 212
4. James Huneker’s Obsession, 213
5. Grooming a Groom, 214
6. Alice Nielsen, 216

XIII. Water Boys and Men of Melody, 219
1. Willie Howard, 219
2. Gus Edwards, 222
3. Joe Santley, 224
4. Will R. Anderson, 225
5. Julian Edwards, 225
6. Gustav Luders — Frank R. Pixley, 226
7. Dr. Alfred G. Robyn, 229
8. Lyman Frank Baum, 229 
9. John Kendrick Bangs, 231
10. Helf and Hager 231 
11. Harry Von Tilzer, 232 

XIV. A Library and a House-Warming, 234 
1. Two Basements — Two Millions, 234
2. A Bierstube — Henry Hart, 237

XV. Adventures, 241
1. “The Chaperons”, 241
2. A Guinea A Performance, 247
3. . . . “In Triumph Shall Wave”, 249
4. Impromptu Minstrels, 252
5. “The Cheshire Cheese”, 254
6. Harry Harris, 255

XVI. “Three Twins,” Before and After, 257
1. Karl Hoschna and Otto Harbach, 257
2. “The Song Physician”, 260
3. Topsy Turvy, 264
4. Charles Dickson Sells Witmark to Belasco, 266

XVII. Innovations, 270
1. Julie’s Marriage, 270
2. The Witmarks Erect Their Own Building, 273

XVIII. Copyrights — and Wrongs, 277
1. Julie’s Misfortune, 277
2. The Crest Trading Company, 279
3. Paris Office, 283
4. The Macy-Siegel-Cooper Feud, 284

XIX. The Battle of “Canned Music”, 294
1. On To Washington, 294
2. A “Constituency”, 298
3. Strategy, 305

XX. Romance, 312
1. A Visitor From Omaha, 312
2. Canadian Woods — And a Poem, 314
3. Proposal, 318
4. A Wedding — Or a Musical?, 323

XXI. ". . . . Of Ballads, Songs and Snatches . . .", 330
1. Sweet Adeline, 330
2. One Hit Song-writers, 337
3. Ernest R. Ball, 339
4. Caro Roma, 345
5. Arthur Penn, 347
6. Rida Johnson Young, 348
7. Charles Noel Douglas, 349
8. A. Baldwin Sloane, 351
9. Louis Chevrolet, 352
10. Frank Mandel, 354
11. Madame Schuman-Heink, 356

XXII. Memories, 358
1. The Letter, 358
2. Masonic Highlights, 361
3. Robin Hood, 363
4. Chauncey Olcott and Julie, 366

XXIII. A Variety of Things, 368
1. Bert Feldman and Others, 368
2. “The Aviator”, 369
3. The ASCAP, 371
4. Towards the “Talkies”, 377
5. Emerson Yorke, 382

XXIV. Facing Failure, 384
1. The Great War — The New Jazz, 384
2. Lean Years, 386
3. Sigmund Romberg, 388
4. Sargent Aborn Consolidates The Witmark and Tams Music Libraries, 397
5. Tune — ^Thievery or Coincidence, 401

XXV. Close Ups, 406
1. Werner Janssen, 406
2. Frank Craven, 408
3. Douglas Fairbanks, 410
4. Ray Perkins, 411
5. Richard Carle, 412
6. Frank E. Tours, 413
7. George Ade, 414
8. Vaughn De Leath, 417
9. Rudy Vallee, 419

XXVI. Warner Brothers Buy Out the Witmark Brothers, 421
1. Tin Pan Alley Becomes Hollywood Boulevard, 421
2. Julius P. Witmark, 429