Abe Olman
| Abe Olman | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Abraham Olshewitz |
| Also known as | Abe Omar |
| Born |
December 20, 1887 Cincinnati, Ohio, US |
| Died | January 4, 1984 (aged 96) Rancho Mirage, California, US |
| Occupation(s) | Songwriter, music publisher, music industry executive |
| Instruments | Piano |
| Years active | c.1905–1969 |
Abe Olman (December 20, 1887 – January 4, 1984), born Abraham Olshewitz, was an American songwriter and music publisher. He composed a number of successful ragtime and popular songs including "Red Onion Rag" (1912), "Down Among the Sheltering Palms" (1915), "Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!" (1917), and "Down By the O-Hi-O" (1920). He was later director of ASCAP, and a founder of the Songwriters Hall of Fame which, in 1983, named the annual Abe Olman Publisher Award in his honor.
He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Julius and Corrlina Olshewitz, who had been born in Russia and Germany respectively. He learned piano as a child, and in the early 1900s started work as a traveling music salesman around Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. His first compositions were published in Cincinnati in 1907, and then in 1909 in Indianapolis, where he lived for a period. In 1912, he moved to New York City, where his "Red Onion Rag" was published by George W. Meyer. He also spent time in Europe, performing in clubs in London and Paris before the outbreak of the First World War. After returning to the US, he set up the LaSalle Music Publishing Company in Chicago in 1914, and published his own song, "Down Among the Sheltering Palms", with words by James Brockman. He sold the song to New York publisher Leo Feist; it was performed and recorded by Al Jolson and became a great success. He continued to write prolifically, mainly with lyricist Ed Rose, and in 1917 they published "Oh Johnny, Oh!". The song was recorded in 1917 by both Billy Murray and Nora Bayes. It was successfully revived in 1939 by Orrin Tucker with singer "Wee" Bonnie Baker, and by The Andrews Sisters, and was recorded in 1959 by Peggy Lee on her album I Like Men!.
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