Seeking info. on Tin Pan Alley Composer-Thos Allen

Subject: Seeking info. on Tin Pan Alley Composer
From: babypix
Date: 28 May 20 - 02:05 PM

Greetings, Gentle Colleagues:

I am seeking extensive information on Tin Pan Alley Composer, Thos. S. Allen. He is known for writing "Low Bridge, Everybody Down/The Erie Canal", and some orchestral pieces, such as "Whip and Spur". Specifically, I'm seeing anything written about his 1909 composition, Hoop-e-Kack.

I've already seen Wikipedia entrees, and general lists of his compositions. What I'm after is background on Hoop-e-Kack, any critics' commentaries or analyses.

Yes, I've also seen the Vess Ossman film of this song.

If there's anyone out there in folkdom who knows an expert in Tin Pan Alley repertoire and composers, I'd appreciate a referral.

Kindest regards, stay well!

Best,
Deborah

Subject: RE: Seeking info. on Tin Pan Alley Composer
From: cnd
Date: 28 May 20 - 04:47 PM

I found 3 recordings of the song:
- 1909, by J. J. Kimmel and V. L. Ossman
- 1912, by William H. Reitz
- 1914, by The Peerless Orchestra
- 1925, a second(?) recording by The Peerless Orchestra

I found the song mentioned as being played at an event or for sale as sheet music in 64 articles from 1909 to 1935, with 22 of those mentions being in 1909. The references covered 18 states (including Washington, DC) plus 5 mentions abroad, 3 in Canada and 2 in Panama. The song was first copyrighted in 1908, so that time frame makes sense. This isn't an exhaustive search, just what came back when I searched the name "Hoop-e-Kack" in quotes on newspapers.com; there are of course other papers and books which mention it that either aren't digitized or aren't hosted there, but I think that gives you a good idea of the song's popularity. Most of those papers listed it as "novelty two-step."

Unfortunately, though, I didn't find anything for reviews or commentary of the song.

Subject: RE: Seeking info. on Tin Pan Alley Composer
From: babypix
Date: 28 May 20 - 06:04 PM

Thank you so much for this, cnd. Do you know of any other source where I might be able to tell if it was recorded or reviewed in Europe? You can also write me directly at: [e-mail]

Thanks!

Subject: RE: Seeking info. on Tin Pan Alley Composer-Thos Allen
From: cnd
Date: 28 May 20 - 06:36 PM

Glad to help!

Unfortunately I'm not sure about Europe; if newspapers.com has articles where the OCR identified letters that match the song in Roman characters, they would have come up. You could try searching in non-Roman letters but that'd be a lot of work.

There are also another 24 articles that mention it on archive.org, so you could look there.

Subject: RE: Seeking info. on Tin Pan Alley Composer
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 May 20 - 06:43 PM

Hi, Deborah,
Thomas A. Allen has a Wikipedia page, but it needs work. It says that "Low Bridge, Everybody Down" was published in 1913. I can't find any works by Allen in the Levy Sheet Music Collection, which surprises me.
I'm sure you know his Whip and Spur, often used by circuses. And you may his Any Rags?

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Seeking info. on Tin Pan Alley Composer
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 May 20 - 06:53 PM

Occasional Mudcatter Dave Ruch has a YouTube recording with all the verses of "Low Bridge":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep1hi6VBaWg

Dave also has a page on the song: https://daveruch.com/erie-canal-song/