Paul Stanley (né Sonnenberg) (February 8, 1848 – March 14, 1909) was a German-born American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

comedian who some credit (but most do not) with writing the music for the ditty

Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay" is a vaudeville and music hall song first performed by the 1880s. It was included in Henry J. Sayers' 1891 revue ''Tuxedo (vaudeville), Tuxedo'' in Boston, Massachusetts. The song became widely known in the 1892 version sung ...

for Henry F. Sayers' 1891 musical entertainment, ''

Tuxedo Black tie is a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and North American conventions for attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically by its principal ...

''.

Life and career

Paul Sonnenberg was born in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, Germany, and came to America at the age of 16, where he eventually began entertaining as a

and club comedian under a stage name, Paul Stanley. He became an American citizen in 1869 and resided in New York City for most of his life before relocating to San Francisco after the turn of the 20th century. He was married to Franziska, a native of

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

, who was some six years his junior. Stanley's vaudeville career included a stint with Wright's Comedians in a two-man act with Jay Brennan; an act billed as "Paul Stanley and his Mother-in-Law" at the

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

Theatre; solo performances called "character changes" with the London Theatre Specialty Company at Boston's Lyceum Theatre; and performances billed as "Paul Stanley, the international comedian" at the Atlantic Garden in Brooklyn, New York. Stanley's claims to be the writer of the music for Henry F. Sayer's production of ''Tuxedo'' are discussed and rejected in several sources that conclude that he was not the writer. Stanley's health began to fail after the

1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 AM Pacific Time Zone, Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated Moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli inte ...

left him near destitute. He and his wife later moved to

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, where he died in 1909 at the age of sixty-one. News of his death was carried in newspapers nationwide, including ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

Chicago Daily Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN radio and WGN tel ...

'' and ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

''. In a column printed some two months after his death, a musician friend recalled Stanley's disappointment at failing to succeed as a composer of

grand opera Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterized by large-scale casts and Orchestra, orchestras. The original productions consisted of spectacular design and stage effects with plots normally based on o ...

"When he lived here (San Francisco) he often talked with a quaint kind of melancholy about the high ambitions of his youth, and how they had become humbler as he got older. A man's ambitions dwindle" he once said. "like a girl's matrimonial aims. At 10 a girl wants a fairy prince and nothing less. At 20 she is resigned to a millionaire Duke. At 25 a member of Congress is good enough. At 30 a country minister will do nicely and at 35 she'll take anything from a song writer down.""Paul Stanley", ''Los Angeles Times'', May 17, 1909

Stanley and his wife Franziska, who died in 1919, are interred at Denver's Fairmount Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanley, Paul 1848 births 1909 deaths Immigrants to the United States American male composers American composers American male comedians 19th-century American male musicians Comedians from Hamburg