Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?

Subject: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From:
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 04:35 PM

Does anyone know the origin of the song "We Never Mention Aunt Clara"?

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: Bill D
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 04:46 PM

*smile*...read these two threads...

click and click

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: Don Firth
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 04:51 PM

I first ran across it (one verse only) in Carl Sandburg's American Songbag.

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 05:18 PM

Here's what I posted to a previous thread:

I learned "Aunt Clara" (and it's rather turned into my theme song) years ago from an older friend who learned it in the '40s from her college roommate's father.

Ed Cray (author of _Erotic Muse_ and eminant biographer) called me a few years back when he was working on _Chief Justice_ and told me it was Chief Justice Earl Warren's favorite *recitation*; don't think he knew it as a song. We speculated it's from somewhere between 1900 and the 1920s, but haven't a clue as to who wrote it.

I run into people occasionally who hear me sing it and get all nostalgic because they'd only heard their mother/father sing it.
Addition to old post, just recently a woman joined us at The Press Room session on a night I sang the song. I don't know which of us was more surprised at the other knowing the song. It's not sung by many people. Anyway, she said it was the themesong of the female auxiliary of the New York Shakespeare Society or something like that.

Bat Goddess

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: Bill D
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 05:29 PM

well, the closest we have to an answer is 'Bud Willis' claim (see the 2nd thread above)the he had once sued Carl Sandburg for including it without permission..*shrug*

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: katlaughing
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 07:19 PM

Ivan B. sings it in Paltalk. It was the first time I'd heard it. Love his rendition of it and now sing it myself.

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: IanC
Date: 12 Jul 01 - 04:27 AM

There's some interesting info on this site which suggest that "Aunt Clara" might be based on Sherlock Holmes' Irene Adler (there are other sites which suggest this also).

Cheers!
Ian

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: IanC
Date: 12 Jul 01 - 07:47 AM

I noticed that the only note about this in DT is that it is a parody of "Picture Turned Against The Wall". Levy has 3 versions of this song:

"The Picture That is Turned Against The Wall"
Written and Composed by Chas. Graham
New York: M. Witmark & Sons, 839 & 841 Broadway, 1891.

Cheers!
Ian

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: GUEST,mmckayABQ
Date: 29 May 03 - 01:03 PM

The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes (definitely not a Shakespeare group, Bat Goddess!) have a link to the song and its history on our website that makes all the connections. Bud Willis (the old guy in the nursing home) was right... I bet he enjoyed hearing it.

Here's the link:
http://www.ash-nyc.com/AuntClara.History.htm

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: Joan from Wigan
Date: 30 May 03 - 05:10 AM

So how can we get hold of the book mentioned?: "We Always Mention Aunt Clara" by William T. Rabe. Amazon.co.uk don't have it or anything else by Rabe, and Google isn't any more helpful. Is there an ISBN number please?

Joan

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: Joan from Wigan
Date: 31 May 03 - 04:32 AM

Refresh - in hope of an answer.

Joan

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: Joan from Wigan
Date: 31 Jul 03 - 05:39 AM

The refreshing of the other Aunt Clara thread reminded me of my unanswered question from this one, so I'm refreshing this thread again in the hope that someone may be able to help with the book. Perhaps GUEST,mmckayABQ may see this again? Or anyone else who knows anything? (Follow the Aunt Clara History link above.)

Joan

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 31 Jul 03 - 02:00 PM

Tried before, and tried again. Nothing by Wm. T. Rabe, or this Aunt Clara at major book dealers (new and used). I think it might be a club publication, not widely released.

I have sent an Email to the Serpentine Muse contributions editor.

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 31 Jul 03 - 08:29 PM

GOOGLE for "Old Soldiers of Baker Street of the Two Saults," the indicated "publisher" of the book, finds ACTIVE SHERLOCKIAN SOCIETIES (OTHER), but the indicated organization is not listed as one of the 140 "active" societies. The Google cache page shows:

  The Old Soldiers of Baker Street of the Two Saults (Old SOB's^3)
                                John S. Rabe
  military Sherlockians         1742 Grevelia Street #I
                                South Pasadena, CA 91030-2734
  

There is, unfortunately, no indication of how long ago the page was cached.

Also returned:
SHERLOCKIAN SOCIETIES, which shows:

  The Old Soldiers of Baker Street of the Two Saults (Old SOB's^3)
       Y     P     John S. Rabe
  

No indication of what the "Y" and "P" notations mean on this page, and no other information given. This appears to be a "personal page," but the "owner" is not identified.

Elsewhere, I found that a William T. Rabe was married (location unknown) in 1898(?) and that a William T. Rabe Jr. married in El Paso County Texas in 1976.

The book was most likely a "club" publication, and may be quite difficult to find - at least without joining a Sherlock group.

John

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 31 Jul 03 - 09:21 PM

I have received an Email from the co-editor of the Serpentine Muse, Susan Diamond (still an active Sherlock publication with an issue for 2003). She is contacting John Singleton, the author of the book, to find out its status.

Like John in Kansas, I suspect that this could have been a book with a very limited press run. Susan Diamond was not associated with the group until well after the 1991 date given for the book.

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: IvanB
Date: 31 Jul 03 - 10:08 PM

Doing a Google search on "W.T. Rabe" resulted in a large number of hits. Following the most obvious of these leads me to believe that the author in question was a PR man in Michigan back in the 80's who, in the late 80's and early 90's, lived in Sault Ste. Marie, MI. His son, John Rabe, is the local host of NPR's "All Things Considered" on So. Cal. Public Radio, KPCC, I believe in Pasadena. John Rabe, in one interview stated that his parents both died in the early 90's, but I suspect he'd have some knowledge of the book. Try as I might, I couldn't find an email directory for the station to be able to email him directly.

My conclusions were based on the fact that Wm Rabe was a Sherlockian and by several whimsical endeavors of which he was the instigator. I don't remember exactly what convinced me that John Rabe is the son of this particular Wm Rabe, but I do know that I was pretty sure in my mind this was so.

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 31 Jul 03 - 11:38 PM

Should have said that John Singleton was the author of the article, not the author of the book. Short-circuited! Haven't heard from him yet.

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 04 Aug 03 - 10:18 PM

John Singleton has replied that the book "We Always Mention Aunt Clara" by W. T. Rabe was privately printed, by The Old Soldiers of Baker Street of the Two Saults, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, 1990.

Copies are sometimes available from The Mysterious Press, NY (Otto Penzler) Mysterious Press

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: Joan from Wigan
Date: 05 Aug 03 - 04:58 AM

There's a wonderful amount of "Sherlockian" investigation been done here - many thanks to all. I'll have to keep an eye on The Mysterious Press.

Joan

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: GUEST,Carl Depew
Date: 06 Aug 10 - 05:23 PM

Above is noted this was a favorite of Warren's but he might not have known it as a song.
It was sung at The Aunt Clara Follies of 1965 (in DC) and because there was "...an oration to the Chief Justice..." and based on others attending, I am sure he was there and sang along.

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: GUEST,Carl Depew
Date: 06 Aug 10 - 05:23 PM

Above is noted this was a favorite of Warren's but he might not have known it as a song.
It was sung at The Aunt Clara Follies of 1965 (in DC) and because there was "...an oration to the Chief Justice..." and based on others attending, I am sure he was there and sang along.

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 06 Aug 10 - 08:43 PM

Well, it helped put me through college back in the late 1940s. Been singing it ever since.

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: GUEST,John Rabe
Date: 15 Mar 12 - 02:36 PM

Hello! (At long last.)

I just stumbled upon this thread.

My dad, WT Rabe, printed the booklet - "We Always Mention Aunt Clara" - about the true origins of Aunt Clara himself and all the copies were sold by about 2000, or maybe earlier. We have no plans to reprint it, but will notify Peter Blau and any other Sherlockians we know if that changes.

Sorry to be so tardy answering your query.

John Rabe
Los Angeles

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: Bill D
Date: 15 Mar 12 - 04:55 PM

Here is a PDF file about WT Rabe and The Friends of Sherlock Holmes...which includes mention of discovering Bud Willis in Wash DC...and the Carl Sandberg issue. It seems to validate Peter Sailer's post on that other thread about meeting Willis in the 1980s.

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Feb 22 - 04:28 PM

Joe - needs editing

Subject: RE: Help: 'We Never Mention Aunt Clara' origin?
From: Joe_F
Date: 15 Feb 22 - 05:00 PM

What?