J. Fred. Helf (1871 – November 19, 1915)
[''New York, Death Index, 1852-1956''] was an American
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
sheet music
Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed Book, books or Pamphlet, pamphlets ...
publisher during the early 20th century.
Helf was born in
Maysville,
Kentucky
Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
. He went to seek his fortune in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
at the age of 27. There he composed over 100 songs, some in collaboration with
Will A. Heelan William A. Heelan was an American lyricist during the early 20th century. He collaborated with a number of composers and lyricists including E. P. Moran, Seymour Furth, J. Fred Helf and Harry Von Tilzer.
Credits
* 1898: "I Want A Coon To Matc ...
.
In October 1910 his music publishing company, J. Fred Helf Music, filed for bankruptcy with
Elihu Root Jr. acting as receiver. All the company's property and assets were sold at auction on March 12, 1913, in New York.
He retired from the music business five months before he died due to an illness. He died in
Liberty, New York
Liberty is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Sullivan County, New York, Sullivan County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 10,159 at the 2020 census.US Census Bureau, 2020 Census Report QuickFacts, ...
, at the age of 44 leaving a widow and a daughter.
Credits
His credits as composer or co-composer include
*1898: "Please Mr. Conductor Don't Put Me Off the Train"; "Tillie Tootie The Coney Island Beauty"; "We All Grow Old in Time"
*1899: "I ain't got no happy home to leave"; "A Picture No Artist Can Paint"; "Only a Hard Boiled Egg From Home"
*1900: "Absent But Not Forgotten"; "
Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon
"Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon" was a song written by Will A. Heelan, and J. Fred Helf that was popular in the United States and the United Kingdom. The song followed the previous success of " All Coons Look Alike to Me", written in 1896 b ...
" (which resulted in the creation of the
Red, black and green flag by the
); "The Fatal Rose of Red"; "I Ain't Got No Happy Home To Leave!"; "In the House of Too Much Trouble"; "There Are Two Sides To A Story"; "Tobie I Kind O' Likes You"
*1902: "If Money Talks, It Ain't On Speaking Terms With Me"; "I'll Be Your Rain-Beau"; "My Mother Was a Northern Girl"
*1903: "Ev'ry Man Is A Volunteer"; "Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep"; "Since Sally Left Our Alley"
*1904: "The Battle of the Daisies & the Ferns"; "A Bit O'Blarney"; "Stingy"; "When the Coons have a Dreamland of Their Own"
*1905: "
Everybody Works But Father
"Everybody Works but Father" is a popular song published in 1905, with words and music by Jean Havez. It is sung from the point of view of the son, lamenting that he, his sister and his mother all work, while his father lounges all day: "Everybod ...
"; "I'll Be Waiting in the Gloaming, Sweet Genevieve"; "Someone Thinks of Someone"; "The Waltz Must Change to a March Marie"
*1906: "Ain't You Coming Back to Old New Hampshire, Molly?"; "The Bee That Gets The Honey Doesn't Hang Around The Hive"; "Captain Baby Bunting Of The Rocking Horse Brigade"; "Colleen Bawn"; "Here's To Our Absent Brothers"; "When the Whip-poor-will sings Marguerite"; "When You Know You're Not Forgotten by the Girl You Can't Forget"
*1907: "I'm Tying the Leaves So They Won't Come Down"; "Neath The Old Acorn Tree, Sweet Estelle"; "Somebody's Always Willin' To Do Somethin' For Somebody"; "Tipperary"; "When it's Moonlight Mary Darling 'neath the old Grape Arbor Shade"; "When Summer Tells Autumn Good-Bye"; "When The Bluebirds Nest Again Sweet Nellie Gray"; "When the Sheep are in the Fold, Jennie Dear"; "When The Springtime Brings The Roses, Jessie Dear"; "Won't You Come Over To Chilly Willie?"
*1908: "The Booker T's are on parade to-day"; "Daddy's Little Tom Boy Girl"; "Feed The Kitty"; "Make A Noise Like A Hoop And Roll Away"; "Mister Dinkelspiel"; "When Darling Bess First Whispered Yes"; "When We Listened to The Chiming of The Old Church Bell"
*1909: "When the Bloom Is On the Cotton Dixie Lee"; "When the Evening Bells Are Chiming Songs of ''
Auld Lang Syne
"Auld Lang Syne" () is a Scottish song. In the English-speaking world, it is traditionally sung to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight on Hogmanay/New Year's Eve. It is also often heard at funerals, graduations, and as a far ...
''"
*1910: "The Morning After the Night Before"; "When A Boy From Old New Hampshire Loves A Girl From Tennessee
*1911: "Texas Tommy's Dance"
*1912: "Lincoln's College Flag"
*1913: "Fables"; "On a Barnyard Honeymoon"; "When God Gave Me You"
*1914: "My Love Would Fill a Thousand Hearts"; "Pick Up The Pieces And Bring Them Home"
References
*"Mr. J. Fred Helf, Song Writer, Dies" New York Herald, Nov. 27, 1915, part I, page 11.
*Chevian, Margaret,
Providence
Providence often refers to:
* Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion
* Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in some religions
* Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
Public Library. "Re:
LA-LHelp with Helf." In
Usenet
Usenet (), a portmanteau of User's Network, is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose UUCP, Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Elli ...
group
ews://bit.listserv.mla-l/(Music Library Association), January 26, 2002. Cites an obituary for Helf published in the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' on November 21, 1915, p. 19, col. 5.
Historic American Sheet Musican
African-American Sheet Musicby Helf, from the
American Memory
American Memory is an Internet-based archive for public domain image resources, audio, video, and archived Web content. Published by the Library of Congress, the archive launched on October 13, 1994, after $13 million was raised in private donati ...
website of the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
"When the Evening Bells Are Chiming Songs of ''Auld Lang Syne''"from the
National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...
External links
*Sheet music fo
"When the Whip-poor-will Sings Marguerite" New York: Helf & Hager Co. Fro
Wade Hall Sheet Music CollectionTin Pan Alley Composer and lyricist Biographies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Helf, Fred
1915 deaths
American male composers
American composers
American music publishers (people)
1871 births
People from Maysville, Kentucky
People from Liberty, New York
Songwriters from Kentucky
American male songwriters