Mr. Ragtime: Remembering Max Morath

In the Ragtime Years when a great personality celebrity died, word would quickly spread through the entertainment districts, Variety shows might be interrupted to report the sad news and have a moment of silence to remember the departed personality. At night theater lights might be dimmed for a few seconds in remembrance and everywhere artists and audiences, crews and office workers, and many people just on the street would pause to tell a story or relate a memorable incident regarding the deceased. Word would have spread rapidly by word of mouth, or by Mr. Bell’s talking device or Mr. Morse’s telegraph and it would all be followed by wakes and memorial affairs across the land. Well, these aren’t the ragtime years, but we have lost a great entertainer who taught us about those times and entertained us with the songs and stories of that era. Max Morath in his 96th year has made his final exit, so to help assuage my grief, I will stop right here and share my memories about our friend Max. We first met at the 1968 Ragtime Festival on the St. Louis Riverfront and again in Atlanta at the 1972 premiere of Joplin’s opera Treemonisha. He has been in my life for well over 50 years and Max was a treasured friend as he was to so many thousands of others around the world. I first worked with Max when he helped us organize the inaugural Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival in Sedalia back in 1