Pucker Up and Whistle

"Pucker Up and Whistle (Til the Clouds Roll By)" is another great piece of music I found on my last trip. It's in better condition than most of the pieces I buy for cutting, but everything was so cheap (the lady just gives me a bunch of this stuff sometimes) that I couldn't pass it up. I mean, look at that art on the front! So romantic!

There are a lot of names on this piece, and I really wanted to know some of the story behind them.

Let's start with Blanche Franklyn. One of the things I love about sheet music from this era, is that women were a huge part of the industry. In this case, Blanche was the lyrics. She was a vaudeville actress collaborated with Nat Vincent on other songs of the day. Here is a photo of her from the University of Washington library.

Blanche Franklyn

Besides that, I couldn't find a whole lot out there on Blanche. Mr. Vincent, on the other hand...
Nat Vincent was born Nathaniel Hawthorne Vincent (love it) on November 6, 1889. Nat was also in vaudeville, and you actually probably know one of his songs. Ever heard "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles"? I bet you have! He also worked as a sheet music demonstrator in department stores, and was part of the radio recording group "The Happy Chappies". More info on Nat and his career can be found here.

Ok, so who is this winsome lady on the cover? It says "Introduced by Yvette Rugel". Well, yep, that is none other than Ms. Rugel. I really could not find a whole lot on Yvette either, which is a shame, because I would love to know more about some of these women. Apparently she was a vaudeville actress (no surprise there) during the last wave of vaudeville and also preformed on Broadway. She must have been a pretty big deal because her face appears on at least a few different pieces of music (which I am assuming she preformed as well). Here is a photo from her a little later in life it looks like.

So here is something kind of awesome...someone recorded "Pucker Up and Whistle" on piano with all the lyrics...enjoy!
Click here!