Missouri History Museum

This was one of Billboard’s top songs of 1909. The music was composed by Harry von Tilzer, a prolific songwriter known for favorites such as “I want a girl just like the girl that married dear old dad,” “A bird in a gilded cage,” “What you goin' to do when the rent comes round,” and “In the sweet bye and bye.” Baritone Arthur Collins recorded this song in 1909. This particular piece of sheet music belonged to Emma Blanche Carroll (known as Blanche), an accomplished keyboardist, who played sound effects on the organ in the silent movies at the Old Orchard Theater in Webster Groves, MO. Blanche’s collection of sheet music was donated to the Missouri History Museum by her daughter, journalist Edna Carroll.