CODA: Wednesday Morning: Waitin' on the Robert E. Lee by Louis Prima

A clip from the 1999 documentary, Louis Prima: The Wildest. Director Don McGlynn was the creator of the 2011 documentary on African-American and Gospel Music, "Rejoice and Shout"

Interestingly, the song was written by L. Wolfe Gilbert, born in Odessa Russia, and who moved to the United States as a young man and eventually established himself as one of the leading songwriters on Tin Pan Alley.


Gilbert began his career touring with John L. Sullivan and singing in a quartet at small Coney Island café, originally known as "Whiting's Cabaret" on Surf Avenue, later changed to "College Inn", where he was discovered by English producer Albert Decourville. Decourville brought him to London as part of The Ragtime Octet. Gilbert's first songwriting success came in 1912 when F. A. Mills Music Publishers published his song Waiting For the Robert E. Lee (melody by composer Lewis F. Muir). More here