Misc. Shows, 1902-1905

With a staff of composers under contract, Witmark owned many of the period's popular shows. Beginning in 1902, William Christopher O'Hare orchestrated a wide assortment of individual show tunes as well as show tune medleys. In some cases, he also arranged them for piano roll. The pieces credited to O'Hare below and on the next two pages serve as a representative sample. Recording labels frequently failed to credit the arranger, but when O'Hare is known to have arranged a particular tune for orchestra and/or band, that arrangement is most likely his since Witmark held the music copyrights.

Because many of these arrangements were intended for dancing, O'Hare sometimes transformed tunes into waltzes that hadn't been composed as such. He arranged some tunes as waltz, barn dance-schottische, lancers, and march, thus adapting them to various popular dance styles.

Years listed below indicate the copyright year of O'Hare's orchestra and/or band score, not necessarily the year the show opened. For instance, if a show opened at the beginning of the year and was expected to be a major success, O'Hare may have completed his concert or dance work on the show tunes in the year prior to the opening; if a show opened late in the year, Witmark may have published concert and dance music early the following year. Whether in advance of the opening or subsequent to it, one could count on music editors such as O'Hare to supply Broadway tunes to ensembles eager to perform them.

My Antoinette (1902)

King Dodo (1902)

Listen to King Dodo's "The Tale of a Bumblebee"

Listen to Selection from King Dodo for band

Listen to Gems from King Dodo, vocal selection by Victor Light Opera Company

A Chinese Honeymoon (1902)

Old Limerick Town (1902)

Old Limerick Town was the first of many Chauncy Olcott shows producing popular tunes arranged by O'Hare.

Listen to Byron G. Harlin sing "Noreen Mavourneen" from Old Limerick Town

From the Irish-Gaelic mo mhuirnin, mavourneen means "my darling" or "my beloved."

The Wizard of Oz (1902)

Although the Wizard of Oz didn't open on Broadway until early 1903, it opened in Chicago in 1902, and "The Witch Behind the Moon" was declared a successful interpolation, supplementing Tietjens' show score. This coon song is performed by a chorus dressed as witches and carrying brooms. The lyric speaks of the pickininnies' need to stay indoors at night to avoid the hoodoo of the witch behind the moon.

Over the coming years, tunes came and went in Oz. Three interpolated tunes that O'Hare had arranged for orchestra were Harry Freeman's I'll Be Your Honey in the Springtime, Will R. Anderson's I Love You All the Time, and Moran and Furth's Mary Canary.

Advertisements with Witch Behind the Moon and I'll Be Your Honey in the Springtime"

Page from O'Hare's arrangement for Sousa's Band, courtesy of the late Phyllis Danner, archivist, the John Philip Sousa Archive, University of Illinois: Urbana-Champaign.

The Sultan of Sulu (1903)

Hear the Canton Comic Opera Company perform "Since I First Met You"

Hear the Canton Comic Opera Company perform "R-e-m-o-r-s-e"

The Pittsburgh Post remarked, "Reading the libretto of a comic opera is usually about as interesting as reading a three-year old almanac" but went on to praise George Ade's "sarcastic humor." The Post also commented on music's originality.

A word about the music. The composer is Alfred G. Wathall, head of the music department of the Northwestern university, a young man who has never had the remotest connection with the theater. As a result, there is less reminiscent music in The Sultan of Sulu than in the majority of recent comic operas. "When I First Met You" is about the only one that recalls some familiar air and this smacks somewhat of the [Maurice] Levi melodies once so noticeable in the Roger's Brothers shows," vaudeville farces staged to draw some of the box office sales from Weber and Fields.

The real-life Sultan of Sulu's death announcement was cabled from Manila to the U.S. on January 19, 1903. Although newspaper accounts of the Sultan's death by cholera could not have inspired George Ade's book for the show, they possibly could have boosted the show's popularity.