Adams, Hough, and Howard

Adams, Hough, and Howard, songwriting team. Frank R. Adams (1884–1963) began writing lyrics and librettos while a student at the University of Chicago, collaborating with writer Will M. Hough (1882–1962) on the musical His Highness the Bey (1904). The composer of the team was Joe [Joseph E.] Howard (1867–1961), a New Yorker who began as a boy soprano and grew up to write the music for such hits as “Goodbye, My Lady Love” and “Hello, My Baby.” Over the next several seasons the trio offered Chicago some of its most successful musical comedies, including The Isle of Bong Bong (1905), The Umpire (1905), The Girl Question (1906), The Time, the Place and the Girl (1906)—which established a long‐run record for the city—The Land of Nod (1907), Honeymoon Trail (1908), A Stubborn Cinderella (1908), The Prince of Tonight (1909), The Golden Girl (1909), The Flirting Princess (1909), The Goddess of Liberty (1909), and Miss Nobody from Starland (1910). Their songs had a down‐to‐earth directness and a slanginess not unlike that of George M. Cohan. Although several of these shows toured successfully after their Chicago runs, none was successful in New York. Thereafter Adams spent most of his time as a journalist, novelist, and early Hollywood screenwriter, while Hough collaborated with others on such shows as the Chicago hit The Girl at the Gate (1912). Howard was involved in an infamous lawsuit years later when it was revealed that he had not written the music for the standard “I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now,” as he had claimed. He returned to performing and was on the stage until the age of ninety‐four.