Maple Leaf Rag (ballet) on stage, he tears off her skirt. "Maple Leaf Rag" was Graham's 180th choreographic work. Even so, reviewers noted, she still had the capacity to surprise and delight. "The new piece is an entertaining poke by a genius at her own cliches, tersely and wittily stated," wrote "The New York Times"' Anna Kisselgoff. A critic seeing a much later performance said, "While she worked out her obsessions onstage, Graham also had a keen but oft-overlooked sense of humor. Set to several Scott Joplin rags that were still in vogue during her teenage years, "Maple Leaf Rag" is a sly and
Maple Leaf Rag popularity as the Maple Leaf Rag did. The royalties earned by the sheet music sales did provide Joplin with a steady income for the rest of his life, however. Soon after the "Maple Leaf Rag's" publication the earliest recordings of the rag took place; band leader Wilbur Sweatman recorded it onto Phonograph cylinder a year later, but there are no known copies which have survived. The first surviving record of the rag comes from the second known recording of the rag by the United States Military Band from 1906. While Joplin never made an audio recording, his playing is preserved