Love and Theft: Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight [VIDEO]

There are many tall tales. Lost fragments of time, nearly forgotten today. One such tale was told by a minstrel man named Theodore August Metz who, in 1896, claimed to have written the popular American song, “There’ll Be A Hot Time In The Old Tonight”. At least he copyrighted this claim. Metz was a white man originally from Germany who performed in blackface.

His inspiration for tune? While touring with the McIntyre and Heath Minstrels, Theo supposedly saw some kids setting a fire near the railroad tracks in a town called “Old Town”.

I call this tale a mighty fib. For the life of me, I can find no town in America called “Old Town” – also “Old Town” would have to be large enough to support both a train depot and a theater that booked touring vaudeville shows.

Theo would later say he wrote the tune in the lobby of the Evans Hotel in Hot Springs, South Dakota – while dreaming about the red-light district in New Orleans (which, at the time, was basically all of New Orleans). Or perhaps it was at the Hub Saloon located inside the Grand Hotel in Silverton, Colorado – while dreaming of the red-light district in Cripple Creek.

Neither of these stories ring true to me.

You see, down at Babe Connor’s brothel, which local horndogs called “The Castle” – nestled in the slums of St. Louis, Missouri – an old prostitute called Mammy Lou wrote the tune way back in 1893. Three full years before Theo Metz filed his copyright. Mammy Lou would sing songs in between clients, accompanied by ragtime pianist Tom Turbin.

Is it possible to think a white man who made his living performing in blackface would, um, stop at an all-black brothel while passing through town? His pockets full of money and always in search of a good time? Could Metz have hired Mammy for some old-fashioned, hanky-panky?

In 1956, the Baltimore Afro American wrote about Mammy Lou and her stolen song. They even give us a glimpse of some of the haunting, original lyrics she wrote:

“Late last night about ten o’clock
I knocked at the door and the door was locked
I peeked through the blinds, thought my baby was dead
There was another man in the folding bed.”

Needless to say, Mammy Lou’s lyrics were scrubbed nice and clean by Walt Disney – so Mickey Mouse could sing the tune in the 1930 cartoon The Fire Fighters.

A few days ago Kitty and I were wondering around Red Wing, Minnesota and stopped at the old train depot to make this video. There were no kids setting fires by the tracks, no Tin Pan Alley thieves, no minstrel men, and certainly no red-light district to dream about. Just a flickering memory of a ghost called Mammy Lou and a guy in an empty town with nothing but a steel guitar and a kazoo.

So whatever happened to Theo Metz? Well, in 1935, when he performed “Hot Time” at Madison Square Garden in New York City – he received a standing ovation for nearly five minutes. And what about Mammy Lou? In a 1942 article she’s simply remembered as a “short, fat, often belligerent, colored woman who wore a calico dress, gingham apron, and head bandanna, and nine tenths of her songs were obscene.” And to that, I tip my hat to you, Mammy Lou.

Cheers,
Jack