[78-L] Whispering mystery

[Kristjan Saag]

Does anybody know who really wrote "Whispering"?
When the song was first copyrighted in 1920 the composer was given as 
John Schonberger and the lyricist as Malvin Schonberger.
According to James J. Fuld in his "The Book Of World Famous Music" 
(1966) John Schonberger had stated that the lyrics were not written by 
Malvin Schonberger but by Richard Coburn (aka Frank D. de Long). Fuld 
refers to ASCAP and a NYT John Schonberger obituary for this information 
and adds that he has found no biographical information about Malvin 
Schonberger - neither have I. Could Malvin Schonberger have been another 
pseudonym for Coburn? See:
https://books.google.se/books?id=EVninY59ul0C&pg=PA647&lpg=PA647&dq=%22john+schonberger%22&source=bl&ots=XGgSnCvtuE&sig=D3ftz4UGx7KmnxXuxr5ATvA2ST4&hl=sv&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjj_cvJ-qHeAhVvk4sKHcIcDlk4ChDoATAIegQIBRAB#v=onepage&q=%22john%20schonberger%22&f=false 


Later on Vincent Rose's name has come up as co-composer; his widow 
claimed rights to the song in the 1947 copyright renewal and Rose's name 
figures today in the rightsholder's catalogs as well. In the Swedish one 
(STIM) as lyricist, in the French (SACEM) as composer, in the German 
(GEMA) as both composer and lyricist. ASCAP mentions Rose as well but 
doesn't discriminate between composer and lyricist.
It's a total mess. Malvin Schonberger is still listed as lyricist in 
some catalogues; even other names occur.

In 1948 Billboard wrote about the copyright claims:
https://books.google.se/books?id=Tx4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA18&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false 


Thankful for any help.
Kristjan


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