Row! Row! Row!

William Jerome (1865–1932); Jimmie V. Monaco (1885–1945)

“Row! Row! Row!” was written for the Ziegfield Follies. William Jerome began his career performing in blackface and mostly collaborated with Jean Schwartz. (Their best-known song is “Chinatown, My Chinatown.”) Jerome was also a publisher and had the rights to the George M. Cohan World War I hit, “Over There,” which he sold for $25.000, the most paid for a song up to that time. 

Jimmie Monaco was born in Italy but came to the U.S. when he was six. His most famous song, “You Made Me Love You (I Didn’t Want to Do It),” was introduced by Al Jolson in 1913 and performed by Judy Garland in the film Broadway Melody of 1938. Four of his songs were nominated for Academy Awards; the last, “I Can’t Begin To Tell You,” was nominated posthumously in 1945. I had forgotten that one, I haven’t heard it since the ‘40s or ‘50s.