Bertha ("Bee") Walker (1898–1987) was an American composer and pianist. Born as Bertha Wolpa in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

, Indiana, she became a

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott ...

pianist, demonstrating tunes in the music section of

Woolworths Woolworth, Woolworth's, or Woolworths may refer to: Businesses * F. W. Woolworth Company, the original US-based chain of "five and dime" (5¢ and 10¢) stores * Woolworths Group (United Kingdom), former operator of the Woolworths chain of shops ...

stores, and recorded many piano rolls for the US Music Company of Chicago and occasionally for the Rythmodik Music Corporation of New York, revealing an extremely original style. It was while working for Woolworths that a talent scout discovered her and, eventually, secured her work as accompanist to such

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

performers as

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...

and

Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie, and early television audiences, ...

. Prior to 1923, she changed her name to Bertha Walker and cut a few rolls for the

Ampico American Piano Company (Ampico) was an American piano manufacturer formed in 1908 through the merger of Wm. Knabe & Co., Chickering & Sons, and Foster-Armstrong. They later purchased the Mason & Hamlin piano company as their flagship piano. The ...

reproducing piano system and also the Aeolian Company, both in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. During the 1950s, she toured extensively with

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 ...

, entertaining the US troops. She also composed music during her career, starting with ''Nutty Blues'' in 1918, but her most famous composition is " Hey! Jealous Lover", written in collaboration with Sammy Cahn and Kay Twomey in 1956 and made famous by

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

External links

Bertha Walker rolls
on pianola.co.nz 1898 births 1987 deaths Ragtime pianists American jazz pianists Musicians from Indianapolis American jazz composers 20th-century American composers 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American women pianists Women jazz composers 20th-century women composers 20th-century jazz composers {{US-jazz-pianist-stub