Composer Query

[Bill Edwards]

Hi all.

I've been working on some additional bios for my databse, including E.
Harry Kelly, Mel B. Kaufman and Arthur (Vithus?) R. Schutt. While I
have done OK with some really interesting information surfacing on
Kelly and Schutt, Kaufman remains an informational enigma outside of
the ASCAP database.

So in research, passing, whatever, if any of you have something on
Kaufman outside of his compositions (and reported early career as an
undergarments salesperson), I would be grateful and , as usual, would
acknowledge the source.

Given the deafening dearth of info in census and similar records, it
would be my educated guess that Kaufman (sometimes Kaufmann) was a
pseudonym as NOTHING shows up under either spelling on US Government
records that I have searched. Coffman had the same result, just in
case somebody brings it up. I would be guessing that Mel would be
short for the common Melvin, but I have seen other derivatives as
well.

So this brings up the question, in spite of definitive birth and death
dates listed by ASCAP (where did THEY get them?), was Mel B. Kaufman a
commitee of different composers (like Nancy Drew writers)? Unlikely.
Was he a closet case that didn't want to reveal anything about
himself? Perhaps. Was he from Krypton disguised as a mild-mannered
composer? There has to be some explanation.

Just thought I'd throw it out there and see what transpires.

Thanks in advance. SYNCerely, Bill Edwards

[Bill Edwards]

Greetings again.

Got a quick answer. Ancestry.com is not always intuitive in its
answers. I usually stop about 200 entries in on a search. A little
further (somebody who dug even deeper) revealed a variant I had not
thought of, but will in the future - Melville - so now I have quite a
bit of useful information on Kaufman for the site bio, although much
of it on the music end still seems tied up in ASCAP records that
aren't full exposed. I have an inquiry into them as well.

Thanks for the responses I got off line. Bill E.