William "Tell" Taylor (aka Tellie^[1] né Tell Roberts;(October 28, 1876 – November 23, 1937). Tell was born October 28, 1876^[2] to Clarinda Jane Roberts (1854-1930) and John Asbury Taylor (1853-1928), on a farm near the Village of Vanlue, Amanda Township, Hancock County, Ohio. He was an American traveling vaudeville performer, tenor vocalist, playwright, music publisher, composer, and lyricist who had written over 200 popular songs.^[3] His biggest hit was "Down by the Old Mill Stream" from 1910, one of the most commercially successful Tin Pan Alley publications of the era. The song was published by Tell Taylor, Inc., which he had co-founded in 1907. Taylor performed vaudeville theaters and founded a Chicago music publishing house bearing his name. His other notable songs include "He Sleeps Beneath the Soil of France," "I Love You Best of All," "If Dreams Come True," "Little Old Home in the Valley," "Rock Me to Sleep in the Old Rocking Chair," "Some Day," and "When the Maple Leaves Were Falling." Taylor also wrote the Broadway comedies Tiger Lillee and In New York Town.^[4][5]

Career highlights

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).^[6] 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.^[7][8]

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.^[9] 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.^[10] 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.^[11]

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.^[12] 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.^[13]

Selected works

Marriages

Tell Taylor's Marriage License — 1907. Note that Buda Godman did not use her legal name Helen Julia Godman.

On November 4, 1907, Taylor married Buda Godman (née Helen Julia Godman; 1888–Unknown ),^[15][16] the daughter of Otho and Julia Godman (née Conklin) of Chicago.^[15] 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.^[17]

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.^[18] 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."^[19]

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.^[20]

Selected performances

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

External links

• Tell Taylor webpage
• Free scores by Tell Taylor in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)

References