Norval Bertrand "Speed" Langworthy
Born(1901-05-15)May 15, 1901
Seward County, Nebraska
DiedMarch 22, 1999(1999-03-22) (aged 97)
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Lyricist, Newspaper Magnate, International Relations Expert, Advertising Account Executive
Known forLyricist, hit songs, newspaper business

Norval Bertrand "Speed" Langworthy (May 15, 1901 – March 22, 1999) was an American lyricist, newspaper magnate, international relations expert, and advertising account executive.[1]

Early life and education

Norval Bertrand "Speed" Langworthy was born in Seward County, Nebraska to Bertrand Scott Langworthy (1877 - 1920) and Eva Maude Norval (1879-1984).[2] His father was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon in 1898. Langworthy's parents married on June 28, 1900. They moved from Nebraska to near Sheridan, Wyoming. Bertrand S. Langworthy took work as a cattle rancher.[3] The family had moved to Buffalo, Wyoming by 1910.[4] The elder Langworthy founded the Montana National Bank (First National Bank) in 1912.[5] By 1920, Langworthy had moved to Billings, Montana.[6] Langworthy was raised as a Seventh-day Adventist[7] and relocated to Battle Creek, Michigan by 1920. Langworthy may have been a patient of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, of the Kellogg's, at Battle Creek Sanitarium.

Langworthy attended high school in Billings, graduating from Culver Military Academy. He then enrolled at Beloit College, graduating with a degree in advertising and journalism.[8] He earned the nickname "Speed" by running the 100-yard dash in ten seconds at Beloit.[9]

Career

"We Men Must Grow A Mustache" by Speed Langworthy, 1922.

Speed Langworthy was a songwriter of novelty songs and musical comedy. His signature songs were "We Men Must Grow a Mustache" and "Christofo Columbo (Thought the world was roundo)." Langworthy's other songs did not find as great as success. He wrote "Winning the War at Culver" for D. H. Rathbun in 1920 from Battle Creek, Michigan. Langworthy wrote Youthtime is Springtime in 1923.[10]

Langworthy became a fraternity member of Alpha Zeta in 1924.[11] Langworthy wrote "I'd Love to Have a Sweetheart" for the Beloit fraternity in 1924. He also wrote "The Mother of Sigma Chi" for Sigma Chi.[12]

Langworthy found success with his 1925 hit, "Christofo Columbo (Thought the world was roundo)". The song was recorded by the Max Terr Orchestra by Pathé.[13]

"Dot's vot Looie uses" is a song written by Langworthy in 1925. The song pokes fun at the rise in Americans who still moonshine in defiance of Prohibition.

Langworthy and Jean Anthony Greif wrote "I Can't Live Without Just You" in 1926.[14] Langworthy wrote "By the side of the Omelette Sea" (1926).[15] In 1926, Langworthy wrote Ukollegiate Songs for the Ukulele and Four Chord Uke Song-Book (1926).

In 1927, Langworthy and Leslie O. Reed made a mockery of President Calvin Coolidge through the song, "I'd Like to Fish With the President! The Funny Song That Makes "Cal" Laugh![16]

His other song credits include "Meenie from Meeneesota" (1927), "I'm Painting your Face in the Moon" (1928) and "Me and Mah Razor" (1928). He wrote "Chick, Chick, Chicken!" (1929), "Ah Wed 300 Pounds" (1929), "Shake Yo' Shoes : With Piano" (1929).

Langworthy moved to write musical comedy for the T. S. Denison company in Chicago. He was a permanent fixture for the company's so-called Denison musicals in the late 1920s into the 1930s.

In 1928, he and Harry L. Alford wrote "Denison's mirthquake minstrel : opening chorus."[17]

In 1929, he and Harry L. Alford wrote "Denison's seven-eleven minstrel : opening chorus"[18] and "Denison's minstrel opening choruses and finalés: Seven-eleven."[19] Langworthy, Alford, and Carl Hendrickson also wrote "Revue 5."[20]

He co-wrote with Vernon Richner the Negro spiritual, "Gwine to Heaben Some Day."[21]

In 1930, Langworthy teamed up with Fred Rose (songwriter), Geoffrey F Morgan, Leo Friedman and Harry L Alford to write "A dumb waiter, a musical comedy in two acts.[22]

He co-wrote "A bold front, a musical comedy in two acts" in 1930 with Rose, Morgan, and Alford.[23]

Personal life

On June 28, 1928, Langworthy married June Lucille Judy.[2] The couple had their first child, Robert Norval, in Chicago, on June 25, 1929.[2] The couple enjoyed their early married life in a home in Evanston, Illinois. The couple had a daughter, June Judy, on January 4, 1943.[24] In 1949 they moved to Hinsdale, Illinois where they lived until Norval retired and they moved to Tucson, Arizona, where they lived for the remainder of their lives.

Later years

Langworthy retired as a lyricist to focus on international relations, advertising, and his newspaper business. He designed a portfolio and had it patented on June 12, 1945.[25] The Langworthys had a taste for fraternities. Langworthy's father had been a fraternity member. Langworthy established his own fraternity, the Buckaroosters, in 1948. Langworthy's fraternity brothers included mostly his childhood friends, business associates, barbershop quartet. The Buckaroosters would perform barbershop quartets and follow the weather reports of the National Weather Service from Norman's Conoco station. The fraternity was still together as recently as 1967.[5]

Langworthy wrote "4 chord "uke" instructor : the world's easiest ukulele song book" in 1950.[26]

Langworthy's works remained in copyright in the postwar era. "Dot's vot Looie uses" was also still in copyright as of 1952.[27] As of Sept. 30, 1953, Langworthy's Four Chord System was still in copyright.[28] "Looking Out the Window" co-written with Vernon Richner was still in copyright as of 1955.[29] "I'd Like to Fish With the President! The Funny Song That Makes "Cal" Laugh!" was in copyright on June 24, 1955.[30] As of March 31, 1958, "A Bold Front" is in copyright.[31] As of July 28, 1970, Earl Baumgarten and Langworthy's "Wild, Wild Roses" was in copyright.[32]

Langworthy stayed in the Chicago metropolitan area until his retirement from advertising in 1967. He and his wife June then moved to Tucson, Arizona.

The Billings Gazette interviewed Langworthy in 1972.[9] In the article it was reported that the Langworthy family had purchased a cabin near Big Timber, Montana in 1947 where they spent their summers. The cabin remains in the Langworthy family to this day.

Speed Langworthy died on March 22, 1999.

Cultural impact

"Speed Langworthy's song "We Men Must Grow a Mustache" comically reflects one public desire for more manly men," writes Mary Katherine Killeen, "The cartoon man depicted on the sheet music cover is especially relevant because he highlights the performative nature of the masculine image. The illustrated character is depicted with his chest so inflated that his posture has hollowed his back, and his overly groomed manner of dress and style satirize the attempts of a Dandy affecting a more masculine image by growing a mustache."[33]

Bibliography

  • Langworthy, William Franklin (1940). The Langworthy Family, Some Descendants of Andrew and Rachel (Hubbard) Langworthy. Rutland, Vermont: Tuttle.

References

  1. ↑ "'Barbershopbust' September 14". The Big Timber Pioneer. August 31, 1967. p. 1. Archived from the original on 2017-12-30. Retrieved 2017-07-18.
  2. 1 2 3 Langworthy 1940;
  3. ↑ "The Sigma Chi Quarterly: The Official Organ of the Sigma Chi Fraternity". The Fraternity. 17 January 1900. Retrieved 17 January 2021 – via Google Books.
  4. ↑ 1910 U. S. Census
  5. 1 2 Big Timber Pioneer 1967
  6. ↑ 1920 U.S. Census
  7. ↑ "The Sabbath Recorder". George B. Utter. 17 January 1913. Retrieved 17 January 2021 – via Google Books.
  8. ↑ Bragg, Addison (October 1, 1972). "All he ever wanted was to write songs". The Billings Gazette. p. 38.
  9. 1 2 Bragg 1972.
  10. ↑ "Catalog of Copyright Entries, 1923 Music For the Year 1923 Vol 18 Part 3". U.S. Govt. Print. Off. 17 January 1923. Retrieved 17 January 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  11. ↑ "The Music of Sigma Chi". www.shsu.edu. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  12. ↑ "Sigma Chi Songs | the Sigma Chi Historical Initiative". Archived from the original on 2017-07-30. Retrieved 2017-07-18.
  13. ↑ "PATHE (USA) numerical listing discography: 36000 through 36499". www.78discography.com. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  14. ↑ "Catalog of Copyright Entries, 1926 Music For the Year 1926 New Series Vol 21 Part 3". U.S. Govt. Print. Off. 17 January 1926. Retrieved 17 January 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  15. ↑ "Speed Longworthy (lyricist)." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2017. Web. 17 July 2017.
  16. ↑ "I'd Like to Fish with the President! The Funny Song That Makes "Cal" Laugh! - the Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection". Archived from the original on 2017-07-30. Retrieved 2017-07-18.
  17. ↑ Denison's mirthquake minstrel: opening chorus. 17 January 1928. OCLC 81024706. Retrieved 17 January 2021 – via Open WorldCat.
  18. ↑ Denison's seven-eleven minstrel: opening chorus. 17 January 1929. OCLC 79930602. Retrieved 17 January 2021 – via Open WorldCat.
  19. ↑ Denison's minstrel opening choruses and finalés: Seven-eleven. 17 January 1929. OCLC 20053789. Retrieved 17 January 2021 – via Open WorldCat.
  20. ↑ Office, Library of Congress Copyright (17 January 1929). "Catalog of Copyright Entries". U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved 17 January 2021 – via Google Books.
  21. ↑ "Gwine to Heaben Some Day/ Music by Vernon Richner; words by Speed Langworthy :: Sheldon Harris Collection". Archived from the original on 2017-08-05. Retrieved 2017-07-18.
  22. ↑ A dumb waiter, a musical comedy in two acts. 17 January 1930. OCLC 20590198. Retrieved 17 January 2021 – via Open WorldCat.
  23. ↑ A bold front, a musical comedy in two acts. 17 January 1930. OCLC 20590260. Retrieved 17 January 2021 – via Open WorldCat.
  24. ↑ Information provided by Judy Betcher.
  25. ↑ "Portfolio".
  26. ↑ "Speed Langworthy." WorldCat. 2010. Retrieved 17 July. 2017
  27. ↑
  28. ↑ Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series: 1953: July–December. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  29. ↑ "Catalog of Copyright Entries, 1955 - Compilation of Published Sources - MyHeritage". Archived from the original on 2017-07-30. Retrieved 2017-07-18.
  30. ↑ Office, Library of Congress Copyright (17 January 1956). "Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series". Retrieved 17 January 2021 – via Google Books.
  31. ↑ "Full text of "Catalog of Copyright Entries 1958 Dramas Etc. Jan-Dec 3D Ser Vol 12 Pts 3-4"". Archive.org. 1958.
  32. ↑ Office, Library of Congress Copyright (17 January 1971). "Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series". Retrieved 17 January 2021 – via Google Books.
  33. ↑ Killeen, Mary (1 January 2017). "Gender Revolution of the Jazz Age: The Source of Disillusionment in the Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway". All Master's Theses. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
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