Tell Taylor

William "Tell" Taylor (aka Telliené Tell Roberts; born 28 October 1876 to Jane Roberts, on a farm near the Village of Vanlue, Amanda Township, Hancock County, Ohio — 23 November 1937 Chicago) was an American traveling vaudeville performer, tenor vocalist, playwright, music publisher, composer, and lyricist who had written over 200 popular songs. By far his biggest hit was "Down by the Old Mill Stream" from 1910, one of the most commercially successful Tin Pan Alley publications of the era. The song was published by Forster Music Publisher, Inc. of Chicago. Taylor performed vaudeville theaters and founded a Chicago music publishing house bearing his name. His other notable songs include "He Sleeps Beneath the Soil of France," "I Love You Best of All," "If Dreams Come True," "Little Old Home in the Valley," "Rock Me to Sleep in the Old Rocking Chair," "Some Day," and "When the Maple Leaves Were Falling." Taylor also wrote the Broadway comedies Tiger Lillee and In New York Town.

Theater

Music publishing and songwriting

Post publishing & singing

Death

Posthumous lawsuit over song

G.W. Setchell Publisher (George William Setchell; 1860–1923), Boston

Forster Music Publisher, Inc., Chicago

Tell Taylor, Chicago

Taylor Music Corp., Chicago

On November 4, 1907, Taylor married Buda Godman (née Helen Julia Godman; 1888– ), the daughter of Otho and Julia Godman (née Conklin) of Chicago. Buda had met Taylor about two years prior when Taylor had been a dinner guest at the St. Joseph's Convent and Academy in Adrian, Michigan, where Helen had been attending school. Taylor had just started his songwriting career and was appearing with a traveling stage company in Adrian. Buda and Tell had become good friends before dinner was over, but did not correspond afterward. Two years later, while attending the performance of "The Girl Question," by Howard, Adams, and Hough, at a theater in Chicago, Buda recognized Tell and sent a note to him backstage, and they became reacquainted. After spending much of their time together lunching and dining during the following week, they met once again for dinner at a downtown Chicago hotel, and sent for a judge to marry them in the hotel's parlor.

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Wikipedia