Mary Earl

Unladylike

Mary Earl is rather an oddity in this exhibit, because technically they were not a woman! Mary Earl was one of the many pseudonyms used by Robert A. "Bobo" King, who interestingly often uesd 'feminine' stage names [1], possibly to market towards women, or to avoid legal issues (as is the case of Beautiful Ohio - this specific score does not credit the lyricist Ballard Macdonald) [2].

King was highly successful, beginning his career under Leo Feist, and by 1918 was producing 4 songs a month for the Shapiro-Bernstein Music Publishers [1], but due to his use of many pseudonyms and even sometimes publishing as completely anonymous, his full catalog is unknown.

Beautiful Ohio

This song is one of King's most popular, and has been the official song of the state of Ohio since 1969 [2], having had its lyrics (legally) altered in 1989, or often being played in arrangements for marching bands.

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[1] Mary Earl - Composer. MUSOPEN, https://musopen.org/composer/mary-earl/. Accessed November 2017.

[2] Ohio's State Song - Beautiful Ohio. Ohio History Central, https://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Ohio's_State_Song_-_Beautiful_Ohio?rec=1612. Accsessed November 2017.