Alfred Baldwin Sloane (28 August 1872, Baltimore – 21 February 1925, Red Bank, New Jersey) was an American composer, considered the most prolific songwriter for Broadway musical comedies at the beginning of the 20th century.[1][2][3]
His scores were first heard in amateur productions in Baltimore, where he grew up. When Sloane first moved to New York in 1890, he began interpolating melodies into others' scores and soon was invited to create his own. His biggest hit was "Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl," which Marie Dressler introduced in Tillie's Nightmare (1910), but none of his songs found enduring popularity.
He composed only rarely after 1912, but he did provide much of the music for the 1919 and 1920 Greenwich Village Follies. He wrote one of his musicals, Lady Teazle, for Lillian Russell when she was at the height of her national popularity. His last score, for the 1925 Broadway production China Rose, was in production at his death.[4][5][6]China Rose had been produced in Boston, by Christmas Eve, 1924.[7]
Early life
Sloane, who at the age of 18, moved from Baltimore to New York City in 1890 intending to stay a month, stayed for the rest of his life. While living in Baltimore, Sloane wrote the lyrics and music for about a dozen so-called coon songs.
As a boy in Baltimore, Sloane was an apprentice at a wholesale dry goods dealer. His father, a scientist and dilettante musician, became alarmed at the thought of him trying to make a living as a composer. However, Sloane spent most or his time in the dry goods house composing songs on the backs of pearl button cards, shirt boxes, and price tickets. Sloane was fired from the dry goods house for wasting time making rhymes. While his father was trying to find another job for him, he organized an amateur company in Baltimore which put on a musical comedy of one of his compositions and drew $25,000 in five nights. Sloane showed his father the box office reports and opposition ceased. It was soon after that the boy quit Baltimore and approached New York with misgivings as to his own ability to offer one of his shows to Oscar Hammerstein. Hammerstein produced the show and Sloane never left New York.[8][9]
Executive positions
At the time of his death, Sloane was the president of Composers' Publishing Company and vice president of Authors and Composers Publishing Company.
China Rose, music by Sloane, January 19, 1925 – May 9, 1925
The Greenwich Village Follies of 1920, music by Sloane, August 30, 1920 – March 5, 1921
The Greenwich Village Follies (1919), music by Sloane, July 15, 1919 – January 31, 1920
Ladies First, Nora Bayes production, adaptation from Charles H. Hoyt's A Contented Woman, by Harry B. Smith, music by Sloane, October 24, 1918 – March 15, 1919
Marie Dressler'sAll Star Gambol, music by Sloane, March 10, 1913 – March 15, 1913
The Sun Dodgers, music by Sloane, November 30, 1912 – December 14, 1912
Roly Poly / Without the Law (burlesque), music & lyrics by Sloane, November 21, 1912 – Jan 11, 1913
Hanky Panky, music by Sloane, August 5, 1912 – November 2, 1912
Alexander's Bag-Pipe Band, lyrics & music by E. Ray Goetz, Irving Berlin, and A. Baldwin (1912)
Hokey-Pokey / Bunty Pulls the Strings, music by Sloane, February 8, 1912 – May 11, 1912
The Never Homes, music by Sloane, October 5, 1911 – Dec 23, 1911
Hello, Paris, featuring songs by Sloane, August 19, 1911 – September 30, 1911
The Hen-Pecks, music by Sloane, February 4, 1911 – September 23, 1911
The Summer Widowers, music by Sloane, June 4, 1910 – October 1, 1910
Tillie's Nightmare, music by Sloane, May 5, 1910 – Dec 1911
The Prince of Bohemia, music by Sloane, January 14, 1910 – Feb 1910
Sloane was the son of Francis James Sloane and Emma Baldwin (maiden). He married Lucille Mae Auwerda in Manhattan on February 15, 1900. They had one daughter – June Augusta Sloane (1901–1984) – who married Isaac Hosford Brackett (1901–1976).
References
^Oxford Companion to American Theatre The Oxford Companion to American Theatre,Oxford University Press (2004)
^Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales,Oxford University Press (2000, 2002, 2005)
^Who's Who On The Stage – The Dramatic Reference Book and Biographical Dictionary of the Theatre, 1906 Edition, edited by Walter Browne & F.A. Austin, Walter Browne & F.A. Austin (publisher), New York (1906)
^Who's Who On The Stage – The Dramatic Reference Book and Biographical Dictionary of the Theatre, 1908 Edition, edited by Walter Browne & E. De Roy Koch, B.W. Dodge & Co., New York (1908)
^Who Was Who in America – A Component Volume of Who's Who in American History; Volume 1: 1897–1942,A.N. Marquis Co., Chicago (1943)
^Christmas Eve, Boston Herald, December 23, 1924, p. 6, col. 5
^Rusty Lyre Muted, Alfred Sloane Dies, Dallas Morning News, February 23, 1925, Part 1, page 1
Who's Who On The Stage – The Dramatic Reference Book and Biographical Dictionary of the Theatre, 1906 Edition, edited by Walter Browne & F.A. Austin, Walter Browne & F.A. Austin (publisher), New York (1906)
Who's Who On The Stage – The Dramatic Reference Book and Biographical Dictionary of the Theatre, 1908 Edition, edited by Walter Browne & E. De Roy Koch, B.W. Dodge & Co., New York (1908)
Who Was Who in America – A Component Volume of Who's Who in American History; Volume 1: 1897–1942,A.N. Marquis Co., Chicago (1943)
Biography Index – A Cumulative Index to Biographical Material in Books and Magazines; Volume 5: September 1958 – August 1961, H.W. Wilson Company, New York (1962)
Biography Index – A Cumulative Index to Biographical Material in Books and Magazines; Volume 6: September 1961 – August 1964, H.W. Wilson Company, New York (1965)
The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography; Volume 31, James T. White & Co., New York (1944)
Who Was Who in the Theatre: 1912–1976 – A biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Directors, Playwrights, and Producers of the English-Speaking Theatre, compiled from Who's Who in the Theatre, Volumes 1–15 (1912–1972), four volumes, Gale Research, Detroit (1978)