Ida Emerson (17 April 1873 – 25 September 1945) was a Broadway

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

lyricist A lyricist is a writer who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income derives ...

. She was one of the few women admitted to the famed group of songwriters of

Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley was a collection of History of music publishing, music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the American popular music, popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Originally ...

, where she worked with her husband, composer, lyricist, arranger and

librettist A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major ...

Joseph E. Howard Joseph Edgar Howard (February 12, 1870May 19, 1961) was an American Broadway theatre, Broadway composer, lyricist, Libretto, librettist, and performer. A famed member of Tin Pan Alley along with wife and composer Ida Emerson as part of the song-w ...

as part of the song writing team of Howard and Emerson. Emerson met Howard when he was 17. After the death of his first wife, Mabel Barrison, the two were married. They worked the Midwestern vaudeville circuit, gaining notice in Chicago that landed them a gig in New York at Tony Pastor's Music Hall on 14th Street.Answers.com
– Joseph E. Howard

Songs

Hello Ma Baby "Hello! Ma Baby" is a Tin Pan Alley song written in 1899 by the songwriting team of Joseph E. Howard and Ida Emerson, known as "Howard and Emerson". Its subject is a man who has a girlfriend he knows only through the telephone. At the time, tele ...

" (1899) – The song that brought her lasting fame and success was a syncopated novelty telephone number called "Hello, Ma Baby," published in 1899. It sold over a million copies of sheet music within a couple of months. It is best known works to modern audiences. It was popularized in modern culture by the singing Michigan J. Frog of the

Warner Bros. Cartoons Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was an American animation studio, serving as the in-house animation division of Warner Bros. during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, it was ...

References

19th-century American singers 19th-century American women singers American women songwriters Broadway composers and lyricists Ragtime composers {{US-songwriter-stub