Tell Taylor


William "Tell" Taylor. Tell was born 28 October 1876 to Clarinda Jane Roberts and John Asbury Taylor, on a farm near the Village of Vanlue, Amanda Township, Hancock County, Ohio. He was an American traveling vaudeville performer, tenor vocalist, playwright, music publisher, composer, and lyricist who had written over 200 popular songs. His biggest hit was "Down by the Old Mill Stream" from 1910, one of the most commercially successful Tin Pan Alley publications of the era. The song was published by Forster Music Publisher, Inc. of Chicago. Taylor performed vaudeville theaters and founded a Chicago music publishing house bearing his name. His other notable songs include "He Sleeps Beneath the Soil of France," "I Love You Best of All," "If Dreams Come True," "Little Old Home in the Valley," "Rock Me to Sleep in the Old Rocking Chair," "Some Day," and "When the Maple Leaves Were Falling." Taylor also wrote the Broadway comedies Tiger Lillee and In New York Town.

Career highlights

Theater
Music publishing and songwriting
Post publishing & singing
Death
Posthumous lawsuit over song

Selected works

Popular songs

G.W. Setchell Publisher, Boston
Forster Music Publisher, Inc., Chicago
  • "Down by the Old Mill Stream"
  • "On The Banks of the Old Mill Stream," lyrics & music by Taylor
Tell Taylor, Chicago
Taylor Music Corp., Chicago
On November 4, 1907, Taylor married Buda Godman , the daughter of Otho and Julia Godman of Chicago. Buda had met Taylor about two years prior when Taylor had been a dinner guest at the St. Joseph's Convent and Academy in Adrian, Michigan, where Helen had been attending school. Taylor had just started his songwriting career and was appearing with a traveling stage company in Adrian. Buda and Tell had become friends before dinner was over, but did not correspond afterward. Two years later, while attending the performance of "The Girl Question," by Howard, Adams, and Hough, at a theater in Chicago, Buda recognized Tell and sent a note to him backstage, and they became reacquainted. After spending time together lunching and dining during the following week, they met for dinner at a Chicago hotel, and sent for a judge to marry them in the hotel's parlor.
In 1910, Tell Taylor filed for divorce from Buda in Chicago. In late September of that year, the divorce was granted, with Tell accusing Buda of having "affinities" with other vaudevillains. In the divorce proceedings, Tell stated that "I married Buda when we both were drunk and I found out she was quite incapable of loyalty to anyone."
On July 8, 1913, Tell Taylor married again to Blanche Irene King in McLean County, Illinois. In 1921, Blanch filed for, and was granted a divorce from Tell Taylor in Chicago.

Selected performances

As cast member
  1. Academy of Music, New York
  1. Milwaukee
  2. La Salle Theater, Chicago