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** This is an archived, static copy of the Casebook messages boards dating from 1998 to 2003. These threads cannot be replied to here. If you want to participate in our current forums please go to https://forum.casebook.org **
Michael Maybrick
Casebook Message Boards: The Diary of Jack the Ripper: Diary of Jack the Ripper:
Michael Maybrick
Author: Christopher T George
Friday, 30 August 2002 - 11:08 am |        | Hi, all:
I have just found that a sound file is available on the net for "The Holy City", the hymn that was the big hit by the songwriting team of Michael Maybrick (Stephen Adams) and Frank Weatherly as well as the lyrics. It turns out that the song was sung by Jeanette with boys' choir in the 1936 film musical blockbuster "San Francisco" starring Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy. I saw this movie recently but can't remember hearing the song!!!!!!
It is said, according to Trevor Christie's Etched in Arsenic that Florence Maybrick sang "The Holy City" on a yacht off the Isle of Wight where Michael Maybrick lived. This might argue that relations were not as chilly between Michael and Florence as has been implied by Shirley Harrison and Paul Feldman in their pro-Diary books.
Incidentally, on his website on Michael Maybrick, Australian Derek Strahan makes an interesting point about Michael's songwriter partner, lyricist Frank Weatherly:
"I am . . . inclined to wonder if Fred Weatherly might have been the chief architect of the manipulation of the trial of Florence Maybrick and of the cover-up of her husband's identity as Jack the Ripper (if that be true) - to the degree that Michael Maybrick might have been following his friend's legal advice when he was called in by the family to oversee the family crisis at the time of James' illness and death. I am truly surprised that Ripperologists have not (to my knowledge) taken into consideration the fact that Weatherly was barrister in seeking out possible sources of archival information. The tendency has been, as I have mentioned, to demonise Michael Maybrick. A less biased approach, a more even-handed exploration of psychological truth, might lead to the discovery of new and valuable evidence. If there is anyone who respects the memory of Michael Maybrick, and who has information, he or she is not going to volunteer it in the context of a 'get Michael' witch-hunt! As we have learned, Michael was a high-level Freemason, with extensive social contacts, reaching into the highest levels of society. Was Fred Weatherly also a Mason?"
The Holy City
Text: Frederick E. Weatherly
Music: Stephen Adams (Michael Maybrick)
Publication: New York: Boosey & Co., 9 East Seventeenth Street (1892)
Last night I lay asleeping,
There came a dream so fair;
I stood in old Jerusalem
Beside the temple there.
I heard the children singing,
And ever as they sang,
Me thought the voice of angels
From heav'n in answer rang;
Me thought the voice of angels
From heav'n in answer rang.
Jerusalem! Jerusalem!
Lift up your gates and sing,
Hosanna in the highest!
Hosanna to your King!
And then methought my dream was chang'd,
The streets no longer rang,
Hush'd were the glad hosannas
The little children sang.
The sun grew dark with mystery,
The morn was cold and chill,
As the shadow of a cross arose
Upon a lonely hill,
As the shadow of a cross arose
Upon a lonely hill.
Jerusalem! Jerusalem!
Hark! how the angels sing,
Hosanna in the highest!
Hosanna to your King!
And once again the scene was chang'd,
New earth there seemed to be;
I saw the Holy City
Beside the tideless sea;
The light of God was on its streets,
The gates were open wide,
And all who would might enter,
And no one was denied.
No need of moon or stars by night,
Or sun to shine by day;
It was the new Jerusalem
That would not pass away,
It was the new Jerusalem
That would not pass away.
Jerusalem! Jerusalem!
Sing for the night is o'er,
Hosanna in the highest!
Hosanna forevermore! |
Author: Jeff Bloomfield
Saturday, 31 August 2002 - 01:14 am | | Dear Chris,
Actually, the fact that Florence sang the popular
hymn at all does not show a closer relationship
'twixt her and Michael, but may be that James
egged her on to show a nicer side of herself to
her brother-in-law, by singing his biggest hit.
After all, they were on Michael's yacht, probably
for a family get together. It would have been
different if Michael Maybrick was entertaining
Florence alone, say while James was away on
business (or on slaughter, if you believe the
diary).
The Weatherly material would be well worth looking
into, even if Frank Weatherly did not prove to
be the legal planner of Florence's "martyrdom".
As a close collaborator and business associate of
Michael's he probably would have sided with
Michael and the family against Florence anyway,
but he might offer some sidelights on this
puzzling case.
Jeff |
Author: Christopher T George
Saturday, 31 August 2002 - 05:58 am | | Hi Jeff:
Thanks for your insight on the scenario involving Florence's singing of "The Holy City." Actually I am wondering if the story is apocryphal given the date of publishing of "The Holy City" by Boosey & Co. in New York shown above... 1892... by which time James was dead and Florence was in jail. Although of course this might have only been the date of publishing in America and the song may have been published earlier in Great Britain and sung by Florence sometime in the 1880s.
All the best
Chris George |
Author: Eduardo Zinna
Saturday, 31 August 2002 - 07:02 am | | Hi,
There are recordings of "The Holy City" by Charlotte Church and Claudia Cummings available.
Have you heard of the Masonic connections?
E. |
Author: Jeff Bloomfield
Sunday, 01 September 2002 - 03:27 pm | | Dear Chris,
I would try to find the date the hymn first
appeared in Great Britain. In the period of
the Maybrick Tragedy (and the Whitechapel
Tragedies, for that matter) there was no international copywrite protection, despite
the arguments of writers like Mark Twain, Charles
Dickens, and Gilbert and Sullivan. In fact,
D'Oyly Carte and his two partners were so angry
at the pirating of their operetta HMS PINAFORE
in 1878 by New York entrepreneurs, that they
purposely began having an American production of
each succeeding operetta in New York City after
that, beginning with THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE
(1879 - first New York production in 1880).
So the New York sheet music you refer to may be
a pirated version.
Jeff |
Author: Christopher T George
Monday, 02 September 2002 - 03:10 am | | Hi, Jeff:
You make an excellent point about the controversy over the lack of full copyright protection in the nineteenth century for UK authors in the United States, which I know as a bone of contention with Dickens and other authors. I will endeavor to find out the date of publication of "The Holy City" in Great Britain as you advise.
All the best
Chris |
Author: Christopher T George
Monday, 02 September 2002 - 03:21 am | | Hi Eduardo:
I just noticed your sneaky Masonic message which you shivved in between the contributions by Jeff Bloomfield and myself. I shall have to try the secret handshake on you next time we meet. Wink wink. Are you saying "The Holy City" has Masonic connections? If so, do tell. Are we working on a joint piece for Ripperologist on this topic? Perhaps if so we might seek to find out if Frank Weatherly was a Mason as has been suggested. Also thank you for referring me to the Charlotte Church and Claudia Cummings recordings of "The Holy City." Note the double CC in both those singers' names. Say no more? 
I notice you sign your post Eduardo.... E.... Is that as in E! Entertainment television? The Masonic angle is nothing if not entertaining.
All the best
Chris |
Author: Eduardo Zinna
Monday, 02 September 2002 - 06:08 am | | Hi Chris,
Well, look at the lyrics of the 'Holy City', to begin with.
It is also said that Weatherly and Michael belonged to another fraternity, not so secret any more, though.
And I suspect -but am not sure - that Jeannette McDonald sang 'The Holy City' at the very end of 'San Francisco', when she, Clark Gable and a cast of thousands do a walk thing.
I wasn't planning to do anything on the Masons, but I'll look again at my sources to see if this area is worth exploring further.
Cheers,
Eduardo |
Author: judyjanes
Saturday, 12 October 2002 - 01:42 pm | | | Whose picture is it? I was excited to receive my first emails today from Casebook, I think my first message got lost so I will repost. picture in The Last Victim by Anne Graham & Carol Emmas is Stated to be Michael Maybrick however the exact same picture in Jack the Ripper The Final Chapter by Colin Wilson is listed as James Maybrick. Several references have been made to this picture in Colin's book as an uncanny resemblence to composite drawing of witness descriptions and I agree except if I am not mistaken this picture is Michael not James. Donald Rumbelow & others have made this comparison however if this is indeed Michael's picture it certainly opens another door.After all Michaael wanted what James had if the diary books are truthful, maybe he was the ripper? Just food for thought. Well whose picture is it? if it's Michael's then several theories need to be put to rest, especially the one that compares him favourable to that of witness statements. Looking forward to hearing from you. Hope you aren't annoyed with me ivor!! Judy |
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