Oliver Twist (Vaughn De Leath song)

Oliver Twist is a 1921 song written by singer Vaughn De Leath (born Leonore von der Liethi), and performed by her as the first song sung by confirmed trans-Atlantic commercial radio broadcast. In 1922 the song was one of the early major tie ups between silent pictures and music publishers, with De Leath's song being sung, and played instrumentally, during showings of the 1922 silent film Oliver Twist starring the child actor Jackie Coogan.[1]

"Oliver Twist"
Song by Vaughn De Leath
Released1922
Songwriter(s)Vaughn De Leath
(music and lyrics)

[2]

The Wireless Age (1923) presented an interview with "Vaughn De Leath, The Original Radio Girl", which recounted the 12:30AM December 9, 1922 WJZ radio broadcast from New York to London.

The Star-Spangled Banner burst upon the air like the coming of a cyclone. ... And then a voice came in "WJZ - WJZ - WJZ." ... His Majesty's Consul-General in New York then spoke briefly, expressing the hope that radio will be the means of cementing the English- speaking peoples of the world even more closely. Then Vaughn De Leath sang.

This was the first confirmed trans-Atlantic reception of a U.S. broadcasting station.[3]

An article "Oliver Twist" song in Spotlight's Glare in The Music Trades (November 11, 1922) described the link with the Coogan film as "One of the biggest tie ups ever undertaken in connection with a picture feature song".[4]

References
  1. The Historic Record & AV Collector Quarterly 1995 "Also on the subject of Vaughn de Leath, Allen Edwards writes from Baleares, Spain: V de L is shown in the ASCAP ... I have one more copy OLIVER TWIST published in the UK by Feldmans; Lyric and music by V de L, which says on its cover "Introduced in the screen version of Oliver Twist"...."
  2. Ken Wlaschin The silent cinema in song, 1896-1929 2009 - Page 119 "Oliver Twist, the 1922 Jackie Coogan /Associated First National film, includes the song "Oliver Twist" by Vaughn DeLeath. The sheet music (New York: Witmark; London: Feldman) says the song was "introduced in the screen version of Oliver ..."
  3. The Wireless Age February, 1923 - Volume 10 - Page 27 THUS far no one has come forward to dispute Vaughn De Leath' s claim of being "the original radio girl. ... One of her own compositions is "Oliver Twist," whose music carries a naive, entrancing sort of theme, rather melancholy in its tone, but ... "His Majesty's Consul-General in New York then spoke briefly, expressing the hope that radio will be the means of cementing the English-speaking peoples of the world even more closely. Then Vaughn De Leath sang "
  4. The Music Trades 1922 Volume 64 - Page 49 "One of the biggest tie ups ever undertaken... The song, "Oliver Twist," itself, written by Vaughn De Leath, is of the kind that has all the elements of a really popular number, possessing a good lyric and a sympathetic melody that make a universal appeal. At the Strand Theater it is being sung by the famous Strand Quartet in one of those specially and beautifully designed prologues for which this house is noted," "Nothing has been left undone to make the tieup between picture and song complete, and dealers are advised by the publishers to take quick advantage of the unusual degree of publicity this song is being given. The display material that the .."
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