Harry Carroll
Harry Carroll (November 28, 1892, in Atlantic City, New Jersey – December 26, 1962, in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania) was an American songwriter, pianist, and composer. Biography. Carroll taught himself how to play the piano and began playing in movie houses before he finished grade school. After he graduated from high school, he moved to New York City, where he worked as an arranger in Tin Pan Alley and at night entertained at the Garden Café and accompanied various vaudeville shows. He contributed the song (lyric by Ballard MacDonald) "Nix on the Concertina, Lena" to the Ziegfeld Follies of 1910 . In 1912, Carroll was hired by the Schubert brothers' Winter Garden productions as a contract writer. He worked with Arthur Fields to produce his first hit, "On the Mississippi." In 1913 he again collaborated with Ballard MacDonald on the big hit song "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine." He wrote several Broadway stage scores including some popular favorites: "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" (based on a section of "Fantaisie-Impromptu" by Frédéric Chopin), "By the Beautiful Sea" and "There's a Girl in the Heart of Maryland." Harry Carroll toured with vaudeville star Anna Wheaton for many years during this  time. Harry Carroll served as the director of ASCAP from 1914 to 1917. He later moved west to Los Angeles and became involved in early movies. Personal. Carroll's first marriage to Radio City Rockette, Estelle Cooper in 1921 ended in a bitter divorce in 1925, though not finalized until 1934. Carroll's second marriage was to singer and dancer Pauline Baker (b. circa 1912, d. before 2011). They had two children, Harriett (b. circa 1932, d. before 2011) and Pauline ("Polly") (1934-2011). Harry and Pauline Carroll performed in Las Vegas and toured in the 1940s and together wrote  Say When, a song which Pauline introduced at Grace Hayes Lodge in the San Fernando Valley and was featured in "Blackouts of 1942." Death. He died on December 26, 1962, in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, survived by his second wife and 2 daughters and numerous grandchildren. Legacy. In 1970, eight years after his death, Carroll was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.