"Every Little Movement" Anecdote

On November 21, 1911, the San Francisco Call published an an amusing anecdote about a performance simultaneously unbefitting the venue and calculatingly effective:

Chico, Nov. 20.  --Every little movement of the orchestra and the ushers of the Chico Baptist church had a meaning all its own when the collection was taken at the regular services.  Also, a modern musical comedy tune, it as found, could be successfully grafted on the church organ pipes and bear good fruit.  Furthermore, there was something like vindication for those leaders of Protestant churches who insist that the old hymn tunes may with profit be relegated to the basement while the choir loft devotes itself to something more modern.

While the contribution box was being passed at the church the congregation was electrified by a new air played by the excellent orchestra.  There was a secular lilt to the tune that carried the hand of the parishioner into his deepest pocket and brought it forth in waltz time, jingling with coin.  The ushers, as they passed the plate, stepped more lightly than their wont.

Most of those in the church were benignly innocent of the name of the air that was being played, though they knew that Moody and Sankey never composed anything like it.  Younger members of the flock recognized that the orchestra was playing the popular waltz number from Madame Sherry, "Every Little Movement has a Meaning All Its Own."

O'Hare's piano roll arrangement

---

Moody and Sankey Allusion

Beginning in the 1870s, evangelists Dwight Lyman Moody and Ira David Sankey traveled the U. S. and the British Isles attracting "lost sheep" to their revival meetings and to God.  Playing hymns on a reed organ and singing as he played, Sankey may have been the major draw, but once in attendance, audiences were captivated by Moody's preaching.  The pair published several volumes of Christian hymns.