Lyons and Yosco were an American comedy duo, consisting of Italian American musicians George Lyons and Bob Yosco. They were defined by the Ottawa Evening Journal "the finest pair of Italian street musicians playing in the Vaudeville ranks." They toured the United States from 1909 into 1923, doing a musical and comedy act. The News Journal described their performance, saying they were "the best vocalists and instrumentalists of the street variety on the stage, proved intensely interesting, while their droll comedy kept the audience laughing much of the time." They were also successful composers of popular music, including ragtime. One of their best known works was the million-selling ragtime piece, "Spaghetti Rag" which was notably popular during the ragtime revival in the 1950s. Their compositions were recorded by performers for Victor Records and Columbia Records.
George Lyons
George Lyons was the stage name for Dominick George Martoccio. In his life he was a Vaudeville performer, a composer, and a movie actor. He was described by the Los Angeles Herald as "a premier harpist, playing most every kind of music, including ragtime, on his instrument." Prior to his partnership with Bob Yosco, he worked in 1908 and 1909 with Eddie Parks, a singer and dancer, and when they parted he seems to have kept the basic act to use with Yosco. He starred in a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayershort movie, George Lyons, The Singing Harpist in 1929, performing four songs. He also acted in the MGM movies Hylton and His Band and In the Spotlight.
Bob Yosco
Robert Joseph Yosco, was born Rocco Giuseppe Iosco. He moved to New York in 1877, with his parents Domenico and Maria Antonia. He was a Vaudeville performer, a comedian, composer, singer and actor, and played mandolin, violin and cello. He is considered one of the first ragtime mandolin players in America. The Los Angeles Herald called his cello and mandolin playing "of high order", but was less impressed with his singing. The Harrisburg Telegraph had a different opinion, saying they "took their audience by storm with their vocal duets. They were applauded several times for encores. They could sing in a real way and that is half of any act." He is interred at Calvary Cemetery, Woodside, Queens.
Lawrence Yosco
Robert's brother Lawrence Yosco was also involved in music, founding the Lawrence Yosco Manufacturing Company of New York, making banjos and mandolins. He also toured the country as a guitar and banjo soloist.
Works
According to David A. Jasen, in his book Ragtime gems: original sheet music for 25 ragtime classics, sheet music for ragtime songs sometimes sold a million copies. It tended not to happen as quickly as with music sales today, taking as long as 20 years for the hit "Maple Leaf Rag", but it did happen. "Spaghetti Rag" was part of a list of million-selling songs that included Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" and Charles L. Johnson's "Dill Pickles Rag". A different version was published in 1950, with words added by Dick Rogers. Although it was long a staple of their vaudeville act, they never recorded it. The earliest record was made by banjoist Vess L. Ossman, and probably the most known version was performed by Robert Maxwell, arranged for harp, tenor banjo and tuba. "Spaghetti Rag" became popular in the swing and honky-tonk music scenes, being covered by artists such as Jack Fina, Ray Anthony, Frankie Carle, Beatrice Kay, Jan August, Russ Morgan, Johnny Maddox, Joe "Fingers" Carr, Big Tiny Little, Claude Thornhill and Jo Ann Castle. It is also cited as an influence on Tom Lehrer's "The Vatican Rag". Lyons and Yosco also composed popular songs like:
