Billy Jones (4) And Ernest Hare – In The Little Red School House / Mister Gallagher And Mister Shean
Label: Brunswick – 2270

A  In The Little Red School House
Written By – Wilson-Brennan
Written-By – Wilson*, Brennan*
B  Mister Gallagher And Mister Shean
Written-By – Gallagher-Shean*
Record Company – The Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company
Tenor and Baritone With Orchestra
A: take 7797 recorded approximately Mar. 1922 New York, New York
B: take 7793 recorded same date and location

Please see top of the page for condition


"Mister Gallagher and Mister Shean" is one of the most famous songs to come from vaudeville. First performed by the duo of Gallagher and Shean in the early 1920s, it became a huge hit and carried Gallagher & Shean to stardom.[1][2] The music was written by Shean, while Bryan Foy (uncredited) wrote the lyrics. The sheet music credits Gallagher and Shean as writers. The song is also sometimes known as "Absolutely, Mr. Gallagher? Positively, Mr. Shean!."[3]

It contains jokes typical of the time but also lampoons current fads and events ("Cost of living went so high / That it's cheaper now to die"). The song itself gave rise to many parody versions.

As this song was sung on the vaudeville stage, each verse was presented as a miniature skit, as though Shean came across Gallagher on a street, beginning: "Oh, Mister Gallagher! Oh Mister Gallagher! Have you heard...?" Gallagher would say "Yes, yes" to his entreaties before the joke was set up in the verse.

Because the duo's first appearance together had been in a skit set in Egypt, the two performed the song in Egyptian costume (Gallagher wearing either a straw hat or a solar topee, Shean in fez and bizarre skirted jacket of the "native" colonial).[4] Aside from one reference to the Nile made in one of the original verses, their costumes had nothing to do with the song, but reflected the craze for all things Egyptian after the discovery of King Tut's tomb.

Each verse ended with a question-and-answer refrain, one of which – "Positively, Mister Gallagher? Absolutely, Mister Shean!" – became a well-known catchphrase for many years thereafter.[4]