DOES ANYONE KNOW IF ANY ORIGINAL WRITING by Arthur Penn might

Have any value? He's the Composer, Lyricist & Author from back in the LATE 30's and I gather if the info I found is correct, died in 1941 .... also wrote the music "Smilin' Through" which starred Jeanette McDonald & Nelson Eddy, being one version, and just one song, sometime back then.....and he also rented the Gambrel cottage on Block Island, RI named the same by him, that my parents bought in the Early '50's (which was close to the earliest house built on the Island).....but I believe Mom found some writings & songs by Arthur, I think under the eaves of Smilin' Through...MANY MOONS ago.....of course I still have some-if-not-all-of what she found.....I believe what I have is for the most part, UNPUBLISHED! Mostly am curious.....don't know what's going to happen to some of this old stuff "Someday"......I'm NOT getting any younger!!! I haven't found much of anything in my several attempts at searching! Thanks SO MUCH if anyone comes up with anything!!!!!! MUCH APPRECIATED!!!!!!!!!

 

"Smilin' Through", from a postcard...

I visited Block Island about 35 years ago. Such a nice place.

James.

PS: I'm sure his works are valued. Dig them out. Sounds like buried treasure.

 

Arthur A. Penn. Not Bonnie & Clyde Arthur Penn. He's not terribly well known but, if private collector not interested, certainly a music research center would be.

https://www.american-music.org/page/Libraries

Debora

 

Found an obituary...

Arthur A. Penn, 65; Song Composer Descendant of Settler Wrote 'Smilin' Through' Special to the Brooklyn Eagle New London, Conn., Feb . 7 Arthur A. Penn, composer of the song "Smilin' Through," which he wrote on the back of an envelope while riding on a Railroad train, died at his home here yesterday. He was 65. Mr. Penn was born in London and was a direct descendant of William Penn. "Smilin' Through" became one of the nations great song hits and its title was used for two motion pictures and for a play starring Jane Cowl. Mr. Penn said he got his Inspiration for the song from an advertising card in the train which showed a country house, winding roads and fields. He was the author of more than 30 operettas in addition to other compositions. His widow survives. injuries he received when he was struck by a trolley car on Woodward Ave. and Madison St., Ridgewood. His post was at the Long Island Railroad station in Flatbush Ave. and he was known to many commuters.

 

Good morning, Aquitaine!

Perhaps @Vintage Maven would have ideas about the music you found, as she loves music and old film actors and actresses. She seems very creative in advertising and actressing, and may be able to suggest methods to best market these works.

My brother is a composer in Oregon, a musician's musician (like he is) may have interest and compulsion to work with the music without damaging the historical thrust and vein in which they were written.

Aquitaine, what does "under the eaves of" mean?

 

Thanks, @Roaring20s, that's an Obit I'd never seen!! We've been going to B.I. for most of my life for summers, and owned that 'post card' house from 1951 (I think) up until 1988 when my parents sold it. DH's family still had property there so we were able to keep going, but "Smilin' Through" was, is and always will be a piece of my heart!! That's my brother and his wife in that post card, btw!! You can hardly see the house from the road now with trees that have grown up in front of it!!! (And that church pew in front sits in our dining area in our house!)

 

Thanks Debora, that looks like a Great research site I'll be checking!!!! I've saved it!!

 

@antidiem, "under the eaves" just means like an attic space, but because of the shape of the roof, it's a smaller space....kind of like a crawl space....

And Thank You also, I will see what @Vintage Maven might have to say!!! Penn was quite a writer too! I just found a poem he wrote and I believe kept private - it's again about "Smilin' Through", but basically how he and his wife Nell felt about living there and a bit of the history of the house!! Really neat!!! Probably will pass that on to the B.I. Historical Society!!

 

I don't know the age of this image, but there is a couple standing in it, and it's painted white.....making me wonder IF the couple COULD be Penn and his wife Nell...later '30's??? He had mentioned cleaning up the house with 'white paint' in the poem!! I had downloaded & cleaned up the image numerous years ago.......& DIDN'T save the original..........note the third window next to the door....NOT there in the newer upper post card! AH WELL, such is history!!



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YES YOU FOUND THIS IN THE ATTIC?!!
I think he was more than just an ordinary "renter" - to have put the labor and money into painting it white. What do your B.I. public records show in the way of census reports and home ownership about him?
Storing something in one's attic seems more likely if one is the home owner.

 

No, he never owned it.....but they came back for several if not many years....and am assuming they could afford to 'fix up' a somewhat run down cottage if they chose and the owners didn't refuse......that kind of history is pretty non-existent! Remember, that's me making an assumption on my part too!!!

 

I have the sheet music

 

Hi @Jim pavelka and WELCOME to ANTIQUERS!! I’ve picked every piece of ‘Smilin’ Through’ music I could ever find in my ramblings!!! Not that I have that many, but I also have a collection of typed works by him as well, which was the reason for my query!! One is more of a poem about Smilin’ Through, unless it was a ‘forerunner’ to the song....slightly different. And very touching! For MANY DECADES that song was sung at the High School Graduation as well (of course there were usually about 5 to 10 graduates in any given year!!) So, apparently, A.A. Penn was well liked on the Island! I’ll see if I can dig up the poem/verse.......

 

@antidiem, I apologize for an earlier statement that Arthur and his wife Nell never owned Smilin’ Through!!!! I did some digging again TODAY, and found an abstract my parents had done on the house when they bought it, the abstract dating back to when it was built in the 1600’s!!!! Arthur & Nell DID own the house briefly from 1922 until 1925!!!! Which explains why there was a stash of his works under the eaves!!!! So, have to thank @Jim pavelka for asking a question or rather stating that he had some Smilin’ Through music!!!!! Wondering how many were ever aware there actually was a THIRD VERSE to the song too!!!! NOT well known, I believe, but we (brothers & I had it put on one of our parent’s tombstones.....part of the original song is on the other!!)......for anyone interested, here is the LAST verse at the end:

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I believe from all of Arthur Penn’s writings that I’ve read, theirs was such a love story!! I also found two “pamphlets” with brown paper bag coverings containing more verses that he’d written....typed is more accurate....he must have kept a typewriter there as just about everything is typed!!!! He was also VERY good friends with the president of the light & power Co on the Island as he wrote the MOST hysterical letters with each check he sent!!! I just can’t print them here as not all is....fit to print!!!!! So he also had an amazing sense of humor!!! But here are some other items of covers and writing:

I’m betting this last partial verse about the “Little Old House By The Side of the Road” must have BECOME “Smilin’ Through, OR Vice Versa......and of course, it’s true the house has amazing hand hewn beams throughout!!!​

 

I love that it has a photograph from a movie! I have a small collection of older books that do that (called photoplay books). Is that sheet music, or a book?

 

This is GREAT news! I knew it.

I'd never heard of the song or the motion picture before, and the song "sample"(?) on the back of a page above is too small for me to see it to plink it out on my piano to hear the melody. Do you know if a recording of it exists? Am just curious to hear it now. If it were my home, I'd be singing it!

 

@Aquitaine , feel free to post up his humorous letters!

 

FUNNY you should ask......I DO have it somewhere as a 78 record in it’s jacket!!!! THEY ARE hard to come by.....and I think it’s sung by (you’re gonna love this!) sung by Nelson Eddy in one of the OLD MOVIES!!! It USED to be on YOUTUBE! Haven’t checked lately....and I know things change!!

 

HANG ON.....Here it is.....REMEMBER.....IT’S OLD!!!