the(failed) publishing firms of Fred Hylands

Fred Hylands tried his hand at so many publishing firms. But not many of them lasted. 

He first tried out self-publishing in 1898, getting his first few things out there himself:

this was the first thing that he ever got published. 

Like I have said before, he wrote this several months before its publication, as much as 6 months before in fact. Since I am learning this piece currently, it is a great opportunity to distinguish the differences from the written music to the recorded material, and I can tell you now, they are VERY different. 

Here's the band recording of it with Hylands in the orchestra on piano: 

(make sure you pause it right at the music's finnish!)

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/13000/13265/cusb-cyl13265d.mp3

Heh, he plays it a bit fast, hard to keep up if you're playing by ear...

I can hear the strain of the band members under Fred's will...

Any way, this self-publishing ordeal did not get him very far for very long, he only got the two other things that he wrote in 1898 published,  "Narcissus Gavotte" and "Old-fashioned girl":

(interesting snippet!)

This self-publishing only lasted until January of 1899, and then he abandoned the idea for a few busy months. 

Then Steve Porter ad Roger Harding come along up to him to propose a new publishing idea. This seemed like the perfect bond between publisher and Recording artist, as there was nothing wrong with the firm at first. 

success was hoped for, and is was so for a month or so. As in The Phonoscope for many issues after their formation, their songs were listed in their new songs section that usually came on the second to last page of the issues. 

This firm only lasted about a month because the main owner(Hylands) could not fund the firm enough to sustain their business(this was usually the problem with having Hylands as the leader of anything), and the exceedingly rich Steve Porter was very busy with everything he did(winning money on yacht races, recording and such). 

This collapsed in March of 1899, and only a week or so later, Len Spencer rushes upon him and proposes a new firm with a far-fetched friends Harry Yeager. This was a very hasty gathering at first, as Spencer seemed in a hurry to start up something new(as he always was)

This firm proved to be a much more successful partnership, as there were more than the three names on their logo involved in it. Those involved were:
Fred. Hylands
 Len Spencer 
Harry W. Yeager
Roger Harding
Burt Green 
Steve Porter(when he could come in)
Rollin C. Wooster("the silent wonder" of the firm)
Will J. Hardman(a composer friend of Fred's)
This firm had more on hand to sustain it's funding, as all of the recording artists involved had heaps of money to keep Fred up to snuff. 

It was still a far-fetched relationship when they were publishers, as many of the people listed above did not come in as often as others. This fact angered the stubborn and ambitious Fred, as he wanted this to work, and last, no matter what came his way. He came in every evening to work there, and had any others of the group com in during the day when he was at recording sessions. But like I have said before, this time as a firm was where Hylands and Spencer's friendship grew deeper into their musical mindset. This was where the matchmaking of Spencer and Hylands took place. While the firm lasted, so did their friendship. 
By mid-October of 1900, this great firm collapsed under Fred's own anger and disbelief. He could not trust all of the members of his firm, as by this time, he was the only one coming  in to do any of the work needed. And as rich men go, they weren't willing to give tons of money to the benefit of Fred's work and deep devotion. He threw the original contract away and therefore sold all of his stock off to the bigger and more successful publishers. From there, ending this partnership. 

The publishing desires still ran within him in 1901, when he proposed a new one called Aldrich, Linton and Hylands. He started this firm with John Aldrich and his composer friend Harry Linton. This firm again only lasted about two months, as not everyone had the time to keep involved with it. He was once again frustrated with this failure. And another hit took him in 1902 when his first Actor's union collapsed after only a few performances. Amid his frustration, he still worked at Columbia's pianist, so it was often hard for him to want to do all of the things that he was involved in. 


After about ten years of failure, show managing, traveling, getting booted out of Columbia, and actor's union advocacy, he got back into publishing. this must have been a bold decision, as so much had taken a toll on Hylands by 1911. He was pretty run-down for a 39-year old, but he was still keeping on with the determination that the boys at Columbia taught him. 
He created the small firm of Hylands and Gibson in late-1911 to only go on to publish three or so things that Hylands performed late with Wilbur Held on the stage. 

the tune listed directly above was the last thing that Hylands every wrote. 
As expected, the "Hylands and Gibson firm died when Hylands died in England in October of 1913. 
I'm sure that many people attendned his funeral, as it was held by his friends at the White Rats actor's union, and Marie(his wife) probably requested that many of his old friends that survived this long were invited. 
Hylands had to go through much more failure than success in his 41 years of life, but he was just trying desperately to get his ideas noticed--

He wanted to be heard, and how he was, and still is. 

I hope you enjoyed this!