Description: Bay View, An American Idea is a history of Bay View, a Chautauqua community in Northern Michigan.
book (7830) northern michigan (189) chautauqua (46) bay view (33) local author (10) michigan history (9) author mary jane doerr (1) american idea (1) songs of j will callahan (1)
Note: Libraries and Tax Free Institutions Use the button below to purchase. Enter your password:
Mary Jane Doerr wins second State History Award for book about J. Will Callahan (yahoo.com)
J. Will Callahan was a blind poet who lived in Northern Michigan. When diagnosed with glaucoma in his 20s, he was forced to leave his position with poet James Whitcomb Riley. He joined a group of ragtime composers in Indianapolis. This was the beginning of his 40 year career writing some 300 songs for some nearly 70 difference composers and publishing houses. His most famous song was the mega hit Smiles . He wrote it in about 20 minutes at his summer home on Forest Avenue in Bay View, Michigan. During the 1