Music / Theatre & dance
Harry Von Tilzer
1872–1946 · songwriter, composer, music publisher, vaudeville performer
Detroit-born son of Polish Jewish immigrants who became one of Tin Pan Alley's biggest hitmakers, with A Bird in a Gilded Cage and Wait 'Til the Sun Shines, Nellie.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
New York City, New York
aged 73- Birth name
- Aaron Gumbinsky
- Also known as
- Harry Gumm
- Field
- Music, Theatre & dance
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Aaron Gumbinsky was born in Detroit in 1872 to Polish Jewish immigrants Jacob and Sarah Gumbinsky. At fourteen he ran away with a traveling circus and took his mother's maiden name, Tilzer, adding a 'Von' to make it sound grander; his brothers, including the songwriter Albert Von Tilzer, later adopted the name too. He played piano and calliope and wrote tunes for circus, burlesque and vaudeville shows, often selling songs for a dollar or two. In 1898 he sold My Old New Hampshire Home for fifteen dollars and watched it sell two million copies of sheet music, which made him turn professional. His 1900 hit A Bird in a Gilded Cage made him one of the best-known names of New York's Tin Pan Alley, and in 1902 he founded his own publishing house. Later hits included Wait 'Til the Sun Shines, Nellie and I Want a Girl (Just Like the Girl That Married Dear Old Dad). He was a charter member of ASCAP in 1914.
Highlights
- A Bird in a Gilded Cage (1900), one of the era's biggest hits
- Wait 'Til the Sun Shines, Nellie and I Want a Girl
- Founded his own music publishing company in 1902
- Charter member of ASCAP (1914)