Top of page

Sheet Music of the Week: No Longer Contagious Edition

Share this post:

"I've Got the Mumps, " by Irene Franklin and Burt Green. New York: Leo Feist, Inc., 1909.

In the Muse has been under the weather lately, but has been dragged out of sick bay to bring sheet music to a readership clamoring for songs to sing.  This week’s humorous tale of childhood disease is brought to you by a husband and wife songwriting team that is little known today, Irene Franklin and James Burton “Burt” Green. The pair had a career in vaudeville, and Green had at least one silent film credit before passing away in 1922 of a kidney ailment that was then cheerfully named Bright’s disease, after a Doctor Richard Bright, but is now known as nephritis. Franklin, who had rushed home from a tour to be at her dying husband’s bedside, went on to a series of supporting roles in now forgotten films, playing women with colorful names like Goldie McGuffy (in Song and Dance Man), Flossie Cudd (in Timothy’s Quest) and Mrs. May Baglipp (in Married Before Breakfast, which starred television’s Marcus Welby, Robert Young). She died in 1941.  The Music Division’s climate-controlled vaults are full of tales of great composers, but sometimes the stories of forgotten names such as these are equally touching.  Dear reader, please take your vitamins and drink plenty of hot tea.

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *