Today is the birthday of Dave Dreyer (1894-1967). Dreyer was an accompanist in vaudeville, playing for the likes of Al Jolson, Sophie Tucker, Belle Baker and Frank Fay. He wrote or -co-wrote such songs as “Me and My Shadow”, “In a Little Second Hand Store” and “Cecilia”. From 1929 to 1940 he wrote film scores and was head of the music department for RKO. In 1947 he founded his own music publishing company,
To find out more about vaudeville past and present, 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 don’t miss 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
