O'Hara, Geoffrey - Autograph Musical Quotation SignedClick Image to ZoomEnlarge Image

O'Hara, Geoffrey (1882-1967)

Autograph Musical Quotation Signed

"Geoffrey O'Hara". December 29, 1920. Clipped from album leaf, 2.5" h x 6.5" w. In very good condition. With additional unidentified signature on verso.
Quote from hit song "K-K-K Katy"

The Canadian-American composer offers the first three bars of his famous 1917 song "K-K-K Katy" along with his signature and wishes for a happy new year. Above the quotation in block letters he has also written TELL FAIR IRENE, this being an entry into the autograph book of Irene Gallagher who worked for the music publisher Max Dreyfus.

"K-K-K-Katy" tells the story of a stuttering soldier named Jimmy who wants to propose to his sweetheart, Katy, before heading off to war. The enormously popular and comic song was ranked number one on the charts from July to September 1918 (and remained in the top twenty for months beyond that).

Geoffrey O'Hara was Canadian but moved to the U.S. in 1904. In 1913, O'Hara undertook the recording of traditional Indian songs on behalf of the American government and was a singing instructor of patriotic songs for American troops during World War I. He was a vaudeville performer, composer, teacher, and musicologist. He wrote over five hundred popular songs, the most successful of them by far being "K-K-K-Katy".

Provenance: Irene Gallagher, the popular assistant of the New York music publisher Max Dreyfus who knew and helped all the up-and-coming composers of the day.

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