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Thursday, April 15, 2021

WOODIN | Tum Tiddily Tycoon, Music

April 16, 2021—Music: Tum Tiddily TycoonTime, Monday, Jan. 26, 1931


The following excellent text could be lost to researchers if I don't post it here because the first word was scanned in "Turn" instead of "Tum" and therefore cannot be found by a searchbot looking for Tum Tiddily... This is a 1931 article about Will Woodin's music:


Things generally known about William Hartman Woodin of Manhattan: He is president of American Car & Foundry Co., largest, most potent railway equipment plant in the world; board chairman of American Locomotive Co.; a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and of 18 corporations. He was one of the potent Wet Republicans who marched to the aid of Alfred Emanuel Smith in 1928. He has been a decorative member of the Mayor's committee for the entertainment of distinguished visitors. His collection of U. S. gold pieces is the finest there is; he wrote a standard volume on the subject (The United States Pattern— Trial and Experimental Features). He has a rare collection of rare books. A thing little known about William Hartman Woodin until last week: He writes music. He has "never known such a thrill" as when his father gave him, a shop hand at the family foundry, $500 and his fellow workers congratulated him, for molding and annealing singlehanded a perfect car wheel. But in later life he has obtained minor thrills composing songs. Last year the name "Will Woodin" was given as the composer of a bookful of children's jingles. And last week William Hartman Woodin was the name listed as composer of four unpretentious musical impressions which Conductor Henry Hadley's Manhattan Orchestra played in St. George's Church. Fairly descriptive were the titles "Chinese Magic," "The Unknown Soldier" (inspired by a monument in Budapest, guarded always by a soldier on horseback), "Souvenir de Montmarte," "Tartar Dance." Composer Woodin relates that it was in the 1880's, when he, 18, was recovering from a throat operation in Vienna, spending his time in the Volksgarten listening to Johann Strauss conduct his own waltzes, that he became "really musical." As a child, piano-scales had bored him, so he had taken up violin, then the banjo and guitar. Vienna and Strauss made him want to know more. He began seriously to study the zither, laid a good musical foundation. No matter how busy making wheels & cars, William Woodin always found time to sing his children to sleep, playing his accompaniments on the guitar or zither. Many of the melodies were original and the book into which they found their way last autumn was called Raggedy Ann's Sunny Songs, lyrics and drawings by Johnny Gruelle, creator of Raggedy Ann. Some of the lyrics: Little Wooden Willie, People thought him silly 'Cause he had a knot hole In the middle of his head. So he put a hat on And since he has that on Folks who called him silly, Think he's very wise instead. Oh the tired old horse can scarcely drag his feet, If he gets much worse he'll be too tired to eat. He's so old and stiff, he isn't worth his keep, He would go to bed but he'd be too tired to sleep. There was a time so I am told He ran away with Grandpa Cole, He smashed the buggy on the pole, But that was long ago. Now the tired old horse is happy in his way, For he dreams he still can hear his master say, "Tum tid-di-ly um bum, Giddap!" Composer Woodin has six grandchildren for whom he has built a playroom on the top floor of his Manhattan penthouse. He tries out his children's songs on them, finds them frank critics. Concerning his grown-up music and its performance, Composer Woodin is modest, hopes people will not think he considers himself a budding Beethoven.

http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,769498,00.html


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