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| L. Carlos Meier, Theater Organist |
Aside from a lot of great music, vintage sheet music has many collectible elements ranging from covers and cover artists, to composers, lyricists performers, publishers and eras. This article focuses on the featured performing artist L. Carlos Meier as shown in the cover photo inset,
Using Vintage Sheet Music as an Educational Study Tool
Studying vintage sheet music is also an excellent educational tool. For example, in learning about Carlos Meier, I also learned about the evolution of the film as media and the evolution of the theatre organ (LINK).
I find research into historical documents an adventure of discovery. This adventure began with an old piece of sheet music in not-too-good shape, a copy of I Wanna Go Where You Go - Do What You Do Then I'll Be Happy with L. Carlos Meier on the Cover. LINK to a later recording by Peggy Smith of Then I'll Be Happy. I discovered that I am familiar with the refrain.
Further study would gain knowledge about particular era events, architecture of the period in relation
Q: Who was L. Carlos Meier, Organist, featured in photo insets on 1920s sheet music?
A: After a day's worth of gleaning information from the internet I am able to offer a little more information than none to the inquiring reader.
L. Carlos Meier's own biographical information tells us the following:
Information Set One: LINK
Born: August 20, 1892 in Ormond, Florida
Height: 5 feet 11 inches
Hair: dark brown
Eyes: blue
weight: 185 pounds
Parents: Margaret and Charles F. Meier, non-professionals
Education: Hampton, Iowa, high school and received his stage training in Des Moines, Iowa
Married: Genevieve Cook, non-professional
Hobbies: golf, swimming and radio
Stage Experience: vaudeville act, a piano single, over Sullivan and Considine in 1915. Now featured organist at the Terminal Theatre, Chicago, in his second year.
After touring
vaudeville theatres for a few seasons, L. Carlos Meier decided that he'd rather
play an organ instead of a piano and began his musical training for theatre
work in Des Moines. If one were to ask Carlos for his life history he probably would
be very modest in saying that he was born in Florida and raised in Iowa and in
between his organ playing enjoys playing golf, swim and play over the radio.
These are the three favorite hobbies of Meier and he is quite an expert at each
one of them. Carlos is now completing his second year as featured organist at
the Terminal theatre, Chicago, formerly an Ascher Brothers house.
L. Carlos Meier
(Chicago, Terminal) played a community solo that embodied the following songs: "You're
the Cream of My Coffee," "My Inspiration Is You," "Down Where
the Sun Goes Down," "Sally of My Dreams" and "High Up on
the Hilltop." Many clever gag slides were interspersed between each
chorus. The stunt closed with the last song listed. Meier is now in his second
year at this theatre and in spite of the fact that he has to change his solos
several times a week on account of the house policy, he still manages to get a
novel idea in his selections. He still is the popular player that he was when
he first came here.
Information Set Three (followed by a few conclusions): LINK
Charles F. Meier, prominently connected with business
interests of Hampton as secretary and treasurer of the Hampton Mercantile
Company, Incorporated, was born in Germany, October 13, 1860, a son of William
and Elizabeth Meier. He came to America in 1882 and located in Waverly, Iowa,
where he engaged in the general merchandise business until 1898, when he moved
to Hampton. Here in 1902 he assumed the management of the business conducted by
the Hampton Mercantile Company, Incorporated, and he has since been secretary
and treasurer of this concern, the president being Dr. J. C. Powers. The
company controls one of the largest general mercantile establishments in
Hampton, and under Mr. Meier's competent and intelligent management its
interests have grown steadily. Its business has increased in volume and importance
and has reached gratifying proportions at the present time.
Mr. Meier
married Miss Maggie Hoddel, and they have. two children, Louis and Lenora. Mr.
Meier is well known in business circles of Hampton as a man of force,
experience and capacity and he occupies a high place among representative and
valued citizens.
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| L. Carlos Meier 9 March 1929 LINK to Exhibitors Herald-World Whole Volume 91 Number 1 |
A Few Conclusions and More Details
Disclaimer: The following information is gleaned from source documents (U.S. census reports, city directories, draft registration forms, etc). To the best of my ability the information presented is about Louis Carl Meier known as L. Carlos Meier.
There are enough associations in the brief biography of Charles F. Meier to conclude that it may be said with near certainty that he is the father of L. Carlos Meier. With Meier's parents being of German and Swiss ancestry, I suspect that L. Carlos Meier might have been born Louis Charles Meier or Louis Carl Meier, his middle name being given for his father Charles which he changed to Carlos for dramatic or theatrical flare.
Though Louis Carl in a bio gives his birth date as August 20, 1892, on census and other report the year of birth fluctuates from 1888 forward. I could find no information on why Meier was born in Florida and not Iowa, the name of his first wife, or the year and place of death.
Though Louis Carl in a bio gives his birth date as August 20, 1892, on census and other report the year of birth fluctuates from 1888 forward. I could find no information on why Meier was born in Florida and not Iowa, the name of his first wife, or the year and place of death.
Louis Carl Meier registered for the draft for both WWI and WWII, both times giving August 20, 1889 as his date of birth.
On June 4, 1917, Louis reported to the draft board in Omaha, Nebraska. The registrations states that he was born in Ormond, Florida, employed as a musician at the Strand Theatre. His eye color is given as gray instead of blue. He claimed that he should be exempt on account of a dependent wife.
More about L. Carlos Meier: LINK to Lost Cinemas of Greater Des Moines.
In the 1920 Census taken in January we find Louis living in a rooming house in Salt Lake City, Utah, divorced, and listing his profession as organ professor.
A 1921 city directory for Pasadena, California, lists L. Carlos Meier, organist, working for T D and L Raymond Theatre (Turner, Dahnken and Langley Company LINK) and living at the Hotel Holly.
1930 Census information shows Louis C. Meier, husband of Genevieve, living in Salem City, Marion County, Oregon, employed as a theater organist. The report also shows that Louis was 32 years old when he married.
As a theater organist working during the advent of moving pictures with sound Meier's would have found work more and more difficult to find. Not every performer is able to translate into another performing venue, and there is also the fact of the Great Depression during the 1930s. Carlos was a naturally gifted musician and successful in his field. A large organ is not an easy instrument to master and he mastered it well enough to be a performer noted sheet music and was the featured (or principal) organist at a well-known theater in Chicago.
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| Example of discussions that took place on how to best use sound in talking pictures. |
The January through March 1929 Exhibitors Herald-World publication shows some movies made for viewing were shown both in silent and talkie format (see red circled portion on image below), but sound had to be the ultimate winner. In 1935 Legong: Dance of the Virgins (LINK) the last silent movie was made in Hollywood.
Louis Carl Meier registered for the World War II draft in the state of New York. Here he shows his birth as August 20, 1889, born in Volusia County, Florida. His contact is Mrs. Lenore (Lenora) Fellows in Omaha, Nebraska. Meier's employer: W.P.A. (Works Progress Administration) Citizens Defense, Police Department.
Sheet Music Featuring L. Carlos Meier
in photo inset: Featured by L. Carlos Meier (L. Carlos Meiers)
This list is not exhaustive. I discovered that looking for sheet music examples with Meier on the cover is difficult.
Two links to musical examples on YouTube.com are included. Another good source for sound recordings is through Archive.org. I found one reference to a sheet music work published during Meier's brief time in Vaudeville. The reference is as follows:
Prince of
Wails (LINK)
Elmer
Schoebel (words and music)
New York: Leo
Feist
Introduced
in vaudeville by L. Carlos Meier. The composer’s version with his Friar Society
Orchestra (Brunswick 4652) is the best. Other interesting versions include
those of the Cotton Pickers (Brunswick 2766), the Varsity Eight (Lincoln 2289),
and the Tennessee Tooters (Vocalion 14952).
LINK: Prince of Wails as recorded by Elmer Schoebel and his Friar Society Orchestra
LINK (on Abebooks.com) to A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999) compiled by David A. Jasen. New York: Routledge, 2002.
1920 Trail of
Dreams by Raymond Klages and Einar Swan (Robbins-Engel, Inc.)
1922 Carolina Mammy by Billy James (Leo Feist)
1923 Arizona Stars Song by Carl Rupp and George Little (Jerome H. Remick and Co.)
1923 That
Big Blond Mama by Billy Rose and James V. Monaco (Jerome H. Remick and Co.)
1925 [I
Wanna Go Where You Can Go—Do What You Do] Then I’ll Be Happy by Sidney Clare, Lew Brown and Cliff Friend (Irving Berlin Music)
1925 That
Certain Party by Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson (Irving Berlin Music)
1926 Baby Face by Benny Davis and Harry Akst (Jerome H. Remick and Co.)
1926 Beside a Garden Wall by Albert E. Short, Dell Delbridge, and Gus Kahn
1926 I Wish You Were Jealous of Me by Earl Haubrick and Glen Rowell (Ted Browne Music Co.)
Photo inset shows full view of L. Carlos Meier seated at organ.
Closing Remark
Louis Carl Meier was a handsome man with skills well-suited for performing the theatrical duties of a theater organist. He attained at least modest popularity with the public. As many musicians do, he lived and traveled all over the United States of America. He played in Des Moines IA, Omaha NE, Pasadena CA, Chicago IL, and most likely other locations unknown to me. Unfortunately for him as for many other theatre organists, L. Carlos days in this venue were numbered. I don't know anything about his disposition or personal life, or how life events affected him. Times change--sometimes for the better, sometimes not--in response to the dictates of innovation and public demand. I would like to have known how he spent the remaining days of his life, which I hope were pleasant overall.
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