Myth 2: Joplin left home at age fourteen.
Fact: At this time he was proficient in piano. School documents show him going to school at age 16. One possible explanation to this myth may be the possibility that Joplin went to the black Lincoln High School in Sedalia, Missouri. This would probably explain why Texarkanans would think he left home if their memory was fuzzy (at best) after so many decades.
Myth 3: Scott, like most blacks of the era, was poorly educated, and only attended a college of music to learn musical notation.
Fact: Most black children didn't go to school in that day, and the Joplin family was the exception to this rule. This myth goes hand in hand with Myth 2. Scott and his older brother's attendance is verified in school documents from when Scott was 16 and his older brother, Monroe, was 18. As mentioned above, Scott may have traveled to Sedalia, Missouri to attend Lincoln High School. He DID attend George Smith College, a Methodist insitution for blacks, but we don't know what he studied there because it was destroyed in a fire in 1920.
Myth 4: Joplin's first piece was the instant hit Maple Leaf Rag.
Fact: There are at least six published pieces before the Maple Leaf: Please Say You Will, (1895) A Picture of Her Face, (1895) The Great Crush Collision March, (1896) Combonation March, (1896) Harmony Club Waltz, (1896) and Original Rags, (1899). The only the last one was a ragtime piece.
Myth 5: Maple Leaf Rag was a runaway hit.
Fact: While the piece did do fairly well, in its first year John Stark & Son publishing company sold only four hundred copies of Maple Leaf Rag's first edition, which was published in Sedalia. The second edition, published in St. Louis, was the seller. Still, it took a decade to sell half a million copies.
Myth 6: Maple Leaf Rag was the first piece that sold a million copies.
Fact: This simply isn't true and it does go along with myths 5 and 7. In 1905 Stark wrote that sales of the rag were at 3,000 a month. According to Ed Berlin's calculations, it would have taken 27 years to sell a million. Add this to the fact that there were a other pieces that sold a lot more, such as C.K. Harris's hit After the Ball (1892).
Myth 7: Scott made a fortune off of Maple Leaf Rag.
Fact: This is a half-truth. Each copy of the piece sold for only fifty cents, and Joplin got a one cent royalty for each one. So, in the first year he made $4.00 from the most famous of rags. The rest of his life, it gave him an income of about $360 per year. A handsome sum in those days, but not enough to allow him to live a life of luxary.
Myth 8: The failure of Treemonisha, his only published opera, caused Scott Joplin to go insane, and be committed to a mental institution in early 1917.
Fact: The failure did contribute to his hospitalization, but he was already suffering from tertiary syphilis, which he contracted between 1897 and 1907. This disease causes one to lose his concentration, and eventually go insane. While we can't be sure. Treemonisha may or may not have contributed, but it certainly didn't help.
Myth 9: Scott Joplin, the King of Ragtime Composers, is buried at Manhatten State Hospital, and people pay regular homage to his grave.
Fact: This myth fooled me until Doc Wilson (whose page can be found at the links page) corrected me on this one. Joplin is buried at St. Michael's Cemetary in the Astoria section of Queens. A picture of his grave can be found here.
Myth 10: Besides awards for the 1974 movie The Sting, Joplin has received no rewards for his music.
Fact: In 1975 his opera Treemonisha was performed, which caused him to win (posthumously) the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for music.