The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-07-25
FORTY YEARS AGO
 SONG STILL LIVES
"Art" French Has Request to Write hgain Words He Wrote
 Four Decades Ago
Recalls the Old Bridgeport Min strels and the Songs They Used to Sing in Those
 Olden Days

Arthur W. French the dean of bal
 lad song word originating and writing,
 was in the Farmer office to-day and l a, walking smile at that. So a report | CT had the nerve to apply the inter view pump. The well known sons builder fntimated that just nowadays, | he was marking back some, adding
 with letter in hand and 8 renninis- 1 cent g1eam of the eyes. that said let l ter came to him lately, from com poser in Chicago, who requested that MT. French would write the former 1 words for several ballads at once. The | song man said that he did a remem- brance stunt and consulting his rec
 ords, found that he had written the aforesaid composer a song in 1870,
 over 40 years ago. After that there
 was no correspondence, until now.
 Recovered from his surprise. the song writer has set to work on the
 desired ballads. Both he of the mel ody and he of the muse, are in their sunny sixties but evidently after the passing of four decades can make good coming across as they did in the yesteryears.
 The song man said, further, that the seventies" were the heydays of
 his origination and he worked then on prolific street, overtime, into the mid night kerosene.
 t@This has been a memory reun- ion summer to me- said MT. French
 I've learned that Charles B. Pratt, the long ago notable composer for Q mum Der of my songs,' is still alive in New York and at the age of 75 is ar ranging and doing music work. Also is Will A. Huntley of Providence, the
 old time artistic fbanjoist, sweet sing CT and composer of many songs, in c1uding my Touch the Harp Gently, g Speak Only Speak" Take me Back to Home and Mother" with other ap- preciated ballads of forty years ago"
 The speaker also said that he re- called the "old and original" Bridge port minstre1s of the above period, of which himself, John Hanford, now in Stratford, Edward Lynch, Richard Brown. 'tEd" Curtis, Charles Eber- hard of Bridgeport, all grandpa's now James Daily of Boston, Phillip Kirk of Syracuse. Will Haggerty of Wi1l1- mantle, as remembered, are the only survivors now, MT. French used to be some financial angel, ticket seller, property man, press agent and writer of local songs and jokes as well as an all around Pooh Bah" Also he re- called, in those minstrel days the great ''put over by George Treat, whenever he sang "I'm Officer Pagan of Whee1er's Block and After Dark at Seaside Park" Also Johnnie Kearns with the alphabetical dingle, "A is for An0eTSOn, the Id110SI or cops ana Johnnie Hanford's screamer: "Oh! He's got to Come" Then there was Pop Horton, who could blow a cor net out straight; Fanny Hazelton swallowing a trombone some; Shack ett' Budau, with his split reed cIar- ionet and Billy Stiles taking a beat it. out of the base drum. O you band Charley Roberts a first violin, looked it anyhow, while Ed. Kunkelman wore out horse hairs the bull fiddle, with Eberhard's 'piccadilly'' on the side and several ''vampers'' in the push. O you orchestra. Forty years ago-and he can sing yet-fJirn'' DaIy's down in the cellar song Nigh to a Crave, etc, used to make old Franklin hall jar some and applause as if bowl ing alley was on the job. Brown and Lynch could clog dance sure, even if they were kiddies then. Treat as end man, always got a laugh over those classy jokes: Why does a hen cross the street?'' and Noah had three sons, who?" Hanford couldn't sing much, but he tackled q. Feel Just as Happy as a Big Sun Flower and he was long on gags. The show also made one night stands in Fairfield, Southport, Westport, Ansonia- Derby. Stratford, Danbury, more than once and never had to walk back. excent the last time in Stratford, when ex- pressman Orrin Oakley forgot to come after the luggage and there was a snow-storm, the bunch beat it home.