Van & Schenck

August Von Glahn (b. 12 August 1886, New York City, New York, USA, d. 12 March 1968, Miami, Florida, USA) and Joseph Thuma Schenck (b. c.1891, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA, d. 28 June 1930, Detroit, Michigan, USA) were first associated musically when Schenck played piano for Van, a baritone who sang part time in Brooklyn bars. Teaming up formally around 1909, they appeared in vaudeville theatres, by which time Schenck, a tenor, was also singing harmony. In 1912 they composed ‘Teach Me That Beautiful Love’ and four years later were hired to entertain at a social gathering hosted by Florenz Ziegfeld and Charles B. Dillingham. Although there as stand-ins for an indisposed performing chimpanzee, they seized the moment and shortly thereafter were booked for Ziegfeld’s The Century Girl (1916). There followed recordings of ballads and comic songs, such as ‘Hawaiian Sunshine’, ‘For Me And My Gal’, ‘Dance And Grow Thin’, ‘Ragtime Moses Oldtime Bomboshay’, ‘Ain’t We Got Fun?’, ‘Carolina In The Morning’ and ‘I Wonder What’s Become Of Sally’. They also recorded separately, including Van’s ‘I Don’t Think I Need A Job That Bad’ and ‘If I Was As Strong As Samson’, and Schenck’s ‘Sally, Won’t You Come Back?’.


Sometimes with others, Van and Schenck continued composing songs, among which are ‘Mulberry Rose’, ‘I Miss The Old Folks Now’, ‘Open Up The Golden Gates To Dixieland’, ‘All The Boys Love Mary’, ‘All She’d Say Was “Umh Hum”’ and ‘That Bran’ New Gal O’Mine’. Other artists who recorded their songs include Eddie Cantor, lyricist for their ‘Green River’, and Marion Harris, ‘That Red Headed Gal’, co-written with Henry Lodge. Their ‘Promise Me Everything, Never Get Anything Blues’ and ‘Big Hearted Bennie’ were recorded by Billy Murray and Aileen Stanley. On radio from 1923, they also made film shorts and in They Learned About Women (1930), they sang ‘Dougherty Is The Name’ and ‘Does My Baby Love’, both of which songs they also recorded.


Following Schenck’s sudden death from a heart attack, Van continued with a solo career, appearing on stage, in nightclubs, in a few films, and he also made some more records. He was president of the American Guild of Variety Artists from 1948 but from the following year was residing in Miami where he continued to perform in clubs. He died shortly after being injured when struck by a car.