Tell Taylor

Theater

: By 1892, at the age of 16, Taylor's name as a thespian began to be published in theater reviews of newspapers in and around New York, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri. Among the plays of that year featuring Taylor was By Wits Outwitted, written by Edward Owings Towne, where Taylor played the audacious hero (Valentine Navaro), and Florence Modena playing the pretty heroine (Fernanda).{{cite news |author= |title=By Wits Outwitted at the Grand |newspaper=The Kansas City Star |location=Kansas City, Missouri |date=November 7, 1892 | page=5}} Taylor also played the part of Bill Smith, a farm hand, in A Glimpse of Paradise, by Frank S. Pixley, a one-act play that often preceded the three-act By Wits Outwitted.{{cite news |author= |title="By Wits Outwitted" Gives Satisfaction |newspaper=Wyoming County Times |location=Warsaw, New York |date=October 13, 1892 | page=1}}{{cite news |author= |title=By Wits Outwitted |newspaper=The Daily Citizen |location=Iowa City, Iowa |date=November 2, 1892 | page=2}}

Music publishing and songwriting

: Before launching his Chicago publishing firm in 1907, Taylor had co-founded one of the original Tin Pan Alley publishing houses in New York City with fellow composer, Ernest R. Ball, and former New York City Mayor who then was a state senator, James J. Walker. In 1918, Earl Kelly Smith (1886–1954), who had been affiliated with Taylor's Chicago publishing house since 1908, opened a branch in New York City. In Chicago, Taylor composed songs and ran his own sheet music publishing firm from 1907 to 1922.

Post publishing & singing

: In 1922, Taylor sold his Chicago publishing firm and purchased a farm for his parents near his boyhood home, on the outskirts of Findlay, Ohio, and spent the rest of his life there. In May, he formally assigned his catalog to Forster Music Publishers, Inc,. 216 South Wabash Ave., Chicago, However, "Down By The Old Mill Stream," his top selling composition, was not assigned until 1931.

Death

: In the Autumn of 1937, prior to embarking on a trip to California to discuss a motion picture about his life, Taylor entered a Chicago bar and ordered a drink. Tell sat at a table, put his head down to rest and died from a heart attack at the age of 61 on November 23, 1937, in Chicago. He was buried in Van Horn Cemetery, Findlay, Ohio.

Posthumous lawsuit over song

: In 1937, when the original copyright for "Down By The Old Mill Stream" was expiring, Earl Kelly Smith (1886–1954) filed an application to renew the copyright as co-composer. The renewal was granted. Jerry Vogel Music Company began publishing it. Forster Music, which had acquired the rights to the song from the heirs of Tell Taylor, filed suit to stop Vogel from publishing the song. In 1944, a US District Court in New York ruled in favor of Forster.

G.W. Setchell Publisher (George William Setchell; 1860–1923), Boston

• "Tommy: Tell Me True," lyrics by Taylor, music by Don Ramsay (né Donald Howard Lee Ramsay; 1877–{{space|1}}) (©1904) {{OCLC|18853408}}

Forster Music Publisher, Inc., Chicago

• "Down by the Old Mill Stream" assigned (©1931) {{OCLC|36009589|498329355|}}
• "On The Banks of the Old Mill Stream," lyrics & music by Taylor (©1937) {{OCLC|502264132}}

Tell Taylor, Chicago

• "Someday," lyrics & music by Taylor (©1908) {{OCLC|46819987}}
• "If Dreams Are True," lyrics & music by Taylor (©1909)
• "Flowers of Love," lyrics by Taylor, music by Earl Kelly Smith (1886–1954) (©1909) {{OCLC|367943569}}
• "Down by the Old Mill Stream" (©{{Start date|1910|8|12}}), {{OCLC|426144037}}
• "When We Were Sweethearts," lyrics & music by Taylor (©1911) {{OCLC|27094209}}
• "[https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/18888 Fare-Thee-Well]," lyrics by Taylor, music by George Fairman (né George Wayne Fairman; 1881–1962) (©1911) {{OCLC|726906429|444497331}}
• "The Roses of Erin," lyrics by Taylor & C. F. McNamara, music by Earl Kelly Smith (1886–1954) (©1911) {{OCLC|499139181}}

: Copyright renewed 1939 by Earl Kelly Smith (1886–1954), Hollywood, California

• "Buckwheat Cakes," lyrics by Taylor, music by Fred Sloop, Jr. (1883–1966) (©1911) {{OCLC|433545183}}

:: Copyright renewed 1939 by Fred Sloop, Jr. (1883–1966), Steubenville, Ohio

• "Forty Years Ago," lyrics by Dave Nowlin (pseudonym of Dave N. Robinson), music by Taylor (©1911) {{OCLC|498539329}}

:: Copyright renewed 1939 by Dave N. Robinson, Austin, Texas

• "When the Maple Leaves Were Falling," lyrics & music by Taylor (©1913) {{OCLC|33308961}}

:: Copyright renewed 1941 by Jesse Thornton Taylor, Jr. (1890–1956) Findlay, Ohio

• "She Sold her Soul For the Sake of Gold," lyrics & music by Taylor (©1914) {{OCLC|497116217|497116217}}
• "Don't Cry Little Girl, Don't Cry," lyrics & music by Taylor (©1914) {{OCLC|57298046}}
• "I Love You Best of All," lyrics & music by Taylor (©1915) {{OCLC|30857351}}
• "He Sleeps Beneath the Soil of France," lyrics & music by Taylor (©1917) {{OCLC|61356619}}
• "When It's Rose Time In Old Virginia" ("I'll Be Coming Down Your Way"), lyrics & music by Taylor & Ray W. Fay (©1917) {{OCLC|34201002}}
• "Tell Me Again You Love Me," lyrics & music by Taylor (©1917) {{OCLC|497116301}}
• "We're In The Army Now," lyrics by Taylor & Ole Olsen, music by Isham Jones (©1917) {{OCLC|72437358}}
• "When The Autumn Leaves Are Turning Gold," lyrics & music by Taylor (©1917) {{OCLC|456264795}}
• "Down in Hindu Town," lyrics by Taylor, music by Fred Rose (©1919) {{OCLC|10217172}}
• "I'm Going To Write You A Letter," lyrics & music by Taylor (©1919) {{OCLC|25255123}}
• "Bless Your Little Heart," lyrics by Taylor, music by Isham Jones (©1919) {{OCLC|459711512}}
• "On the Alamo," lyrics by Gilbert Keyes (aka Gus Kahn) and Joe Lyons, music by Isham Jones (©{{Start date|1922|03|17}}),{{Cite book|last=Library of Congress. Copyright Office.|url=http://archive.org/details/catalogofcopyr171libr|title=Catalog of Copyright Entries, 1922 Music First Half of 1922 New Series Vol 17 Part 1|date=1922|publisher=U.S. Govt. Print. Off.|others=United States Copyright Office|language=English}} assigned on {{Start date|1922|8|2}} to Forster Music Publisher, Inc.{{Cite web|title=U.S. Copyright Office Virtual Card Catalog Assignments 1870-1941 Assignor Drawer STR-TC Card 1910 1922vol 103 pg 346|url=https://vcc.copyright.gov/browse|access-date=September 25, 2021|website=vcc.copyright.gov}}
• "Rock Me To Sleep in an Old Rocking Chair" (©1926) {{OCLC|46931548}}
• "Little Old Home in the Valley," lyrics & music by Taylor & Al Bishop (pub. date unknown) {{OCLC|498173381}}
• "When the Southern Moon is Swinging Low," lyrics & music by Taylor and Fay (©1916) {{OCLC|22939671}}

Taylor Music Corp., Chicago

• "When The Sun Goes Down in Rainbow Land," lyrics by Taylor, music by Fred Rose. Arrangement by Harry L. Alford. (©1919) {{OCLC|11288429}}

• Tiger Lillies
• In New York Town (1905)

File:Tell Taylor Marriage License 1907.jpg did not use her legal name Helen Julia Godman.]]

On November 4, 1907, Taylor married Buda Godman (née Helen Julia Godman; 1888–1945{{space|1}}), the daughter of Otho and Julia Godman (née Conklin) of Chicago. Buda had met Taylor about two years prior when Taylor had been a dinner guest at the St. Joseph's Convent and Academy in Adrian, Michigan, where Helen had been attending school. Taylor had just started his songwriting career and was appearing with a traveling stage company in Adrian. Buda and Tell had become friends before dinner was over, but did not correspond afterward. Two years later, while attending the performance of "The Girl Question," by Howard, Adams, and Hough, at a theater in Chicago, Buda recognized Tell and sent a note to him backstage, and they became reacquainted. After spending time together lunching and dining during the following week, they met for dinner at a Chicago hotel, and sent for a judge to marry them in the hotel's parlor.

In 1910, Tell Taylor filed for divorce from Buda in Chicago. In late September of that year, the divorce was granted, with Tell accusing Buda of having "affinities" with other vaudevillains. In the divorce proceedings, Tell stated that "I married Buda when we both were drunk and I found out she was quite incapable of loyalty to anyone."

On July 8, 1913, Tell Taylor married again to Blanche Irene King (maiden; born 1887) in McLean County, Illinois. In 1921, Blanch filed for, and was granted a divorce from Tell Taylor in Chicago.

As cast member

• Quincy Adams Sawyer, by Justin Adams and Charles Felton Pidgin

1. Academy of Music, New York

:: Opening night: August 7, 1902

:: Staged by John Stapleton

• The Girl Question, by Joseph E. Howard, Frank R. Adams, and Will Hough

1. Milwaukee
2. La Salle Theater, Chicago

:: Opening night: August 17, 1907

:: Mort H. Singer (né Mortimer Henry Singer; 1876–1944), theater manager

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20030418131424/http://findlay.lib.oh.us/telltaylor.html Tell Taylor webpage]
• {{ChoralWiki|Tell Taylor}}

{{reflist|30em|refs=

"United States Census, 1880," index and images, FamilySearch, {{URL|https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M8M2-SZD|"Tellie Roberts," under entry for "Arthur S. Roberts, 1880"}} (image)

Ohio, County Births, 1841-2003 (Record of Births, Probate Court, Hancock County, Ohio), FamilySearch, {{URL|https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X6XD-HHV|"Fell Roberts, 1876"}} (image)

Tell Taylor, Author of "Old Mill Stream", Ballad Inspired On Shore of Blanchard River in Ohio — Writer Dies in Chicago, The New York Times, November 24, 1937

Tell Taylor Dies in Chicago; Composed "Old Mill Stream," The Plain Dealer, November 24, 1937, pg. 15

Biographical Dictionary of American Music, by Charles Eugene Claghorn (1911–2005), Parker Publishing Co., West Nyack, New York (1973) {{OCLC|609781}}

Biography Index, A Cumulative Index to Biographical Material in Books and Magazines — Volume 3: September 1952 — August 1955, New York: H. W. Wilson Company (1956) {{OCLC|731506763|35305535}}

[http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2015/Variety/Variety%201918/Variety%201918%20-%200344.pdf Earl K. Smith], Variety, April 5, 1918, Vol. L, Issue 6, pg. 11

[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19870920&id=PJ1PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6QIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5377,3510372 The Mystery of 'Down By The Old Mill Stream'], by Gary Pakulski, Toledo Blade, September 20, 1987

[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19670428&id=jeBOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=dQEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3552,6262882 Findlay to Sing Composer's Praises], by Peg Dennis, Toledo Blade, April 28, 1967, pg. 18

Helen likely took the name "Buda" from the slang word "bud," used in the late 1800s and early 1900s for a cute girl that had just entered puberty.

:See Cassell's Dictionary of Slang, 2nd edition, by Jonathon Green, London: Orion Publishing Group (2005) {{OCLC|769046857}}

Helen Godman: Passport Application November 3, 1919, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C.

:Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 – March 31, 1925, Collection ARC Identifier 583830, MLR N° A1 534
NARA Series M1490, Roll 974, Certificates 135750–136125, Nov 5–Nov 6, 1919

Weds Actor She Met At Convent, The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 10, 1907, pg. 3

[https://archive.org/stream/variety20-1910-10/variety20-1910-10_djvu.txt Music Publisher Divorced], Variety, October 1, 1910

[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19460901&id=tE5QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Pg0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6164,6454910 Queen of the Badger Band.], by Elgar Brown. In The American Weekly, Sunday newspaper supplement, The Milwaukee Sentinel, September 1, 1946, p. 16.

[http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2015/Variety/Variety%201921/Variety%201921%20-%200691.pdf Six Divorces: Freedom Season Has Opened In Chicago Courts], Variety, October 28, 1921, pg. 5, col. 1

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Category:1876 births

Category:1937 deaths

Category:Songwriters from Ohio

Category:American vaudeville performers

Category:People from Findlay, Ohio

Category:People from Hancock County, Ohio