The cover of this sheet music features an art deco styled illustration of a young woman in a red dress and a photograph of Miss Nora Kelly who introduced the song. On the second page of the sheet music is an ad for “Oh Mah! Oh Pah! Ain’t She the Sweetest Thing” with lyrics by Gus Kahn and music by Walter Donaldson. Jerome H. Remick and Company of New York and Detroit published the sheet music.
For interviews and oral histories of this and other items please visit the History Harvest YouTube Channel.]]>This is an original version of the legendary song with music written by Maceo Pinkard, lyrics by Kenneth Casey and popularized by Ben Bernie. Janice Cleary who owns this amazing collection, assures us from her research that Pinkard was a booking agent and music publisher in Omaha before he moved on to New York. Over the years the lyrics have been sanitized for modern tastes but this 1925 sheet music contains the original story about a black prostitute named Sweet Georgia Brown. The second verse begins with, “Brown skin Gals you’ll get the blues, Brown skin Pals you’ll surely loose” instead of the non-racialized ‘gals’ and ‘pals’ of more recent versions. The song was billed as a “Charleston Swing Song” complete with a ukulele arrangement for the era’s popular instrument.
The cover of this sheet music features an art deco styled illustration of a young woman in a red dress and a photograph of Miss Nora Kelly who introduced the song. On the second page of the sheet music is an ad for “Oh Mah! Oh Pah! Ain’t She the Sweetest Thing” with lyrics by Gus Kahn and music by Walter Donaldson. Jerome H. Remick and Company of New York and Detroit published the sheet music.
For interviews and oral histories of this and other items please visit the History Harvest YouTube Channel.For interviews and oral histories of this and other items please visit the History Harvest YouTube Channel.
]]>Janice Cleary discussed a few of the pieces of sheet music she shared with History Harvest. Mrs. Cleary brought in several pieces with connections to Omaha, NE, but her entire collection contains nearly 50,000 pieces of American popular music. In this clip, she discusses pieces featuring the music and/or imagery of Charles and Effie Tyus, Dan Desdunes, Father Flanagan, and Maceo Pinkard.
For interviews and oral histories of this and other items please visit the History Harvest YouTube Channel.
The cover of this sheet music features a photograph of Sophie Tucker’s Kings of Syncopation framed by an illustration of a man playing piano and a young couple dancing. There is an ad for another Pinkard tune, “I’m a Real Kind Mama, Looking for a Loving Man” in the sheet music and credit for his song, “Just Give Me That Ragtime Please”. The composer's own Maceo Pinkard Music Publishing in Omaha, Nebraska published the song.
For interviews and oral histories of this and other items please visit the History Harvest YouTube Channel.
]]>This “1917 Jazz Band Sensation” is an instrumental song composed by Maceo Pinkard of “Sweet Georgia Brown” fame. Janice Cleary, who owns this amazing collection, informed us that Pinkard was a booking agent in Omaha before he moved on to New York. It was dedicated to Sophie Tucker’s (5) Kings of Syncopation who popularized the tune. The song was available for player pianos and for what the publisher refers to as talking machines, better known as record players, which were just becoming popular at the time.
The cover of this sheet music features a photograph of Sophie Tucker’s Kings of Syncopation framed by an illustration of a man playing piano and a young couple dancing. There is an ad for another Pinkard tune, “I’m a Real Kind Mama, Looking for a Loving Man” in the sheet music and credit for his song, “Just Give Me That Ragtime Please”. The composer's own Maceo Pinkard Music Publishing in Omaha, Nebraska published the song.
For interviews and oral histories of this and other items please visit the History Harvest YouTube Channel.
For interviews and oral histories of this and other items please visit the History Harvest YouTube Channel.
]]>This is a publicity shot for The Clovers, a popular jazz band who played the Dreamland Ballroom in 1954. Native Omahan, Preston Love, Sr.'s band played backup for The Clovers at the dance that night.
For interviews and oral histories of this and other items please visit the History Harvest YouTube Channel.