By the Shores of Gitchee Gumee of the novel is 19-year-old Maud Slivenowicz, whose major source of knowledge is "Reader's Digest". Her mother, Evangeline, has five children by five different deadbeat fathers. Without a regular income, the Slivenowicz family dream of becoming movie stars, and at the end of the book it seems one of Maud's brothers might actually be given a role in a television commercial. The title of the book relates to a famous line in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem "The Song of Hiawatha". By the Shores of Gitchee Gumee By the Shores of Gitchee Gumee (1996) is a satirical novel by Tama
The Song of Hiawatha (Coleridge-Taylor) in part to the formation of the Performing Rights Society. Starting in 1924, the trilogy, along with the "Hiawatha Ballet Music", was presented in the Royal Albert Hall with scenery, costumes and dancing. The first such staging was conducted on 19 May 1924 by the composer's son Hiawatha Coleridge-Taylor (who was born in 1900, at the height of the composer's fame). These stagings, often conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent, were presented for two weeks annually until the Second World War and were attended by many thousands of people, including the Royal Family. Sargent became so associated with these "Hiawatha" performances