Muriel Pollock

Muriel Pollock (January 21, 1895 – May 25, 1971) was an American composer, songwriter, pianist, and organist whose work spanned Broadway, radio, silent film accompaniment, and piano rolls. Born Mary Pollock in Kingsbridge, New York, she was the daughter of Joseph and Rose Graff Pollock, both immigrants from Russia. Her father operated a news stand. She received her musical training at the New York Institute of Musical Art, an institution that later became the Juilliard School.

In her early career, Pollock played organ in silent movie theatres while also working at her father's news stand. By 1914 she had begun composing, collaborating with Marie Wardall on a musical called Mme. Pom Pom and contributing a work titled "Carnival" to a fundraising event for the Sanitarium for Hebrew Children in Rockaway Park. In 1922 she performed as a singer and pianist at the Colonial Opera House in Bermuda as part of a grand concert.

Pollock accumulated several Broadway credits across the 1920s and early 1930s. She contributed additional music to Jack and Jill in 1923, and appeared on stage in both Rio Rita (1927–1928) and Ups-a Daisy (1928), performing piano duets alongside Constance Mering. She composed the music for the revue Pleasure Bound in 1929, and for the musical revue Shoot the Works in 1931 she wrote both the music and the lyrics.

Beyond the stage, Pollock worked at Mel-o-Dee Music Company and Rhythmodik Music Corporation, where she composed, arranged, and recorded works for piano roll. She performed piano roll duets with George Gershwin and later recorded duets with Vee Lawnhurst under the performance names The Lady Bugs and The Lady Fingers. Between 1927 and 1934 she made numerous recordings, the majority of them released on the Edison label. She was also a frequent presence on radio programs, performing her own compositions written specifically for radio as well as accompanying other performers. Pollock became a member of ASCAP in 1933.

Pollock married twice. Her first husband was Leon Leroy Groll; the two wed in 1925 and had divorced by 1930. In 1933 she married songwriter Will Donaldson, a widower, and became stepmother to his son, child actor Ted Donaldson. Following that marriage, she wrote music for children's shows drawing on fairy tales and the lives of historical figures, working under the pseudonym Molly Donaldson. The family's relocation to California eventually reduced her access to the radio industry's center of activity. Will Donaldson died in 1954. Pollock died on May 25, 1971, in Hollywood at the age of 76. She left provisions for a liberal arts scholarship at Los Angeles City College. Remastered recordings of her work were included on a 1998 compact disc titled Keyboards of the Gershwin Era, Volume VI.