“Under the Bamboo Tree”: Museum Object and Cultural History
“Under the Bamboo Tree”: publishing date: 1902. composer; lyricist: Cole and Johnson Bros.. performer: Cahill, Marie.
The object in the museum catalogue
This sheet music for the song “Under the Bamboo Tree” was published by Joseph W. Stern & Company of New York, New York, and composed by the Cole and Johnson Brothers. The sheet music cover features an image of Marie Cahill, a famous actress of the time who sang the song in the musical “Sally in our Alley.” The cover is styled after a bamboo wall to go along with the title of the song.
The cover art for this sheet music was made by brothers William Starmer (1872-1957) and Frederick Starmer (1878-1962) Born and raised in England, the brothers moved with their family to New York, William in 1898 and Frederick in 1899. The Starmer Brothers flourished until 1929. William became a U.S. citizen in 1924, while Frederick returned to England in 1929.
Materials, dates and provenance
- publishing date: 1902
- composer; lyricist: Cole and Johnson Bros.
- performer: Cahill, Marie
- publisher: Joseph W. Stern and Company
- Object Name: sheet music
- Physical Description: paper (overall material)
- Physical Description: ink (overall material)
- Measurements: overall: 14 in x 11 in; 35.56 cm x 27.94 cm
- place made: United States: New York, New York
- ID Number: 1979.1154.05
- accession number: 1979.1154
- catalog number: 1979.1154.05
- Credit Line: Gift of C. Malcolm Watkins
- Data Source: National Museum of American History
Sources and reuse
Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.
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