Description

Rose Gilbert Music Company, distributed by Plymouth Music Co., Ft. Lauderdale, Published [1978]. Sheet music, 49 pp.; 31 cm; piano and vocal arrangements with guitar and ukulele chord diagrams; portrait photograph of Gilbert inside front cover; brown covers with tan title panel, lettered in red and white. In Good+ condition. Staple bound, binding tight. Light bumping and creasing to edges and corners, mild shelf wear and some color loss along edges and spine, with rubbing and slight surface loss to lower right corner of front cover. Rear cover repeats front design. Pages clean and unmarked. Fifteen songs with lyrics by L. Wolfe Gilbert (1886-1970), the Tin Pan Alley lyricist and ASCAP director, gathered by his family's own publishing company. Includes "Ramona" (music by Mabel Wayne), written in 1928 to promote the Dolores del Rio film and a million-selling No. 1 for Gene Austin; "Jeannine, I Dream of Lilac Time" (Nathaniel Shilkret), theme of the 1928 film Lilac Time; "My Mother's Eyes" (Abel Baer), George Jessel's signature song; "Marta" (Moises Simons), Arthur Tracy's radio theme; "Waiting for the Robert E. Lee" (Lewis F. Muir), Gilbert's 1912 breakthrough; "Down Yonder," words and music by Gilbert; and "The Peanut Vendor," with the 1958 English lyric by Gilbert and Albert Gamse. "I Could Be Wrong" (Don R. George) is copyright 1978 by Rose Gilbert Music Co. [From inside front cover] L. Wolfe "Wolfie" Gilbert was born on August 31, 1886 in Odessa, Russia. Emigrating to the U.S. with his family at age seven, he began working and performing in and around the vaudeville scene of New York while still in his teens. He survived in those early days by selling parodies of the current popular songs, simultaneously perfecting his songwriting skills as he played the vaudeville circuits. He formed friendships, associations, and collaborations with many of the famous and infamous: John L. Sullivan, Bat Masterson, the Marx Brothers, Jessel, Jolson, Cantor, Benny and Burns; Jimmy McHugh, Johnny Mercer, Rudolph Friml to name a few, as well as gangsters, writers, and politicians. Till his death on July 12, 1970, his songwriting career spanned from vaudeville to television with many of his hits becoming a part of Americana. Among his many honors was his posthumous induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1973. L. Wolfe Gilbert was versatile as a songwriter, author, newspaperman, and music publisher. A tireless member of the Board of Directors of A.S.C.A.P. from 1941 to 1970, he became known as the Dean of Tin Pan Alley. Hit revivals of his music continue to this day witnessed by "Down Yonder" in 1952 (18 weeks on the hit parade). The Blue Diamonds' version of "Ramona" in the sixties, and currently, "My Mother's Eyes" recorded by Willie Nelson on his best selling album, "Over the Rainbow". "Wolfie's" songs clearly live on as a continuing part of American Music. Contents: Bouncing on the Bayou; Down Yonder; I Could Be Wrong; Jeannine; Mama Don't Want No Peas An' Rice An' Cocoanut Oil; Mama Inez; Maria, My Own; Marta; My Little Dream Girl; My Mother's Eyes; My Sweet Adair; The Next Time I Care; The Peanut Vendor; Ramona; Waiting for the Robert E. Lee.