Alma M. Sanders (1882 – December 15, 1956) was an American songwriter and composer of popular music, including several Broadway musicals, with her composer husband,
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
.
Early life
Sanders was born in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, Illinois. She studied music there, and sang in concerts and as a church soloist.
Music
![AlmaSandersLavLace](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/AlmaSandersLavLace.jpg)
On
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
, Alma Sanders' compositions and songs were heard in the shows ''The Voice of McConnell'' (1918-1919), ''
Tangerine
The tangerine is a type of citrus fruit that is orange in color. Its scientific name varies. It has been treated as a separate species under the name ''Citrus tangerina'' or ''Citrus'' × ''tangerina'', or treated as a variety of ''Citrus retic ...
'' (1921-1922), ''Elsie'' (1923), ''The Chiffon Girl'' (1924), ''Princess April'' (1924), ''Oh! Oh! Nurse'' (1925-1926), ''Mystery Moon'' (1930), and ''Louisiana Lady'' (1947). She also co-wrote the score of a film, ''Ireland Today.''
Compositions by Sanders (with and without Monte Carlo as co-composer) included "Two Lips are Roses", "Honeymoon Home", "Sweet Lady", "Every Tear is a Smile (in an Irishman's Heart)", "Goodbye Broadway, Hello France!",
"Sleepytime Rag: Pickaninny Lullaby" (1914, lyrics by Florence Cooke), "Some Pepp" (1915), "Along the Road to Singapore" (1915, lyrics by Richard Pascoe), "That Dear Old Mother of Mine" (1915, lyrics by Richard Pascoe), "Dance of the Teenie-Weenies" (1916), "Ev'ry Sammy needs his smokin' over there" (1917, lyrics by Monte Carlo), "Hong Kong" (1917, lyrics by Richard Pascoe), "The Wild Irish Rose That God Gave Me" (1917, lyrics by Richard Pascoe), "That Tumble-down Shack in Athlone" (1918, lyrics by Richard Pascoe), "Keep a Steady Heart (Till the Boys Return" (1918), "Every Tear is a Smile in an Irishman's Heart" (1919, lyrics by Dan Sullivan), "Sweet Lavender and Lace" (1919, lyrics by Richard Pascoe), " Ten Baby Fingers" (1920, lyrics by Harry Edelheit), "In Old Madeira" (1920, lyrics by George Wehner), "Little Town in the Ould County Down" (1920, lyrics by Richard Pascoe), "Fragrance of Spring" (1921), "Too Many Kisses Mean Too Many Tears" (1924), "My Heaven" (1928, lyrics by Monte Carlo), and "The House-Boat on the Styx" (1928, lyrics by Monte Carlo).
Sanders became a member of
ASCAP
The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...
in 1923. Many of her works were recorded, by various ensembles and performers, before 1926.
In 1920, Carlo and Sanders signed an exclusive contract with music publisher
Jerome H. Remick
Jerome Hosmer Remick (15 November 1867 – 15 July 1931) was an American music publisher, businessman and philanthropist in Detroit, Michigan.
Life and career
Remick was born in Detroit as the son of James Albert Remick and Mary Amelia Hosmer. ...
. "It was inevitable that sooner or later someone would demand the exclusive rights to their very interesting songs," commented a music publication on that occasion. Her last project was a musical adaptation of a children's book, ''Heaven is a Circus'' by John Bernard Kelly, for the Catholic Writers Guild.
Personal life
Alma Sanders married Ernest Benjamin. They had two children, Edward C. Benjamin and Arlene Benjamin, before they divorced in 1921. Her daughter died in the 1936 fire at Lum's Chinese Restaurant in New York. Sanders' second husband was Danish composer Hans von Holstein, better known as
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
.
She died in 1956, aged 74 years, in New York.
Her "Some Pepp" was included on the CD ''Cake Walks, Two Steps and Rags by Women Composers'' (1999) by Nora Hulse.
References
External links
Alma Sanderson
WorldCat
WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...
.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Alma
1956 deaths
1882 births
Songwriters from Illinois
American women composers
20th-century American women musicians
Musicians from Chicago