Spring 2023 Issue

HISTORY
Lake Hopatcong’s Music Man
34
by MARTY KANE
Photos courtesy
of the
LAKE HOPATCONG
HISTORICAL
MUSEUM
December 11, 1957, Lake Hopatcong, NJ –
Arthur N. Green, 69, song writer [sic] and pianist
known as the ‘Man of a Million Melodies,’ died
at his home yesterday. Before World War I,
Green was a composer for Irene and Vernon
Castle. He was a vaudeville headliner for 20
years.
With these words, the New York Daily
News summed up the lengthy career
of Arthur Green, one of the most interesting
individuals ever to call Lake Hopatcong home.
Born in London, England, in 1888, Green came
to New York City as a teen to seek work as a
pianist and songwriter. It was there that he
crossed paths with Irene and Vernon Castle, a
dance couple who captured the heart of the
American public even before Fred Astaire and
Ginger Rogers.
Exploding upon the scene in New York City
in 1912, the husband-and-wife team mesmerized
the country with their dance routines, greatly
influencing the popularity of social dancing. The
duo was soon in demand for vaudeville, motion
pictures and Broadway. By 1914, they opened a
dance school called Castle House, as well as a
nightclub and restaurant.
The Castles taught New York society the
latest dance steps at Castle House by day and
greeted guests and performed at the club and
cafe by night. They were also in demand for
private lessons and appearances at fashionable
parties.
As David A. Jasen explained in his book “Tin
Pan Alley,” the popularity of the tango and other
steps popularized by the Castles led to the
opening of dance schools across the country.
The man at the piano for the Castles was
Green, who also wrote the music to several of
their popular dances. The sheet music for his
1913 composition, “Tango Argentino,” featured a
photo of Irene and Vernon Castle dancing the
tango.
In his book “The Tango in the United
States,” Carlos G. Groppa credited this song—
supposedly the first tango composed in
America—with originating the nation’s tango
craze in the 1910s. Over the next few years, Green
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Spring 2023
penned several other hits, including “Innovation
Tango,” “Sans Souci,” “Half and Half,” “Buenos
Ayres” and “The Royal Arab.”
During this period, any time Green performed
without the Castles, advertisements and the
event program featured his affiliation with
the dance team. At times, Green’s name was
billed larger than that of the singer he was
accompanying.
In a 1948 interview, Green recalled one of
his proudest moments was receiving partial
composing credit for George M. Cohan’s
famous World War I song “Over There,” which
was published in 1917.
World War I would completely upended
Green’s career. During the war, Vernon Castle
returned to his native England to serve as a
combat pilot. After coming back to the U.S. to
train American pilots, Castle died in an accident.
Devastated, Green did not write another song
for some 20 years.
After Castle’s death, Green created a
vaudeville act with his wife, Anna, a singing
comedienne who performed first as Doris LaFell
and later as Anna LaFell. Their act, known as
Green and LaFell, was billed as “lyric and melody
specialists” and a “pianologue.”
The act remained popular on the vaudeville
circuit from 1919 to 1928. It was during this time
that Arthur and Anna Green learned about Lake
Hopatcong.
From the 1910s through the 1930s, the lake
was a popular destination for vaudeville and
burlesque stars, who generally had time off
in the summer when many theaters closed.
Within two hours of New York City by train,
yet completely removed from the world of
trouping, the lake provided a welcome respite
for these performers who were on the road for
most of the year.
Bigger
stars stayed
at hotels or bought
cottages, while those
earning a more modest
living on the circuit
found low-cost rentals.
The most popular
spot on the lake for
performers was the
Northwood section of
Hopatcong, which the
Lake Hopatcong Breeze dubbed the “actor’s
colony.”
As Bob Thomas explained in his book “Bud
and Lou,” for vaudevillians and burlesque
entertainers, Lake Hopatcong “had become the
oasis at the end of the long winter’s travels, the
place where comics and straight men rested
beyond the reach of dunning hotel managers
and mean-hearted theater owners, where
strippers could eat their fill and not worry about
diets until the last two weeks of summer.
“For the children it was heaven. During the
year they had been entrusted to grandparents
and aunts while the parents traveled. Now the
family was reunited and the kids could boat and
swim and bask in the New Jersey sun.”
The Lake Hopatcong Breeze first mentioned
the Greens in 1925, noting that “Green and
LaFell are still here. They will put over several
new numbers next season that are sure to go
over big.” The couple, along with daughter Aline
(known as Billie), returned the next summer