Talk:John Stromberg

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John Stromberg was my mother's great-uncle (my mother's mother's father's brother), and she spoke of him many times, although I doubt he ever had much contact with her branch of the family (she herself was only 2 when he died). The family legend was that he killed himself primarily because Lillian Russell refused to marry him. Suicide was not mentioned in the obituary I saw, as was the custom at the time, but the fact that he had killed himself was apparently well known by those "in the know". Suicide over a loss in the game of love is surely more romantic than suicide due to rheumatism for a man not yet 50, and it is plausible enough, though he was undoubtedly foolish if he thought that Russell would seriously consider marrying him.

The Stramborg family originated in Sweden and emigrated to the Canadian Maritimes by way of Jamaica. Musical talent ran in the family. One of the few family photographs I ever saw showed three men (possibly Stromberg's brothers) with each one holding his musical instrument. Stromberg was a well-known, well-respected, and well-paid composer in his time, although most of his work was ephemeral and is not remembered today. His funeral was apparently very expensive and in generally poor taste, and his grave was adorned with an elaborate marble sculpture that was as grotesquely ostentatious as just about any I have ever seen - it is now mostly destroyed by vandalism. The story about "Come Down Ma Evening Star" being found in his coat pocket after his death is probably basically true, though one suspects some of the details were embellished for dramatic effect. Undoubtedly Lillian Russell cried when she performed it, but she was, after all, an excellent actress. The song itself sounds today like a typical overly sentimental piece from its time. As was fashionable at the time, it was written in theatrical "negro dialect" which seems silly and incongruous, not to mention racist, today. Al Jolson performed "Ma Blushin' Rosie" in blackface, which is obviously not acceptable today.

After writing the notes above, I became aware of, and obtained a copy of Armond Fields & L. Marc Fields, From the Bowery to Broadway: Lew Fields and the Roots of American Popular Theater, Oxford University Press, 1993. This book substantiates a fair amount of what I wrote above, and I have added much of that material to the article. My purpose in putting material in the talk section is to convey information -- mostly about the Stramborg family origins -- that I believe to be reliable but which is not eligible to be put in the main article because I myself am the primary source.


 * Just so you know, talk pages are not usually used for monologues about the subject unless you are looking for an opinion or advice. If there is information here that is supported by sources it should be added to the article. Also, make sure to sign your talk page contributions with four of ~'s. Thanks and good luckP0PP4B34R732 (talk) 21:46, 13 February 2012 (UTC)