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These are some recordings of
my Father's Father's Mother's Brother, Eddie
Healy, a vaudeville singer who performed for many years in the duo "Healy
and Cross," with Allan Cross. Together, according to various newspaper
announcements, they were "The Stage Salesmen of songs," "Creators of
Harmony," "Showing the smartest styles in songs."
Eddie Healy was from
Providence, RI and was born in 1894. He
apparently had a beautiful voice as a child, and began performing at a
young age as an "Irish Minstrel Boy." It was feared that when his voice
changed, his talent for singing would go away, but he ended up going on to
have a successful career as a performer.
At some point before 1920 he
began singing as part of the duet "Healy & Cross," who achieved a
degree of fame on the Orpheum and Keith Circuits, performing all over the
country, and headlining at the Palace Theater and the Loews State Theater.
In 1920, they shared a bill with Mae West at the Colonial. Around 1922,
Healy recorded 7 songs for Cameo records: four with Allan Cross, and three
as solo vocal performances. During the 20s, Healy and Cross introduced many
classic songs by legendary songwriters, some of which have become
standards. "I'm Sitting on Top of the World, "Mamma Loves Papa (Papa Loves
Mamma)," and "Take 'Em to the Door Blues" are
among the songs they introduced.
As radio and motion pictures
became the dominant entertainment forms, Healy and Cross became less
active. In the 1930s, Healy retired from show business, settled down, and
opened a chop house in Providence. He died
tragically in 1939. His apartment building caught fire, and he was forced
to jump (“his clothing aflame”)
out the window from his fourth story apartment to his death. An elderly
couple also died in the fire, and many others were injured.
I have been told that Uncle
Eddie was my grandfather's favorite Uncle. When I was a young child, my
Grandmother, when telling me about my Grandfather’s uncle, showed me the
one piece of sheet music that belonged to the family. It was called "I Hear
You Calling, Pal of Mine," and it contained an insert on the cover that was
a picture of Healy & Cross, who had performed it. Although many Eddie
Healy-related items were to be found at my grandparents' house (his tuxedo jacket,
some of his books, many photographs of him, etc.), that piece of sheet
music was the only item I had that gave me any idea of what kind of music
he performed. It wasn’t until late 2005, when I went through a brief
genealogy obsession, that I was able to track down
more sheet music. Since then, I've been buying it up one item at a time
whenever it appears on ebay, or other online
stores. A few months after I began searching, I was lucky enough to even
find a 78 rpm record. The revelation that there were recordings out there
of him was quite exciting. Since then, I have obtained seven. These seven
records seem to represent the entirety of his recorded output, but if
anybody knows of any other recordings that may exist, I would be very
grateful if you were to get in touch with me.
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This is my favorite
picture of Eddie Healy. That's my grandfather on his shoulders. Uncle
Eddie would have been quite a star at this time (1926).
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Eddie Healy's Chop House:
(from the back:
From the first day it opened Eddie Healy's Chop House has been one of the
most popular eating establishments in Providence. Here the very best of
food, wines and liquors are served in an atmosphere remindful of the many
years the genial Eddie spent on the stage as a member of the well-known
vaudeville team known as Healy & Cross. Surrounded by scores of
autographed portraits of stage and screen celebrities Eddie personally
welcomes all his old friends and acquaintances and supervises all the
important details that contribute so much to the satisfaction and
enjoyment of a good meal.)
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Below are some pictures of historic
theatres where Eddie Healy is known to have performed with Allan Cross.
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A streetview
of Main Street in Pawtucket, RI
The Scenic is visible in the background:
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The Orpheum in Spokane,
Washington.
(More information about this theater
is available here)
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The Palace Theater in Manchester, NH
(More information about this theater
is available here)
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The 58th St. RKO Proctor’s Theatre in New York City:
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So far, these are the songs
that I have been able to obtain in sheet music or record form that boast
Eddie Healy's name:
I Want to Belong to Someone
(1920)
(W.J. Mantica, Pete Emma & T. Jay Flanagan)
Crying
for You (1922)
(Miller
& Cohn)
Little
Grey Sweetheart of Mine (1922)
(Fred
Fisher)
That
Old Gang of Mine (1922)
(Rose-Dixon-Henderson)
I'll Be In My Dixie Home
Again To-Morrow (1922)
(Turk
& Robinson)
Come
On, Spark Plug! (1922)
(Rose-Conrad)
If
You Don't Think So, You're Crazy (1922)
(Turk-Robinson)
You're OK Katy With Me
(Sheet Music: 1923; Record: 1922)
(By Sam Landers & Pete Wendling)
Who's Sorry Now
(1923)
(Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby,
Ted Snyder)
It's a Man (Ev'ry Time) It's a Man (1923)
(Al Dubin,
Jimmy McHugh & Irwin Dash)
Blue Hoosier Blues
(1923)
(Cliff Friend, Jack Meskill & Abel Baer)
Mamma Loves Papa
(Papa Loves Mamma) (1923)
(Cliff Friend and Abel Baer)
Mamma Goes Where Papa Goes
(Or
Papa Don't Go Out Tonight) (1923)
(Jack Yellen
& Milton Ager)
Just a Girl That Men Forget
(1923)
(Al Dubin,
Fred Rath & Jos. J. Garren)
Annabelle (1923)
(Lew Brown & Ray
Henderson)
I'll Take You Home Again, Pal
'O Mine (1923)
(Claude Sacre
& Harold Dixon)
I Hear You Calling, Pal of
Mine (1924)
(Al Dubin,
Jimmy McHugh & Max Kortlander)
The Pal That I Loved Stole
the Gal That I Loved (1924)
(Harry Pease & Ed. G.
Nelson)
Doodle Doo Doo (1924)
(Art Kassel and Mel. Stitzel)
My Gal Don't Love Me Anymore
(1924)
(Ben Russell & Cliff
Friend)
Put Away A Little Ray of
Golden Sunshine For a Rainy Day (1924)
(Sam M. Lewis, Joe Young
& Fred E. Ahlert)
June Night (Give Me a June
Night, the Moonlight and You) (1924)
(Abel Baer & Cliff
Friend)
Take 'Em
To The Door (That's All There Is, There Ain't No
More Blues) (1925)
(Billy Rose, Benny Davis
& Ray Henderson)
I'm Sitting on Top of the
World (Just Rolling Along – Just Rolling Along) (1925)
(Lewis and Young & Ray
Henderson)
The Lonesomest
Girl in Town (1925)
(Al Dubin,
Jimmy McHugh & Irving Mills)
(I Wouldn't Be Where I Am) If
You Hadn't Gone Away (1925)
(Lew Brown, Billy Rose &
Ray Henderson)
So Long! I'll See You Again
(1925)
(J Keirn
Brennan & Jimmy McHugh)
Yearning (Just for You)
(1925)
(Benny Davis & Joe Burke)
Cheatin'
On Me (1925)
(Jack Yellen
& Lew Pollack)
Clap Hands! Here Comes
Charlie! (1925)
(Billy Rose, Ballard
MacDonald & Joseph Meyer)
Don't Let Me Stand in Your
Way (1926)
(Art Gillham
& Billy Smythe)
I'd Rather Be Alone (Just
Thinking of You) (1926)
(Jack Yellen
& Milton Ager)
Behind the Clouds (Are Crowds
and Crowds of Sunbeams) (1926)
(Benny Davis & B.G. DeSylva)
Me Too (Ho-Ho! Ha-Ha!)
(1926)
(Harry Woods, Charles Tobias
& Al. Sherman)
After My Laughter Came Tears
(1928)
(Charles Tobias & Roy
Turk)
Just Another Day Wasted Away
(Waiting for You) (1928)
(Charles Tobias & Roy
Turk)
I'm Singing Your Love Songs
to Somebody Else (1930)
(Lou Herscher)
River, Stay 'Way From My Door
(1931)
(Mort Dixon & Harry
Woods)
Eddie
Healy has one songwriting credit for a song that he wrote with Allan Cross
and songwriters-hall-of-famer Ted Snyder (the
composer of “Sheik of Araby,” “Who’s Sorry Now,”
and many other classics). The song is called “Sweet Mamma of Mine.” After searching for nine years for the sheet music for that song, I was delighted to eventually find a copy.
Although there doesn’t seem
to be a lot of biographical information out there about Eddie Healy, I was
able to find this nice feature from 1935 about his former singing partner,
Allan Cross, which contains some details about his career with Eddie Healy:
Part I
Part II
Allan Cross went on to live
a long time, and was later proclaimed the “oldest living vaudevillian.”
Here is an Allan Cross obituary: Variety: March 24th, 1993
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