Talk:James Thornton (songwriter)

Parents and origin

Anyone know where his parents came from in Ireland? Brakn (talk) 09:29, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

Is there an autobiography? Brakn (talk) 20:04, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

That seems unlikely, given that "Little information is available on Thornton's early life"[1]. So, where do you even get the information that he was born in Kew Street, as you added to the article here? I searched the web and didn't find that information; the obituary link doesn't work for me (even though I was willing to pay the $4 for the article.) However, I found this article about his remarriage. That contradicts some of the information, such as that he was born in Liverpool. I'm not sure where that comes from; maybe from the obituary? — Sebastian 20:09, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Went and got his birth cert and his parent's marriage cert. Brakn (talk) 20:22, 17 August 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Brakn (talk • contribs) 20:20, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Also the family appear on the census. Brakn (talk) 20:32, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Cool - that should certainly be more reliable than the NYT. However, how can the rest of us check that information? Can you please add a reference? — Sebastian 22:43, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Cox

Is there a reference for Bonnie being named "Cox"? — Sebastian 20:09, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

When You Were Sweet Sixteen

Some of the information of this article should be merged into the article When You Were Sweet Sixteen. Above all, the claim that there was a first recording of 1904 seems very dubious to me. This claim was introduced with this edit, replacing the earlier "according to most sources, did not appear in recorded form until the 1946 Columbia Pictures film", which seems more credible to me. Such a recording would have been a rarity; I think someone would have heard about it. I will therefore remove that. — Sebastian 20:09, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

There is also a section as follows, which I'm removing, since it is about "the song" not about the person. This probably should be a note for Talk:When You Were Sweet Sixteen; and I will add a pointer to this section there.

==Notes==
One source (see "liner notes" source, below, says the song is "from" the 1945 [[Bing Crosby]] Production, Inc. film, ''The Great John L.''; thus, the song may have an earlier recorded history than normally reported.

— Sebastian 20:37, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

I have a copy somewhere.(Harry MacDonagh 1904) I guess it may not be the first; but it's the earliest available.

It's the original version as per the sheet music. Harry MacDonagh made a few recordings around that time and some are accessible on the net if you do a search. Brakn (talk) 20:43, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

I did a search, and did not find it. If you found it, why don't you include the link here? — Sebastian 22:44, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

See here (this version is 1908 might be the same version as I have.. too late to check!!) http://www.archive.org/details/HarryMacDonoughwithJohnBieling Brakn (talk) 22:52, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Sweet! But is that really the same song? It sounds very different from the Shirley Temple version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAchBLEFXPU. — Sebastian 22:58, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

That's lovely but it is only the refrain. have you viewed the original sheet music? Brakn (talk) 23:05, 17 August 2010 (UTC) OOPS original link was to the wrong song!! Brakn (talk) 23:10, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Apologies,,,, try here http://macdonough-harry-when-you-were-sweet-six-mp3-download.kohit.net/_/274855 Brakn (talk) 23:12, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Oh, yes! That's the same song. I didn't see a date on that link, but 1908 sounds plausible. If all else fails, we can just write "around 1908" in the article. — Sebastian 23:21, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

When I fist started this section, I hadn't gone through the list of recordings in When You Were Sweet Sixteen yet, and I realize now that these older recordings had also been listed in that article. For me, that sufficiently closes the matter. It would be nice if we had better sources, but I know that for such songs that often may not be possible; I can live with the article as it is. Thank you for your fast work! — Sebastian 23:25, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Last appearence?

In 1929, he made his last public appearance in the Kern-Hammerstein musical 'Sweet Adeline' where he played himself. Brakn (talk) 21:28, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict - text to which this post replied has been deleted) Well it is unsourced, so we can't check how reliable it is. But what makes you think it's vandalism? It was already in the original version of the article [2]; that would mean the article was created by a vandal?! — Sebastian 22:50, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

The thing is Sebastian... just because things are in print or that some guy has created a webpage doesn't mean that the "facts" they give are a reference. A lot of people are putting up stuff here that hasn't been researched. I did a lot of work on John Lennon's family tree and there wasn't one person who agreed with me but I knew that all the "definitive" biographies were wrong. Now I'm hoping that things are looked upon differently. I just like to get things right. No offence intended. :-) Brakn (talk) 23:01, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

No worries; that same desire to get things right drove me to question the year above. It's just that the term "vandal" is heavily loaded at Wikipedia. But we know now what you meant, and I agree with you there. — Sebastian 23:28, 17 August 2010 (UTC)