Tweet Mel B. Kaufman Music - Vitaphone, Cue Sheets, Film Usage etc

Hi All,

This is sort of a mixed bag request, so forgive me in advance. If this belongs in another thread, feel free to move it.

I'm currently researching the life and music of composer Mel B. Kaufman (1879-1932), who was the writer of Me-ow, Taxi, More Candy, Stop It, etc. I'm trying to compile a list of what films his music has been used in (whether it was on a Pict-ur It Series Disk, silent era cue sheets, Vitaphone Shorts, Vitaphone cue sheets, cartoons, etc.). Here's what I have so far:

Ouch! (1924) in the Cue Sheet for SHOULDER ARMS (1924 re-release, compiled by Eugene Conte)
Happy-Go-Lucky! (1924) in the Cue Sheet for SHOULDER ARMS (1924 re-release, compiled by Eugene Conte)
Play Ball! (1926) in the Cue Sheet for COLLEGE (1927, compiled by Ernst Luz)
Me-ow (1918) in Noisy Noises (1929) starring Our Gang, Vitaphone score
Play Ball (1926) in ANNA CHRISTIE (1930) starring Greta Garbo
Taxi (1919) in BE BIG (1931) starring Laurel & Hardy
Me-ow (1918) in BOSKO THE SPEED KING (1933, cartoon)
Me-ow (1918) in VITAPHONE HIPPODROME (1936)
Me-ow (1918) in AIN'T WE GOT FUN (1937, cartoon)
Me-ow (1918) in THE SOUR PUSS (1940, cartoon)
Me-ow (1918) in NOTES TO YOU (1941, cartoon)
Me-ow (1918) in A GRUESOME TWOSOME (1945, cartoon)
Me-ow (1918) in THE DOLLY SISTERS (1945)
Me-ow (1918) in CHOW HOUND (1951, cartoon)
Me-ow (1918) in WHO'S KITTEN WHO? (1952, cartoon)
Me-ow (1918) in HOPPY GO LUCKY (1952, cartoon)
Me-ow (1918) in A PECK O' TROUBLE (1953, cartoon)
Me-ow (1918) in PIZZICATO PUSSYCAT (1955, cartoon)
Me-ow (1918) in TWEETY'S CIRCUS (1955, cartoon)
Me-ow (1918) in DIME TO RETIRE (1955, cartoon)
Me-ow (1918) in TREE CORNERED TWEETY (1956, cartoon)
Me-ow (1918) in CAT FEUD (1958, cartoon)
Me-ow (1918) in MOUSE-PLACED KITTEN (1959, cartoon)
Me-ow (1918) in CAT'S PAW (1959, cartoon)
Me-ow (1918) in TWEET DREAMS (1959, cartoon)
Me-ow (1918) in GOLDIMOUSE AND THE THREE CATS (1960, cartoon)
Me-ow (1918) in HYDE AND GO TWEET (1960, cartoon)
Me-ow (1918) in BIRDS OF A FATHER (1961, cartoon)
Me-ow (1918) in BUGS BUNNY'S EASTER SPECIAL (1977, cartoon compilation including TWEETY'S CIRCUS)
Me-ow (1918) in DAFFY DUCK'S QUACKBUSTERS (1988, cartoon compilation including HYDE AND GO TWEET)
Muslin Rag (1918) in THE DESERTER (2003, film, as played by the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra)
Umbrellas To Mend (1917) in YES MAN (2008, film, from the Frisco Jazz Band's cylinder)

I'm also curious (for the accompanists on here, Ben Model, Rodney Sauer, etc.) if you've used Kaufman's music in your own scores. I know people like Frederick Hodges and Robert Israel use his music frequently (I've heard Me-ow, Taxi, More Candy, Step With Pep, Stop It, and a few others from their film work).

I'm working with the Kaufman family to (eventually) put out a CD of Kaufman's public domain music, along with a 40-60 page booklet containing a full biography, list of historical recordings, list of film usages, photographs, etc etc.

I already have a listing of (almost) all the records and piano rolls that came out of his music (I have 84 found as of right now, I've checked most record catalogues), so I have the listings of the Victor records in 1928/1929 of many of his later tunes, which I'm sure were used in the Pict-ur it series (which I don't have much information on).

Appropriate credit will be given. Thank you very much!

Andrew,
I had been intending to get back to you about my Mel Kaufman research. Sorry to take so long.
I've been a fan of Mel Kaufman's music for a long time and have been collecting records, sheet music, and anything else on him for many years.
Way back in the 1970's when I started noticing the tunes "Me-ow" and "Taxi" turning up in different films such as Warner Bros. cartoons and Hal Roach films I decided to try to find out who this guy was who wrote those songs and what else did he write. And also starting way back then I began compiling lists of every film I heard his music in. My list now consists of about 230 different films in which Mel Kaufman's music is used.
Here's a breakdown by song title:
Beat It - 2 films.
Bing Bing - 1 film.
Cheer Up - 13 films.
Corn Huskers - 5 films.
Gang Way - 3 films.
Happy Go Lucky - 6 films.
Heads Up - 2 films.
Here We Go - 8 films.
Hop To It - 3 films.
Introduce Me - 1 film.
Listen To This - 5 films.
Lucky Dog - 5 films.
Maria - 10 films.
Me-ow - 45 films.
More Candy - 4 films.
On The Dot - 1 film.
Ouch! - 13 films.
Pack Me Up In Your Heart - 1 film.
Pins And Needles - 11 films.
Play Ball - 13 films.
Reel News - 8 films.
Saucy - 3 films.
Shoot - 8 films.
Step On It - 13 films.
Step With Pep - 5 films.
Stick In The Mud - 4 films.
Stop It! - 13 films.
Strawberries - 6 films.
Taxi - 14 films.
Warming Up - 7 films.

No known film usage:
Come Across
C.O.D. Come On Dance.
Frisky.
Good Scout.
I'm A Sentimental Dreamer.
It's A Bird.
Magnolia Bloom.
Muslin Rag.
Persian Moon.
Pick A Chicken.
Squidulum.
Umbrellas To Mend.
Yah-De Dah.
This is literally decades of research, adding titles one at a time as learned, but I'll be glad to share it with you.

I also do have a lot of info on the Victor Pict-Ur Records of Kaufman's compositions, and recordings of many of them.

That's great that you're in touch with members of Kaufman's family. I've always wondered who is left and if they're interested in Mel's work, and if they'd like to know that there are fans and collectors of his music.

Some Mel Kaufman trivia for you to ponder:
What film contains the most Mel Kaufman compositions (ten different in one film! with some repeated for a grand total of 16)?
I found another film that contains six different Kaufman selections. Do you know what that one is?

Hi Richard,

This information is FANTASTIC! Thank you so much for sharing it. I'd love to hear the film titles. (Email me through the orchestra's website please!) Only in the past few weeks have I been trying to get an idea on his music's work in films (I've been focusing primarily on the facts about his life, which I've been successful in finding, with some surprises).

As of right now, I have 30 recordings of Kaufman's music from his lifetime (along with 20 modern recordings of his work). Primarily it's the earlier stuff (Pick A Chicken, Me-ow, & More Candy especially). However, I do have the Pict-ur-Music series recordings of BEAT IT (1928), STEP ON IT (1927), and HEADS UP (1929).

Along with the recordings, I have orchestrations for roughly every Kaufman piece from the pre-1921 era (missing ones are BIG BEN: MARCH & TWO STEP (1912, I believe this to be lost), BING BING (1915), C.O.D. (1916), WHO DID IT (1919, exists on record only), BE CAREFUL (1921, presumed lost), and HAMADAN (1921, exists in a British library)). I have the piano solos of BING BING (both the 1914 and 1924 reissue, as played by Vincent Lopez) & C.O.D. so that fills in those gaps. I have several of the later period (12 or 13, post 1922).

In total, Mel had 91 compositions (that we know about from copyright records), 96 if you count pieces like Me-ow: One Step and Me-ow: Song as two different selections.

Mel himself was never classically trained in music, nor did he take piano lessons. He simply went to a piano, pounded out a song, and had his wife, May, transcribe it down into proper sheet music (she WAS classically trained, and a piano teacher). Both Mel and May felt in 1917 that Jazz was a passing phase, and people like Earl Fuller and the Original Dixieland Jass Band were not going to last. Even after Mel's death in 1932, May still thought lowly of Jazz, believing more in classical music (resorting to Jazz for her students as a last resort, if they weren't learning any other way).

I'll actually be visiting the Kaufman family a week from today, and will be giving them a call either later today or sometime early next week. They have only recently (within the past few months) struck a major interest in their grandfather's music after discovering people like myself who have recorded Kaufman's tunes and have an interest in them. They are very happy that Mel's music is still being appreciated 81 years after his death in 1932.

Some Mel Kaufman trivia for you to ponder:
What film contains the most Mel Kaufman compositions (ten different in one film! with some repeated for a grand total of 16)?
I found another film that contains six different Kaufman selections. Do you know what that one is?

I know the first one, but not all the songs.

Spite Marriage (1929) starring Buster Keaton. The songs are:
Step With Pep (1916)
Ouch! (1924)
Happy Go Lucky (1924)
Here We Go (1929)
Step on It (1927)
Pins And Needles (1927)
Lucky Dog: Bow Wow One Step (1928)
Shoot! One Step (1928)

I heard two others that sounded Kaufman-esque, but I didn't find them in the sheet music I have. A rough guess would be either Reel News (1928), Cheer Up (1928), or Gangway (1926) for the others.

The second one has me thinking, but I can't think of it off the top of my head.

Some Mel Kaufman trivia for you to ponder:
What film contains the most Mel Kaufman compositions (ten different in one film! with some repeated for a grand total of 16)?
I found another film that contains six different Kaufman selections. Do you know what that one is?

I know the first one, but not all the songs.

Spite Marriage (1929) starring Buster Keaton. The songs are:
Step With Pep (1916)
Ouch! (1924)
Happy Go Lucky (1924)
Here We Go (1929)
Step on It (1927)
Pins And Needles (1927)
Lucky Dog: Bow Wow One Step (1928)
Shoot! One Step (1928)

I heard two others that sounded Kaufman-esque, but I didn't find them in the sheet music I have. A rough guess would be either Reel News (1928), Cheer Up (1928), or Gangway (1926) for the others.

The second one has me thinking, but I can't think of it off the top of my head.

Yes, SPITE MARRIAGE has ten different Mel Kaufman tunes:
Here we Go
Step with Pep
Cheer Up
Ouch!
Happy Go Lucky (used 3 times)
Lucky Dog (used 2 times)
Step On It
Pins and Needles (used 3 times)
Maria (used 2 times)
Shoot.

Second behind that one, for number of Kaufman tunes with six, is HIS LUCKY DAY (1929) - Universal feature.
It contains:
Me-ow
Saucy
Heads Up (used 2 times)
Whoop-ee
Here we Go
Stick in the Mud.

More Mel trivia:
What is ironic about him passing away in 1932?

More Mel trivia:
What is ironic about him passing away in 1932?

That I don't know. I'm just getting to the time around his death now. I know how he died and where, but not the ironic moment surrounding his death. (I've been in the 20s for the past two weeks).

I do know he died due to heart complications which had arose in 1922, and almost killed him then. He became a student of Mary Baker Edding's teachings (the belief that prayer and self-help, not medicine, would heal you). Ultimately because of this he got sicker in February 1932 and passed away February 21, 1932 in his Manhattan apartment.

What was ironic about Mel Kaufman passing away in early 1932 was that after all those hundreds of random films in which his music was used, he died just in time to miss one of his tunes being chosen to be the theme music for a comedy shorts series: The Taxi Boys series (Hal Roach, 1932-1933). And the tume: "Taxi" of course. The first of the shorts to use the tune was filmed in late June to early July 1932 and released August 13, 1932. (One short was filmed earlier but released later).
Turns out they ended up using his music for just the first three shorts in the series, but I've wondered if he knew it was being planned.

Turns out they ended up using his music for just the first three shorts in the series, but I've wondered if he knew it was being planned.

Great information Richard, thanks for sharing. Hopefully my upcoming visit with the Kaufmans will shed some light as to whether they knew (I'd hope they would - I'll see if any correspondence comes up).

The later years of his life are becoming more and more fascinating with all this information popping up!

Here's one of my favorites from my Mel Kaufman 78 collection:

Another unusual Mel Kaufman 78:

Another unusual Mel Kaufman 78:

Richard,

Good finds, I don't actually have that particular record listed in my master list (I do have the Emerson one you linked before, though).

I'm sure you've used this website, but the Library of Congress' National Jukebox has a number of Mel Kaufman tunes there...
http://loc.gov/jukebox

Coming late to this party... about the only recorded score we've used Mel Kaufman in is the recent Kino Sherlock Jr., with "Taxi" being the least familiar in a montage of intentionally familiar music in the film-in-film sequence. "Taxi," of course, when he suddenly finds himself in a busy street (for about sixteen bars of music). Our collection also includes a few other Kaufmans:

Shoot
Umbrellas to Mend
Listen to This!
Taxi! (I also have this as piano sheet music, with quite an arresting cover illustration).
Stop it!

The National Library of Australia shows 48 hits under Mel Kaufman, some may be doubles but I'll let you look through. They've been very helpful about sending PDF scans of scores for a reasonable fee.

The University of North Texas lists 35 hits..

Drake University has a few, including Beat it By Me, Play Ball, Shoot, Happy Go Lucky, Strawberries, Ouch!, and Reel News.

Rodney,
I have most of the Kaufman one steps already, I was primarily curious as to if others used them, and what their thoughts on his music is. I'll have to check out your score for Sherlock Jr., I don't have many of the recent Kino Buster releases on DVD/Blu-Ray.

Anyone else?