Blanche Merrill

Blanche L. Merrill (born Blanche V. Dreyfoos; July 22/23, 1883"Blanche Merrill," ''U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014'' on ''Ancestry.com'' accessed June 5, 2018 (access by subscription). – October 5, 1966) was a songwriter specializing in tailoring her characterizations to specific performers. She is best known for the songs she wrote for Fanny Brice.

Early life

Biographical information on Blanche Merrill is scarce. The only reference source that provides even a tiny bit of biographical information is partially questionable."Merrill, Blanche," ''ASCAP Biographical Dictionary'', 4th edition (New York: R.R. Bowker Co., 1980), p. 343; This biography had to be constructed primarily from notices appearing in '' Variety'' and ''Billboard''. These also must be read critically.

Blanche V. Dreyfoos was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Sigmund A. Dreyfoos (1855 – January 12, 1899"Sigmund A. Dreyfoos" in Robert W. Dreyfoos family tree, available on ''Ancestry.com'' (available with subscription), accessed July 8, 2018.), a bookkeeper, and his wife, Lizzie (born Catherine Elizabeth Murphy; January 6, 1860 – January 17, 1921).) Although most sources are in agreement with the date of Blanche's birth (July 23), many provide conflicting evidence with regard to the year.

*The 1892 New York State census dated February 16, 1892, indicates that Blanche was 8 years old, making her born in 1883;E.D. 06,"New York, State Census, 1892" available on ''Ancestry.com'', p. 86 (access by subscription).
*In the 1920 U.S. Federal census, her age is listed as 25, making her born in 1895;
*According to the ASCAP Biographical Dictionary (based on her membership form filled when she became a member in 1936), she was born July 23, 1895. The ASCAP source was used by the Library of Congress in establishing her date of birth.
*According to the 1940 U.S. Census she was born in 1900.
*According to the Social Security Death Index and Philadelphia hospital records, she was born July 22, 1883.

Evidence leans toward 1883 as the correct year of her birth, particularly in light of her educational pursuits.

Her siblings were Nellie (born approximately 1879), Theresa (sometimes called Tessie) (born approximately 1890,), Clara (sometimes spelled Claire) (born February 15, 1881),"Claire Kissane," ''Social Security Death Index'' available on ''Ancestry.com'' (available through subscription), accessed July 11, 2018.) and W. Wallace (born approximately 1888). Though census records indicate all the children were born in Philadelphia except W. Wallace, by the time of the New York State census of 1892 the family had relocated to Queens. On January 21, 1899, Sigmund died in Brooklyn, age 43. By 1900, a year after Sigmund's death, the family was living with the family of Elizabeth's sister at 147 5th Street in College Point, Queens.

The details of her education are also problematic. In the 1917 interview, Merrill claimed to have received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia University, after which she took a city examination and received her license to teach "five years" prior to the interview. However, in another profile published later that year, the unnamed author describes Merrill as having attended Barnard College. If she was born in 1895, it is improbable that she would have graduated from college and achieved teacher training by 1912, when she would have been 17. Although her college education remains mysterious, in 1906 she apparently passed her teacher training and was assigned to teach at Public School 84 in Queens. Apparently, she maintained this job until 1915, when she requested a sabbatical and apparently did not return.

Career

Although Merrill claimed to have begun her theatrical career by sending an unsolicited song to Eva Tanguay, her interest in theater seems to have predated that event. In a 1917 interview, Merrill described attending theater with her mother while in high school: "I never missed a Saturday matinee".Mary B. Mullett, "Still in Her Twenties She Has Won Fame and Fortune as Songwriter" ''The Sun'' (February 11, 1917), p. 7. A 1906 review of a production of ''The Jolly Bachelors'' put on by St. Mary's Catholic Club in Brooklyn is probably one of the earliest mentions of Merrill (still under her birth surname) in print. A reviewer for the ''Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' reported: "There were many musical numbers. Charles Bill, William Morrison and Blanche V. Dreyfoos managed to take one step higher in the art with which they have been so generously endowed." (Blanche's sister Clara Dreyfoos played the small role of Constance.)

1910-1915

In 1910 she saw Eva Tanguay in a vaudeville performance.Untitled article, ''Literary Digest'' (October 13, 1917), p. 88. She was so taken with the performance that she wrote her first song, "Give an Imitation of Me," and then filed it away. A friend convinced her to send it to Tanguay for her consideration. Tanguay liked it and accepted it, leading Merrill to write an additional four songs for Tanguay. Although she didn't accept remuneration for her first effort, that changed when songwriter and music publisher Charles K. Harris signed Merrill to a contract and published her songs. Among those songs was "Egotistical Eva", which Tanguay used to open her appearances for the 1910–11 season. With her first publication, virtually all professional mentions refer to her as Blanche Merrill.
''The Trained Nurses'', a vaudeville act written by and featuring Gladys Clark and Henry Bergman, was produced by Jesse L. Lasky at the Colonial Theatre in New York City on September 16, 1912. The act's success appears to have prompted Lasky to consider a new edition for the following year (the new version does not appear to have materialized).

By 1913, Merrill was being noticed. "Several music publishing firms have been after the services of Blanche Merrill... who has gained a big reputation for her age within the past couple of years." Her work for Tanguay and Shaw as well as ''The Trained Nurses'' attracted "considerable attention from the profession to her jingling lyrics and ofttime melodies." She eventually signed with Waterson, Berlin & Snyder, Inc. This gave her the opportunity to collaborate with Irving Berlin. The single result of their collaboration was "Jake, the Yiddisher Ball Player."

The beginning of 1915 saw Eva Tanguay making her first appearance at The Palace in New York. Among the many interpolations was "Whistle and I'll Come To You" by Merrill and Leo Edwards, whose performance by Nora Bayes did not go unnoticed. Another one of Merrill's and Edward's songs, "Here's to You, My Sparkling Wine," made its way into the musical ''The Blue Paradise'', which opened at the Casino Theatre on August 5, 1915, and then toured.

Merrill wrote the song "Broadway Sam" for comic Willie Howard, who performed it in ''The Passing Show of 1915''.

Beginning mid-1915, there are notices of Merrill not just composing songs but also writing vaudeville acts. A ''Variety'' notice near the end of October 1915 indicates that an act, "The Musical Devil", featuring a performer ("Yvette") was written by Merrill. One of the first of Merrill's vaudeville acts to be reviewed was ''The Burglar'', a 15-minute skit written for Maurice Burkhardt. Advertising for the act also included Merrill's name.

Cooperation with Fanny Brice, 1915-1925

"In 1915 Fanny Brice was already a noted comedienne."Barbara Wallace Grossman, ''Funny Woman: The Life and Times of Fanny Brice'' (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1991), p. 237. By 1915 Merrill had established a strong reputation as a songwriter who catered to the individual characteristics of specific performers, women in particular. In July 1915, Brice began to work with Merrill in what Grossman calls the "turning point in rice'scareer and the beginning of a productive professional relationship. During their association, Merrill created some of Brice's most distinctive material and freed her from the problem that had always plagued her: finding songs that really suited her."

The first results of their collaboration resulted in Brice's act opening on September 6, 1915, at The Palace.Barbara Wallace Grossman, ''Funny Woman: The Life and Times of Fanny Brice'' (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1991), p. 85. After touring with and refining the material, Brice returned to The Palace in February 1916. The act had four songs, the last three of which had lyrics by Merrill: "If We Could Only Take Their Word," "The Yiddish Bride" (which critic and ''Variety'' founder Sime Silverman called "a gem"), and "Becky Is Back in the Ballet." The performance was favorably reviewed.

Brice's next major appearance was in the ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1916''. Opening on June 12, 1916, among the songs Brice sang were two with lyrics by Merrill, "The Hat" and "The Dying Swan."

The ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1917'' had Brice in only two numbers, both by Merrill.Barbara Wallace Grossman, ''Funny Woman: The Life and Times of Fanny Brice'' (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1991), p. 106, quoting from a review in ''Variety'' June 13, 1917, p. 18.

''Why Worry?'' was a play with music and was Brice's only attempt to play a serious role on Broadway. During its tour prior to opening on Broadway, the play closed temporarily owing to an illness of one of the performers. Initial reports were that the play lacked class. When it reopened in Atlantic City, New Jersey for the continuation of its pre-Broadway run, it included two songs written by Merrill, one called "The Yiddish Indian." After a troubled beginning, ''Why Worry?'' opened at the Harris Theatre on Broadway on August 23, 1918.

"I'm an Indian" was one of Brice's most enduring characterizations. She recorded it in 1921, and the music was published in 1922. Brice performed it in her 1928 film ''My Man'' and Brice's performance of the song was briefly portrayed by cartoon character Betty Boop in the 1932 animated short ''Stopping the Show'' (the sequence was also used in the 1934 short ''Betty Boop's Rise to Fame''). Finally, "I'm an Indian" is briefly viewed in a puppet rendition (by Lou Bunin) for Brice's final film appearance in the 1945 film ''Ziegfeld Follies''.

The following year Brice had an all-Merrill program before working up an act called ''Around the World''.Sime, "New Acts This Week: Fanny Brice," ''Variety'' (June 16, 1922), p. 18. The idea behind the act was that Brice would portray people from different cultures. ''Variety'' reviewer Sime described the opening number as consisting of three different styles of lyrics; unusually, the lyrics had Brice refer to Merrill. This is the song "Make 'Em Laugh". Longer than a typical song, it has Brice portraying herself travelling around New York City, going to the Belasco Theatre to the Music Box Theatre in search of the right kind of material to perform.

For her 1923 vaudeville act, Brice sang at least four songs, all with lyrics by Blanche Merrill: "Hocus Pocus," "My Bill," a ballad called "Breaking Home Ties" and a "new Spanish comedy song."

Near the end of his career, songwriter Jack Yellen recalled Tin Pan Alley and that writers of special material sometimes got the better end of a deal. He mentioned Merrill, whom he called "an expert" who could command thousands of dollars for material, with Fanny Brice being one of her steady and smart customers.

Apparently there was a break in the relationship between Brice and Merrill in 1924. Merrill published a poem in ''Variety'' in 1924 that Brice was now a "Belasco star" and that Merrill was her "use-to-be writer." Grossman hypothesized that Brice felt Merrill couldn't do anything more for her career. After her marriage to Billy Rose, a songwriter, it's possible that he disallowed collaboration between Brice and Merrill because of professional jealousy.Barbara Wallace Grossman, ''Funny Woman: The Life and Times of Fanny Brice'' (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1991), p. 194. Although they were no longer working together, in an extensive November 1925 interview, Brice had warm words for Merrill.

1916-1925

Other Merrill clients and works from 1916 included Willie Weston in ''The Hunter'', Clara Morton in ''The Doll Shop'' (originally titled ''The Toy Shop'') in which Morton impersonated various dolls, and Gertrude Barnes in an act featuring a vampire song called "The Temptation Girl."

Merrill's talents had become so well known by the end of 1916 that ''Variety'' published a full-page caricature of Merrill writing for numerous vaudeville players who were clients: Fannie Brice, Maurice Burkhart, Clara Morton, Lillian Shaw, Dorothy Meuther, Gertrude Barnes, Eva Tanguay, Belle Baker, J.D. Chadwick, DeForest & Kearns, Willie Weston, Arnold & Taylor, Arthur Lipson, Maurey Livingston, as well as the Charles Dillingham's and Florenz Ziegfeld's "Cocoanut Grove" nightclub.

Though the caricature included the Cocoanut Grove, ''Variety'' did not explain the connection until the venue opened at the beginning of January. As a way of capitalizing on the success of ''Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolic'', a cabaret-style evening held on the roof of the New Amsterdam Theatre, Charles Dillingham and Florenz Ziegfeld opened the ''Cocoanut Grove'' on the roof of the Century Theatre. Blanche Merrill was announced as the Cocoanut Grove's official songwriter. The first show was announced as ''Eat and Grow Thin''; by the time it opened on January 5, 1917, it was retitled as ''Dance and Grow Thin.'' The music was by Irving Berlin and Merrill.

A brief 1917 profile of Merrill described her appearance as "businesslike" and clothed with "extreme smartness and sophistication." That year she could command $20,000 for each song."She could command thousands of dollars for her material." Jack Yellen, "Evolution of Yesteryear's Tin Pan Alley (and Its Services to Vaude) to the Present," ''Variety'' (January 9, 1963), p. 188.

A February 1917 advertisement in ''Variety'' announced Merrill's latest vaudeville skit, ''On the Scaffold''. " The skit involved a blackfaced window washer and his flirtations with a housekeeper, who is a blackfaced woman inside an apartment. Rice and Werner subsequently performed it at the Hippodrome Theatre in London in 1921, and at the Palace in New York in 1922. Apparently it was successful enough that the comic duo held on to this material for years. They were still performing it in 1930 with a "post-prohibition appendage."

In August 1917 Carrie Lillie appeared in the vaudeville act written by Merrill, ''In the Wilds''.

Other performers and their acts in part or in whole written by Merrill during 1917 included Anna Ford and George Goodridge in ''You Can't Believe Them'', Grace Cameron returning in ''Dolly Dimples'', Mabel Hamilton (formerly of the duo Clark and Hamilton) in a solo act, and Lillian Shaw, having the penultimate spot in vaudeville program at the Colonial Theatre.

Having written a variety of vaudeville acts, in October 1917 it was announced that Merrill was putting aside specialty work in order to write a play. She predicted it would take about three month's time. The noticed indicated that several managers had already expressed interest. No play emerged; Merrill kept on contributing interpolations to various shows and revues. At the end of 1917 Merrill put out full-page advertisements offering "Holiday greetings Blanche Merrill."
An anonymous 1918 article in ''Variety'' begins with mention of the song "Where Do They Get Those Guys?" being performed by Constance Farber as an interpolation in the musical ''Sinbad''. The article continues however by talking of Merrill's desire for tighter control over her work. With the aid of her lawyer, Merrill was able to get a clause written into her contracts that restricted performance of her songs to the field to which they were conceived, whether vaudeville or musical comedy. Merrill was also able to obtain a restriction on performing rights, stipulating that a performer could not transfer performing rights to another performer. This restrictive clause was occasioned by an incident with Fanny Brice who paid Merrill $1,000 for two songs, but then gave the song "I Don't Know Whether To Do It or Not" to Lillian Shaw. Merrill was contemplating action against Brice, but either withdrew or the action was settled.

Among the most notable of performers to sing Merrill material during this time was probably Bert Williams, who sang "I Ain't Gwine Ter be no Fool There Was" by Merrill in ''Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolic''.

The onset of World War I led Merrill to write two works whose temperament were very different from each other. One was a popular song, "Boots, Boots, Boots." Written as a parody of Rudyard Kipling's poem ''Boots'', it was first performed by the Howard Brothers at the Winter Garden Theatre in ''The Passing Show of 1918''. The other work was a "Drum Number" apparently written for Sophie Tucker and never published.

The first major controversy of Blanche Merrill's career occurred in 1919. As originally announced, Merrill was to write and compose all the musical numbers for the ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1919''. Subsequent notices indicated a division of responsibility. Merrill would write the first act, Irving Berlin would write the second act, and Gene Buck would write the third act. The situation changed when Ziegfeld asked Merrill to allow composer Dave Stamper to rewrite the music for three of her songs. According to ''Variety'', Merrill refused and withdrew from the project entirely, signing on with the Shubert Brothers to work on their upcoming show, ''Biff Boom Bang''. But according to Barbara Wallace Grossman, Merrill was fired.Barbara Wallace Grossman, ''Funny Woman: The Life and Times of Fanny Brice'' (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992), p. 193.

Though ''Biff Boom Bang'' did not materialize, Merrill, along with lyricist M.K. Jerome, contributed lyrics to three songs to the revue ''Shubert Gaities of 1919''. (The songs were "Coat O' Mine," "Crazy Quilt," and "This is the Day."

A notice in a July 1919 issue of ''Variety'' stated that Merrill had signed a contract with Lee Shubert to produce a musical version of Clyde Fitch's play ''Girls''. Although this was intended to be a vehicle for Nan Halperin, the notice warned that Halperin was known only from vaudeville and lacked theatrical experience. When the musical opened on November 3, 1919, it was called ''The Little Blue Devil'' and neither Halperin nor Merrill were associated with it. Merrill did write an act for Halperin which opened in the summer of 1920.

The lack of writing the musical version of ''Girls'' might have been the cause of the dispute between Merrill and the Shubert Brothers. Apparently that did not reduce Merrill's value. ''Variety'' reported that "Blanche Merrill Inc." increased its capital from $1,000 to $10,000.

The fall of 1920 saw the continuation of the professional relationship between Merrill and Lillian Shaw when the latter appeared at the Palace in song scenes by Merrill. A reviewer wrote "Miss Shaw was literally a howling success as far as the audience was concerned. Her second number was slightly blue in spots, but when those particular spots arrived the Palace crowd shrieked their delight. There are some spots where the talk is a little broad, so broad it may be a question how they will take it away from Broadway, but Miss Shaw is sufficient showwoman to know where and where not to use it." In a dispatch dated April 7, Variety noted that Merrill was in Chicago for a week concerning "Shubert affairs." While there, she spent time at the Woods and Garrick theatres, which were home to ''Monte Cristo Jr.'' and the touring production of the ''Shubert Gaities of 1919''. Theatrical producer Harry Frazee commissioned Merrill to produce musical versions of two of his plays, ''My Lady Friends'' and ''A Pair of Queens.'' Neither of these commissioned appeared to have seen fruition. (''My Lady Friends'' was eventually turned into the musical ''No, No, Nanette''.)

The lack of Merrill's activity from the end of 1920 last through the middle of 1921 was due to the illness and death of her mother, Elizabeth Dreyfoos, on January 18, 1921.

A notice in ''Billboard'' said that Merrill collaborated with John Murray Anderson on the ''Greenwich Village Follies of 1921'', the third production in that series of revues. But when the show opened on August 31, 1921, the only credit to Merrill was a single song, "Pavlowa." By this time Merrill was earnestly trying to expand her writing skills for a musical. To producer William Harris Jr. she presented an idea for a dramatic musical revue. Harris prematurely suggested staging the work by November 1922. Subsequent notices indicated the play was intended for Fay Bainter, and that Merrill had gone to the country to concentrate on writing. By December 25, 1922, Fay Bainter opened in the play ''The Lady Christilinda'' which was produced by Harris. Merrill was not involved.

Belle Baker's appearances in the 1922–23 season prompted some attention. In October 1922 she was performing at the Palace. Her act included some songs by Merrill, including "The Bootlegger's Slumber" which one critic called "a Wop number." The song was received with enthusiasm. But with Prohibition recently put in place, the Palace's house manager warned Baker not to repeat the song. She disregarded his warnings, apparently with the approval of the audience. The conflict made the headline on page one of ''Variety''.

Merrill also wrote an act for Lillian Lorraine.

Mollie Fuller

Merrill became involved with Mollie Fuller in 1922. Fuller had been a vaudevillian with her husband, Frederick Hallen. After Hallen's death in 1920, Fuller became blind after an unexplained ailment. In 1922, her predicament was uncovered and reported on by ''Variety'' columnist Nellie Revell who had learned of Fuller's situation after being briefly hospitalized at St. Vincent's Hospital (where Fuller had been hospitalized).

It was through Revell's column that Blanche Merrill befriended Fuller. Her performances were arranged by the B. F. Keith Circuit. Both Merrill and Keith contributed their services to the act without remuneration, and Merrill had paid production costs. By the time the Fuller's act was first presented in Paterson, New Jersey

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