Editing Tell Taylor (section)

== Career highlights ==
'''Theater'''

: By 1892, at the age of 16, Taylor's name as a thespian began to be published in theater reviews of newspapers in and around New York, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri. Among the plays of that year featuring Taylor was ''By Wits Outwitted'', written by [[Edward Owings Towne]], where Taylor played the audacious hero (Valentine Navaro), and Florence Modena playing the pretty heroine (Fernanda).<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=By Wits Outwitted at the Grand |newspaper=The Kansas City Star |location=Kansas City, Missouri |date=November 7, 1892 | page=5}}</ref> Taylor also played the part of ''Bill Smith,'' a farm hand, in ''A Glimpse of Paradise,'' by [[Frank S. Pixley]], a one-act play that often preceded the three-act ''By Wits Outwitted.''<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title="By Wits Outwitted" Gives Satisfaction |newspaper=Wyoming County Times |location=Warsaw, New York |date=October 13, 1892 | page=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=By Wits Outwitted  |newspaper=The Daily Citizen |location=Iowa City, Iowa |date=November 2, 1892 | page=2}}</ref>

'''Music publishing and songwriting'''

: Before launching his Chicago publishing firm in 1907, Taylor had co-founded one of the original [[Tin Pan Alley]] publishing houses in New York City with fellow composer, [[Ernest R. Ball]], and former New York City Mayor who then was a state senator, [[Jimmy Walker|James J. Walker]].  In 1918, Earl Kelly Smith (1886–1954), who had been affiliated with Taylor's Chicago publishing house since 1908, opened a branch in New York City.<ref name="NY Branch 1918" />  In Chicago, Taylor composed songs and ran his own sheet music publishing firm from 1907 to 1922.
'''Post publishing & singing'''

:  In 1922, Taylor sold his Chicago publishing firm and purchased a farm for his parents near his boyhood home, on the outskirts of [[Findlay, Ohio]], and spent the rest of his life there.<ref name="Toledo Blade" />  In May, he formally assigned his catalog to Forster Music Publishers, Inc,. 216 South Wabash Ave., Chicago, However, "[[Down By The Old Mill Stream]]," his top selling composition, was not assigned until 1931.<ref name=copyrights/>

''' Death'''
: In the Autumn of 1937, prior to embarking on a trip to California to discuss a motion picture about his life, Taylor entered a Chicago bar and ordered a drink. Tell sat at a table, put his head down to rest and died from a heart attack at the age of 61 on November 23, 1937, in Chicago.<ref name="NYTs obituary" />  He was buried in Van Horn Cemetery, [[Findlay, Ohio]].

'''Posthumous lawsuit over song'''
: In 1937, when the original copyright for "[[Down By The Old Mill Stream]]" was expiring, Earl Kelly Smith (1886–1954) filed an application to renew the copyright as co-composer.  The renewal was granted.  Jerry Vogel Music Company began publishing it.  [[Forster Music Publisher, Inc.|Forster Music]], which had acquired the rights to the song from the heirs of Tell Taylor, filed suit to stop Vogel from publishing the song.  In 1944, a US District Court in New York ruled in favor of [[Forster Music Publisher, Inc.|Forster]].<ref name="Song lawsuit" />