Hylands loved bossing people around when it came to being a music director.
He was apparently a very good director, even if he had impulsively lazy habits. He did get things done, and he always picked out the best people to cast for anything he did. His talents, like most of them, were rooted deep into his past, starting in his teen's. He started presenting this great talent around the age of fourteen, and continued on as a successful performer and director. His kindness and sense of humor got him out of every bad relationship in his teen's, twenties, and early thirties. His past was a weird mix of a poor family life, and also the extravagant and spoiled child sort of thing, as the traveling was hard on him when he was young, but the attention and praise made him become somewhat vain in his older years, and had him believe that his charm could get him through anything, and As I have said, that never worked for him as a publisher...
He became the musical director for the same Pastor's theatre that Mike Bernard held control of the pit almost just as soon as he got out to the east coast, which was in 1896. He proved to be a very strong leader at this company, as he joined several other connecting companies within the next year and a half. He had some control over the wild Mike Bernard when he was Pastor's music director, so that must have made for some interesting encounters.
Amid his success as a music director, and performer, a few boys of the columbia phonograph company came up to him one day and wanted to test out his piano playing on their cylinders.
Hylands must have been reluctant at first, but then when the boys heard him on the cylinders, they were immediately captivated by his skill, and power on the piano. His playing was so unique and modern that they had to take him.
So he began his term at Columbia in c.mid-1897 and remained there until late-1904, playing all sorts of music behind the great singers and performers. He did not do too much show work in the time between 1898 and 1902, as those were his busiest years at the studio. It was amazing that he was able to do all of the things that he did in this short time frame though, being a house pianist by the mornings and mid-day, and later being at his publishing office, and sometimes going out to do a show by the night. He was doing quite a lot for a 25 to 30 year old. And to add to it, he tried out many types of drugs and drank terribly in this time, due to the obliging of his friends in the recording business, him taking advantage of the little-to-no rules in the studio, and having his own little nest above where all of his friends could constantly monitor him.
After this damaging and important time at Columbia ended in 1904, he went right back into directing and managing shows. He then came up with his most popular two shows Yankee Doodle Girl and also his much more successful The Beauty Doctor. These shows earned moderate success on Broadway, and within a few months, the shows were on the road throughout the mid-west, once again going the path that he did many decades before.
Amid his success as a music director, and performer, a few boys of the columbia phonograph company came up to him one day and wanted to test out his piano playing on their cylinders.
Hylands must have been reluctant at first, but then when the boys heard him on the cylinders, they were immediately captivated by his skill, and power on the piano. His playing was so unique and modern that they had to take him.
So he began his term at Columbia in c.mid-1897 and remained there until late-1904, playing all sorts of music behind the great singers and performers. He did not do too much show work in the time between 1898 and 1902, as those were his busiest years at the studio. It was amazing that he was able to do all of the things that he did in this short time frame though, being a house pianist by the mornings and mid-day, and later being at his publishing office, and sometimes going out to do a show by the night. He was doing quite a lot for a 25 to 30 year old. And to add to it, he tried out many types of drugs and drank terribly in this time, due to the obliging of his friends in the recording business, him taking advantage of the little-to-no rules in the studio, and having his own little nest above where all of his friends could constantly monitor him.
After this damaging and important time at Columbia ended in 1904, he went right back into directing and managing shows. He then came up with his most popular two shows Yankee Doodle Girl and also his much more successful The Beauty Doctor. These shows earned moderate success on Broadway, and within a few months, the shows were on the road throughout the mid-west, once again going the path that he did many decades before.
“The Beauty Doctor” at Popular Prices, Matinee and Night
Wednesday afternoon and evening at the Majestic Fred Hylands, a Fort Wayne boy, will present his own musical comedy success, “The Beauty Doctor.”
There is a beauty chorus and a large number of comedians and comediennes to interpret the hilariously funny plot which, hitting as it does all the salient points of the beauty fad, offers opportunities well taken advantage of for funny incident and humorous situation. Mr. Hylands has been fortunate in casting his plays comprehensively; and the dialogue and music in the hands of these competent people goes with a dash and a merry swing. There are a dozen or more songs that will be whistled and sung and the entire music of the piece is far above the average injected into musical comedy, and is well sung by a chorus noted as well for its singing ability as for its beauty and agility. A “Rube” song, “Good Bye, Jennie Jones,” is one of the real big hits of the year. “My Flower of the South,” with a catchy chorus that will relate it in the public ear, and “Angel Voices” go to make the “Beauty Doctor” as good a show in a musical vein as it is in its comedy.
I used the newspaper snippet quite a while back on this blog, but this is a perfect time to bring it back into the light. Hylands really got his sense of humor out there with these two shows, and earned an even higher reputation as a comedian and comical personality.
By 1907, Marie Hylands(his wife) was one of the star beauties and singers in The Beauty Doctor and Fred made sure that she got her place in the show that he created prior. But of course, just like the days back at Columbia, Fred was beginning to find so much traveling tiresome, and due to his weight by this time, he was only partially enjoying the touring. As when he was back at Columbia, he was much more sedentary, now that he was touring, it was much different, think about that comparison for a minute...
(i.e. refer the picture I have first on this post for a better look!)
(From a 1909 newspaper)
The heavy traveling did slim him out a little, but not by very much(clearly). Critics of his shows poked fun at his appearance still, just like the boys at Columbia used to in The Phonoscope, except that is wasn't really mean like the critics...He could not have been more stressed as a musician. His life of dedication to music was only becoming harder for him, and as much as he loved performing and as good at it as he was, he was just finding it cruel to his body and means.
He didn't manage shows after 1909 and 1910, he got back into writing music for a little while, and toured around as a minstrel man and general Vaudevillian with his wife and Wilbur Held. He was still a funny performer to see by 1912, still slightly like "Columbia's baby-faced pianist" even after so many years of rough traveling and failures. He still had some determination in him, and he still had Len Spencer to go to if he needed some help in any way(and if Spencer was willing to actually help him...). He still had his schtick, his odd looks, funky voice, less-than perfect smile, and quick fingers to keep his stage presence up.
But of course, as Fred Hylands' tragedy goes, he died in the middle of an English tour in mid-1913, very suddenly to all of the performers who came over on the boat with him.
Hylands' friends mourned him for a short time, and then got right back to business in touring and performing all over the place. Not long after he died, Marie went off to Chicago once again and married another actor type(of which his name I forget at the moment, but I have it written down on a small piece of paper buried somewhere). That seems like a rather disrespectful thing to do nowadays, but for actor types in that time period, well, it was unfortunately a very common end to a love and/or marriage.
I hope you enjoyed this!
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