Marie Walker in Hannibal MO is also credited with assisting with the final composition. Larry Karp finishes out his fine volume with other short writings of Campbell including a piece on Otis Saunders from the 1940’s stating that Saunders had indeed helped arrange the “Maple Leaf Rag” especially the last half of the trio but that Saunders did not deserve credit as co-composer. This second chapter details Campbell’s efforts to memorialize Joplin with the aforementioned grave monument, his attempt to record his and Joplin’s rags (especially the “Maple Leaf Rag” as he claimed Joplin had taught him to play it), and his effort to tell his story promoting the legacy of ragtime, Scott Joplin and Sedalia. Further it says the Maple Leaf Club was named after the Rag.Ĭampbell’s pestering did lead to the Abe Rosenthal’s Sedalia Men’s Choral Club Memorial Concert in Sedalia in Apand the plaque the group placed in Hubbard High School commemorating Joplin. The JSedalia Democrat article “Did You Know Ragtime Music Was Born in Sedalia?” contained lengthy information provided by Campbell supposedly relating Joplin’s story, including the element about Flossie Johnson’s waltz sourcing the name. I did focus intently on the comment by Campbell, made in 1945, that Joplin had told him (and Saunders and Hayden in 1899) he was playing some of “Maple Leaf Rag” as early as 1889 (up to the trio). The article with Roy Carew in The Record Changer (1945) about Sedalia as “The Cradle of Ragtime” titled the city’s role and began the interest that culminated in the Festivals. Handy encounters to get to the Sedalia aspect of Brun’s memorialization campaign. I quickly read the account of the Campbell and W.C. Brun’s famous effort to construct a magnificent monument over Joplin’s grave is nicely detailed but the plan was as extravagant as his comment that carriages with letters spelling out MAPLE LEAF RAG followed the coffin to the cemetery. Joplin’s veracity is often as questionable as Campbell’s. The section on Campbell’s association with Lottie Joplin is also intriguing with copies of the correspondence available to him. Karp is only able to reiterate the existing theories including Campbell’s famous contention that the rag was named for Florence Johnson’s “Maple Leaf Waltz” published by the Perry Music Company in 1897 and not for the club. My most eagerly anticipated section of the book came on page 71 when the naming of “Maple Leaf Rag” is discussed. The author even goes so far as to offer up a photo of a finer quality Barber Half Dollar to compare with the one Joplin gave to Campbell that was used for target practice, spent and then it found its way back to the “Kid”. Campbell had taken up barbering in Venice CA as a livelihood in this period. The author quite adequately fills the narrative gap in Campbell’s writing between 1908 and the 1940’s when Brunson became all-consumed with promoting ragtime. The second chapter covers the rest of Campbell’s life as pieced together from the daughter’s accumulated documents. Karp’s editing is very informative and reveals Campbell’s difficulty with accuracy. This narrative covers the vagabond’s early life through the “end” of his ragtime performance years in about 1908. The first inclusion in the book is Campbell’s own narrative titled “When Ragtime Was Young” with the biographer’s exceedingly well researched commentary.
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