Harry David Kerr (8 October 1880 Santa Rosa, California – 21 May 1957 Los Angeles)^[1] was an American songwriter, lyricist, author, and lawyer. Kerr became active in music at age 15 (1895). The practice of law had been his prime avocation until 1920, when he decided to focus on songwriting.^[2] But he still continued to use his legal training in music. In 1922, while living in New York City, Kerr prepared the incorporation documents for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), of which he had become one of 90 charter members at its founding in 1914.^[3][4][5][6]

Copyright activist

From February 1900^[7] to 1903, he had studied law in the law office of George H. Cobb of Watertown, New York. In May 1905, Kerr received an LL.B. from Albany Law School.^[8]

Beginning in 1907 as a young lawyer, Kerr worked for about 18 months with a coalition in Washington, D.C., for the passage of the Copyright Act of 1909, which secured the rights of composers to charge royalties on the sales of sound recordings. While lobbying for it, Kerr was associated with the New York City law firm Dougherty, Olcott & Tenney.^[9][10]

The U.S. Congregational Committee on Copyrights began hearings Mary 26–28, 1908, at the Library of Congress, to vet the concerns and proposals of authors and managers. Constituent groups giving testimony were the (i) National Association of Theatrical Managers, (ii) the Allied Copyright Committee, and (iii) the White Rats, an author advocacy group of which Kerr was a member.^[11]

In 1909, Kerr also wrote the lyrics to "Get on a Raft With Taft," President William H. Taft's campaign song — a particularly memorable concept given that Taft weighed 300 lbs. Taft signed the Copyright Act into law.

Growing up

Kerr attended Gouverneur High School, Gouverneur, New York, during the 1899–1900 school-year. He moved to Watertown, New York, sometime after that, but before 1901.

Career before becoming a lawyer

In June 1901, Kerr moved from Watertown, New York, to Denver to accept an executive and governance position — corporate secretary and director — with The New York Mining and Development Company, of which Ezekiel Hanson Cook, PhD (1845–1907), who from 1994 to 1889 had been the president of Potsdam Normal College, was president.^[12] Charles Finding was the Vice President and Charles Love was the Treasurer. The same group of executives simultaneously ran another Denver-based mining company called Mountain Pride Mining Co.

Selected songs

Selected recordings

Filmography

Screenplays

Radio theme music

Pseudonyms

• Randal Moreland
• Hal Billings

Progressive sociological essays by Kerr

• The Farce of Jury By Trial, The International: A Review of Two Worlds (journal), edited by George Sylvester Viereck, The Moods Publishing Company, Volumes 8, No. III, March 1914, pg. 98 OCLC 145151604
• Does Drunkenness Follow Prohibition? Overland Monthly, October 1916, pps. 341–347
• Prison Reform, The New Age Magazine, Scottish Rite (publisher), New York, February 1913, pps. 121–130
• If the People Could Own What They Use, The Oriental Economic Review, Vol. 3, No. VII & VIII, May–June 1913, pps. 527–535
• Price Maintenance — The Salvation of Business
• Copyright Legislation — An Answer to the Argument of the Manufacturers of Phonographs and Other Mechanical Reproduction Devices (1908)^[18]

Family

Kerr was married twice.

His first marriage was to Harriet Lodge Hastings (maiden; 1883–1946). They married on October 9, 1905, in Albany, New York.^[19] His second marriage was to Ruth Eleanor Minter (maiden; 1892–1969). They married on December 20, 1919, in Santa Ana, California, and remained married until his death.

References

General references

Inline citations

External links

Harry Kerr at Find a Grave