Wallie Herzer

Wallie Herzer ''(né'' Walter Henry Herzer; 15 April 1885 San Francisco – 15 October 1961 Redwood City, California) was an American composer of popular music, music publisher, and pianist. Herzer flourished in music prior to and during World War I.

The Columbia recording of his 1912 composition, "Everybody Two-Step" — performed by ragtime pianist Mike Bernard on December 2, 1912, in New York City — is the first recording of ragtime music. It became a hit and coincided at the start of a renewed craze for ragtime and dance — fifteen years after William Krell's "Mississippi Rag" had been published, the first known published music with "rag" in the title.

Herzer composed three other hits — a 1913 piano rag, "Tickle the Ivories" – which also became hit as a vocal arrangement; a 1914 foxtrot song, "Get Over, Sal"; and a 1916 Hawaiian waltz song, "Aloha Land". Other compositions — including his 1908 piano ragtime two-step and barn dance, "The Rah-Rah Boy", and his 1913 rag turkey trot, "Let's Dance" — were internationally distributed.

Career

Of the 13 compositions by Herzer in the United States copyright records, there are 8 extant musical scores in national, academic, civic, and private libraries. The piano rolls and recordings of 4 of those works far exceed the number of compositions. As of 2014, at least 2 of Herzer's works are included in the repertoire of ragtime artists today.

Herzer published his music while working for insurance agencies in San Francisco. Beginning 1901, when he was 16, until about 1904, Herzer was a clerk for insurance agents Gutte & Frank (Isidor Gutte; 1833–1908; Julius Gutte; 1828–1900; and William Frank; 1839–19??). From 1904 to 1920, Herzer was an insurance adjustor and broker for Christensen & Goodwin (Charles H. Christensen; 1839–1921; & Benjamin Frank Goodwin; 1859–1945) at 241 Sansome Street — the same address as his publishing company. From 1920 to 1924, he was the manager of the city department (in San Francisco) for Bentley & Waterman (Leroy Vernon Bentley; 1883–1932; & Clyde Waterman; 1868–1950). In 1924, Herzer became the manager of the city department (in San Francisco) for Glens Falls Insurance Company, headquartered in Glens Falls, New York.

Music critic Winthrop Sargeant, in 1975, stated that the best ragtime came from outside New York and he cited Herzer & Brown, Wallie's first publishing company, as being among publishers of some of the best, earliest, and most imaginative rags. The title from Herzer's 1914 composition, "Get Over, Sal", was a turn-of-the-19th-century African-American expression for a slow-drag dance step that was incorporated in a variation of the fox trot. The expression had been published in an earlier song, "Music Hall Song", copyrighted 1879 — popularized by Jenny Hill, the 'Vital Spark':
:: ''You may get over water-butts,''
:: ''You may get over fountains,''
:: ''But I'll take particular notice''
:: ''That you don't get over Sal.''
A song rendition of "Everybody Two-Step", published in 1913, became a popular hit in vaudeville. The solo piano and song versions of "Everybody Two-Step", his 1913 composition, "Tickle The Ivories", and his 1916 composition, "Aloha Land", were hits.

Selected compositions

* "The Rah-Rah Boy"; ragtime two-step and barn dance, for solo piano
: Jerome H. Remick & Co. (Remick), publisher (1908 & 1911);
:: Music Herzer, arranged by Eugene Brown
:: Cover: caricature of a male college student smoking a pipe with bulldog; illustrated by L.S. Morgan ''(né'' Leland Stanford Morgan; 1886–1981)
view

: © November 18, 1908, Class C 194109, Herzer & Brown, San Francisco
: © Transferred to Jerome H. Remick & Co. ("Remick"), Detroit & New York, 1911
:: "Rah-rah boy", in that era, was a reference to a college male. The class of '09 is illustrated on his pipe and sweater. One of the colors, blue, the bulldog

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