May Frances Aufderheide (May 21, 1888 to September 1, 1972)
Compositions
1908 Dusty Rag The Richmond Rag 1909 The Thriller! Buzzer Rag 1910 Blue Ribbon Rag A Totally Different Rag A Totally Different Rag Song [1] In Bamboo Land [1] My Girl of the Golden Days [1] 1911 I Want a Patriotic Girl [2] Novelty Rag Pompeian Waltzes	1911 (Cont) Drifting in Dreams With You [3] You and Me in the Summertime [3] I Want a Real Lovin' Man [4] Pelham Waltzes 1912 Dusty Rag Song [5] 1914 I'll Pledge My Heart to You    1. w/Earle C. Jones    2. w/Bobby Jones    3. w/Rudolph Aufderheide    4. w/Paul Pratt    5. w/J. Will Callahan

     May Frances Aufderheide was born into a somewhat musical family in Indianapolis, Indiana. Her father, John Henry Aufderheide was a capable violinist who chose a career in banking, and his sister May Kolmer was a talented pianist who had played public concerts with the Indianapolis Symphony, later teaching at the Metropolitan School of Music. May Frances took classical piano lessons from her aunt while in her teens, but always felt a lure to ragtime and popular music. It was likely when she was attending finishing school in the east that she set some rags down to paper. When she returned around early 1908 May was determined to have one of her pieces published. With the help of young sign painter named Duane Crabb, who drew a cover and arranged the printing, and one his friends, future composer Paul Pratt who did the musical arrangement and engraving, Dusty Rag was released.
     Crabb did not have the capability of distributing the piece beyond the boundaries of urban Indianapolis, and while May was touring Europe (as all refined girls from well-to-do families must), Dusty Rag was initially gathering dust in local music stores. Upon her return in 1908 she married young architect Thomas M. Kaufman on March 25 and they settled to the eastern part of the state in Richmond by year's end. Her desire must have been compounded when her cousin Frieda Aufderheide had The Flyer Rag published. May's father saw that she was determined to write, and spurred on in part by her ability to publish a rag on her own and by growing sales of Dusty Rag, he formed J.H. Aufderheide & Company to publish her works. John bought the Dusty Rag copyright and reissued it under his label along with her Richmond Rag. Hiring Paul Pratt to manage the enterprise, it was successful enough to garner column space in the American Musician and Art Journal in the summer of 1909. They touted May Frances as a composer with a future, noted her two pieces that were currently in demand, and told of two more that were sure to be hits. They were Buzzer Rag and The Thriller, the latter which would become her best known work.
     The Aufderheide company published other works not only by Paul Pratt, but two of May's acquaintances, Gladys Yelvington and Julia Lee Niebergall. May and her husband moved back to Indianapolis in 1911 in part because of his inability to retain work in the architecture field, and also to raise the daughter they had just adopted in a place where he had better income prospects. It was during that time that she finished her last published piano rag, Novelty Rag. The only issue from the Aufderheide company in 1912 was a song version of Dusty Rag which did not fare well. Mr. Kaufman eventually ended up working for John in the banking business as a broker, and his marriage to May reportedly remained strained in spite of financial security. In 1920 she is shown as having no occupation, not even teaching music. She quit playing altogether by the 1930s, and the family eventually moved to California in the late 1940s. In the 1950s Mrs. Kaufman became wheelchair bound due to arthritis, and remained so until her death. Thomas died in late 1960, and she lived in Pasadena, California another 12 years until her death. Her rags remain among the most popular of those composed by women.

Charlotte M. Blake (May 30, 1885 to August 21, 1979)
Compositions
1903 King Cupid 1904 The Missouri Mule March     (No Kick Coming) 1905 Dainty Dames - A Novelette The Mascot: March My Lady Laughter: Waltzes 1906 Love Is King: Waltzes Could You Read My Heart? [1] 1907 A Night, A Girl, A Moon Curly: March Two Step Orchids: Novelette Three Step Hip Hip Hurrah: March Jubilee March The Last Kiss: Waltzes I Wonder If It's You? [2] Boogie Man, A Creep Mouse Tune So Near and Yet so Far [1] 1908 Love Tree: Waltzes The Gravel Rag In Mem'ry of You [1] 1909 That Poker Rag Honey When It's Sunny [1,3] It Makes A Lot of Difference When You     Are With The Girl You Love [1,4] Yankee Kid The Wish Bone (Rag) Lily Eyes: Valse Poetique	1910 Honey Bug (I Am Not to Blame) [5] Spoonlight [5] Tenderfoot [5] Bridal Veil - Waltzes You're a Classy Lassie [5] Love Ain't Likin', Likin' Ain't Love [5] Meet Me Half Way Miss Coquette Love's Dream of You [5] Roses Remind Me of You [5] 1911 The Road to Loveland [5,6] I Don't Need the Moonlight to Make     Love to You [7] That Tired Rag The Harbor of Love [5] 1913 Queen of the Roses Land of Beautiful Dreams [8] 1915 Rose of the World [9]    1. w/Arthur Gillespie    2. w/Vincent Bryan    3. w/Collin Davis    4. w/Harold Ward    5. w/Earle Clinton Jones    6. w/Charles N. Daniels    7. w/Francis X. Conlan    8. w/Maurice E. Marke    9. w/Richard W. Pascoe

     Charlotte M. Blake was born in Ohio to parents Edward C. and Caroline P. Blake. She was the oldest of six siblings, including three brothers and two sisters. Charlotte started her musical career in 1903 at age 18, working as a staff writer for Jerome H. Remick in Detroit, Michigan where the entire family had moved. She was a rather prolific composer for the publisher turning out a reported 35 titles, but initially without recognition of her gender to the general public. Even early city directories show her occupation as merely "pianist." Early acknowledgments in publicity and on covers, although generous in their prominence, listed her as C. Blake until she was 21. It was then that her full name was revealed on her music and in ad copy. In the 1910 Census she is listed as a music composer, but still residing with her family.
     Around 1911 Blake stopped writing rags, and further compositions ceased altogether by 1919, when she had evidently retired from composing. Her mother Caroline had moved to Buffalo, NY, around this time with Charlotte's sister Laura, but was back in Detroit before 1930. Most sources cite that Charlotte was never married, but there is a probability that she had a short marriage with a bank teller several years younger than her named Charles A. Wainman of Detroit, although born in Canada. Her status in 1930 shows her as recently divorced and living with her mother, but her last name as Wainman. After World War II Charlotte relocated to Santa Monica, California, and worked for some 20 years at Douglas Aircraft as a clerk. After retirement she remained in Santa Monica until her death, and her status on the death certificate also indicates that she was divorced.
     Charlotte Blake's rags demonstrate a direct and studied approach to composition, making certain that the pieces fit together, and they show inherent cleverness and a sense of humor as well. That Poker Rag and That Tired Rag in particular demonstrate her talents with both melody and cohesive continuity. She also wrote many songs while in the employ of Remick, though they have been mostly forgotten.

Grace Marie Bolen (July 20, 1884 to February 16, 1974)
Compositions
The Fair: March (1898) The Black Diamond (1899)	From Sea to Sea: March (1899) The Smoky Topaz (1901)

     Grace M. Bolen was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, the oldest of two girls and two boys. Her family was well off as her father, James Bolen, ran Bolen Coal. Her first march, The Fair, was released by noted publisher Carl Hoffman when Grace was only 14, with two more appearing the following year. There may be a relationship to her discovery and the fact that she might possibly have taken piano from one of the piano teachers in the same building as Hoffman, facilitating knowledge of her compositions. The 1900 census shows her still at school, so she had not declared herself as a musician or composer.
     Bolen's most famous piece, Smoky Topaz, was published by clerks of Hoffman at that time, Charles Daniels (aka Neil Morét) and Albert Russell, who had by then set up shop next door to their former boss. It is a gentle piece that evokes elements of both cakewalks and ragtime, and still frequently played by ragtime artists in the 21st century. When Whitney-Warner bought the Hoffman and Daniels & Russell catalogs in 1903 through Daniel's negotiating on his own Hiawatha, Smoky Topaz was reprinted under the Jerome H. Remick label, and they kept it in their catalog for many years.
     As was the case with so many promising women composers, Bolen's work ceased shortly before she was married, two times in 1903 no less. A few years later, she married to her third husband, Jay Davidson, a newspaper editor. They moved to Lafayette, Louisiana before 1920, and later to Kilgore Texas where she taught piano and voice, and raised their daughter Frances Lorraine. Those who knew her affectionately called her "Mama Grace." She passed on at the age of 89 just as the second ragtime revival was gaining ground in world-wide.

Irene B. Cozad (July 4, 1888 to August 2, 1970)
Compositions
Affinity Rag (1910) Eatin' Time (1913) Kansas City Town (1920)	Sunday Wedding Day (?) Minute Circle Whirl (?) Because (?)

     Irene Cozad was born on the fourth of July in Lineville, Iowa, the oldest of three girls plus one younger and two older brothers, so part of a big household. Her father, Joseph Cozad, worked in the newspaper business as a carrier or distributor. The family does not appear in the 1900 census, indicating either a questionable entry, or perhaps they were in transit south to Kansas City by this time and missed it. Irene came to prominence in the Kansas City area a decade later. She reportedly played piano with the Kansas Symphony and prior to the publication of her two rags was listed in the city directory as a music teacher as well as in the 1910 census. Given the small composition output, it was more likely a hobby than a hopeful career track.
     While Cozad married Joseph Whitman Sherer, M.D., in 1912, her compositions did not entirely stop. A few songs appeared up through 1920, including Kansas City Town which won her a $100.00 prize in a contest sponsored by the Million Population Club. By 1920 she is listed simply as a homemaker. In the 1930 census it appears she is once again working as a pianist. Mrs. Sherer spent later years living with her children Jeanne and Joseph in the Kansas City area house the family had owned for a number of decades, even as recently as 1988 some 18 years after her death.

Luella Lucile Hudson Day (November 11 1875? to November 4, 1951)
Compositions
America, My America (c.1900) Texas, Pride of the South (1909) Quality Rag (1909) Fried Chicken (1912)	You, Just You (1926) I'm in Love With You (1948) Sleep Time (?) Red Bird (?)

     Ella Hudson Day, born Luella Lucile Hudson in Texas, was a Texas-based composer who was raised in Whitney, Hill County (there are two Whitneys in Texas) in between Austin and Fort Worth. Her true birth date is partially unclear, as at least one census puts her at February of 1896, which may be less accurate than the November 1875 date cited more often. Her father, William Haney Hudson, was a blacksmith/farmer from Arkansas who moved there with his second wife, Sarah Jane (Northcott) Hudson. Luella was the youngest of his five children. At some point she had enough musical training either privately or in school (either was common at that time for females) as she was teaching music by her early 20s in San Marcos, Texas. It was while there that she married Eugene Ramsey (Jene) Day on October 12, 1897. He was a tinner in the printing industry who had come from Hernando, Mississippi. They had two children, Junius Eugene (1899) and Dono H. (1901), and soon moved to Rotan, Texas, where Eugene ran a hardware store with his father and brother.
     It is not fully clear if Ella went back into teaching, except perhaps private lessons. However, she did start to compose, and her first rag came out in 1909. Quality Rag was published in Dallas by J.P. Nuckolls, but a second piece from that year, the song Texas, Pride of the South, was a vanity publication with her own imprint. In 1912 her most famous piece, Fried Chicken appeared in Galveston published by Thomas Goggan & Brothers. Then there was a gap of more than a decade before anything else appeared. Perhaps the challenges of raising teenage boys; perhaps the hassles of even getting published at that time; public records can't speak to the reasons. In 1926, she self published a song titled You, Just You. Some time during this period, Eugene had moved back into the printing business, so one might imagine that he could potentially have been responsible for printing this song.
     Their oldest son, Junius, died in 1938 (cause difficult to ascertain), then Eugene died December 27, 1940, having run his own printing shop nearly until that time. Ella had become active during the enormous Texas growth period which was outlined in the Edna Furber novel Giant, active in the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs, and serving in various offices in the organization. There were reports that in the 1940s she may have published a few children's songs, including titles like Sleep Time and Red Bird, although confirmation of this has only been word of mouth to date. They have not surfaced, so may have been local vanity short runs. She had one final song printed in 1948, I'm in Love With You, published in Hollywood, California. Ella passed on in Rotan in 1951 at nearly 76 years.

Much of the timeline and background research here in this corrected biography was done by Nora Hulse, the champion of women composers of the ragtime era and beyond. Many thanks to Texas music historian Larry Wolz who provided some of the information here, and fan Don Lewis who knew Ms. Day in his youth (back in the Day), and reported on the children's songs.

Ethel May Earnist (July ??, 1888 to Unknown)

Composition

Peanuts - A Nutty Rag (1911)

     Ethel May Earnist was long thought to have been a pseudonym for prolific composer and publisher Charles L. Johnson. However, information uncovered in 2006 by Bill Edwards and Nora Hulse indicates the likelihood that she was very real, and the probable composer of Peanuts - A Nutty Rag. Earnist was the only surviving child of three born to Belle and William H. Earnist in Omaha, Nebraska. She likely had musical training as a child, since the 1910 census indicates that she was a staff pianist at an Omaha department store, probably in the music department more so than as an atmosphere performer. Since ragtime was THE most popular music form at this time, it is not only likely that she knew popular songs and piano rags, but that she felt inclined to write something as well.
     Based on subsequent census records and other indicators, the Earnist family relocated to the Kansas City, MO, likely Independence, in the late 1911. (William is shown in 1912 directories in Independence and in many subsequent listings.) This would coincide with the publication of Peanuts by Johnson's publishing company in late 1911. Ethel would be just one of a handful of women composers who got a single-shot rag or song published by Johnson. She was still playing in 1920, this time in the music department of a drug store in Kansas City and in the employ of rival Jenkins Music. Ethel was married in 1923 in Wichita, Kansas, to Ober G. Hamilton, who worked in extermination chemicals. The 1930 census indicates that they continued to live in the Kansas City area with Ethel's parents, but she is listed as having no occupation at that time (not even as a piano teacher, surprisingly) and disappears after that census. Given that her siblings died in infancy, and she had no children, there are literally no remaining relatives from which to extract a family history. As more prevalent information on Earnist becomes available it will be posted here.

Many thanks to Women in Ragtime historian Nora Hulse who provided some of the information here to supplement my research, John Dawson who did some of the Kansas City legacy searches, and ragtime performer Terry Parrish who was the catalyst for this search, strongly suggesting that Peanuts was clearly not composed by Johnson. Both Nora and Trebor Tichenor who have signed off on the probability of this Ethel being the mystery composer of Peanuts.
     I have also published a paper on this find if you would like to see more detail at ragpiano.com/ethelearnist.rtf in Microsoft Word format.

Irene Marie Giblin (August 12, 1888 to May 12, 1974)
Compositions
Chicken Chowder (1905) Sleepy Lou (1906) Soap Suds: March (1906) Black Feather Two-Step (1908) Pickaninny Rag (1908)	The Aviator Rag (1910) Columbia Rag (1910) Ketchup Rag (1910) The Dixie Rag (1911)

     Irene Giblin was born raised in Missouri, daughter of Richard and Nora Giblin. She lived much of her life in the St. Louis area. Having been a good piano student showing a natural talent for the instrument in her adolescence, Irene was first employed as a music demonstrator by Charles Daniels (aka Neil Morét) at the Grand Leader department store in St. Louis at the tender but eager age of 14. She was hired to play all of the latest hits from the Jerome H. Remick catalog, and her sister Gertie was part of the deal, further encouraging people to buy Remick wares. She was later moved to the Stix, Baer & Fuller department store, also in St. Louis, when she was right out of high school at the age of 17. Giblin ended up working there five years, missing only a week of work during that entire period.
     In her desirable position, playing the piano several hours every day for anyone who wanted to listen to the latest Remick wonders, it was natural for someone of Irene's creativity to also write some of her own works. Over a period of six years Giblin published nine rags, most of them with Remick. As was so often the story, Irene eventually gave up her composing and performing endeavors, at least professionally, after she married railroad accountant Edward P. O'Brien in 1908 and two years later had her first of two children, Richard, eventually followed by Edward Jr. Even though she devoted much of the rest of her life to raising a family, while still living in the Giblin family home with her parents for many years, Ms. Giblin never stopped her desire for playing the piano. By 1910 she no longer shows music as an occupation, and the same in 1920. Although she spent much of the Great Depression through World War II without an instrument, her husband procured a Baldwin baby grand for her which she treasured through the rest of her life. Mr. O'Brien passed away in early 1958, just short of their 50th anniversary.
     As an indication of how hard it was for a woman to have a rag even considered by a publisher in this predominantly male city known for its ragtime, not one of Giblin's pieces was actually published in St. Louis, even though she was its most prolific female composer at that time. This was in part because of her job working with Remick, but it seems that bulk of women composers were published in Kansas City, Indianapolis, Chicago or New York. Still, her music was most certainly heard in St. Louis, as Chicken Chowder was particularly popular with ragtime orchestras.

Imogene Giles (January 16th, 1877 to November 29th, 1964)

Compositions

Red Peppers (1907) Pensacola: March and Two Step [as Rupert Giles] (19??)

     Gertrude Imogene Rupert was born in Fairfield, Iowa to the family of a railroad worker. Virtually nothing is known of her early life up through her marriage to Henry Emerson Giles. There was an early reference to her as Miss Daisy G. Rupert. Mr. Giles, 17 years older than Imogene, ran the successful Giles Brothers Music Company in Quincy, Illinois with his brother Jacob. They sold pianos, organs, various musical instruments and sheet music, and later published some as well. After the wedding, Imogene taught music at the company store.
     The sometimes quirky Mrs. Giles, who often went by the preferred name of Daisy, may very well have published only one ragtime piece in addition to one other attributed to her. Her single work is well crafted and leaves collectors wondering what more she was capable of. The 1910 Census shows her with no profession, and for whatever reason that she was now originally from Florida, where he mother was born. It was known that she and her husband attended Central Baptist Church in Quincy, where she could potentially have been involved with music ministry in some capacity. After her husband's death in 1923, Giles was listed as a musician for the Star Theater, likely playing for both silent films and occasional live shows. Little else is known of her later years, which were lived out in Quincy.

Thanks as always to Ragtime Women historian Nora Hulse, for the few extra snippets of information Giles' life, including her additional composition.

Sadie Koninsky (August 1879 to January 2nd, 1952)
Compositions
1895 The Minstrel King: March 1898 Where Love is King: Waltzes I'll Be Your Friend Through All Eli Green's Cake Walk Eli Green's Cake Walk (song)     [w/Dave Reed Jr.] 1899 Belles of Andalusia: Valse Espagnole Boardin' House Johnson Phoebe Thompson's Cake Walk When I Return We'll Be Wed [2] 1900 Beneath the Starry Flag [1] I Didn't Think You Cared to Have Me     Back [2] Sing Me a Song of Other Days You Alone: Ballad 1901 The Grasshopper's Hop In a Japanese Tea House     [w/M.N. Koninsky] 1902 Cleopatra: An Egtypian Intermezzo I Wants a Man Who Ain't Afraid to     Work [w/Harry Stanley] When Mammy Puts Little Coons to     Bed Forever The Return of the Troops [1] 1903 A Wigwam Courtship I Am Lonely Here Without You,     Nellie Dear When You Are Near If You Loved Me as I Love You	1903 (Cont) Maid of the Mist Waltzes On To Victory [1] 1905 June Roses: Waltzes 'Tis You Old Glory: March [1] 'Cause the Sandman's Comin Around 1906 In Lover's Lane: Waltzes Life in Camp: March [1] 1907 College Days: Waltzes 1909 Uncle Sam's Boys: March [1] 1910 Musical Moments (Opus 6)    Valsette (no. 1)    Melodie (no. 2)    Barcarolle (no. 3) 1911 La Cascade: Valse Caprice Heart of the Rose: Waltzes 1912 The River of Dreams 1914 Joys of the Dance: Waltz 1916 If I Had All the World Besides I'd Still     Want You! [w/J. Will Callahan] 1917 Mae Marsh Waltzes 1918 In Yucatan (Fox Trot)    1. As Jerome Hartman    2. w/Stewart M. Washburn

     Sadie Koninsky left a fairly impressive legacy in composition, and not just in ragtime. She spent the bulk of her life in Troy, New York, born there to a German (possibly Russian) father and German/British mother. Sadie first came to prominence at the age of 17. In training to become a classical violinist, something she was very capable at, she wrote Eli Green's Cake Walk which was quickly picked up by Joseph Stern for publication. At a time shortly after cakewalks had been introduced into publication, Miss Koninsky, a white woman, was able to successfully capture the feeling of the typical black-composed cakewalk, and furthermore had it published under her real name, a feat not often duplicated until a few years later when women such as Charlotte Blake and May Aufderheide started putting out ragtime works. The success of the tune convinced her to seek instruction to gain some further pianistic skills, but she ultimately kept the violin as her instrument of choice.
     As of 1900 Sadie was listing her profession as musician. Her success with Eli Green's Cake Walk allowed her a job as a staff arranger for some time with the Joseph W. Stern publishing house. Upon completion of her education, Koninsky took on students of her own in Troy, as well as working as a soloist with various ensembles in the area. She and her older brothers, Edward, David and Maurice, also formed their own ensemble around 1904, and were listed as the Koninsky Orchestra for more than 20 years in Troy.
     The only daughter of four children, there is no evidence that Sadie ever married. With her brothers she helped found the Koninsky Music Company, which conducted business from Frear's Department Store in Troy. They published out of the former Troy Times newspaper building. Sadie was also a very adequate song writer. She took on multiple roles as the primary composer, arranger and song plugger for Koninsky Music. Her marches were released under the name Jerome Hartman (perhaps women simply were not supposed to write good marches). Other pieces were released under her own name. In 1910 she is shown living with her mother Mary and two of her brothers. In the 1920s she started a separate publishing house in Troy, Goodwyn Music Publishers. In 1930 she is shown living with two of her brothers, and all three are listed as musicians. Koninsky outlived her siblings, dying at 72 in 1952.

Julia Lee Niebergall (Feburary 15, 1886 to October 19, 1968)

Compositions

Clothilda (March) (1905) Hoosier Rag (1907) Horseshoe Rag (1911) Red Rambler Rag (1912)

     Julia Lee Niebergall was born in Indiana, the oldest of two girls and a boy to George Niebergall, a print shop lithographer, and Minnie Niebergall. She took to the piano at a fairly young age and by her late teens had become a friend of composer May Aufderheide, whose father eventually published two of Julia's works. Niebergall was born into a musical family as her dad played the double bass, occasionally even with the Indianapolis Philharmonic, her sister also took to the piano, and her brother was a percussionist. Julia was a truly independent woman who married young shortly after finishing school, but soon found out that marriage was not for her and divorced young as well, keeping her maiden name. After success with her Hoosier Rag, which was eventually published by Jerome Remick in Detroit, she wrote only two more piano rags, both published by J.H. Aufderheide. Julia also acted as an arranger for the firm for a period of time. She did not consider herself a composer by trade, and in the 1910 Census was listed as still living with her parents but with no apparent profession. The same was true for 1920 in spite of evidence to the contrary.
     During the 1910s and 1920s Ms. Niebergall was a professional pianist focusing mostly on playing for movies at the Colonial Theatre right up until recorded soundtracks took over. She also occasionally played for ballet and gym classes when her services were requested. As an assertion of her independence, it was widely known that she was one of the first women in Indianapolis to own and drive her own vehicle (make and model unknown). In later years she taught some piano and music theory. She was listed in the 1930 Census as still living with her father, her mother deceased by that time, and working as a teacher in a music school. Julia was able to support herself and maintain her own home as a professional musician and teacher nearly up until her death in 1968 at age 82.

Muriel Pollock (January 12, 1895 to May 25, 1971)
Compositions
1914 The Carnival: Trot and One Step California (The Girl I Adore) 1917 Rooster Rag Marguerite Clark Waltz Just Keep on Skating [1] 1918 I've Adpoted a Belgian Baby [1]     [w/Ben Kutler] Mandarin Fox-Trot Somewhere, Sometime [w/M. Wardell] There's a Song in Your Eyes [w/Gail     Gabriel] Kiddie Mine [w/Louis Graveure] 1920 Never [w/Joseph M. Davis] 1921 When a Rambling Rose Goes Rambling     Home Again [w/Darl MacBoyle] 1923 Poor Little Wall Flower [w/Blanche     Merrill] Dancing in the Dark [w/Oliver Deering] Ashes of Vengeance 1928 Barbeque Rhythm Rag Doll	1929 Pleasure Bound: Musical [2]    We Love to Go to Work    We'll Get Along    Cross Word Puzzles    Spanish Fado    Why Do You Tease Me?    Glory of Spring 1930 Eatin' My Heart Out for You [3] Author! Author! [w/Morrie Ryskind] 1931 (Let's Go) Out in the Open Air [4] Give Me Your Love [4] Molly and Me [4] Shoutin' to the Sun [w/Don Hartman] 1935 Ode to a Man About Town Patsy Lou 1936 Hispana (2 Pianos, 4 Hands) Love is a Dancer [w/Jean Sothern]    1. w/Louis Weslyn    2. w/Max Lief, Nathaniel Lief &       Harold Atteridge    3. w/Max Lief    4. w/Ann Ronell

     Muriel Pollock was a first-generation American, the daughter of Russian immigrants. She obtained her musical education at Julliard, focusing on harmony and performance, and stayed in New York for some time. A talented pianist who was among the first women to record in the novelty piano style for both disc and piano roll, she is known to ragtime fans largely for her Rooster Rag. Muriel was part of the recording staff for the Mel-O-Dee Music Company, and later Rhythmodic Music Corporation, both of which produced piano rolls. Her recordings showed how adept she was in the interpretation of works by novelty writers.
     From the late 1920s to early 1930s, while still in New York, Muriel teamed up with pianist Constance Mering on the radio for a number of vivacious duets, and were also featured in the musical Ups-a-Daisy on Broadway in 1928. After Mering's untimely death in 1933, she started working with Vee Lawnhurst creating a number of hot duets on both radio and record. She even played one piano roll duet with George Gershwin, the Aeolian version of Make Believe. Muriel eventually married Will Donaldson, who had written some songs with Gershwin in the past. Throughout her career she collaborated with a number of lyricists, creating both popular songs and stage musicals, only one known of which was produced. That was Pleasure Bound which played in the Majestic Theater in 1929 for several months. When she and Donaldson moved to California, Muriel was unable to retain the popularity that she had sustained in New York, and eventually faded from public view. She lived in Hollywood until her death at 76.

Adaline Shepherd (August 19, 1885 to March 12, 1950)

Compositions

Pickles and Peppers (1906) Wireless Rag (1909) Live Wires Rag (1910) Victory March (1917)

     Adaline Shepherd was born in Iowa to Charles, a grocer, and Ella G. Shepherd. Little is known about her early life except for a brother, Harry A. Shepherd. She was commonly called Addie into her twenties. It is likely that her early education included some music instruction at the piano, common for girls at that time. However, she was largely untrained in composition or theory, and mostly self-taught. The family moved to Berlin, Wisconsin, near lake Winnebago some time in the late 1890s. By 1905 the family had moved southwest to Muscoda, Wisconsin and Charles was working for a hotel there as was Harry, while Addie was working in a hat shop or factory. By 1907, at the age of 21, Addie had moved to Milwaukee.
     It was in Milwaukee that she presented her best-known piece to publisher Joseph Flanner. He was impressed enough with what he heard to have the piece notated from her playing, and not only did it become her most famous piano rag, Pickles and Peppers is likely the most popular rag ever written by any woman. Given Shepherd's obscurity in history it is amazing how popular this rag quickly became. It eventually eclipsed 2 million copies, and the hymn-like trio was readily adopted as the official musical theme for the unsuccessful presidential candidacy of William Jennings Bryant in 1908. Pickles and Peppers became as popular with bands as it did with pianists.
     Shepherd followed her debut with two more worthwhile rags, similarly composed by her and notated by an arranger. She then married Frederick S. Olson in 1910. It was likely that she, like so many other female composers, gave up her work to raise a family, including daughters Jean and Dorothy and son Fred. Only one further piece is known to have come from her during The Great War (World War I) in 1917, penned as Mrs. F. S. Olson, who eventually became a prominent appraiser. In later years it was reported that she felt her works were either unimportant or not very good, in spite of their popularity speaking to the contrary. Her family did not particularly support her musical passion either, sadly showing little interest in it. Her mother Ella was living with the family in her elder years. Mrs. Olson lived the remainder of her evidently uneventful life in Milwaukee.

Fannie Bell Woods (May 23, 1892 to December 28, 1974)

Composition

Sweetness (1912)

     Fannie B. Woods was thought to be a pseudonym for Charles L. Johnson until 2005 when it was revealed that the composer of Sweetness was indeed a real person.

Fannie at her favorite instrument, the organ.

She was born May 23, 1892 in Kentucky. Her father John was a Kentucky native who made a living as a carpenter, and her mother Cora came from Indiana. Fannie grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, where she was educated in music, specifically piano and organ. By the age of 17 she was working in a music store as a clerk, and possibly as a song demonstrator. Her younger sister Edna, 15 at this time, is listed as a music teacher in the 1910 census. At the age of 19 she composed Sweetness, the publication of which may have been facilitated by Louisville publisher Al Marzian, who had recently had his own Angel Food Rag published with Forster Music Publishers in Chicago. Woods further had the enthusiastic backing of the Herman Strauss Company department store, also based in Louisville. They featured her as a local celebrity, allowing her to play Sweetness and other pieces in their store on several occasions in 1912. Fannie evidently signed copies of the piece as well. She received a total of $75 for the rag from Forster. Sweetness is dedicated on the inside to W.J. Mansfield. Woods would marry William J. Mansfield the following year, and take that name for the rest of her life.
     Fannie was not only a fine pianist but also a well-regarded organist, spending over four decades playing for the Parkland Baptist Church, and three decades for Pearson's Funeral Home. She and her husband had three daughters, Mildred, Mary and Jean and a son as well, William Jr. Mr. Mansfield died suddenly at the age of 60 on November 10, 1947. Fannie retired from playing by the mid 1950s, but continued to teach piano and organ to younger students nearly to the end of her life. Fannie and Edna also enjoyed performing Sweetness and other pieces as a two piano duet from time to time. Fannie Mansfield died in Louisville December 28, 1974 at age 82. The only other compositions that may have been attributed to her were available locally in Louisville, and were likely church related. A couple of mentions of possible compositions show up in various recital or concert programs published in area newspapers, but publication cannot be confirmed.

     I would like to add a personal note of thanks to Louisville dentist Dr. William J. Mansfield, Fannie's son, who helped me obtain information and materials in relation to his mother, and former Woods student and musician Rhonda Rucker who brought this information to my attention, and therefore to the ragtime community.
     I have also published a paper on this find if you would like to see more detail at ragpiano.com/fanniewoods.rtf in Microsoft Word format.

Gladys Elizabeth Yelvington (November 29, 1891 to ?, 1957)

Composition

Piffle Rag (1911)

     Gladys Yelvington (born Elizabeth Yelvington) spent her life in Indiana, the fourth of five children of Asa and Alice (Cranor) Yelvington. Asa Yelvington was a carpenter in the Elwood area, just north of Indianapolis. Her sibilings included Frae (possibly Fran), Mildred, Herschel and Louise. Gladys evidently received the minimal musical training given to most girls in this time period, some of it likely in school. In her mid to late teens she worked for a time as a pianist for silent movies in Elwood, Indiana, and likely frequented some of the music stores in Indianapolis. The 1910 Census does not list an occupation for her, however, either an oversight or perhaps a choice. It is probable that she met and befriended composer May Aufderheide around this time. Piffle Rag is the only known ragtime piece of hers published, which was handled by May's father, J.H. Aufderheide.
     Gladys seems to have left the composing and performance profession when she married tin mill worker Mr. Leo G. Parsons on August 31, 1912. They were living in Gary, Indiana by 1917. Accounts from her family indicate that she was a gifted and expressive performer on both piano and organ, and was able to play virtually anything in the musical spectrum.