{{Short description|American songwriter, composer and musician (1895–1971)}} {{Infobox person | name = Muriel Pollock | image = Muriel Pollock 1932.jpg | alt = | caption = Pollock in 1932 | birth_name = Mary Pollock | birth_date = January 21, 1895 | birth_place = Kingsbridge, New York, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1971|5|25|1895|1|21}} | death_place = Los Angeles, California | other_names = Muriel Pollock Groll, Muriel Pollock Donaldson, Muriel Pollack, Molly Donaldson | occupation = songwriter, pianist, organist | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = }}
'''Muriel Pollock''' (January 21, 1895 – May 25, 1971) was an American songwriter, composer, pianist, and organist. She wrote and performed music for Broadway shows, radio programs, children's plays, and piano rolls.
== Early life == Mary Pollock was born in Kingsbridge, New York, the daughter of Joseph Pollock and Rose Graff. Both parents were immigrants from Russia. Her father ran a news stand. She studied at the New York Institute of Musical Art, a precursor of the Juilliard School.<ref name=":0">Bill Edwards, "[http://www.ragpiano.com/comps/mpollock.shtml Mary Muriel "Molly" Pollock Groll Donaldson"] at RagPiano.com.</ref>
== Career == As a young woman, Pollock played the organ in silent movie theatres,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33977371/muriel_pollock_1929/|title=Big Future is Seen for Jazz by Virtuoso|date=August 25, 1929|work=The Pittsburgh Press|access-date=July 17, 2019|page=60|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and worked at her father's news stand. She wrote a musical, ''Mme. Pom Pom'', in 1914, with Marie Wardall.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33952344/amy_ashmore_clark_1929/ "Gifted Girls Who Write Songs"] (January 18, 1929) ''The News-Palladium'' p. 24, via Newspapers.com.</ref> Another 1914 work, "Carnival", was written for a fundraising event for the Sanitarium for Hebrew Children in Rockaway Park. Pollock's Broadway credits included ''Jack and Jill'' (1923), for which she supplied "additional music"; ''Rio Rita'' (1927–1928) and ''Ups-a Daisy'' (1928), in which she appeared playing piano duets with Constance Mering;<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33977680/muriel_pollock_1927/|title=Girls Play Piano in 'Rio Rita' Pit|date=April 10, 1927|work=Daily News|access-date=July 17, 2019|page=160|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> ''Pleasure Bound'' (1929), for which she wrote the music;<ref>{{Cite news|title=Amusements: Comedians Put Over "Pleasure Bound" Revue: Jack Pearl, Phil Baker, And Shaw And Lee Fill New Shubert Show At Majestic With Many Laughs|last=Allen|first=Kelcey|date=February 19, 1929|work=Women's Wear Daily|page=14|id={{ProQuest|<!-- insert ProQuest data here -->}} }}</ref> and the musical revue ''Shoot the Works'' (1931), for which she wrote both music and lyrics.
Pollock worked at Mel-o-Dee Music Company and Rhythmodik Music Corporation, composing, arranging, and playing works for piano roll.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WEA5AQAAIAAJ&dq=Muriel+Pollock&pg=PA127|title=A Catalogue of Music for The Ampico: A List of the Recordings of Pianists Whose Art is Thus Preserved for Present Day Music Lovers and for Posterity : Together with Short Biographies of Many of the Composers and Artists and Notes on the Music|last=Corporation|first=American Piano|date=1922|publisher=American Piano Company|page=127|language=en}}</ref> She later performed duets with Vee Lawnhurst, as The Lady Bugs<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33977503/muriel_pollock_1930/|title=Over the Radio, They're 'The Lady Bugs'; at Home, it's 'Muriel' and 'Vee'|date=October 12, 1930|work=The Decatur Herald|access-date=July 17, 2019|page=12|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> or The Lady Fingers, and played one piano roll duet with George Gershwin.<ref name=":0" /> In 1922 she sang and played piano in Bermuda, in a grand concert at the Colonial Opera House.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=March 1922|title=Success of Miss Muriel Pollock in Bermuda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4nQxXwhE8hsC&dq=Muriel+Pollock&pg=RA2-PA19|journal=Musical Observer|volume=21|page=19}}</ref> She made many recordings between 1927 and 1934, most of them on the Edison label.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/talent/detail/124531/Pollock_Muriel_instrumentalist_piano|title=Muriel Pollock (instrumentalist : piano) – Discography of American Historical Recordings|website=UC Santa Barbara Library|access-date=2019-07-18}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/2556482-Muriel-Pollock|title=Muriel Pollock|website=Discogs|language=en|access-date=2019-07-17}}</ref> She was a frequent pianist on radio programs,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33977021/muriel_pollock_1929/|title=Muriel Pollock Will Play Own Pieces over NBC|date=August 12, 1929|work=The Courier-News|access-date=July 17, 2019|page=13|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> sometimes playing her own "compositions especially for radio", and sometimes playing other works or accompanying other performers.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33976792/muriel_pollock_1930/|title=Through the Microphone|date=January 25, 1930|work=Hartford Courant|access-date=July 17, 2019|page=16|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33976944/muriel_pollock_1929/|title=Let's Join the Ladies|date=August 5, 1929|work=The Pittsburgh Press|access-date=July 17, 2019|page=18|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She became an ASCAP member in 1933. After her second marriage, she wrote music for children's shows using the pseudonym Molly Donaldson,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33986282/sherman_clay_records_1944/|title=Give Children their Own Records for Christmas (advertisement)|date=December 19, 1944|work=The Fresno Bee|access-date=July 18, 2019|page=5|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> based on fairy tales or historical figures' lives, but her family's move to California took her away from the hub of radio work.<ref name=":0" />
== Personal life == Muriel Pollock married twice. Her first husband was Leon Leroy Groll; they married in 1925, and divorced by 1930. She became the stepmother of child actor Ted Donaldson when she married his widowed father, songwriter Will Donaldson, in 1933. Will Donaldson died in 1954; she died in 1971, aged 76 years, in Hollywood. She left support for a liberal arts scholarship at Los Angeles City College.<ref name=":0" /> Remastered recordings by Pollock are available in updated formats, including a 1998 CD, titled ''Keyboards of the Gershwin Era, Volume VI''.
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == {{Commons category}} * {{IBDB name|id=12256}} * {{Find a Grave|id=85380868|name=}} * Muriel Pollock and Darl MacBoyle, [https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/4614/ "When A "Rambling Rose" Goes Rambling Home Again"] (1921). ''Vocal Popular Sheet Music Collection.'' Score 4614, University of Maine. * [https://ragtimedorianhenry.com/downloads/just-keep-on-skating-piano-solo-pdf-midi/ "Just Keep on Skating"] (1917), composed by Muriel Pollock; a MIDI file and PDF of the sheet music, at the Ragtime Dorian Henry blog. * Ted Tjaden, [http://www.ragtimepiano.ca/rags/women3.htm "Women Composers of Ragtime"], website includes several pieces of sheet music by Muriel Pollock.
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollock, Muriel}} Category:1895 births Category:1971 deaths Category:Ragtime composers Category:Juilliard School alumni Category:20th-century American composers Category:20th-century American women composers Category:20th-century American pianists Category:20th-century American women pianists Category:Musicians from the Bronx Category:Composers from New York City