Santa Clarita Valley History In Pictures

Sheet Music: "I Want a Cave Man Like William Hart - The Movie Star."

Words and Music by James Kendis and James Brockman.


Sheet Music: "I Want a Cave Man Like William Hart - The Movie Star." Words and music by James Kendis and James Brockman; arrangement be Freda Applebaum. Published and copyrighted in 1919 by Kendis, Brockman Music Co. Inc., 145 W. 45th Street, New York.

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In "The Silent Cinema in Song, 1896-1929" (McFarland & Co., N.C., 2009), author Ken Wlaschin describes various tpes of "movie star" music. One type is music intended to accompany a silent film (which, by definition, had no sound track), such as the "Ramona Waltz" from the 1928 version of "Ramona" starring Dolores Del Rio. Another type was sheet music that was promoted by movie stars (or by movie studios) with the star's likeness on the cover.

Another, less common type was music written about the stars themselves. The first, according to Wlaschin, was 1910's "The Vitagraph Girl," which was about Florence Turner although it didn't name her. The first song to name a movie star was 1914's "Mary Pickford, the Darling of Them All," which publication coincided with the release of her first feature, "A Good Little Devil." A popular example of this type was "The Moon Shines Bright on Charlie Chaplin."

Our "Cave Man" song falls squarely into this latter category — a song about a movie star, for no particular reason other than to capitalize on his name. (We don't know who gave permission for Hart's likeness — a studio boss or Hart himself. It wouldn't surprise us if it was Stephen A. Lynch, who had taken over the distribution arm of Triangle Film Corp. and re-edited and re-released Hart's films for years.)

According to Wlaschin, this was the first song relating to Hart. It was followed in 1920 by the song "Darling Nellie Gray" which was intended to accompany the Hart-Eva Novak vehicle, "The Testing Block." That same year, the song, "Safe in the Arms of Bill Hart" was featured in the Broadway musical, "Tickle Me." Finally, 1924's "Somebody Loves Me" by George Gershwin (music) and B.G. DeSylva and Ballard McDonald (lyrics) included a verse about "picture show" lovers, one of whom was Hart. The song was used in the Broadway musical, "George White's Scandals of 1924," which included an actor dressed as Hart.

Lyrics.

When Kitty was a little girl
one of her greatest joys
was not to play with dolls or toys
but run around with all the boys.
And as Kitty grew older, Kitty grew bolder,
she told her Pa and Ma,
The fellow I marry must be
someone who'll make a big fuss over me.

I want a cave man, I want a brave man
who will love me thro' and thro'
I want a rough man, but not a tough man,
who'll fight for and protect me and fondle me too.
Don't like a small man, I like a tall man
To him I'd be some loving wife.
Oh, gee, I hate those guys who waste my time and "mush" me,
I'd love somebody big and strong enough to crush me
Take it from me, I want a cave man
Then I'd be satisfied with life.
I want a Star.

Now Kitty goes to picture shows,
she sure is a movie fan,
she goes as often as she can,
she's wild about this certain man
she will travel for hours in sunshine or showers
There's nothing she won't do
to make the acquaintance it seems
of one she sings to in all of her dreams.

I want a cave man, I want a brave man
who will love me thro' and thro'
I want a rough man, but not a tough man,
who'll fight for and protect me and fondle me too.
Don't like a small man, I like a tall man
He needn't own a motor car.
Last night while fast asleep I screamed so loud it woke me
'Twas great because I dreamt my hero tried to choke me
Take it from me, I want a cave man
like William Hart the movie star.
I want a Star.


LW3617: pdf of original sheet music purchased 2019 by Leon Worden. Download individual pages here.
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