We're starting the week off with a jaunty little warning for #MotorMonday enthusiasts ...

Cover for sheet music titled "Keep Away from the Fellow who owns an Automobile". Cover depicts a ca

We're starting the week off with a jaunty little warning for #MotorMonday enthusiasts. This cover accompanied sheet music and lyrics written and composed by the composer, songwriter and lyricist Irving Berlin (1888-1989).

It was published in 1912 by Waterson, Berlin & Snyder Co., a music publishing house founded by composer Ted Snyder (1881–1965), who took on Berlin and composer Henry Waterson (1873–1933) as partners.

The company was one of the largest publishers of popular sheet music in the country and made up one of the cornerstone enterprises of America’s Tin Pan Alley, a neighborhood in New York City found on West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues that housed a collection of the music publishers, songwriters, and composers that came to dominate America’s popular music industry between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The song, popularized by the the singing trio of Ray Montgomery and the Healey Sisters, cautioned young women about the dangers of "a certain flirtin' man with money in the bank".

This item is call number f Pam 2019.0072 in Hagley Library's published collections. It can be found, along with other sheet music from our published collections and from other collections, in selection of digitized sheet music in our Digital Archive. Click here to view it online now.