Scope and Content Note
The Harry Von Tilzer and H. Harold Gumm Papers consist of both personal and professional papers of composer and music publisher Harry Von Tilzer and his brother, H. Harold Gumm, who was both a lawyer and an agent cum producer in the entertainment business. The date span of the collection is from 1878 to 1959, with the bulk of the materials dating between the early 1900s and the 1940s. Because Harold Gumm served as executor of Harry Von Tilzer's estate and took over the Harry Von Tilzer Music Publishing Co. when Von Tilzer died in 1946 (after having served as attorney for the publishing house for several decades), the records of the HVTMPC are inextricably combined not only with Harry Von Tilzer's papers but also with Gumm's papers and those of Goldie & Gumm. Various papers of Harry's other brothers also appear in the collection. Therefore, although the collection has been organized into traditional series according to type of materials, within each series type the materials are divided into the following categories by originator (where necessary): Harry Von Tilzer, Estate of Harry Von Tilzer, Harry Von Tilzer Music Publishing Co., [Other Von Tilzer brothers], H. Harold Gumm, William V. Goldie, and Goldie & Gumm.
The personal papers of Harry Von Tilzer consist of writings, correspondence, and various legal and financial documents. There are several manuscript and typewritten drafts of his unpublished autobiography, which chronicles not only his own experiences as a vaudevillian and composer but also the development of the music publishing business in New York from the turn of the century through the 1930s. Noteworthy in his correspondence is that with one of his primary collaborators, lyricist Andrew B. Sterling. His legal papers include song contracts with other publishers, including those dating from before he established his own publishing house in 1902. The records of his estate, both legal and financial, provide additional insight into his personal and family ties, particularly his relationship with his stepdaughter, Aimee V. Samuels.
The materials in the collection from the records of the Harry Von Tilzer Music Publishing Co. consist primarily of music, lyrics, scripts, and legal and financial records. There is a significant amount of songs, with over 800 titles in manuscript form, ranging from lead sheets without words to complete piano-vocal scores. There are an additional five boxes of lyric sheets, both manuscript and typewritten, some of which designate the letter names of notes over the words to indicate the intended melody. An ASCAP listing of the HVTMPC catalog, revised in 1957, provides the most recent itemization of the publisher's list (see box 69).
Several musicals are represented in the collection, including orchestral scores and parts for The Kissing Girl, The Fisher Maiden, and Tiddleywinks (or Snowdrop and the Pirates). There are four boxes of scripts without music as well, representing authors such as Dolph Singer, Frances Nordstrom, and Junie McCree. A number of untitled "gags" and "specials" in manuscript form are also included.
The financial records of the HVTMPC are far from complete, including ledgers, financial reports, ASCAP royalty distributions and the like but covering only limited and erratic date spans. The legal files of the HVTMPC are far more substantial, particularly in the contracts and litigation files. There are more than 120 song contracts in the collection, as well as numerous other contracts with authors and producers. The litigation files are highlighted by the papers of HVTMPC vs. Jerry Vogel Music Co. et al and its appeal, the correspondence, depositions, and other trial documents of which fill four boxes and span the years 1937 to 1955.
The subject files and correspondence are among the most noteworthy of H. Harold Gumm's papers. Most of Gumm's subject files consist of the correspondence, programs, financial records, and/or clippings relating to his activities as an agent for black performers such as Georgette Harvey, Jester Hairston, Rex Ingram, and Teddy Hale. Another file documents Gumm's participation in a touring production of Cabin in the Sky, originating in Chicago and starring Ethel Waters, Todd Duncan, and Rex Ingram. Gumm's correspondence with Walter Meyers, a Hollywood agent, and William Redford, Gumm's California representative, document Gumm's activities as an agent and producer involved in stage, film, and ultimately television productions.
The photographs in the collection include not only numerous professional and personal shots of Harry Von Tilzer and his brothers but also many photographs of early vaudeville performers, some of which bear inscriptions to Harry or Albert Von Tilzer. Other series include an assortment of programs from music halls and vaudeville houses dating from 1906 to 1940 and a large number of clippings from the late 1800s to the 1950s.