Julius Lenzberg

Julius Lenzberg was born in Baltimore, Maryland to German (Prussian) immigrants Henry Lenzberg and Julia Stern. He was the youngest child of a large family, bell's academy march cover

including Benjamin (10/1860), Sophia (1861), Maurice (10/1864), Emma (1866), Ella (1868), Alfred (1869 - died young), Hattie (1871), and Florence (9/1875). Henry was employed as a cigar packer in Baltimore since at least a decade before Julius was born.

One of a considerable pool of talented composers from Baltimore, Julius was classically grounded with an ear for melody. He soon became competent in music theory, and performance on both piano and violin. Jules, as he often referred to himself, likely played either piano or violin for a Baltimore dance school known as Bell's Academy, and composed a march for it dedicated to the director and founder, Professor Horace M. Bell. He worked for a while at the Weber and Fields Vaudeville Club in Baltimore, but when it closed in November, 1897, 19-year-old Lenzberg started advertising that he was "at liberty," noting his services as a leader on violin and piano, and as an arranger in the New York Clipper and some other trade papers. While it listed his Baltimore address, it noted that he had been "last season's leader" at Smith's Theater in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

In 1900, having already locally published two marches, he was listed in the census as a musician in Baltimore, although still living with his parents and some of his older siblings. His newly formed "orchestra of soloists" performed in New York in October, 1900, at the Al Reeve's Music Hall. In January of 1904, Jules married his German-born wife Ella Thomas in Manhattan, and the couple settled permanently in New York City so he could pursue musical leadership.

Jules quickly found work leading an ensemble at the Circle Theater in New York, and started on the first of many summers playing on Long Island and Long Branch. As noted in the New York Times social column at the beginning of the 1903 and 1904 seasons, he provided music for the summer at the Scarboro Hotel. Lenzberg soon became the musical director of the Colonial Theater in New York, and is mentioned in the New York Times on July 1, 1906, as managing the orchestra of the Long Beach Hotel on Hempstead Bay, Long Island, for the summer season. He was working mostly as a musician at that time, and if there were any compositions coming from his pen, they were not being published for those few years.

By 1910 Julius and Ella made their home in Queens, New York, with Julius listed as a traveling musician in the census. This was also the beginning of his most productive period as a composer, hungarian rag cover

submitting many clever rags that reflected his classical background and taste for whimsy and stage presentation. While not huge sellers, with the exception of Hungarian Rag, they provided a comfortable supplemental income for the couple. But it was his musical leadership that was his strongest asset, as noted in this December, 1913 mention in The New York Clipper: "The have an orchestra at the Colonial that, for its size, would be hard to equal, much less excel. Julius Lenzberg, himself an artistic performer, always has his musicians under perfect control, and the resulting unified effort, supplemented by training and efficiency of a high order was fittingly shown in two selections."

Lenzberg's hits during the ragtime era were few but noteworthy. One of his great talents was adapting well-known classical tunes to piano ragtime format. Among these are his Hungarian Rag and Operatic Rag. They helped fuel a trend in which rag composers such as George L. Cobb and Felix Arndt, as well as various performers, ragged famous tunes, often to the detriment of both the original and arranging composers. Mr. Lenzberg's arrangements are actually fresh and innovative in their use of these themes, unlike many similar yet lesser attempts. His Haunting Rag is among the most original of his works. Lenzberg also co-composed a rag with the esteemed ballad writer Ernest R. Ball.

The Lenzbergs spent the rest of their lives in Queens. Like his famous associate, composer George Botsford, Lenzberg had a group called the Harmonists that performed in vaudeville theaters, and were found listed several times throughout the 1910s on various bills. On his 1918 draft record he listed his occupation as orchestra leader. Lenzberg was the musical director for one of earliest renditions of the famous George White Scandals, working for the George White Scandals of 1919. It ran for 128 performances from June through October, interrupted for two weeks by an Actor's Equity strike.

By late 1918, Julius was working as a manager with the Keith Theater Company, one of the few remaining vaudeville chains, at the B.F. Keith New Riverside Theater. He recorded a good number of dance tunes with that organization's Riverside Orchestra starting in 1919, largely for the Edison Blue Amberol cylinders and Diamond Discs, and reportedly some for the Pathé label. A notice in the Music Trade News of December 25, 1920, describes a special moment he had with that group: "Julius Lenzberg, leader of the orchestra at the Riverside Theatre, New York, recently featured during the intermission 'Tired of Me,' the new Irving Berlin, Inc., number. Mr. Lenzberg is something of a violin soloist himself, and put over the number so well that he was compelled to play the chorus twice. 'It is the first time I ever heard an audience demand an encore during intermission,' declared Mr. Lenzberg."

Henry Lenzberg had died by 1920, and Jules' mother and his sister Florence moved in with him. He and his wife evidently never had children. The Riverside Orchestra remained popular for some time, as evidenced in this New York Evening Telegram notice of October 16, 1922:

Jules recorded several more sides in 1921 and 1922 with his Julius Lenzberg's Harmonists on the Okeh label, various New York labels such as Paramount/Banner, Bell/Arto with Julius Lenzberg and His Orchestra, and on Banner/Triangle with his Jules Lenzberg's Midnight Follies group. Although the recordings stopped in 1922, he continued appearances throughout the decade, occasionally on radio. One of the stars of his 1924 Hippodrome orchestra was the mando-cello player, Alfred Allen, who brought notoriety to the unusual instrument. He was involved with the Hippodrome through most of the mid to late 1920s, according to notices seen in the New York Times. Other articles confirm the existence of a Julius Lenzberg Symphony Orchestra as well in the mid to late 1920s, but no specifics on what they played. For some time during the decade he also led the pit orchestra at the storied Palace Theater, the pinacle of vaudeville houses. A popular conductor and arranger there, they called him "The Professor." In the 1930 census Lenzberg was still listed as an orchestra leader.

Again he hit Broadway and also some of the more legitimate concert halls. Lenzberg was the musical director for the 1931 stage musical Nikki, which ran a difficult 39 performances from September through October. Among the future stars of this near flop were Fay Wray in the title role of Nikki, and Archie Leach as romantic interest Cary Lockwood. Leach would eventually take the first name of his character and make a splash in the movies as Cary Grant. The Great Depression was not kind to Broadway except for the Gershwin brothers. So in 1932 he became involved with symphonic music again as the assistant director of the Roxy Theater Symphony Orchestra run by the well-known impresario Hugo Riesenfeld. The organization also was featured on occasional radio concerts, even traveling to Chicago for appearances on WGN. He may have done some seasonal work out of New York as well, as he owned a home in Forest Hills.

Jules eventually moved into management, away from the grind of preparing musical presentations on a weekly basis. In the 1940 enumeration he and Ella were still living Queens, New York, and he listed himself as a musician. His employer listed on his 1942 draft record was Select Operating Corporation, a theatrical management and property broker that included the Shubert Organization. They are still in business today, and located in the Times Square theater district in Manhattan. Mostly retired, he returned to the pit of the Palace Theater on August 10, 1948, for a star-studded gala that was broadcast live on ABC television station WJZ (although probably to just a few hundred homes). The 1950 census taken in Hempstead, Long Island, New York, confirmed his status as retired. Information on Lenzberg from that time until his death has proven difficult to find. Julius Lenzberg, a long-time music veteran and creative force, passed on at age 78 in 1956.