Raymod Egan (1 results)

Soft cover. Condition: Poor. Morris N. Einson, Dixie and Black (illustrator). Large format original sheet music.Very heavy edgewear with heavy repair of spine using string or thread - but still an interesting piece. Piano and lyrics. Richard A. Whiting was a major American composer born in 1891 and active until his death in 1938. He was one of the important figures of the Tin Pan Alley and early Hollywood songwriting worlds. Whiting composed numerous hit songs that became widely performed in theaters, films, and radio broadcasts. His music is known for its melodic accessibility and strong emotional appeal, and he worked with many leading lyricists of his time, including Egan. Together, Egan and Whiting formed a successful songwriting partnership that contributed to the popular music landscape of the 1910s and 1920s. Their collaborations often blended sentimental lyrics with memorable, singable melodies designed to appeal to both stage performers and home audiences. Songs like this reflect the broader Tin Pan Alley tradition of crafting emotionally engaging, commercially successful popular music during a formative period in American entertainment history. The cover illustration, is, frankly, problematic and worth discussing. Einson was a prolific New York-based illustrator, frequently identified as Morris M. Einson (1883-1936), known for creating cover art for popular American sheet music during the early 1900s, particularly around 1910-1920. Working with publishers like Jerome H. Remick & Co., Einson illustrated covers for ragtime, popular songs, and hits from musicals. "Dixie" or "Dixieland" refers to the regional term for the American South. The song (with lyrics by Raymond B. Egan and music by Richard A. Whiting) romanticized the South, referencing a "dear old Mammy" and "days of old Black Joe," evoking popular minstrel-style imagery of the era.While "Black" in this specific context refers to "Old Black Joe"?a fictionalized character from a 19th-century Stephen Foster song?the search results highlight a deeper, separate history regarding "Dixie." It was historically an indigenous Northern negro refrain related to a Manhattan slave owner named "Dixy" before being appropriated as a Southern Confederate anthem. The sheet music from 1916, which Einson illustrated, contributed to the sentimental, romanticized view of the South, often described in that period as "negro allegory" or "pathetic negro allegory" , which is of course deeply offensive, but still of historical interest.