Annotated Synopsis for Mr. Bluebeard 1903 American road company, followed by information about set designers and song lyrics.

Note: Links, when available, appear the first time a reference appears.  Information about songs and set designers follows synopsis.

ACT I

Act I Scene 1 The Market Place on the Quay near Bagdad (scenery by Bruce Smith)

• Mustapha (Robert E. Evans) plots to separate the beautiful Fatima (Blanche Adams) and her lover, Selem (Adele Rafter), and to sell Fatima to the wife-murdering pirate, Bluebeard (Harry Gilfoil)

• "Daylight is Dawning" performed by chorus [Note: based upon lyrics am guessing this is where in the lineup this tune was performed.]

• "Come, Buy Our Luscious Fruits" performed by Chorus

• "Oriental Slaves Are We" performed by Chorus

• "We Come From Dalmatia" performed by Chorus

• Algerian Slave Song performed by Chorus

• Grand Entrance Bluebeard's Retinue with Medley Ensemble performed by ?  Bluebeard (Gilfoil) arrives and purchases slaves

• "The Yankee Tourist Girl" performed by ?  [Note: based upon lyrics am guessing this is where in the lineup this tune was performed.]

• Fatima's sister Anne (Eddie Foy) falls in love with Bluebeard (Gilfoil), spurning Irish Patshaw (Herbert Cawthorne)

• Bluebeard (Gilfoil) seizes Fatima (Adams) and takes her on board his yacht

• "A Most Unpopular Potentate" performed by Bluebeard (Gilfoil) and Chorus

• "Welcome Fatima" performed by ?

• "For I am not only as good as I am but I'm As Good As I Ought To Be" performed by Fatima (Adams)

• "Finale — "Then Away We Go" performed by ?

Act I Scene 2 — On Board Bluebeard's Yacht. (scenery by Bruce Smith)

• Fatima (Adams) with Selim (Rafter) is prevented from escaping from Bluebeard's yacht

• Selim (Rafter) jumps overboard

• "There's Nothing Like the Life We Sailors Lead" performed by chorus

• "You'll Have to Read the Answer in the Stars" performed by Bluebeard (Gilfoil)

• "Twilight Glimmers / "Tink a Tink" duet performed by Selim (Rafter) and Fatima (Adams)

• "Beautiful World It Would Be"  performed by Bluebeard (Gilfoil)

• "I'm a Poor Unhappy Maid" performed by Sister Anne (Foy)

• "Marriage is Sublime" performed by Sister Anne (Foy)

• Finale — "He's Gone" performed by chorus?

Act I Scene 3 — The Isle of Ferns. (scenery by Henry Emden)

• Stella the Fairy Queen (Anabelle Whitford) appears to Selim (Rafter) and promises him her aid and the power or the Magic Fan to reunite him to his loved one, Fatima, and to protect them from evil

Act I Scene 4 — The Land of Ferns. (scenery by Henry Emden)

• Ballet of Ferns- Procession and waving of the Magic Fan, performed by the Fairies and Grand Corps de Ballet.  How the magic fan was created will be explained in Act II Scene 5

ACT II

Act II Scene 1 — The Castle Terrace and Gardens (scenery by R. C. McCleery)

• Believing her lover Selim dead, Fatima agrees to marry Bluebeard. Bluebeard (Gilfoil) gives her the key to the Castle and warns her not to open the Blue Chamber

• "Songbirds of Melody Lane,"  performed by Chorus and Pony Ballet dancers (Elsie Romaine and Beatrice Liddell) 

• "Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous" performed by Bluebeard (Gilfoil), Imer Dasher (Bonnie Magin) and the Pony Ballet

• "In the Pale Moonlight" performed by double octet
  DURING WHICH THE FIRE STARTED AT THE IROQUOIS

• Sister Anne (Foy) and her pet Elephant (William Seymour and Patrick E. Dawe)  This skit sometimes appeared prior to the Pale Moonlight skit but on Dec 30, 1903 was scheduled to follow it.

• "Ma Honey" performed by Imer Dasher (Magin) and the Chorus (including Marguerite Martin and Louise Van Deusen)

Act II Scene 2 — Chamber of Curiosities. (scenery by McCleery)

• Overcome by curiosity, Fatima (Adams) opens the Blue Chamber and discovers Bluebeard's awful secret, his past wives: Amina (Louis Richards), Beca (Elsie Romaine), Nadie (Edith Williams), Zaidee (Ethel Wynne), Zara (Daisy Beaute), Zoli (Anna Brandt), Badun (John Yates), Dunfor (L. A. Massette), Hacnun Bacnum (Edward Mora), Knouse (C. W. Northrop), Laidoff (Bert Ewing), Pascai (Frank Holand)
   

Act II Scene 3 — Home of the Old Woman Who Lived In a Shoe. (Ernest Albert)

• The disobedient children performed by Sister Anne (Foy) and the Pony Ballet

• "Wake up Mammy" performed by Sister Anne (Foy)

• "Mother Eve" performed by Sister Anne (Foy), Pony Ballet, and Chorus

Act II Scene 4 — Hall in Bluebeard's Palace (scenery by Ernest Albert)

• Dancing Specialty by Frank Young and Bessie De Voie to music by Clancy Herbert Kerr

Act II Scene 5 — Triumph of the Magic Fan (scenery by Henry Emden - see below). 

As was promised in Act I Scene III by Stella the Fairy Queen, fairies assembled the magic fan that will protect Fatima and Selim.  The story of the assembly (the history of fans) is told: 

• History tableaus:

Tableau 1 — The Land of Palms when natural leaves were used

Tableau 2 — Egypt where the man-made fans appeared

Tableau 3 — India of ancient times when fans were ornamented by symbols and emblems.   (Note: there is one piano score I've not been able to match up with any other Bluebeard skit, called Nautch Girls Dance that may have been performed in conjunction with this skit featuring Indian fans.  According to this Wiki, Nautch girls were a sort of wandering minstrel in 1870s India.  If so this piano score is the only thing I've found to suggest the music playing during this scene.) 

Tableau 4 — Japan where the use of fans is an art

Tableau 5 — Parisian Rose Garden represented by a colossal fan made of French lace that spreads open in mid air

Tableau 6 — Spanish Rose Garden filled with Spanish senoritas in satins and laces, carrying Spanish fans and a giant Spanish fan

• Electric Apotheosis, consisting of fairies (the Grigiolatis dancers) flying on revolving electric stars while the stage fills with 250 dancers costumed from many lands and eras, waving illuminated fans.  Presumably this in its entirety constitutes "the" magic fan.
  
   

 

Act III

Act III Scene 1 — Hall of Pleasure in Bluebeard's Palace (scenery by E. Albert)

• "Scenes of revelry in Bluebeard's absence

• "Let Us Be Jolly As Long As We Can" aka "When the Cat's Away, the Mice Will Play" performed by Chorus

• "Billy Gray, U.S.A., O.K."  performed by Imer Dasher (Magin)

• "Spoony Mooney Night" performed by Imer Dasher (Magin) and Chorus

• Pony Ballet Two Step performed by Pony Ballet

• "Julie" performed by Irish Patshaw (Cawthorne) and Chorus
  This is probably when Patshaw comes upstairs following a lengthy visit to Bluebeard's wine cellar in the basement.  Thoroughly plastered, Patshaw hallucinates a giant four-foot head and offers it a drink.  The head, operated by acrobat Harry T. Seymour, is named Grant (reason unknown).  A fifty-inch red tongue appears from the grotesque mouth to take a drink, then steals Patshaw's bottle of wine and scurries from the stage.

• Bluebeard (Gilfoil) returns unexpectedly

• "Raving: a Daffy Ditty" performed by Bluebeard (Gilfoil)

• Sister Anne (Foy) performs a skit in which she imagines herself to be Ophelia of Hamlet in a state of madness.  She first sings the two verses of  "Hamlet Was a Melancholy Dane." (lyrics and link to audio recording below) about a fellow who went to see Hamlet at the theater and wasn't impressed.  Sister Anne-Ophelia does a soliloquy of Shakespearean verse, then lays down atop a trap door, preparatory to her suicide, saying "I die, Mother, I die, I die." The trap door opens, Sister Anne-Ophelia drops out of sight as flames burst up through the trap door opening. Seconds later Sister Anne-Ophelia appears to be shot out of her grave by a cannon, surrounded by flames and wearing a fireman's hat, and displays a roll of paper with the large words, "No room down there" (alternatively reported as having said "No room, full up").* 
  Several reviewers found this to be the funniest skit in the production.

• Bluebeard (Gilfoil) discovers that Fatima (Adams) has disobeyed him and threatens she and her friends with death.
  
  

Act III Scene 2 — Below the Ramparts. (scenery by Cecil Hicks and Terry Brooks)

• Bluebeard (Gilfoil) gives Fatima (Adams) one hour in which to accept his offer of marriage or perish with her friends

• Selim (Rafter) summons Fairies' aid

• "I'll set my true Love free" performed by Selim (Rafter) presumed to have been somewhere in this scene

• Fairy Army arrives and attacks castle (with Selim's assistance?)

• Fatima (Adams) and her friends are in peril

Act III Scene 3 — The Fairy Palace. (scenery by Bruce Smith)

• Bluebeard (Gilfoil) is overthrown and the lovers are reunited

• "Grand Processional March" performed by ?     Entrance and triumph of the Fairy Army

• Grand Transformation Scene

Set designers

Ernest Albert (1857-1946)
Scenery painter and fine artist, born and educated in in Brooklyn, NY.  Was a founding member of the American Society of Scenic Painters.  He was born as Ernest Albert Brown but changed his name to omit the Brown.  Left the theater around 1909 to concentrate on landscape paintings.  The son of Harriet Dunn Smith Brown and Daniel Webster Brown, married to Annie Bagwell Brown with five children.  More information.

Arthur Collins (1864-1932) 
Though no longer having a hands-on role with scenery design and production, as theater manager at Drury Lane in 1903, Collins drew upon his early theater career days as a scene painter.  His heightened understanding and appreciation for the role of scenery led to the employment of more and better scenic artists and to the extravagant exhibitions of scenery, costumes and lighting that typified British pantomimes of the early 1900s.

Henry Emden (1852-1930)
A Drury Lane set designer/ painter.  A model of one of Henry's most recognized sets, for Humpty Dumpty, the Drury Lane production that followed Mr. Bluebeard.  Klaw & Erlanger also purchased Humpty and brought it to the U.S.  Two other Bluebeard scenic artists - Bruce Smith and R. C. McCleery - also produced scenes for Humpty.  The Victoria and Albert Museum of London quotes the Illustrated London News about an Emden technique that was also employed for Mr. Bluebeard. "...used drop curtains and painted gauzes to change one scene into another. When lit the sheer gauzes became translucent and revealed more painted scenery behind, opening up unexpected views for an admiring audience."  The gauze drop curtains reportedly annoyed Iroquois Theater manager Will J. Davis when the Bluebeard set arrived in Chicago.  It would later be suggested that Davis objected to the flammability of the gauze but given Davis's disregard for fire prevention it seems to me more likely that he had not seen and did not understand Emden's technique of using gauze drops to produce scenic transformations and judged the gauze drops on the basis of fragility compared to canvas drops.  I suspect the gauze contributed much to the Magic Fan tableaus in Act II Scene 5, for which the scenery was attributed to Henry.

R. C. McCleery - noted scenic painter

Bruce Smith (1855-1942), Both a painter and designer, Smith was nicknamed "Sensation Smith," for his spectacular scenes created for the Drury Lane theater, oftentimes incorporating elaborate mechanization.  He was responsible for the legendary chariot scene with a team of live horses in Ben Hur and a full-size locomotive in The Whip.

Mr. Bluebeard songs (listed alphabetically) 

Note: lyrics that follow were quickly typed and are intended for purposes of understanding the storyline rather than for singing or verse analysis.  Links to piano scores are provided when possible.   I'm not certain that all the songs listed were included in every performance but most were produced as Mr. Bluebeard sheet music and were presumably performed in some if not all engagements.

"Algerian Slave Song" lyrics (Solomon & Goodwin tune) piano score  Sheet music was retailed for this song
"Silver sequins in our hair, a tinkling tinkling tinkling little feet so brown and bare, a twinkling, twinkling, twinkling swaying as the lilies sway that we're sweet as morn in May. You must have it's save to say an inkling an inkling silver sequins in our hair, a tinkling, tinkling, tinkling little feet so brown and bare, a twinkling, twinkling, twinkling, twinkling"

"A Most Unpopular Potentate" lyrics (Solomon & Goodwin tune) piano score  Sheet music was retailed for this song
"You see in me, I beg to state, a most unpopular potentate; I rule by fear and not by love for I'm no imbecile turtle dove. I love in gore my hands to steep, revel in villainy dire and deep, as a fiend in carnate I'll admit, that I'm emphatically it. For Bluebeard is my name, I'm not  unknown to fame. From buying votes to cutting throats to me is all the same. that I'm simply steeped in crime you can wager your last dime. Kids in the night wake up in affright if they happen to dream of Bluebeard. Of wives I've had at least a score, the lot of some of them I deplore, but they my orders disobeyed and so a penalty painful paid. Despite their shrieks of wild despair I grabbed them tight by their long back hair and tho they prayed and begged and pled, since I'd lost mine, each lost her head."

"Ballet of Ferns" (Solomon tune)  Probably orchestration only

"Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous" lyrics (Dan McAvoy tune) piano score recording  Sheet music was retailed for this song  One of several so-called Coon songs in Mr. Bluebeard.
"When Roger McNally retired from the force he opened up a fine saloon. His daughter Nellie was the head cashier. the waiter was a big black coon. He invited all of the city sports and all from the city hall. The mayor he was there, the judge was in the chair, and some aldermen from St. Paul. The big Dutch band, the finest in the land, played til five o'clock, Mary Anne Breen she kicked the tambourine, she woke the entire block. Marty McGee threw away the key that belonged to Murphy's truck and the beer that made Milwaukee famous made all New York drunk. When Michael McClusky got up to make a speech somebody yelled "Sit down" Gilhooly the plumber says, "Mac, you're it!" You could hear him way down town. They started to playing Kilkinny for me, Killarney's Lakes and hills, they turned out the lights had half a dozen fights as you know the Irish will."

"Billy Gray, U.S.A., O.K" lyrics (Gus Edwards and Will Cobb tune) piano score  Sheet music was retailed for this song
"Hark! I hear the drum, tarum tarum bum bum bum To my ear there comes a military hum, the world is going round with pleasure I'll be bound, it's fun you know when billy goes a marching. With step so true he treads the Avenue. The boys shout Hip Hoo roo! The girls are happy too, Hoo roo! Hoo ray! Hoorah for Billy Gray, the boy we take our hats off to first in peace, first in war, bless the girl he's fighting for, Oh! When you march behind the band let your chest with pride expand, you're the boy who's in demand in love or war on land or shore. Hark I hear the drum, tarum um bum bum bum, Once again I hear a military hum, but he's not on parade, in khaki he's arrayed, and there's a tear behind that cheer so hearty. His knapsack here is packed with loving care, maybe a bible there, maybe a lock of hair, and she's the girl, I bet, who put it there, the one he gave the last kiss to, first in peace, first in war, she's the girl he's fighting for."

"Come, Buy Our Luscious Fruits" (Solomon & Goodwin tune) piano score  Sheet music was retailed for this song
"Come buy our luscious fruit, pomegranates, figs and dates. They your taste will surely suit. All we sell at lowest rates. Our melons sweet as honey and our nectarines just try, you'll find them worth the money, come buy, come buy come buy! See all are fresh and fair, all juicy ripe and rare; So do not miss a chance like this to buy, come buy. Rugs here from Persian looms, finest of sweet perfumes. The finest rugs from Persian looms, come buy, buy buy. Come buy our figs and dates, all we sell at lowest rates, sweetest pomegranates just try, come buy, come buy, come buy."

"Daylight is Dawning" lyrics (Solomon & Goodwin tune)  Sheet music was retailed for this song
"Hurry, scurry, look alive, for it is our busy day. We must strenuously strive while the sun shines to make hay. All our wares we must array so that customers will say, "Did you ever?" "No, I never saw so dazzling a display." Smiling faces blithe and gay, bright as dewy morn in May. Every buyer will admire all the good things we display. Then no discount will require but consumed with made desire will our prices gladly pay, our prices they will gladly pay. Yes this is our busy day, yes this is our busy day"

"For I Am Not Only as Good as I am but I'm As Good As I Ought To Be" lyrics (Solomon tune) piano score  Sheet music was retailed for this song
"I've always been considered most retiring and demure, A very shrewd girl, but ne'er a rude girl; There's no one can deny the fact of that I'm very sure, Perfectly cool girl, a Sunday School girl; The teachers set me up as an example to the girls, I never tore my copy books, nor rumpled up my curls, I never made companions of those classified as churls, A dignified girl; The Family Pride girl. I never go to picnics, to a party fete or ball. Cavorting around with gentlemen I do not like at all, That's why you hear people remark, "A better girl you cannot see; For I am not only as good as I am, But as good as I ought to be. I don't indulge in novels of the cheap and vulgar kind, Altho' romantic, some what pedantic, Shakespeare and Byron are the works most suited to my mind; A most sedate girl, not stay up late girl; I never sigh for young men's arms to help me up life's hills; What's more a husband I do not require to pay my bills, I shun all affectation and I never put on frills. Never a rude girl, though somewhat shrewd girl. No matter where I chance to go, respect is paid to me, The gentlemen all take off their hats with regularitee. That's why you hear people remark, A better girl you cannot see, For I am not only as good as I am, But as good as I ought to be."

"Grand Processional March" lyrics (Solomon & Goodwin tune) piano score  Sheet music was retailed for this song
"Homeward we proudly come, Bluebeard must feel glum to hear the joyous sounds of trumpet and drum. Vainly he stoutly fought, All availed him naught for every tiem we proved we were victorious. All his army and forces before us fled, courage completely dead, Selim his love can wed. Selim now Fatima very soon wil wed. We have returned with laurels ever glum to hear the joyous sounds of trumpet and drum, vainly he stoutly fought, all availed him naught for every time we proved we were victorious. Long life the bridegroom and bride so fair, banishing all thought of sorrow or care. Dark clouds ne'er hover o'er each tru lover may they forever live in clover clover Homeward we proudly come, Bluebeard must feel glum to hear the joyous sounds of trumpet and drum, vainly he stoutly fought, all availed him naught for every time we proved we were victorious. Give them a cheer, give them a cheer Hip Hip Hur rah Give them a cheer Hurrah"

"Hamlet was a Melancholy Dane"  (Jerome and Schwartz tune) Piano score Listen to old record of same at Hamlet Melancholy Dane  Sheet music was retailed for this song
"I went to see a Shakespeare show In the opera house two weeks ago And since that night I never felt the same. Twas a dreamy, dopey, sad affair Of a gent with disappointed hair, The program stated Hamlet was his name. He seemed to be asleep and looking for a cot. When he said to be or not to be I felt like saying not. Hamlet was a melancholy Dane. Hamlet was a melancholy Dane. I tried to laugh a little but there wasn't any chance, He didn't sing a song or even do a funny dance. Hamlet was a melancholy Dane, Why he wouldn't give Omega Oil a pain, he was icy and frapped as a Boston college maid For Hamlet was a melancholy Dane. Dane. He had the greatest chance you see to introduce a specialty, I felt like yelling Ham it's up to you. For instance in the graveyard scene To keep poor Yorick's memory green, A verse of Mister Dooley ooley oo. He picked up Yorick's skull and said I well knew thee, Just then the band began to play I'm t i r e d. Hamlet was a melancholy Dane, Hamlet was a melancholy Dane, He looked just like a fellow who had trouble with his wife, Or a Brooklyn man that pushed a baby carriage all his life. Hamlet was a melancholy Dane, No wonder poor Ophelia went insane, Perhaps twas salary And he didn't get his pay For Hamlet was a melancholy Dane. Dane."  [Omega Oil was an oily salve purported to relieve sprains, strains and bruises.]

"He's Gone" (Solomon & Goodwin tune)   Nothing learned so far

"Hop, Hop, Hippety Hop" (Billee Taylor & Joe Flynn tune)  Not known where it appeared in production and cannot find online copy of sheet music  Sheet music was retailed for this song

"I'll Set my True Love Free" lyrics (Solomon & Goodwin tune) piano score  Sheet music was retailed for this song
"In days of old a champion bold for his love went forth to fight, with arms complete on his charger fleet and helmet shining bright, as he rode along he sang this song, "Sweetheart, be true to me, and ere the dawn of morning light from your prison I'll set you free." So like that knight who went forth to fight so will I set forth today, with sword in hand and a gallant band all eager for the fray. None but the brave deserve the fair that shall my motto be, and e'er the down of another day I'll set my true love free. With sword unsheathed and no thought of fear I'll stay to join my band, with troopers brave my love to save we'll traverse over the land. O'er hill and dale through mead and vale, o'er mountains steep and high, to go I've sworn before the dawn to save my love or die. So like that knight who went forth to fight so will I set forth today, with sword in hand and a gallant band all eager for the fray. None but the brave deserve the fair that shall my motto be, and e'er the down of another day I'll set my true love free."

"I'm a Poor Unhappy Maid" lyrics (Jerome and Schwartz tune) piano score  Sheet music was retailed for this song
"Behold a poor unhappy maid whose life is quite forlorn, To tell the honest truth it seems a shame that I was born. My face is full of wrinkles and they are so deep and wide, That when the flies play hide and seek in my poor face they hide. I'm a poor unhappy maid Love games I have never played. Girls they love to tease me, men will never squeeze me, I'm a poor unhappy maid. maid.
Last summer down at the Coney Isle I thought I would be cute. And when I went in bathing wore a dainty little suit. I thought the swells would like it, for I really looked quite gay, But when the men they spied me they all quickly ran away. I'm a poor unhappy maid. Men of me they seem a fraid. My poor heart is shattered, with grief I'm all spattered, I'm a poor unhappy maid. maid. I've never had sweet nothings whispered in my pretty ear, No man has yet been brave enough to call me baby dear, Or little tootsey wootsey, though I often gave the hint, The names these horrid men call me you would dare to print. I'm a poor unhappy maid, with one solitary braid, Not one kiss I've tasted, my poor lips are wasted, I'm a poor unhappy maid. From Harlem to the Battery I walk most every day, To see if I can find a man with one kind word to say, and even on a rainy day at crossings I'm forsook, For when I show my pretty foot the men won't even look. I'm a poor unhappy maid, my poor heart is now frapped, How my sould does blubber, no one cares to rubber, At this poor unhappy maid."

"In the Pale Moonlight" lyrics  (Jerome and Woodward tune) piano score  Sheet music was retailed for this song.  This is song being performed when Iroquois fire started.
"Men Softly give the signal for the ladies to appear (soft whistle). Just a little louder, boys, perhaps they didn't hear. (loud whistle)
Girls Better give the signal, for the boys have gone away (weak whistle) Girls are not so good as men at
     whistling, so they say (loud whistle). Is not this a most improper time to pay a call?
Men We have been to beg the moon behind a cloud to crawl. Say it is informal, but improper not at all!
Girls Mercy! How you frightened us! that isn't right at all!
Men Dearest, how you tremble!
Girls I am chilly.
Men Here's a shawl. Prithee, let me wrap it round thee tight. 
Girls How can we get down there?
Men Jump, we'll catch you.
Girls No, we'd fall. Swear if we descend, you'll treat us right.
Men Let us swear it by the pale moonlight, we love you blindly.
Girls Let us wear it in the pale moonlight, we thank you kindly. Then we take it that your word you plight,
     That we won't be kissed.
Men Most refindly you have thank'd us for a favor slight, so if you'll allow now we insist, we'll behave in manner most polite
Girls No, no, not now; don't you think it's time to say goodnight? Not too boldly?
Men Nor too coldly so here's my hand, then.
Girls Understand, then the reason we allow this liberty, is because you wear a smile that says it's right, let us wear it in the pale moonlight.
Men Make no noise but come and join the boys, on condition that the moon is shining bright, let us swear it by the pale moonlight."

"Julie" lyrics (Jerome and Schwartz tune)   (piano score)  Sheet music was retailed for this song  One of several so-called Coon songs in Mr. Bluebeard.
"That tragedy was on the wane there's not the slightest doubt Twas ten to one that Willie Shakespear's pipe was going out Until I hit upon a scheme to bring it back again By introducing in each play a catchy coon refrain In Romeo and Juliet to keep the thing a go Poor Romey sang to Juliet this little tale of woe Julie I love you truly Julie believe me do Julie don't act unruly Oh promise Julie that you'll be true. Your eyes they seem to haunt me you are my only pet There are no other Julies like Julie ooley my Julie et et
In Kokomo and Olean I pack them to the doors And when I play in Hackensack they have to close the stores My name it is a household word in every town in Maine and at the depot in each burg they meet me at the train It makes no difference what I play the play is not the thing For in Macbeth or Uncle Tom I always have to sing Julie I love you truly Julie believe me do Julie don't act unruly Oh promise Julie that you'll be true. Your eyes they seem to haunt me you are my only pet There are no other Julies like Julie ooley my Julie et et"

"Let us Be Jolly As Long As We Can" lyrics aka "When the Cat's Away, the Mice Will Play" (Solomon & Goodwin tune)  piano score  Sheet music was retailed for this song
"Let us be jolly as long as we can. For life we are taught to believe is a span; And Bluebeard that terrible, terrible man, They say very shortly arrives. So whatever has got to be done today Must be done at once without delay; Then let's get a move on and finish our play or he will demand our lives. When the cat's away the mice will play, And girls are just like mice. All warnings in vain, they can't refrain, Oh it's naughty but it's nice. It's the same old song they know it is wrong And the piper will have to pay. That's why they say when the cat's away the mice are sure to play."

"Ma Honey" (Hoffman tune)     Nothing learned so far.  Max Hoffman composed 150 songs before his thirtieth birthday.  For everything there is to know about composer Maximillian Hoffman check out Bill Edward's amazing page about him on ragpiano.com.

"Marriage is Sublime" lyrics (Morse & Bryan tune) piano score  Sheet music was retailed for this song
"Boy It's foolish to be married if you've never met your wife.
Girl I shall introduce my mother to my father.
Boy If you want to cut your wife's expenses always use a knife. 
Girl And she'll see the point without a bit of bother.
Boy If you have to keep a hired girl, don't keep her in a cage.
Girl Just remember that poor cage must have some feeling.
Boy if she lights the fire with kerosene, then don't get in a rage.
Girl For she'll make a lively fresco on your ceiling.
Both Oh! my! marriage is sublime!
Boy you ought to use tin silverware, for it is hard to break.
Girl If your wife don't like tomahtoes, get tomatoes.
Boy When you're serving macaroni you should serve it with a reel.
Girl And don't sharpen table knives up on your gaiters.
Boy If the girl is washing dishes and she makes a lot of cracks.
Girl Whate'er befall to argue don't endeavor.
Boy If you want to put ideas in her head just use an axe.
Girl And you'll find it will not hurt the axe whatever.
Both Oh! my! marriage is sublime!

"Medley" (Solomon & Goodwin tune)   Sheet music was retailed for this song

"Mother Eve" (aka "Stories Adam Told to Eve") lyrics (Jerome and Schwartz tune) piano score  Sheet music was retailed for this song
"Come gather round me little ones, some stories I'll relate, don't interrupt your mammy dear, have patience now and wait, That every one of you will laugh, I honestly believe, While I read you the stories Adam told to Mother Eve. Stories Adam told to Eve, Stories we must all believe, Adam never did deceive, dear old, sweet old, Mother Eve. I went into a butcher shop, a place I really dread, Give me a pound of dog meat, to the butcher man, I said, The butcher man called me aside, and whispered in my ear, He said "Miss, will I wrap it up, or will you eat it here. Stories Adam told to Eve, Stories we must all believe, Adam never did deceive, Dear old, sweet old, Mother Eve. My brother Charlies wife bought him some woolen underwear, She wanted to protect him from the damp and chilly air, He sent a letter to me and it took away my breath, He wrote the woolen underwear hand tickled him to death. Stories Adam told to Eve, Stories we must all believe, Adam never did deceive, dear old, sweet old, Mother Eve. My big fat sister Mary Jane, has caused us all to weep, the whole night lon6 poor sister she keeps walking in Haml do the same we wouldn't have to fret, He'd be upon the police force of dear old Pittsburg yet."

"Oriental Slaves Are We" lyrics (Solomon & Goodwin tune) piano score Sheet music was retailed for this song
"Here are slaves of every fashion, light or dark or plump or slender. All aglow with loving passion, Graceful, gentle, meek and tender. All aglow with loving passion, meek and tender. Fair Circassian slaves are we, willowy and slender, very loving we can be, we affection tender. As to beauty we will leave that to any jury. If one and all both short and tall is not a perfect houri, if one and all both short and tall is not a perfect hour i"

"Pony Ballet Two Step" (Schwartz tune) piano score Sheet music was retailed for this song

More information about the Pony Ballet.

"Raving: A Daffy Ditty" lyrics (Morse & Bryan tune) piano score   Sheet music was retailed for this song
"I'll sing a little hymn to you, it's crazy as can be, now if you do not like this rave, don't put the blame on me. The author is a maniac I'm jollying along, to tell the truth I'm pretty sure that when he wrote this song that he was raving, raving, he's been crazy right along, to have me sing this song, i know he's raving, raving, for his song would give red raven splits the blues. While visiting a funny house one Sunday afternoon, I met the man who wrote this song, I knew he was a loon. He said to me "I want to sleep, get me some toast I beg. I love to go to sleep on toast, for I'm a scrambled egg." He was just raving, raving tho he acted as eggsact I could tell that he was cracked yes he was raving, raving but he couldn't work a shell game off on me. I asked this loon, was his clock right, he said "It's not I fear, you ought to know if it was right it wouldn't be up here." He said "the clock is all run down, I think it must be sick It's in the funny house, but it won't give a loon a tick." He was just raving, raving when I said "can that clock strike?" then the loon said "Why sure Mike! He was raving, raving For he took the clock and struck me on the head. I used to do a song and dance, play Irish parts and duh, I've done a French man but the critics didn't like me much. My manager once said to me, "you're versatile, it's true, now tell me truly, do you think that you could do a Jew?" He was just raving, raving, he said can you do a Jew? Then I answered "No! Can you?" He was just raving, raving, for I wouldn't be an actor if I could."

"Songbirds of Melody Lane" (Edwards and Bryan tune)
When this number was performed on opening night in Manhattan in January, 1903 Elsie Romaine's tough Bowery girl gestures captured the attention and affection of the audience and critics.  Overnight she went from an unknown chorus girl to a recognized name.  I found no evidence that sheet music was produced for the skit, making it likely the act contained no song content.

"Spoony Mooney Night" (Gus Edwards tune) piano score  Sheet music was retailed for this song
"Some choose the seashore some stand at the door, when wooing and cooing their beau. While others remark, "for mine it's the par," it really don't matter you know. Each place may seem nice, that don't cut the ice, it's the season you choose for love's tune that wins you the prize so I'll put you all wise, when you spoon always croon neath the moon in June. On a spooney mooney night in the balmy month of June something queer in the atmosphere that sets fond hearts in tune. Girls act cold at times I'm told but when nobody's in sight, they'll bill and they'll coo and  they whisper "goo goo" on a spooney mooney night. When winter brings snow girls chilly will grow, in autumn vain hopes often spring. About first of May she's moving your way, beginning to be the real thing but don't be in a haste to let arms go waist, you're counting your chickens too soon, just wait for the bliss of a lingering kiss, when you spoon always croon neath the moon in June. On a spooney mooney night, in the balmy month of June something queer in the atmosphere that sets fond hears in tune, girls act cold at times I'm told but when nobody's in sight, they'll bill and they'll co and they whisper "goo goo" on a spooney mooney night."

"Then Away We Go" (Solomon & Goodwin tune)     Nothing learned so far

"There's Nothing Like the Life We Sailors Lead" (Solomon & Goodwin tune)     Nothing learned so far

"Twilight Glimmers" / "Tink a Tink" (authors????????)    Nothing learned so far

"Wake up Mammy Malinda"  (Nugent tune)  piano score Sheet music was retailed for this song
"The daylight am a peeping, there ain't no sign of night, the birds up in the tree tops, are singing with delight; The bells will soon be ringing, sweet music soft and clear, Don't you see the day is dawning, and its time to say good morning, for the break of day is coming dear. Wake up, Malinda da, wake up, my love, Sunbeams are dancing, down from above, Birds am a humming, Spring am a coming, We're here to greet you with love Malinda; Open your window, gaze at the light, No sign of darkness, no sign of night, And the flowers in the dell, They have something sweet to tell, If you will only just wake up Ma lin da da.
The pretty morning glories, are climbin up the vine, They seem to whisper honey, some day you will be mine; And in a little cabin, we'll settle down for life, It's a shame to longer tarry, lovin souls should always marry, for I wants you honey for my wife.
Wake up, Malinda da, wake up, my love, Sunbeams are dancing, down from above, Birds am a humming, Spring am a coming, We're here to greet you with love Malinda; Open your window, gaze at the light, No sign of darkness, no sign of night, And the flowers in the dell, They have something sweet to tell, If you will only just wake up Ma lin da da."

"We Come From Dalmatia" lyrics (Solomon & Goodwin tune) piano score  Sheet music was retailed for this song
"We come from Dalmatia, far away, far away. Over the billowy sea, far away; you may look til you're blind, but you never will find more beautiful slaves than we. We can play on th edulcimer, play on the lute, but though it is wrong to boast we so dazzle and daze by our cute cunning ways that we play on your heart strings most. We come from Dalmatia far away, far away, over the billowy sea, far away. You may look til you're blind, but you never will find more beautiful slaves than we."

"Welcome Fatima" (Solomon & Goodwin tune)   Nothing learned so far

"What a Beautiful World It Would Be" lyrics (Andrew B. Sterling and Harry Von Tilzer tune) piano score  Sheet music was retailed for this song
"In an old rustic stile down the lane, sat a boy and a dear little girl. When she smiled he felt glad, when she frowned he grew sad, and he whispered "My heart's in a whirl without you all the world would be dark. I am happy when you're by my side. Will it always be so, answer yes, don't say No and with heart filled with rapture he cried "What a beautiful world this would be if twas built just for you and for me, down life's stream we'd flow, flow, flow, we'd let cupid row, row, row, what a beautiful world this would be, how like Adam and Eve you and me, on this earth just we two, you'd love me, I'd love you, what a beautiful world this would be. At her feet by the old rustic style, there the boy told his story of love, to the dear little girl with his heart in a whirl while the stars slyly peeped from above, soft and low like a sweet summer breeze, came the answer that filled him with joy, for perhaps you can guess, the dear girl answered yes and once more came these words from the boy "What a beautiful world this would be if twas built just for you and for me, down life's stream we'd flow, flow, flow, we'd let cupid row, row, row, what a beautiful world this would be, how like Adam and Eve you and me, on this earth just we two, you'd love me, I'd love you, what a beautiful world this would be."   (lyrics for extra verses by Raymond A. Browne)

"When the Colored Band Comes Marching Down the Street" "Wende Colo'ed Ban Comes Ma'chin' Down De Street"

(J. Rosamond Johnson & Paul Lawrence Dunbar)  It is not known where in the production this appeared but Act II Scene 1 or Act III Scene 1 are possibilities. piano score  Sheet music was retailed for this song
"W'en de colo'ed ban' comes ma'ch in' down de street, don't you people stan'daih starin, lif yo' feet! Ain't dey playin Hip, hoo-ray!  Stir yo' stumps an' clear de way, Fu de music dat dey mek in' can't be beat. Oh de major man's a swingin of his stick, an de piccaninnies crowd in round him thick. In his gogeous uniform he's delightnin of de sto'm, an' de little clouds er roun look might y slick. You kin hyeah a fine perfo'mance w'en de white ban's serenade, an' dey play dey high-toned music and de play it mighty sweet, but hit's Sousa played in ragtime, and hit's Rastus on Parade, w'en de colo'ed ban' comes ma'ch in', ma'chin' down de street. W'en de colo'ed ban' comes ma'chin' down de street you kin hyeah de ladies all erroun' repeat "Ain't dey han'some; ain't dey grand? Ain't dey splendid? Goodness lan'! Why dey's pufect f'om dey fo'heads to dey feet!" Ausich steppin to de music down de line Tain't de music by itself dat makes it fine, Hit's de walking' step by step an de keepin' time wid "hep," dat it mek a common ditty soun divine. You kin hyeah a fine perfo'mance w'en de white ban's serenade, an' dey play dey high-toned music and de play it mighty sweet, but hit's Sousa played in ragtime, and hit's Rastus on Parade, w'en de colo'ed ban' comes ma'ch in', ma'chin' down de street."

In the aughts, some novelists, playwrights and even newspaper editorialists (see Hyde & Reed as examples) were quick to insert dialect.  Academics, African Americans, and drunks, were favorite targets.  For some writers, insult was the goal; for others it was a byproduct of over indulged creative license, perhaps a way for the author to  insert himself/herself into the work.  The perpetrators would probably have categorized it as, "good natured fun" and adamantly rejected a criticism that it was cruel and offensive. 

"Yankee Tourist Girl" lyrics (Jerome and Woodward) piano score
"She's a girl of a kind who has made up her mind for a voyage neatly planned. She will be in Paree, then again on the sea, and the next day in the Strand. Nor is her fun done on seeing London, she's bent on taking a trip on a train or a ship, and seeing every land. She can cover the ground with a leap and a bound that would make old fogies stare. She will ramble and roam and she won't stay at home til she's traveled everywhere. Who is the girl, now can't you guess? Mixture of pluck and loveliness, is she a Yankee girl? I answer yes! She's the Yankee Tourist Girl and none will ever  dispute her, all will salute her and every wish obey up pathways steep that round the mountains curl then down the dell that is shady marches my lady forth on her joyous way. The starry banner to the winds unfurl for she's America's daughter over the water far from fashion's whirl. And one and all both great and small salute the Yankee Tourist Girl. For a time it's sublime up a mountain to climb and survey the dizzy height. Or again it is grand on the border to stand of a precipice at night. Then dash through Prussia and into Russia then back to England again, then to Turkey and Spain and last the Isle of Wight. And the girl who does this is a dear little miss with an unpretentious air, but she's plumb full of go and she hates to go slow for her motto is "get there."

"You'll Have to Read the Answer in the Stars"  (Tilzer and Bryan tune)  piano score Sheet music was retailed for this song
"They say astrology is true, the little stars know all you do. They even know more than your wife, for they can tell your future life. Why does your girl get in a rage if you should ask her what's her age, the little stars are on to her so ask some good astrologer. You will have to read the answer in the stars, just drop a line to Jupiter or Mars. If her age is close to forty, tell me why she acts so haughty, you will have to read the answer in the stars. A lady walks into a shop, before a tired clerk she'll shop, then bales of silk he will take down but at each sample she will frown. She says the silk is not for me, I'm looking for a friend you see. One bolt of silk is on the end, does she think it conceals her friend? You  will have to read the answer in the stars, just drop a line to Jupiter or Mars. You can see the clerk is praying, but you don't know what he's saying, you will have to read the answer in the stars. The Philippines and Cuba too, were conquered by our boys in blue, the Philippines are on the shelf but we've let Cuba run itself, on our old banner there's a star, for each and every state so far, Will we let Cuba be a state, you'll have to watch the flag and wait. You will have to read the answer in the stars, just drop a line to Jupiter or Mars. For the end of Cuba's story, you will have to watch Old Glory, you will have to read the answer in the stars."

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