More on Fred and Etta Hylands

For some reason, to-day I've had a sparked interest in these two siblings mentioned at the very top of this post.  I have really been trying to piece together the personality of Fred Hylands' obviously progressive and independent sister Etta. I have described Fred many a time on this blog, and it sometimes would seem like the two of them were both very bright and varying characters. In trying to piece together the history and character of Etta Hylands, it must be known that she married several times and had several children from the men she married(and didn't marry!). That in itself is really odd for that time period, as looking up many women from that time, you really won't find too many ladies with a story like that. 

Etta first married in 1893 to a man whose name was  Charles Calkins, but I could be wrong. The research I have done on her is a little confusing. She was 18 when she first married this man, and she was right out of the house, away from Fred and Charles quick. She left bachelor Fred and her father at home after she dashed out with her first husband. She married right after her mother died in 1893, and wasn't seen again by her brother and father until after 1900. As I have explained before, Fred remained single until 1895 when he married Marie and moved out to Milwaukee later that year. Of course, being the man his father was, he followed them to Wisconsin, needing the financial support they could offer. Meanwhile, somewhat near Chicago, Etta was living with this man for only three months after their marriage until he died of smallpox(how odd is that!) the circumstances of her second marriage and third are still to be uncovered. She was probably a lady who would become bored with men if they really weren't that passionate and caring for her. She must have grown tired of him by 1900, as it was around that time that she married again. Once again, I do not recall all the names of her husbands, and I am not exactly sure of who is who. She's a little hard to track down when looking her up. 

It was around this time frame(1898-1901) that her performer children were born, by this, I mean the "The Hylands" children. These kids were an act that was begun by their mother around 1907, where the children would perform, while their mother would be at the piano behind them. She probably had a similar style to her Ragged brother, one that was strange, powerful, and full of musical mirth and wit. I would guess that she was just as comical and eccentric as Fred, from not only what I know about Fred, but also that I have heard from the descendants of her that a cartoon of her playing piano exists. That explains quite a lot, just that fact alone. I wonder if one of Fred exists somewhere... 

Etta's most famous child was her daughter Ethel Mizpah(interesting middle name...), as she was formally known, is the most interesting of and mysterious of her children. Why? Well, she's the one that was born out of wedlock, and also that she was the one who was specifically mentioned in a few issues of Variety. 

One of which is here, from 1911:

It's odd heh? One of Fred's nieces. Hm. Sounds about right. 

 I wonder if any of Fred's recording friends ever got the chance to meet Etta(the only one I am almost certain met Etta was Burt Green, why? Well think about it for a moment, she probably stayed at Fred's house/firm headquarters at some point in 1899-1900, and guess who was there more often? Burt Green.)Anyhow, back to "Little Ethel" as she was known. The fact that she was illegitimate is something that I did not know until the kind descendants of Etta had told me, so what that means is that this fact was never spoken of in that time period, and thinking of the era, it was probably very well hidden. Something like that would never have passed well with Fred, who probably learned of it quick. When he learned of the birth of a bastard child from Etta, he must have rolled his eyes. It's pretty certain that they both heard from each other back and forth about their travels and performances from 1900 to 1913. 

Etta seemed to be pretty busy between 1907 and 1915, with her act showcasing her clearly talented children, dealing with letters from Fred, hearing of their father's death in 1909, and who knows what else! 

Hmm, to stray from the main subject of this  post, I just got sucked into watching the 1942 film The Yankee Doodle Dandy, and I am criticizing almost every scene, not just for those typical 1940's flaws in historical accuracy, like with hairstyles and women's dresses, but for some of the dialogue that comes by. OH! that scene where Cohan's character runs into Eddie Foy at the premiere  of George Washington Jr. just went by and all the esoteric puns by the both of them are hilarious! Eddie Foy was a popular dancer of the 1890's and 1900's by the way. Now, at the next scene, which is the opening of George Washington Jr. , they don't sing the "Grand Old Rag" with the "Rag" part of it, but that makes some sense. they could have easily gotten Billy Murray to come and sing that song as it was originally intended, as I think that Al Jolson did that for one film where he came out in blackface imitating someone else. Shoot, I can't remember what it was he was in, but I just recall that Jolson was older and that he sang an old song in blackface. They could have had Murray come to sing "Grand Old Rag" and it would have made that scene a thousand times better. 

Hm, a lot of what happens in this film could be applied to the story of Fred and Marie Hylands, minus that very weird(and romanticized) dynamic between George and his wife, which certainly was changed by the customs of 1940's and 50's films. 

Hey! Also that scene where the woman is singing "Over There", one, the way she's dressed is very incorrect for 1917, as it looks far too 1940's, from her hair to her shoes. The main problem with the singing at one part of this scene is how the singer syncopates the vocals of it, that that is actually not right for 1917. The original way it was sung(as heard on records by many, including Billy Murray) was supposed to be straight on the rhythm, because it was intended to be a one-step, which was not really syncopated. 

Now just to really nerd out, it's really kind of funny how Fred Hylands released a show on broadway in 1905 called The Yankee Doodle Girl  which, not surprisingly, was overshadowed almost completely by the big Cohan show The Yankee Doodle Boy. But you know what, Hylands' show(which was performed after the first few successful runs of Cohan's) Hylands' show might have actually been a joke response to the Cohan show, which was extremely popular when it was performed. But by how popular the Cohan show was, and how it made Hylands practically broke from the losses, Hylands probably hated Cohan for as long as he lived(thought it's interesting to note that he was a member of the White Rats Union, starting around 1909...). 

Anyhow, sorry about the weird tangent toward the end of this post, the movie was really interesting(even though I've seen it a few times), and I had to get into it a little. It's like whenever I watch Showboat from 1936, there's so much to take in, and for old broadway and vaudeville nerds like me just go crazy over. 

I hope you enjoyed this!