Today is the birthday of Harry Pease (1886-1945. According to encyclopediast Anthony Slide, Pease was known in vaudeville as “The Boy with the Golden Voice” and wrote special material for many vaudevillians. Among the many tunes he co-wrote: “I Don’t Want to get Well”, a hilarious 1917 hit for Van and Schenck, and “Frankfurter Sandwiches”, notoriously performer by Harry Rose in a 1929 Movietone. And of course “Peggy O’Neil“, sung by EVERYBODY.
To learn more about the history of vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.
And please check out my new book: Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, just released by Bear Manor Media, also available from amazon.com etc etc etc
(Travalanche) 