{{short description|American lyricist}} {{Infobox person | name = Norval Bertrand "Speed" Langworthy | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1901|05|15}} | birth_place = Seward County, Nebraska | death_date = {{Death date and age|1999|03|22|1901|05|15}} | death_place = | occupation = Lyricist, Newspaper Magnate, International Relations Expert, Advertising Account Executive | known_for = Lyricist, hit songs, newspaper business }} '''Norval Bertrand''' "'''Speed'''" '''Langworthy''' (May 15, 1901 – March 22, 1999) was an American lyricist, newspaper magnate, international relations expert, and advertising account executive.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://big.stparchive.com/Archive/BIG/BIG08311967P01.php |title='Barbershopbust' September 14 |newspaper=The Big Timber Pioneer |page=1 |date=August 31, 1967 |access-date=2017-07-18 |archive-date=2017-12-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171230172608/http://big.stparchive.com/Archive/BIG/BIG08311967P01.php |url-status=dead |ref={{sfnref|Big Timber Pioneer|1967}} }}</ref>
==Early life and education== Norval Bertrand "Speed" Langworthy was born in Seward County, Nebraska to Bertrand Scott Langworthy (1877 - 1920) and Eva Maude Norval (1879-1984).<ref name=Harvnb1>{{Harvnb|Langworthy|1940}};</ref> His father was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon in 1898. Langworthy's parents married on June 28, 1900. They moved from Nebraska to near Sheridan, Wyoming. Bertrand S. Langworthy took work as a cattle rancher.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OhETAAAAIAAJ&q=Norval+Bertrand+Langworthy%2C&pg=PA336|title=The Sigma Chi Quarterly: The Official Organ of the Sigma Chi Fraternity|date=17 January 1900|publisher=The Fraternity|accessdate=17 January 2021|via=Google Books}}</ref> The family had moved to Buffalo, Wyoming by 1910.<ref>1910 U. S. Census</ref> The elder Langworthy founded the Montana National Bank (First National Bank) in 1912.<ref name="timber">{{harvnb|Big Timber Pioneer|1967}}</ref> By 1920, Langworthy had moved to Billings, Montana.<ref>1920 U.S. Census</ref> Langworthy was raised as a Seventh-day Adventist<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YxdEAAAAYAAJ&q=%22N.+B.+Langworthy%22&pg=PA570|title=The Sabbath Recorder|date=17 January 1913|publisher=George B. Utter|accessdate=17 January 2021|via=Google Books}}</ref> and relocated to Battle Creek, Michigan by 1920. Langworthy may have been a patient of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, of the Kellogg's, at Battle Creek Sanitarium.{{According to whom|date=August 2019}}
Langworthy attended high school in Billings, graduating from Culver Military Academy. He then enrolled at Beloit College, graduating with a degree in advertising and journalism.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bragg |first=Addison |title=All he ever wanted was to write songs |date=October 1, 1972 |newspaper=The Billings Gazette |page=38 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-billings-gazette-speed-langworthy-re/138579676/}}</ref> He earned the nickname "Speed" by running the 100-yard dash in ten seconds at Beloit.{{sfn|Bragg|1972}}
==Career== thumb|"We Men Must Grow A Mustache" by Speed Langworthy, 1922. Speed Langworthy was a songwriter of novelty songs and musical comedy. His signature songs were "We Men Must Grow a Mustache" and "Christofo Columbo (Thought the world was roundo)." Langworthy's other songs did not find as great as success. He wrote "Winning the War at Culver" for D. H. Rathbun in 1920 from Battle Creek, Michigan. Langworthy wrote Youthtime is Springtime in 1923.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/catalogofcopyr183libr|title=Catalog of Copyright Entries, 1923 Music For the Year 1923 Vol 18 Part 3|date=17 January 1923|publisher=U.S. Govt. Print. Off.|accessdate=17 January 2021|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
Langworthy became a fraternity member of Alpha Zeta in 1924.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.shsu.edu/~eng_wpf/sigmachimusic.html|title=The Music of Sigma Chi|website=www.shsu.edu|accessdate=17 January 2021}}</ref> Langworthy wrote "I'd Love to Have a Sweetheart" for the Beloit fraternity in 1924. He also wrote "The Mother of Sigma Chi" for Sigma Chi.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://history.sigmachi.org/music |title=Sigma Chi Songs {{!}} the Sigma Chi Historical Initiative |access-date=2017-07-18 |archive-date=2017-07-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730153816/https://history.sigmachi.org/music |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Langworthy found success with his 1925 hit, "Christofo Columbo (Thought the world was roundo)". The song was recorded by the Max Terr Orchestra by Pathé.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.78discography.com/Pathe36000.htm|title=PATHE (USA) numerical listing discography: 36000 through 36499|website=www.78discography.com|accessdate=17 January 2021}}</ref>
"Dot's vot Looie uses" is a song written by Langworthy in 1925. The song pokes fun at the rise in Americans who still moonshine in defiance of Prohibition.
Langworthy and Jean Anthony Greif wrote "I Can't Live Without Just You" in 1926.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/catalogofcopyrig213libr|title=Catalog of Copyright Entries, 1926 Music For the Year 1926 New Series Vol 21 Part 3|date=17 January 1926|publisher=U.S. Govt. Print. Off.|accessdate=17 January 2021|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Langworthy wrote "By the side of the Omelette Sea" (1926).<ref>"Speed Longworthy (lyricist)." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2017. Web. 17 July 2017.</ref> In 1926, Langworthy wrote ''Ukollegiate Songs for the Ukulele'' and ''Four Chord Uke Song-Book'' (1926).
In 1927, Langworthy and Leslie O. Reed made a mockery of President Calvin Coolidge through the song, "I'd Like to Fish With the President! The Funny Song That Makes "Cal" Laugh!<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/catalog/levy:009.040 |title=I'd Like to Fish with the President! The Funny Song That Makes "Cal" Laugh! - the Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection |access-date=2017-07-18 |archive-date=2017-07-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730150259/http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/catalog/levy:009.040 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
His other song credits include "Meenie from Meeneesota" (1927), "I'm Painting your Face in the Moon" (1928) and "Me and Mah Razor" (1928). He wrote "Chick, Chick, Chicken!" (1929), "Ah Wed 300 Pounds" (1929), "Shake Yo' Shoes : With Piano" (1929).
Langworthy moved to write musical comedy for the T. S. Denison company in Chicago. He was a permanent fixture for the company's so-called Denison musicals in the late 1920s into the 1930s.
In 1928, he and Harry L. Alford wrote "Denison's mirthquake minstrel : opening chorus."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Denison's mirthquake minstrel: opening chorus|date=17 January 1928|oclc=81024706}}</ref>
In 1929, he and Harry L. Alford wrote "Denison's seven-eleven minstrel : opening chorus"<ref>{{Cite book|title=Denison's seven-eleven minstrel: opening chorus|date=17 January 1929|oclc=79930602}}</ref> and "Denison's minstrel opening choruses and finalés: Seven-eleven."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Denison's minstrel opening choruses and finalés: Seven-eleven.|date=17 January 1929|oclc=20053789}}</ref> Langworthy, Alford, and Carl Hendrickson also wrote "Revue 5."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=As5DAAAAIAAJ&q=%22N.+B.+Langworthy%22&pg=RA1-PA19|title=Catalog of Copyright Entries|first=Library of Congress Copyright|last=Office|date=17 January 1929|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|accessdate=17 January 2021|via=Google Books}}</ref>
He co-wrote with Vernon Richner the Negro spiritual, "Gwine to Heaben Some Day."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://clio.lib.olemiss.edu/cdm/ref/collection/sharris/id/1318 |title=Gwine to Heaben Some Day/ Music by Vernon Richner; words by Speed Langworthy :: Sheldon Harris Collection |access-date=2017-07-18 |archive-date=2017-08-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805125714/http://clio.lib.olemiss.edu/cdm/ref/collection/sharris/id/1318 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
In 1930, Langworthy teamed up with Fred Rose (songwriter), Geoffrey F Morgan, Leo Friedman and Harry L Alford to write "A dumb waiter, a musical comedy in two acts.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A dumb waiter, a musical comedy in two acts.|date=17 January 1930|oclc=20590198}}</ref>
He co-wrote "A bold front, a musical comedy in two acts" in 1930 with Rose, Morgan, and Alford.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A bold front, a musical comedy in two acts.|date=17 January 1930|oclc=20590260}}</ref>
==Personal life== On June 28, 1928, Langworthy married June Lucille Judy.<ref name="Harvnb1"/> The couple had their first child, Robert Norval, in Chicago, on June 25, 1929.<ref name="Harvnb1"/> The couple enjoyed their early married life in a home in Evanston, Illinois. The couple had a daughter, June Judy, on January 4, 1943.<ref>Information provided by Judy Betcher.</ref> In 1949 they moved to Hinsdale, Illinois where they lived until Norval retired and they moved to Tucson, Arizona, where they lived for the remainder of their lives.
==Later years== Langworthy retired as a lyricist to focus on international relations, advertising, and his newspaper business. He designed a portfolio and had it patented on June 12, 1945.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.google.com.pg/patents/US2378020|title=Portfolio}}</ref> The Langworthys had a taste for fraternities. Langworthy's father had been a fraternity member. Langworthy established his own fraternity, the Buckaroosters, in 1948. Langworthy's fraternity brothers included mostly his childhood friends, business associates, barbershop quartet. The Buckaroosters would perform barbershop quartets and follow the weather reports of the National Weather Service from Norman's Conoco station. The fraternity is still in existence today, meeting every single year annually for the last 75 years.<ref name="timber"/>
Langworthy wrote "4 chord "uke" instructor : the world's easiest ukulele song book" in 1950.<ref>"Speed Langworthy." WorldCat. 2010. Retrieved 17 July. 2017</ref>
Langworthy's works remained in copyright in the postwar era. "Dot's vot Looie uses" was also still in copyright as of 1952.<ref>[https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-90100-66655124/catalog-of-copyright-entries] {{dead link|date=January 2021}}</ref> As of Sept. 30, 1953, Langworthy's ''Four Chord System'' was still in copyright.<ref> Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series: 1953: July–December. Retrieved 18 July 2017.</ref> "Looking Out the Window" co-written with Vernon Richner was still in copyright as of 1955.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-90100-66661056/catalog-of-copyright-entries |title=Catalog of Copyright Entries, 1955 - Compilation of Published Sources - MyHeritage |access-date=2017-07-18 |archive-date=2017-07-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730145635/https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-90100-66661056/catalog-of-copyright-entries |url-status=dead }}</ref> "I'd Like to Fish With the President! The Funny Song That Makes "Cal" Laugh!" was in copyright on June 24, 1955.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MTohAQAAIAAJ&q=%22N.+B.+Langworthy%22&pg=RA1-PA36|title=Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series|first=Library of Congress Copyright|last=Office|date=17 January 1956|accessdate=17 January 2021|via=Google Books}}</ref> As of March 31, 1958, "A Bold Front" is in copyright.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/catalogofcopyrig31234libr/catalogofcopyrig31234libr_djvu.txt|title=Full text of "Catalog of Copyright Entries 1958 Dramas Etc. Jan-Dec 3D Ser Vol 12 Pts 3-4"|website=Archive.org|year=1958}}</ref> As of July 28, 1970, Earl Baumgarten and Langworthy's "Wild, Wild Roses" was in copyright.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oj0hAQAAIAAJ&q=%22speed+langworthy%22&pg=PA2473|title=Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series|first=Library of Congress Copyright|last=Office|date=17 January 1971|accessdate=17 January 2021|via=Google Books}}</ref>
Langworthy stayed in the Chicago metropolitan area until his retirement from advertising in 1967. He and his wife June then moved to Tucson, Arizona.{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}}
''The Billings Gazette'' interviewed Langworthy in 1972.{{sfn|Bragg|1972}} In the article it was reported that the Langworthy family had purchased a cabin near Big Timber, Montana in 1947 where they spent their summers. The cabin remains in the Langworthy family to this day.
Speed Langworthy died on March 22, 1999.{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}}
==Cultural impact== "Speed Langworthy's song "We Men Must Grow a Mustache" comically reflects one public desire for more manly men," writes Mary Katherine Killeen, "The cartoon man depicted on the sheet music cover is especially relevant because he highlights the performative nature of the masculine image. The illustrated character is depicted with his chest so inflated that his posture has hollowed his back, and his overly groomed manner of dress and style satirize the attempts of a Dandy affecting a more masculine image by growing a mustache."<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/etd/669|title=Gender Revolution of the Jazz Age: The Source of Disillusionment in the Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway|first=Mary|last=Killeen|date=1 January 2017|journal=All Master's Theses|accessdate=17 January 2021}}</ref>
==Bibliography== * {{cite book |last=Langworthy |first=William Franklin |title=The Langworthy Family, Some Descendants of Andrew and Rachel (Hubbard) Langworthy |publisher=Tuttle |location=Rutland, Vermont |date=1940}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Langworthy, Speed}} Category:1901 births Category:1999 deaths Category:People from Seward County, Nebraska Category:People from Buffalo, Wyoming Category:Writers from Billings, Montana Category:People from Battle Creek, Michigan Category:Songwriters from Nebraska Category:Songwriters from Wyoming Category:Songwriters from Montana Category:Songwriters from Michigan Category:20th-century American songwriters