Tell Taylor


Tell Taylor was an American songwriter and playwright. Tell was born October 28, 1876 to Clarinda Jane Roberts and John Asbury Taylor, on a farm near the Village of Vanlue, Amanda Township, [Hancock County, Ohio|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. 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.

Career highlights

Theater
Music publishing and songwriting
Post publishing & singing
Death
'''Posthumous lawsuit over song'''

Selected works

Popular songs

G.W. Setchell Publisher, Boston
  • "Tommy: Tell Me True," lyrics by Taylor, music by Don Ramsay
Forster Music Publisher, Inc., Chicago
Tell Taylor, Chicago
  • "Someday," lyrics & music by Taylor
  • "If Dreams Are True," lyrics & music by Taylor
  • "Flowers of Love," lyrics by Taylor, music by Earl Kelly Smith
  • "Down by the Old Mill Stream",
  • "When We Were Sweethearts," lyrics & music by Taylor
  • "," lyrics by Taylor, music by George Fairman
  • "The Roses of Erin," lyrics by Taylor & C. F. McNamara, music by Earl Kelly Smith
  • "Buckwheat Cakes," lyrics by Taylor, music by Fred Sloop, Jr.
  • "Forty Years Ago," lyrics by Dave Nowlin, music by Taylor
  • "When the Maple Leaves Were Falling," lyrics & music by Taylor
  • "She Sold her Soul For the Sake of Gold," lyrics & music by Taylor
  • "Don't Cry Little Girl, Don't Cry," lyrics & music by Taylor
  • "I Love You Best of All," lyrics & music by Taylor
  • "He Sleeps Beneath the Soil of France," lyrics & music by Taylor
  • "When It's Rose Time In Old Virginia", lyrics & music by Taylor & Ray W. Fay
  • "Tell Me Again You Love Me," lyrics & music by Taylor
  • "We're In The Army Now," lyrics by Taylor & Ole Olsen, music by Isham Jones
  • "When The Autumn Leaves Are Turning Gold," lyrics & music by Taylor
  • "Down in Hindu Town," lyrics by Taylor, music by Fred Rose
  • "I'm Going To Write You A Letter," lyrics & music by Taylor
  • "Bless Your Little Heart," lyrics by Taylor, music by Isham Jones
  • "On the Alamo," lyrics by Gilbert Keyes (aka Gus Kahn) and Joe Lyons, music by Isham Jones, assigned on to Forster Music Publisher, Inc.
  • "Rock Me To Sleep in an Old Rocking Chair"
  • "Little Old Home in the Valley," lyrics & music by Taylor & Al Bishop
  • "When the Southern Moon is Swinging Low," lyrics & music by Taylor and Fay
Taylor Music Corp., Chicago

Musical theater (vaudeville)

Tiger Lillies
  • ''In New York Town''

Marriages

On November 4, 1907, Taylor married Buda Godman , the daughter of Otho and Julia Godman 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 in McLean County, Illinois. In 1921, Blanch filed for, and was granted a divorce from Tell Taylor in Chicago.

Selected performances

As cast memberQuincy Adams Sawyer, by Justin Adams and Charles Felton Pidgin
  1. Academy of Music, New YorkThe Girl Question, by Joseph E. Howard, Frank R. Adams, and Will Hough
  2. Milwaukee
  3. La Salle Theater, Chicago