Pauline Edeth Alpert Rooff (December 27, 1905 – April 11, 1988) was a pianist who performed, composed, recorded, and produced Duo-Artpiano rolls in the United States. Known by her fans as the ‘Whirlwind Pianist’,[1] she performed in several films and made recordings with a few record labels. She did radio shows in New York City and toured.[2]
She performed during the intermission of the Broadway show Rufus LeMaire's Affairs in 1927.[8] She featured in two Vitaphone Varieties short film episodes dated March 1927. This included What Price Piano,[9] a collection of popular songs.[10][11] She later performed in 1935 in the Vitaphone Varieties short film Katz' Pajamas with Fifi D'Orsay, directed by Joseph Henabery.[2][12]
The collection Pauline Alpert's folio of modern piano songs includes her compositions:
Her later compositions include A Million Stars Just Can't Be Wrong (1937), Mindin' the Baby (1938), A Happy New Year to Love (1938), and Tut Tut (1944).[2]
Pauline was born in New York and spent her childhood in Rochester.[6] Her father was Samuel Alpert, a Russian immigrant and painter, and her mother was Anna Rosk, a native New Yorker and skilled musician.[2][6] To support her family's poor finances, as an 11 year old, she would give piano lessons for 25 cents.[6] She won a four year scholarship to the Eastman School of Music and received training as a classical pianist,[6][31] where her primary instructor was Selim Palmgren.[5]
Pauline married Dr. Sidney Rooff in 1940. They had no children.[6]
Legacy
Pauline's work is included in the 2014 book by Peter Mintun compiling popular piano roll and novelty song artists from the 1920s and 1930s, Novelty Masterpieces of the Gershwin Era: The Music of Zez Confrey, Pauline Alpert and Rube Bloom.[32]
^ abcdefWilkes, Galen (May 1988). "Pauline Alpert Remembered"(PDF). The AMICA News Bulletin. pp. 139–141. Archived(PDF) from the original on June 11, 2024. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
^"Now At State". The Centralia Enterprise and Tribune. 1897-10-16. p. 10. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
^Mintun, Peter (2014). Novelty Masterpieces of the Gershwin Era: The Music of Zez Confrey, Pauline Alpert and Rube Bloom. Dover Publications (published November 19, 2014). ISBN978-0486490922.