James Pylant, in Genealogy Magazine, recounts the genealogy behind the song, "I'm My Own Grandpaw," written by Dwight Latham and Moe Jaffe.
The story begins in 1848, and Pylant identifies several individuals whose own experiences might have been the source.
As far as songwriter and bandleader Jaffe - a Litvak and one of our own - (October 23, 1901, Vilna - December 2, 1972, Englewood, New Jersey), he wrote more than 250 songs over 40 years; one was “I'm My Own Grandpaw.”
In business with a musical artist manager (Paul Kapp), they founded General Music Publishing Company. Their first big hit was "I'm My Own Grandpaw," in 1947 or 1948 (depending on the source), which Jaffe co-wrote with Latham, a singer in The Jesters trio. One of the company's last major hits was Tony Bennett's "I Left My Heart in San Francisco."
According to some sources, Latham had read a book of Mark Twain ancecdotes and found a paragraph in which the author proved the scenario could be possible. In 1947, Latham and Jaffe expanded the idea into the hit song.
Read Pylant's story here.
Click here for more, including the full lyrics.
For more on Jaffe, click here.
05 September 2007
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This blog is essentially correct. Moe Jaffe was my father, and I wrote the Wikipedia article which is referenced, with the help of my brother. He wrote a longer biography of my father, which is on another website.
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