Sheet music covered with flags
By James Breig
John Philip Sousa, the composer, was dubbed “The March King” for his many flag-related and patriotic melodies. So maybe E.T. Paull should be nicknamed “The March Prince.”
Now long forgotten, Paull was a major figure in music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Recently, Bill Edwards wrote a book about Paull’s life, “The Music, Art and Life of E.T. Paull: America’s Other March King.”
Edwards, better known as “Perfessor Bill,” his moniker as a ragtime and jazz pianist, said that Paull became as famous for the covers of his sheet music as for notes within. Maybe even more famous.
“In 1894,” Edwards said, “Paull was in Richmond, running a music store. The novel ‘Ben Hur’ inspired him, and he wrote a march to describe the chariot race. But he knew he needed something to catch the attention” of shoppers looking for music to play at home. Paull opted for something “big and bold, and he spent money on it.”
Paull’s brainstorm was to use eye-catching, full-color covers at a time when black-and-white images prevailed. “He liked the pageantry of the art,” Edwards noted. And, as a retailer, “he knew that advertising had a lot to do with selling.”
Flags flew on many of Paull’s covers, including “Pershing’s Crusaders,” “Custer’s Last Charge,” “The Triumphant Banner,” “We’ll Stand by the Flag” and “America Forever!” The latter shows a female figure wearing a crown labeled “America.” She is wrapped in a flag and a flag-themed shield lies nearby. Such imagery helped to sell the sheet music, especially during the Spanish-American War and World War I, when patriotism ran high.
Edwards decided to write a biography of Paull because “there were so many whys about him: Why did he go to this trouble with his covers, why did his production drop off, why are his compositions still sold on eBay?”
The answer to the latter question can be found in the cover art. The bold colors and busy images, including Old Glory, continue to attract people a century after Paull’s ascendancy. The red-white-and-blue flags, heroic soldiers, ancient Romans and even a roaring volcano still catch the eyes of modern viewers. Some of the covers go for as much as $200.
(To hear Bill Edwards play Paull’s music, to purchase his CDs and to order his biography of the composer, go to http://www.perfessorbill.com/pbmidi4.shtml.)