Above: Pauline Alpert, c. 1920.

Aaron, Jennie.
Old Carpet Rag (1911) Tolbert R. Ingram Music, Denver, Colorado.

Allen, Bertha.
That Hateful Rag (1925) self-published, Des Moines, Iowa.

Allen, Daisy.
A Bit O' Sunshine: Novelty Two Step (date unknown) and Grand March to Jones' (1907) Jones Publishing Co., Kansas City, Missouri.

Allen, Libbie.
Gobler Rag (1913) Shattinger Music Co., St. Louis.

Allen, Louise L.
  From 1915 to 1930 Louise Allen was listed in the St. Louis, Missouri directories as a music teacher. The 1925 directory noted that she was the widow of Wm. L. Allen, Vice President of the Allen Coffee Company, 211 Vine, St. Louis, Missouri. The "glide" was a popular dance when this piece was published.

The Allen Glide (1915) Syndicate Music Co., St. Louis.

Allyn, Opal A.
The Opalescent Rag (no date) self-published, Modesto, Illinois.

Alpert, Pauline.
   (Born, December 27th, 1900, New York, New York; died, April 11th, 1988, Bronx, New York.) Frequently billed as the "Whirlwind Pianist" or the "Lindberg of the Piano," Pauline Alpert was a vaudeville, concert, radio, and TV star, a recording artist, and the creator of over 500 piano rolls for Duo-Art. She also arranged and composed piano solos such as "Dream of a Doll," "The Merry Minnow," and "March of the Blues," published by Mills Music Company, New York. Alpert spent her childhood in Rochester, New York and music was an important part of her upbringing. Her mother, Anna (Rosh) Alpert was an opera singer. Sibley Music Library in Rochester, which holds Alpert's collection of scrapbooks and clippings, reports that she graduated from East High School in Rochester, earning a piano scholarship to the Eastman School of Music, studying briefly under Selim Palmgren. Alpert started out to become a classical concert pianist but was later won over to jazz. She toured the United States as a stage soloist in vaudeville and was a recording artist for RCA Victor, Sonora, Pilot-Tone, and Rabson. On the liner notes for Sparkling Piano Melodies by Pauline Alpert (Sonora MS-460), Broadway columnist, Nick Kenny is quoted as saying:
  Pauline Alpert takes a piano apart, she babies it, she scolds it, and she makes it stand up on its sounding board and hollar "Auntie." Here is classical skill in modern tempo at its peak. And we do mean "peak."
  Alpert was a frequent guest soloist for top radio and television stars such as Paul Whiteman, Rudy Valle, and Fred Allen, who called her "the young lady who sounds like two pianos." Eventually she had her own semi-weekly show on radio WOR, New York. She was also featured in a Vitaphone two-reeler: Katz' Pajamas - a Fif D'Orsay, Pauline Alpert Musical.
People attending the 1979 AMICA (Automatic Musical Instruments Collectors' Association) convention in Philadelphia had the distinct pleasure of meeting Pauline Alpert, by then nearly 80, who performed for their Saturday evening concert. Molly Yeckley reviewed the performance for Mechanical Music Digest, saying: "I counted 10 songs, mad applause, another 10 songs, more applause, and then another 10 songs for a finaleFrom slow to fastto peppy and finger-tangling, except that her fingers don't tangle." Afterwards, Rick Inzero reported hearing Alpert apologize to the piano owner for "messing up the piano." Apparently she played so hard, her fingers bled on the keys. Craig Brougher had a chance to converse with Alpert at that meeting, recalling that she sounded bitter about the way women were treated in her day. She claimed she received only $50 per recording from Duo Art, mainly because she was a woman. Brougher also spoke with Robert Armbruster, the chief editor and head of Duo-Art's recording department, who admitted that Alpert played so fast and profusely, he had to ask her to slow down and play fewer notes, fearing no one would believe it was a hand-played roll. Thanks to the work of Artis Wodehouse, Alpert's incredible playing style can be heard on the Pauline Albert collection, Vol. 1 of Keyboard Wizards of the Gershwin Era (Pearl Records, 1995).

Perils of Pauline (1927) Jack Mills Inc., New York.

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