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Li'l Mose

Song: "It's Love Makes the World Go 'Round"

Show: Li'l Mose

Tour: 20 April 1908 (Apollo or Savoy, Atlantic City), ... 28 April 1908 (Baltimore), 4 May 1908 (Park, Philadelphia), 2 June 1908 (Majestic, Boston), ... (New England and New York tour)

Lyrics: Fred G. Nixon-Nirdlinger and Charles H. Brown

Music: A. Baldwin Sloane

Sheet Music Artist: Starmer Brothers

Publisher: Chas. B. Harris

 

The cartoon Poor Li'l Mose was introduced by Richard Outcault in 1901. It was the first comic strip to feature an African-American character. It concerned the adventures of the young Li'l Mose, who came from Cottonville, Georgia, and had to contend with life in New York City. In 1902, Outcault created his most famous character, Buster Brown.

 

The musical premiered in Baltimore 28 April 1908 and toured extensively, initially playing week stands at the Park in Philadelphia and the Majestic in Boston, one- and two-night stands by the fall. It never played New York.

 

The English-born brothers William Austin Starmer (1872–1955) and Frederick Waite Starmer (1878–1962) came to New York in 1898. They soon became the most prolific of sheet music illustrators in the early 20th century. William billed himself as a "commercial artist" while Fred billed himself as an "illustrating artist". Which artist is responsible for an individual design is open to debate. In sheet music, they worked primarily for Jerome Remick.

 

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Uploaded on February 25, 2015