Biography
Euday Louis Bowman came into the world on 9 November 1887 in Fort Worth, Texas, and departed it on 26 May 1949 in New York City. Working as a composer and arranger, he is chiefly recalled for the irresistibly memorable “Twelfth Street Rag,” completed in 1914. Three years afterward, Earl Fuller’s Novelty Orchestra brought the tune to widespread attention, after which it surfaced repeatedly on the American charts in performances by Ted Lewis in 1923, Fats Waller in 1935, Frankie Carle in 1948, and Liberace in 1954. The recording that lodged most firmly in public memory, however, was the one cut by Pee Wee Hunt And His Orchestra, which commanded the top slot in the United States for eight weeks during 1948 and became Hunt’s first million-selling disc. Guitarist Bert Weedon revived the piece successfully in Britain as late as 1960. Decades earlier, Spencer Williams supplied lyrics for its inclusion in the musical-comedy film Close Harmony, whose cast included Charles ‘Buddy’ Rogers. Additional lyricists later turned their hand to the number; the set of words that opens with the line “Down in Kansas City someone wrote a pretty ditty,” crafted by Andy Razaf, remains the best known.