The Hesitation Waltz (Henry Mulford / Mentel Bros. Pub. Co., Cincinnati OH, 1912)

Dance manual/reference by Henry Mulford / The Mentel Bros. Pub. Co. (also styled 'Mentel Brothers Publishing Co.' and parent of The Associated Music Publishers Co. of 137 W. Fourth St., Cincinnati, OH). Sheet-music pamphlet copyright MCMXII (1912). Source: Richard Powers collection (POWERS/Hesitation_Waltz.txt — 28 lines OCR). Single-figure-set pamphlet for the early Hesitation Waltz: Hesitation Step + Regular Waltz Steps consisting of (1) Hesitation Step Right + Regular Waltz Steps Forward (1 bar + 1 bar); (2) Hesitation Step Right + Regular Waltz Steps Backward (1 bar + 1 bar); (3) The Turn — Hesitation Step Right + Regular Waltz Steps with quarter turn, repeated 3 times for complete turn (6 bars total). Directions written for the lady; gentleman uses opposite foot and steps in opposite direction. Imprint includes the standing Mentel Bros offer to mail more explicit directions and 'directions for other modern dances' from 137 W. Fourth St. Cincinnati. The EARLIEST US Hesitation Waltz pamphlet attestation in the corpus — predates Walker 1914 (POWERS-1914-WALKER) by 2 years and Mouvet 1915 by 3 years. Cincinnati-OH provenance distinct from the NYC (Walker) and Castle (NYC) New-York-centric Hesitation Waltz lineage; documents pre-Castle Midwestern US adoption of the form. Mentel Bros also published POWERS-1914-MENTEL-FT (Fox Trot), POWERS-1914-MENTEL-MAX (Maxixe), POWERS-1914-MENTEL-TANGO, and POWERS-1914-MENTEL-ONE-STEP — a 1912/1914 4-pamphlet Cincinnati 'modern dances' series of which this 1912 Hesitation Waltz is the earliest. (1912). Imported from local collection.