Editing Alexander's Ragtime Band (section)

== Alleged plagiarism ==
[[File:Scott Joplin 19072.jpg|thumb|right|[[Scott Joplin]] alleged that Irving Berlin, an acquaintance, plagiarized the melody.]]
There are allegations that Berlin purloined the [[melody]] for "Alexander's Ragtime Band" (in particular, the four notes of "oh, ma honey") from drafts of "Mayflower Rag" and "A Real Slow Drag" by prolific composer Scott Joplin.{{sfnm|1a1=Berlin|1y=2016|1p=253|2a1=Hamm|2y=2012|2pp=43-44|3a1=Ruhling|3a2=Levine|3y=2017}} Berlin and Joplin were acquaintances in New York, and Berlin had opportunities to hear Joplin's scores prior to publication.{{sfn|Hamm|2012|p=44}} At the time, "one of Berlin's functions at the Ted Snyder Music Company was to be on the lookout for publishable music by other composers."{{sfn|Hamm|2012|p=44}}

Allegedly, Berlin "heard Joplin's music in one of the offices, played by a staff musician (since Berlin could not read music) or by Joplin himself."{{sfn|Hamm|2012|p=44}} According to one account: 
{{Quote|Joplin took some music to Irving Berlin, and Berlin kept it for some time. Joplin went back and Berlin said he couldn't use [the song]. When "Alexander's Ragtime Band" came out, Joplin said, "That's my tune."{{sfn|Hamm|2012|p=43}}}}
Joplin's [[widow]] claimed that, "after Scott had finished writing ''[[Treemonisha]]'', and while he was showing it around, hoping to get it published, [Berlin] stole the theme, and made it into a popular song. The number was quite a hit, too, but that didn't do Scott any good."{{sfn|Hamm|2012|p=43}} A relative of [[John Stillwell Stark]], Joplin's music publisher, asserted "the publication of 'Alexander's Ragtime Band' brought Joplin to tears because it was his [own] composition."{{sfn|Hamm|2012|p=43}} Joplin later died bankrupt after undertaking the financial burden of his unsuccessful ''Treemonisha'' opera and was buried in a pauper's grave (remaining unmarked for 57 years) in [[Queens, New York]], on April 1, 1917.{{sfn|Ruhling|Levine|2017}} As writer Edward A. Berlin notes in ''King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era'':

{{Quote|There were also rumors heard throughout Tin Pan Alley to the effect that ''Alexander's Ragtime Band'' had actually been written by a black man, and even a quarter-century later [composer] [[W.C. Handy]] told an audience that "Irving Berlin got all his ideas and most of his music from the late Scott Joplin." Berlin was aware of the rumors and addressed the issue in a magazine interview in 1916.{{sfn|Berlin|2016|p=253}}}}

For the next half-century, Berlin was incensed by the allegation that a "'[[Boy#Race|black boy]]' {{sic}} had written 'Alexander's Ragtime Band'."{{sfn|Hamm|2012|p=47}} Responding to his detractors, Berlin stated: "If a negro could write 'Alexander,' why couldn't I? ... If they could produce the negro and he had another hit like 'Alexander' in his system, I would choke it out of him and give him twenty thousands dollars in the bargain."{{sfnm|Berlin|2016|1p=254|Hamm|2012|2p=43}} In 1914, Berlin referenced the allegation in the lyrics of his composition "He's A Rag Picker."{{sfn|Hamm|2012|p=47}} The song features a verse in which a "[[Stereotypes of African Americans|black character]]" named Mose claims authorship of "Alexander's Ragtime Band."{{sfn|Hamm|2012|p=47}}