[Dixielandjazz] Frog-I-More Rag, two more references

[Ken Waltjen]

In a review (http://www.budejazz.co.uk/reports/090412classic.pdf ) Paul 
Mayor (Bude Jazz Club) writes :

Review of the Steve Graham Classic Jazz gig of 12th April

...Next up was a Jelly Roll Morton
composition called Froggie
Moore based on a strain of his
earlier composition Frog-i-more
Rag. It was named after a vaudeville
contortionist named Moore
the Frog Man who used to dress
up as a frog and prance and hop
around the stage!...

And in Ragtime: an encyclopedia, discography, and sheetography  By David 
A. Jasen:

*"Frog-I-More Rag"  (Jelly Roll Morton)

May 15, 1918, unpublished
*
Research by Mike Montgomery tends to support the view that Morton 
appropriated the opening section from a pianist-contortionist name 
Froggie Moore.  In the early twenties, Morton turned the trio into the 
popular song "Sweetheart of Mine."

ken

Bill Haesler wrote:
>  Gluetje1 at aol.com asked:
>   
>> Can anyone channel the historical facts on this title?  I have an  opinion that it was originally called Froggy Moore Rag by one or another  spelling. That's because I suspect it was probably named for one of the  many acquaintances of Jelly Roll Morton, many of whom had  various intriguing nick names.
>>     
>
> Dear Ginny,
> DJML lurker, Mike Meddings, will probably have the answer.
> Although, my quick look at his indispensable Jelly Roll Morton website <http://www.doctorjazz.co.uk/page10.html> did not reveal it.
> Morton told Bill Russell in 1938 that it had no meaning but it has been proposed that it may have been named for the TOBA vaudeville Frog Man,  Froggie Moore. As mentioned by Ken Waltjen and Bob Smith.
> The Morton composition was originally called "Sweetheart O’ Mine" and, with words by Benjamin F. Spikes and John C. Spikes, was copyrighted in May 1918.
> It was expanded and retitled "Frog-i-More Rag" when recorded by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band and copyrighted under that name in April 1923.
> Kind regards,
> Bill..
>
>
>
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