The Junk man Rag ..1914..Charles Luckyth (Lucky) Roberts.

[Steve Harrison]

There's a recording of this by Fred Van Eps in original recordings although he played it at a slightly faster tempo and is more jazzy than my arrangement which is much closer to the original piano score. I've arranged it in F rather than the original key of C.  The score and midi are in the library..Steve.

[Jody Stecher]

Anomaly Alert: all sources I can find agree that 1914 was the year of publication of The Junk Man Rag. And yet Fred Van Eps recorded it in 1913. It's possible that he learned it prior to publication. I've learned plenty of unpublished melodies. But the discrepancy attracted my attention. So did the photo of the couple on the cover of the sheet music and the printed announcement about them. The meaning of the words and the message conveyed by their body language were likely to have been instantly apparent in 1914. But the meaning is not clear to me in 2023.

Maurice Mouvet and Florence Walton were ballroom dancers and were said to be dance style innovators. Does anyone know what it means, as printed on the original sheet music cover, that The Junk Man Rag was 'introduced" by them? Various meanings come to mind but I am merely guessing.  And why are their noses in the air in the photo?  Are they so superior because of an association with a tune with "junk man" in the title?  

[Jody Stecher]

1914 is also the year that Florence Walton is alleged to have taught King George V and Mary how to dance the tango. 

[Trapdoor2]

Advertising. They're not being demure, they're confident and sure of themselves. She's esp. confident, esp. for the era. They lean on one another, showing they're a couple, and holding hands...a sign of approval.
"Introducing" implied they were the first and therefore more "official", again, more advertising BS.

[Jody Stecher]

They were the first at what? 

Whatever they were the first at (to dance the Tango in Cincinnati or whatever), are you saying that this was a paid ad and that the couple have no connection to the tune?  

They were married to each other and yet she continued to use her maiden name and he did not use his at all in the context of the duo, Billed as they were it was sometimes assumed that his name was Walton.  *That* is something they may have been first at.  But not taking your husband's surname does not suggest you and he are "introducing"  The Junk Man Rag. 

Trapdoor2 said:

Advertising. They're not being demure, they're confident and sure of themselves. She's esp. confident, esp. for the era. They lean on one another, showing they're a couple, and holding hands...a sign of approval.
"Introducing" implied they were the first and therefore more "official", again, more advertising BS.

[Joel Hooks]

Just a shot in the dark.

Roberts composes the piece.  He plays it for Sterns' publishing editor.  Sterns buys it.  Sterns puts it in the hands of Maurice and Florence who "introduce" it by playing it for the first time in public live.  Sterns, wanting to pay their bills and employees as well as generally liking money, use the endorsement deal they have with M&F on the sheet music cover.  M&F being popular and well known names will thus help the sale of sheet music.

Pretty standard stuff for marketing. 

AFA FVE, many of the pieces he recorded were handed to him at the recording session or just prior. He would work up an arrangement from the piano score and often record it the same day. 

Records were used to sale sheet music.  So it is possible that FVE was handed an advance copy to record and something delayed the official publication of the sheet music a few months.   I'm sure it was something very simple and normal based on supply chain problems to delay the publication. 

[Jody Stecher]

I think these are  good guesses. As a professional musician of more than 5 decades (yikes!)  I have seen the inconvenient delay of publications many times.  And your point that records were use to sell sheet music is  valuable in understanding the music of that era. 

Maybe "introduced" has no intended literal  meaning at all. Maybe it is code for: you know these dancers and like them. Now I want your mind to associate this rag with these dancers. Abracadabra, you are now hypnotized into buying this sheet music.

Joel Hooks said:

Just a shot in the dark.

Roberts composes the piece.  He plays it for Sterns' publishing editor.  Sterns buys it.  Sterns puts it in the hands of Maurice and Florence who "introduce" it by playing it for the first time in public live.  Sterns, wanting to pay their bills and employees as well as generally liking money, use the endorsement deal they have with M&F on the sheet music cover.  M&F being popular and well known names will thus help the sale of sheet music.

Pretty standard stuff for marketing. 

AFA FVE, many of the pieces he recorded were handed to him at the recording session or just prior. He would work up an arrangement from the piano score and often record it the same day. 

Records were used to sale sheet music.  So it is possible that FVE was handed an advance copy to record and something delayed the official publication of the sheet music a few months.   I'm sure it was something very simple and normal based on supply chain problems to delay the publication. 

[Trapdoor2]

They were probably just the first people on the publisher's list of candidates. Or standing in the hallway looking pitiful. Or the first act to spin up on his rollodex. "Introduce" is advertising speak. It implies high society. You don't "introduce" at Clancy's on the corner...and you don't name names without a contract...follow the money!

[Jody Stecher]

OK, then. I'm getting closer to grasping the concept. What actions, real or implied, constitute a High Society "introduction" ?  Does it really mean nothing at all? Is it the equivalent of an endorsement?   Or to put it another way: what is it that you wouldn't be doing at Clancy's and what does this thing you wouldn't do have to do with the Junk Man Rag?  Is there no sense of irony at play in pairing Junk Man with High Society? Is this deliberate? Or just oblivious? 

Trapdoor2 said:

They were probably just the first people on the publisher's list of candidates. Or standing in the hallway looking pitiful. Or the first act to spin up on his rollodex. "Introduce" is advertising speak. It implies high society. You don't "introduce" at Clancy's on the corner...and you don't name names without a contract...follow the money!

[Trapdoor2]

I'm a cynic. If he could have said (for free) Carnige Hall, or at The White House, he would have jumped at it. The name of the rag is immaterial, it only evokes the theme of condiction, the rich enjoying "po' people's music. When most of the rich would have nothing to do with ragtime.

It is simply what the publisher thought would attract people to buy in the moment. No more, no less. He had the dancers on contract and they had a little fame he could cash in on. They may have never heard the tune!

Jody Stecher said:

OK, then. I'm getting closer to grasping the concept. What actions, real or implied, constitute a High Society "introduction" ?  Does it really mean nothing at all? Is it the equivalent of an endorsement?   Or to put it another way: what is it that you wouldn't be doing at Clancy's and what does this thing you wouldn't do have to do with the Junk Man Rag?  Is there no sense of irony at play in pairing Junk Man with High Society? Is this deliberate? Or just oblivious? 

Trapdoor2 said:

They were probably just the first people on the publisher's list of candidates. Or standing in the hallway looking pitiful. Or the first act to spin up on his rollodex. "Introduce" is advertising speak. It implies high society. You don't "introduce" at Clancy's on the corner...and you don't name names without a contract...follow the money!