WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.500 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today, we are 00:00:02.500 --> 00:00:04.860 looking at a story that completely changed how 00:00:04.860 --> 00:00:07.419 I view the modern music industry. Oh, yeah. It 00:00:07.419 --> 00:00:09.839 really shifts your entire perspective. It does. 00:00:10.039 --> 00:00:12.320 And if you are the kind of person who loves to 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:15.500 learn how things actually work behind the scenes, 00:00:15.640 --> 00:00:19.820 but maybe you occasionally feel a little overwhelmed 00:00:19.820 --> 00:00:22.160 by the sheer mountain of historical information 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:25.160 out there, you are in the exact right place. 00:00:25.260 --> 00:00:27.559 Absolutely. We do the heavy lifting for you. 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:29.800 We find those forgotten nuggets of knowledge 00:00:29.800 --> 00:00:32.579 and we bring them straight to you. And today 00:00:32.579 --> 00:00:35.619 we are working from a single comprehensive encyclopedia 00:00:35.619 --> 00:00:38.219 article that details the life of a man named 00:00:38.219 --> 00:00:41.179 Percy Wenrich. Percy Wenrich. Yeah. You might 00:00:41.179 --> 00:00:43.259 not know his name right off the bat, but his 00:00:43.259 --> 00:00:46.000 story is the literal blueprint for the modern 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:48.460 music industry. It really is. Our mission today 00:00:48.460 --> 00:00:50.600 is to uncover the fascinating forgotten journey 00:00:50.600 --> 00:00:53.689 of the man they called the Joplin Kid. He was 00:00:53.689 --> 00:00:56.789 this ragtime pioneer who soundtracked early 20th 00:00:56.789 --> 00:00:59.229 century America. He figured out the mechanics 00:00:59.229 --> 00:01:01.750 of a hit song long before the radio even existed, 00:01:01.850 --> 00:01:04.569 and he lived a deeply moving personal and professional 00:01:04.569 --> 00:01:07.109 love story. Okay, let's unpack this. It is a 00:01:07.109 --> 00:01:10.170 phenomenal journey. And to really appreciate 00:01:10.170 --> 00:01:12.329 it, I want you to imagine the backdrop of our 00:01:12.329 --> 00:01:14.409 discussion shifting around you right now. Okay, 00:01:14.469 --> 00:01:17.209 paint the picture. Picture an early 1900s music 00:01:17.209 --> 00:01:20.010 shop. The walls are lined from floor to ceiling 00:01:20.010 --> 00:01:22.170 with these brightly colored sheet music covers. 00:01:22.430 --> 00:01:25.769 Like wallpaper almost. Exactly. And picture the 00:01:25.769 --> 00:01:28.549 cacophony of a dozen different slightly out of 00:01:28.549 --> 00:01:31.049 tune pianos drifting out of office windows onto 00:01:31.049 --> 00:01:35.329 the bustling New York streets. Or imagine a vintage 00:01:35.329 --> 00:01:37.670 vaudeville stage with the footlights glowing. 00:01:38.030 --> 00:01:40.569 warm against heavy velvet curtains. I can see 00:01:40.569 --> 00:01:43.670 it. This is the world we are stepping into. And 00:01:43.670 --> 00:01:45.709 the reason this matters to you today is that 00:01:45.709 --> 00:01:48.069 we tend to think of the pop star or the massive 00:01:48.069 --> 00:01:50.989 music hit as a modern invention. Right. We think 00:01:50.989 --> 00:01:53.209 of streaming algorithms and viral videos and 00:01:53.209 --> 00:01:56.049 arena tours. Right. But Percy Wenrich's life 00:01:56.049 --> 00:01:58.670 shows us the original foundational blueprint 00:01:58.670 --> 00:02:01.810 for American pop music success. That is the part 00:02:01.810 --> 00:02:03.129 that hooked me right away. So let's start at 00:02:03.129 --> 00:02:05.560 the beginning. Percy Wenrich was born on January 00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:09.039 23, 1880, in Joplin, Missouri. Joplin, Missouri. 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:11.900 Yeah, and his family dynamic is just great. It 00:02:11.900 --> 00:02:14.360 wasn't some strict classical conservatory upbringing. 00:02:14.780 --> 00:02:17.300 His mother was locally known as the Berry County 00:02:17.300 --> 00:02:19.759 Pianist, and she gave him his first organ and 00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:23.180 piano lessons. Very grassroots. Totally. Then, 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:25.280 as he got into his teenage years and started 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:28.180 composing his own original tunes, his father 00:02:28.180 --> 00:02:31.580 supplied the lyrics. Wow. It was a total in -house 00:02:31.580 --> 00:02:35.110 family production. But the landscape of entertainment 00:02:35.110 --> 00:02:37.729 back then was so vastly different from today. 00:02:37.909 --> 00:02:39.990 It was a completely different paradigm. You have 00:02:39.990 --> 00:02:42.689 to remember in the 1880s and 1890s, if you wanted 00:02:42.689 --> 00:02:44.710 music in your house, you had to make it yourself. 00:02:44.909 --> 00:02:47.430 Right. The parlor piano was the entertainment 00:02:47.430 --> 00:02:49.810 center of the American home. It was basically 00:02:49.810 --> 00:02:51.669 the equivalent of the living room television 00:02:51.669 --> 00:02:54.870 today. That makes sense. And what is so interesting 00:02:54.870 --> 00:02:57.550 about Wenrich's early teenage compositions is 00:02:57.550 --> 00:02:59.349 where they actually ended up being performed. 00:03:00.139 --> 00:03:02.199 The source notes that some of his early songs 00:03:02.199 --> 00:03:04.180 were used in the local political scene. Which 00:03:04.180 --> 00:03:07.080 is wild. Yeah. His songs eulogize Democratic 00:03:07.080 --> 00:03:09.919 stalwarts of the era, specifically Grover Cleveland 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:12.520 and William Jennings Bryan. These songs were 00:03:12.520 --> 00:03:15.219 sung at political rallies and conventions by 00:03:15.219 --> 00:03:17.759 impromptu glee clubs that were organized right 00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:20.400 there on the spot. It's just wild to think about 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:24.740 teenagers. writing campaign songs. And just as 00:03:24.740 --> 00:03:26.460 a quick aside for you listening, we're obviously 00:03:26.460 --> 00:03:29.180 looking at this purely as a historical artifact. 00:03:29.259 --> 00:03:32.199 Absolutely. We're not here to endorse 1890s political 00:03:32.199 --> 00:03:34.580 platforms or take any left or right political 00:03:34.580 --> 00:03:38.300 side. This was simply how local politics and 00:03:38.300 --> 00:03:41.199 music intertwined at the time. We are just impartially 00:03:41.199 --> 00:03:43.379 reporting the facts from the source text. Exactly. 00:03:43.479 --> 00:03:45.680 It just shows how music was essentially the social 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:47.960 media of that era. That is a really great way 00:03:47.960 --> 00:03:50.740 to put it. Before mass media, a political rally 00:03:50.740 --> 00:03:53.979 was a a major social event. So a catchy tune 00:03:53.979 --> 00:03:56.379 by a local teenager was the perfect vehicle to 00:03:56.379 --> 00:03:59.259 spread a message. Yeah. It shows that even at 00:03:59.259 --> 00:04:01.719 a young age, Wenrich instinctively understood 00:04:01.719 --> 00:04:04.199 how to write a melody that people could easily 00:04:04.199 --> 00:04:06.639 latch onto and sing together in a crowd. And 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:08.800 he was actively seeking out those crowds, too. 00:04:09.020 --> 00:04:11.659 He joined a local minstrel group. Now, minstrel 00:04:11.659 --> 00:04:14.520 shows were a very common, though obviously complex, 00:04:14.680 --> 00:04:16.819 stepping stone in entertainment at the time. 00:04:16.980 --> 00:04:19.889 But for Wenrich, That environment is where he 00:04:19.889 --> 00:04:23.110 really began to learn about cakewalks and ragtime 00:04:23.110 --> 00:04:25.750 melodies. And for listeners who might not be 00:04:25.750 --> 00:04:28.350 deep into music history, it is worth defining 00:04:28.350 --> 00:04:31.089 what ragtime actually was. Please do. Ragtime 00:04:31.089 --> 00:04:34.269 was the rebellious, highly syncopated pop music 00:04:34.269 --> 00:04:37.029 of its day. It broke the rules of traditional 00:04:37.029 --> 00:04:40.389 European marches. It was bouncy. It was disruptive. 00:04:40.709 --> 00:04:43.509 And teenagers like Wenrich just gravitated toward 00:04:43.509 --> 00:04:45.629 it. Because he was this young prodigy playing 00:04:45.629 --> 00:04:48.529 these new rhythms in Joblin. earned the nickname 00:04:48.529 --> 00:04:50.970 the Joplin Kid. Which sounds like an outlaw. 00:04:51.250 --> 00:04:53.310 It sounds exactly like a gunslinger, but he's 00:04:53.310 --> 00:04:55.730 armed with a piano. Yeah. At just 17 years old, 00:04:55.790 --> 00:04:58.589 he publishes his first musical work titled Van 00:04:58.589 --> 00:05:01.550 Conu. Such a fancy name. Right. And in this great 00:05:01.550 --> 00:05:03.829 display of self -deprecation, Wenrich himself 00:05:03.829 --> 00:05:06.529 described it simply as a two -step with a fancy 00:05:06.529 --> 00:05:09.129 title. Ah. A two -step being a popular dance 00:05:09.129 --> 00:05:11.089 style at the time, but Missouri could only hold 00:05:11.089 --> 00:05:13.810 him for so long. By 1901, the ambition really 00:05:13.810 --> 00:05:16.149 kicks in, and he leaves for Chicago to attend 00:05:16.149 --> 00:05:19.160 the Chicago Musical College. And the name running 00:05:19.160 --> 00:05:21.540 that college gives us a sense of the theatrical 00:05:21.540 --> 00:05:24.300 world he was entering. It was run by Florence 00:05:24.300 --> 00:05:27.220 Ziegfeld, Sr. Oh, wow. Yeah. He was the father 00:05:27.220 --> 00:05:30.819 of the man who would go on to invent the modern 00:05:30.819 --> 00:05:33.220 Broadway spectacle with the Ziegfeld Follies. 00:05:33.420 --> 00:05:36.079 So Wenrich is studying in this highly theatrical 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:37.959 environment. But he still has to pay his rent. 00:05:38.139 --> 00:05:41.240 Exactly. He gets a job working as a melody writer 00:05:41.240 --> 00:05:44.300 for the McKinley Music Company. And even more 00:05:44.300 --> 00:05:46.379 importantly, he gets a job at Gimbel's department 00:05:46.379 --> 00:05:49.009 store. standing at a counter selling sheet music 00:05:49.009 --> 00:05:51.870 directly to the public. Wait, I want to pause 00:05:51.870 --> 00:05:53.129 on this because I was trying to wrap my head 00:05:53.129 --> 00:05:55.850 around it earlier. If the radio didn't exist 00:05:55.850 --> 00:05:59.110 yet, how did a customer at Gimble's even know 00:05:59.110 --> 00:06:01.509 what a piece of sheet music sounded like before 00:06:01.509 --> 00:06:04.449 they bought it? That is the million -dollar quotient 00:06:04.449 --> 00:06:06.550 of the era, and it is where the song plugger 00:06:06.550 --> 00:06:09.189 comes in. The song plugger. Yeah. At department 00:06:09.189 --> 00:06:11.170 stores or music shops, there would literally 00:06:11.170 --> 00:06:14.089 be a piano right there on the sales floor. A 00:06:14.089 --> 00:06:16.170 customer would walk in, look at the brightly 00:06:16.170 --> 00:06:18.209 colored covers, which, by the way, were designed 00:06:18.209 --> 00:06:20.250 to be as eye -catching as a YouTube thumbnail 00:06:20.250 --> 00:06:22.410 today, and they would say, play this one for 00:06:22.410 --> 00:06:24.449 me. The plugger would sit down and play the tune. 00:06:24.610 --> 00:06:26.329 If it was catchy, the customer bought the paper. 00:06:26.529 --> 00:06:28.490 So Wenrich is the guy playing the piano and just 00:06:28.490 --> 00:06:30.750 watching the customer's face. What's fascinating 00:06:30.750 --> 00:06:33.449 here is how that job at Gimbels functioned as 00:06:33.449 --> 00:06:36.500 the ultimate market research. It is the 1901 00:06:36.500 --> 00:06:38.980 equivalent of an artist studying their Spotify 00:06:38.980 --> 00:06:42.259 backend analytics to see exactly when listeners 00:06:42.259 --> 00:06:44.500 skip a track. That is such a good comparison. 00:06:44.800 --> 00:06:47.620 He is standing there day in and day out observing 00:06:47.620 --> 00:06:50.560 which covers catch the eye, which melodies prompt 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:52.620 a customer to reach for their wallet, and which 00:06:52.620 --> 00:06:56.220 ones just fall flat. He has a frontline, unfiltered 00:06:56.220 --> 00:06:58.839 view of consumer demand. And that data collection 00:06:58.839 --> 00:07:02.819 totally pays off. In 1903, he starts writing 00:07:02.819 --> 00:07:05.459 his own ragtime works, starting with Ashy Africa. 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:07.339 Right. He follows it up with a string of them 00:07:07.339 --> 00:07:09.980 over the next few years. And the big breakthrough 00:07:09.980 --> 00:07:13.180 comes in 1907 with an instrumental rag titled 00:07:13.180 --> 00:07:16.040 The Smiler. The Smiler. It becomes his best -selling 00:07:16.040 --> 00:07:18.519 rag without lyrics. He's officially on the map. 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:22.579 But as successful as he is becoming, the story 00:07:22.579 --> 00:07:25.620 takes its absolute most important turn when he 00:07:25.620 --> 00:07:28.370 meets his other half. Yes, the turning point 00:07:28.370 --> 00:07:31.050 of his entire life, both personally and professionally. 00:07:31.610 --> 00:07:34.930 In 1905, Wenrich meets a vaudeville performer 00:07:34.930 --> 00:07:38.470 named Dolly Connolly. They meet in 1905, and 00:07:38.470 --> 00:07:41.569 by July of 1906, they are married. That was fast. 00:07:41.949 --> 00:07:44.949 It was. And they don't just settle down. They 00:07:44.949 --> 00:07:47.850 become this touring powerhouse duo. They spent 00:07:47.850 --> 00:07:50.889 over 15 years on the road together. He wrote 00:07:50.889 --> 00:07:53.779 some of his biggest hit songs. specifically for 00:07:53.779 --> 00:07:55.939 Dolly to perform. And they were massive hits. 00:07:56.160 --> 00:07:59.579 In 1907, he writes a song called Come Be My Rainbow, 00:07:59.800 --> 00:08:03.410 and it explodes. It sells over a million copies 00:08:03.410 --> 00:08:05.529 of physical sheet music. Let's put that number 00:08:05.529 --> 00:08:07.910 into perspective for a second. Selling a million 00:08:07.910 --> 00:08:10.110 copies of sheet music means there were a million 00:08:10.110 --> 00:08:12.509 pianos in a million parlors across the country 00:08:12.509 --> 00:08:14.870 where people were actively taking the time to 00:08:14.870 --> 00:08:17.009 sit down and play his music. It is a staggering 00:08:17.009 --> 00:08:19.170 amount of effort for the consumer. It represents 00:08:19.170 --> 00:08:21.829 a massive cultural footprint, and the financial 00:08:21.829 --> 00:08:24.009 windfall from that success allowed Percy and 00:08:24.009 --> 00:08:26.509 Dolly to make the ultimate leap. Around 1909, 00:08:26.689 --> 00:08:28.689 they pack up and move to the center of the musical 00:08:28.689 --> 00:08:31.709 universe, New York City. Tin Pan Alley. Specifically 00:08:31.709 --> 00:08:33.950 Tin Pan Alley. Which was basically just a couple 00:08:33.950 --> 00:08:35.730 of city blocks where all the music publishers 00:08:35.730 --> 00:08:38.110 were crammed together. And New York is where 00:08:38.110 --> 00:08:41.350 his pen just catches fire. He writes, put on 00:08:41.350 --> 00:08:44.070 your old gray bonnet. He writes that Alamo rag. 00:08:44.370 --> 00:08:46.190 And then we get to this incredible anecdote. 00:08:46.509 --> 00:08:48.470 Oh, this is my favorite part. It is the origin 00:08:48.470 --> 00:08:51.470 story of the classic standard Moonlight Bay. 00:08:51.950 --> 00:08:54.830 I want to read how Wenrich described this happening 00:08:54.830 --> 00:08:57.649 in Atlantic City, New Jersey because it is legendary. 00:08:57.970 --> 00:09:00.509 Go for it. He says it was a swell night with 00:09:00.509 --> 00:09:03.529 the moon streaming over the ocean. Just as I 00:09:03.529 --> 00:09:05.750 ordered another beer, I thought I heard some 00:09:05.750 --> 00:09:08.289 guy ask the orchestra to play a piece called 00:09:08.289 --> 00:09:10.789 Moonlight Bay. I was mistaken. They hadn't requested 00:09:10.789 --> 00:09:12.970 it for the reason there was no such song, but 00:09:12.970 --> 00:09:14.590 I got to thinking what a swell title it would 00:09:14.590 --> 00:09:16.750 make and went home to work it. He essentially 00:09:16.750 --> 00:09:19.710 misheard a guy while drinking a beer, realized 00:09:19.710 --> 00:09:22.149 the song didn't exist, and just willed an American 00:09:22.149 --> 00:09:24.529 classic into existence. Exactly. He just made 00:09:24.529 --> 00:09:26.570 it up on the spot. And if we connect this back 00:09:26.570 --> 00:09:29.929 to his time at Gimbels, it demonstrates his finely 00:09:29.929 --> 00:09:32.950 tuned instinct for popular culture. He didn't 00:09:32.950 --> 00:09:35.950 agonize over a complex classical theme. Moonlight 00:09:35.950 --> 00:09:38.429 Bay is evocative. It paints a picture instantly. 00:09:38.990 --> 00:09:40.529 All right, it tells a story before you even hear 00:09:40.529 --> 00:09:43.190 the notes. He knew that a swell title, as he 00:09:43.190 --> 00:09:45.549 called it, was half the battle in selling a piece 00:09:45.549 --> 00:09:48.490 of sheet music on a crowded shelf. He took a 00:09:48.490 --> 00:09:50.470 phantom request and turned it into a standard 00:09:50.470 --> 00:09:52.649 that would be sung for decades. And he had a 00:09:52.649 --> 00:09:55.509 habit of doing that. In 1911, he wrote Red Rose 00:09:55.509 --> 00:09:59.470 Rag for Dolly with lyrics by Edward Madden. That 00:09:59.470 --> 00:10:02.009 song became so iconic that the legendary actor 00:10:02.009 --> 00:10:05.070 and comedian George Burns used it in his routine 00:10:05.070 --> 00:10:08.289 throughout his entire career. Then around 1914, 00:10:08.610 --> 00:10:11.009 while working at Leo Feist Publishing, he writes, 00:10:11.149 --> 00:10:14.649 When you wore a tulip and I wore a big red rose, 00:10:14.870 --> 00:10:18.269 that one sold over two million copies. Two million. 00:10:18.470 --> 00:10:20.309 Two million. They were the defining power couple 00:10:20.309 --> 00:10:22.570 of the vaudeville circuit. But what did that 00:10:22.570 --> 00:10:24.490 life actually look like on a day -to -day basis? 00:10:24.889 --> 00:10:26.950 Vaudeville was grueling. It was a network of 00:10:26.950 --> 00:10:28.970 theaters across the country offering variety 00:10:28.970 --> 00:10:32.049 entertainment. For a duo like Percy and Dolly, 00:10:32.250 --> 00:10:34.610 it meant living out of trunks, taking long train 00:10:34.610 --> 00:10:36.889 rides between cities, staying in theatrical boarding 00:10:36.889 --> 00:10:39.269 houses, and often performing three or four shows 00:10:39.269 --> 00:10:41.470 a single day. That is exhausting just thinking 00:10:41.470 --> 00:10:44.490 about it. A 1916 review from the Toronto World 00:10:44.490 --> 00:10:47.250 talks about how the audience absolutely insisted 00:10:47.250 --> 00:10:51.149 upon encores from them. You can imagine the exhaustion, 00:10:51.230 --> 00:10:53.789 but also the thrill of having that kind of direct, 00:10:53.929 --> 00:10:56.269 immediate connection with an audience. As they 00:10:56.269 --> 00:10:58.970 moved into the 1920s, they embedded themselves 00:10:58.970 --> 00:11:02.070 deeper into the New York theatrical scene. They 00:11:02.070 --> 00:11:04.350 moved to the Lambs Club in Manhattan, which is 00:11:04.350 --> 00:11:06.470 a very prestigious theatrical club. It's very 00:11:06.470 --> 00:11:08.889 prestigious. When Rich started shifting his focus 00:11:08.889 --> 00:11:11.649 slightly toward writing full musicals. There 00:11:11.649 --> 00:11:13.230 is a great example of this with a show he wrote 00:11:13.230 --> 00:11:15.169 with Raymond Peck initially called Made to Love. 00:11:15.370 --> 00:11:17.809 It didn't do very well at first. Right, it flopped. 00:11:17.830 --> 00:11:20.350 But rather than give up, they completely retooled 00:11:20.350 --> 00:11:23.009 it. They wrote a new story, kept the best songs 00:11:23.009 --> 00:11:26.389 cast Dolly as the star, and renamed it... The 00:11:26.389 --> 00:11:28.289 Right Girl. Which is a real testament to his 00:11:28.289 --> 00:11:30.049 work ethic. In the theater business, you either 00:11:30.049 --> 00:11:32.690 adapt or you disappear. And the adaptation totally 00:11:32.690 --> 00:11:35.250 worked. The New York Times reviewed it in March 00:11:35.250 --> 00:11:38.269 of 1921, noting that his score had several high 00:11:38.269 --> 00:11:41.090 spots. The reviewers specifically pointed out 00:11:41.090 --> 00:11:43.070 that one of the songs, Love's Little Journey, 00:11:43.250 --> 00:11:45.789 earned half a dozen encores in a single night. 00:11:45.929 --> 00:11:48.570 Six encores. Think about the physical stamina 00:11:48.570 --> 00:11:51.389 that requires from Dolly on stage singing the 00:11:51.389 --> 00:11:54.509 same number six times in a row because the crowd 00:11:54.509 --> 00:11:57.019 simply won't stop clapping. It is incredible. 00:11:57.360 --> 00:11:59.659 But as we know, the roaring 20s eventually gave 00:11:59.659 --> 00:12:02.059 way to the 30s and the entertainment landscape 00:12:02.059 --> 00:12:05.360 shifted again. Rapidly. Vaudeville was dying 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:07.899 out as talking motion pictures and household 00:12:07.899 --> 00:12:10.340 radios took over. People didn't need to go to 00:12:10.340 --> 00:12:12.340 a local theater to hear a new song anymore. It 00:12:12.340 --> 00:12:14.460 was broadcast right into their living room. So 00:12:14.460 --> 00:12:16.700 what does this all mean for a guy who made his 00:12:16.700 --> 00:12:19.700 living on sheet music and live theater? It meant 00:12:19.700 --> 00:12:22.740 he had to pivot again. When the traditional vaudeville 00:12:22.740 --> 00:12:25.659 circuits faded, he and several colleagues formed 00:12:25.659 --> 00:12:28.200 a touring review called Songwriters on Parade. 00:12:28.259 --> 00:12:31.899 That is clever. Between 1931 and 1940, they toured 00:12:31.899 --> 00:12:34.480 the eastern seaboard. It was a brilliant marketing 00:12:34.480 --> 00:12:36.960 move to package the writers behind the hits as 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:39.960 the stars themselves. He and Dolly also adapted 00:12:39.960 --> 00:12:42.720 to the new technology, appearing briefly on Weef 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:45.440 Radio in New York. He really surfed the waves 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:48.480 of changing technology for decades. He did. But 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:51.029 eventually, the road life comes to an end. In 00:12:51.029 --> 00:12:53.669 the early 1930s, Percy and Dolly retired from 00:12:53.669 --> 00:12:57.490 touring, moving to California in 1934. He still 00:12:57.490 --> 00:12:59.769 had some magic left, though, publishing his last 00:12:59.769 --> 00:13:02.950 truly memorable song, Sail Along Silvery Moon, 00:13:03.029 --> 00:13:06.149 in 1937. A great track. It is. But as we look 00:13:06.149 --> 00:13:08.029 at the final chapters of this source text, the 00:13:08.029 --> 00:13:10.289 tone softens considerably and the story takes 00:13:10.289 --> 00:13:13.529 a tragic turn. It does. Behind the bright lights 00:13:13.529 --> 00:13:15.470 and the million -selling upbeat rags, there was 00:13:15.470 --> 00:13:18.309 a profound personal struggle. Yeah. The article 00:13:18.309 --> 00:13:21.149 notes that in 1947, due to severe mental health 00:13:21.149 --> 00:13:23.769 deterioration, Wenrich had to commit his beloved 00:13:23.769 --> 00:13:27.960 Dolly to a sanatorium. A 1950 census lists her 00:13:27.960 --> 00:13:30.600 as a patient in the Central Islet Mental Hospital 00:13:30.600 --> 00:13:33.159 in New York. That is so tough. She remained in 00:13:33.159 --> 00:13:34.980 care for the rest of her life, outliving Percy 00:13:34.980 --> 00:13:38.279 and eventually passing away in 1965. It is a 00:13:38.279 --> 00:13:40.559 stark contrast to their vibrant public life on 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:43.179 stage and a deeply heartbreaking end to a decades 00:13:43.179 --> 00:13:45.480 -long romance. It is heartbreaking. Yeah. But 00:13:45.480 --> 00:13:47.620 even amidst that personal sadness in his later 00:13:47.620 --> 00:13:50.120 years, Percy did get to see a massive revival 00:13:50.120 --> 00:13:53.259 of his life's work. He did. In 1951, his popularity 00:13:53.259 --> 00:13:56.120 exploded all over again because Warner Brothers 00:13:56.120 --> 00:13:58.679 released a major Hollywood film starring Doris 00:13:58.679 --> 00:14:02.059 Day and the title of the film, On Moonlight Bay. 00:14:02.220 --> 00:14:04.779 The irony is just wonderful. The song, born from 00:14:04.779 --> 00:14:06.639 a misheard beer order in New Jersey, becomes 00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:09.019 the title of a Doris Day Hollywood film. Right. 00:14:09.179 --> 00:14:11.539 The studio treated this as a massive tribute 00:14:11.539 --> 00:14:13.990 to Wenrich. They premiered the film in his hometown 00:14:13.990 --> 00:14:17.570 of Joplin, Missouri, in July of 1951. The mayor 00:14:17.570 --> 00:14:20.190 even issued a proclamation making his old hit, 00:14:20.370 --> 00:14:23.110 Put on Your Old Gray Bonnet, the official city 00:14:23.110 --> 00:14:25.809 song. Unfortunately, Wenrich was too ill to attend 00:14:25.809 --> 00:14:28.190 the premiere himself. But his community back 00:14:28.190 --> 00:14:30.330 in New York made sure he knew his legacy was 00:14:30.330 --> 00:14:32.830 secure. Oh, the Lamb's Club letter. Yes. I have 00:14:32.830 --> 00:14:35.029 to read this quote from the 1951 Lamb's Club 00:14:35.029 --> 00:14:51.850 newsletter. They wrote, This bebop reefer happy 00:14:51.850 --> 00:14:54.950 dust era? Such a phrase. That phrasing paints 00:14:54.950 --> 00:14:57.440 such a vivid picture of how the older generation 00:14:57.440 --> 00:15:00.039 of Tin Pan Alley writers viewed the jazz and 00:15:00.039 --> 00:15:03.139 early rock and roll scenes of the 1950s, they 00:15:03.139 --> 00:15:05.879 were clearly a little mystified by it. Very much 00:15:05.879 --> 00:15:08.720 so. But beneath that colorful language, the core 00:15:08.720 --> 00:15:12.080 message is deep respect. They recognize that 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:14.639 he had maintained his humanity and his humility 00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:18.100 through massive shifts in the industry. Wenrich 00:15:18.100 --> 00:15:20.480 passed away in New York City the very next year 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:24.059 in 1952 at the age of 72. He was brought back 00:15:24.059 --> 00:15:26.960 home and buried in Joplin, Missouri. What a full 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:29.639 circle. From playing parlor pianos in Missouri 00:15:29.639 --> 00:15:31.860 to selling millions of physical records in New 00:15:31.860 --> 00:15:34.399 York and finally resting back where it all started. 00:15:34.860 --> 00:15:37.419 The Journey of the Joplin Kid perfectly encapsulates 00:15:37.419 --> 00:15:39.460 the evolution of American entertainment. It really 00:15:39.460 --> 00:15:41.220 does. And to bring this directly back to you 00:15:41.220 --> 00:15:43.039 listening, the incredible takeaway here is about 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:45.720 the endurance of a great idea. Yes. The mediums 00:15:45.720 --> 00:15:48.379 of music consumption will always change. Wenrich 00:15:48.379 --> 00:15:51.059 watched it go from sheet music to radio to film. 00:15:51.259 --> 00:15:53.779 Today, you are watching it go from physical media 00:15:53.779 --> 00:15:56.279 to digital downloads to streaming platforms. 00:15:56.559 --> 00:15:59.639 And who knows what is next? Exactly. The technology 00:15:59.639 --> 00:16:02.690 is just the delivery system. The power of a catchy 00:16:02.690 --> 00:16:05.490 melody, the emotional resonance of a lyric, and 00:16:05.490 --> 00:16:08.029 the sheer hook of a swell title remains absolute. 00:16:08.769 --> 00:16:11.610 That is the exact same human response that connected 00:16:11.610 --> 00:16:13.809 a customer buying the Smiler at Gimble's department 00:16:13.809 --> 00:16:16.490 store over a century ago to you listening to 00:16:16.490 --> 00:16:18.629 your favorite playlist today. The technology 00:16:18.629 --> 00:16:21.309 changes, but the human ear doesn't. Spot on. 00:16:21.490 --> 00:16:24.070 Now, as we wrap up, we always like to leave you 00:16:24.070 --> 00:16:25.809 with a little something extra to think about 00:16:25.809 --> 00:16:28.370 on your own. This raises an important question 00:16:28.370 --> 00:16:31.730 based on a tiny, easily missed detail right at 00:16:31.730 --> 00:16:34.049 the very end of our source text. The article 00:16:34.049 --> 00:16:36.330 mentions that Percy Wenrich was a founding member 00:16:36.330 --> 00:16:38.809 of the American Society of Composers, Authors 00:16:38.809 --> 00:16:41.590 and Publishers, better known today as ASCAP. 00:16:41.850 --> 00:16:44.590 Right. Think about how vastly different the music 00:16:44.590 --> 00:16:47.009 industry was back when an artist's main revenue 00:16:47.009 --> 00:16:49.730 was selling physical pieces of paper. How does 00:16:49.730 --> 00:16:51.590 the protection of artists' rights, their intellectual 00:16:51.590 --> 00:16:54.570 property and their royalties, which Wenrich championed 00:16:54.570 --> 00:16:57.100 by helping found ASCAP, continue to shape the 00:16:57.100 --> 00:16:59.679 very music you listen to today? That is a great 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:02.320 question. What would modern music even look like 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:05.720 if pioneers like Wenrich hadn't fought to organize 00:17:05.720 --> 00:17:08.119 those legal protections when the industry was 00:17:08.119 --> 00:17:10.900 still in its infancy? The guy didn't just write 00:17:10.900 --> 00:17:13.259 the hits. He helped build the legal architecture 00:17:13.259 --> 00:17:15.339 that protects the people writing the hits today. 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:17.720 Thank you so much for joining us for this deep 00:17:17.720 --> 00:17:20.359 dive into the life of the Joplin kid. Keep asking 00:17:20.359 --> 00:17:22.180 questions, keep looking for the stories behind 00:17:22.180 --> 00:17:24.380 the songs, and most importantly, stay curious. 00:17:24.910 --> 00:17:25.869 We will see you next time.