You can be forgiven if the name of “George Graff” does not ring a bell.

Few remember him these days, but one of the songs whose lyrics he co-authored remains timeless. Whether Irish or not, many of us sing it on March 17 - St. Patrick’s Day - probably while holding a pint of beer in our hand.

When I join in the singing of “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling,” I always have a smile on my face (as well as the aforementioned pint in my hand), because it is such a catchy and lighthearted melody with poignant lyrics that capture the Irish spirit.

It is fitting that I pay homage to Graff, who died 50 years ago today in Stroudsburg at the age of 86.

Attesting to the staying power of this and a number of other Irish melodies which have become forever favorites, such as “Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral” (That’s an Irish Lullaby), “Danny Boy” and “Clancy Lowered the Boom,” “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” has stood the test of time since being written by Graff and Chauncey Olcott for Olcott’s production of The Isle O’ Dreams in 1912.

In his later years, Graff took up residence at the historic Penn Stroud Hotel at Seventh and Main streets in the heart of the Monroe County seat.

I met Graff when I served as program, news and sports director of radio station WVPO (now WSBG) in Stroudsburg and later as Monroe County Bureau Chief of The Express (now The Express-Times) in Easton.

Graff and I would have breakfast in the Penn Stroud dining room about once a month. This is where he ate almost every day. While he was not in the category of having groupies pay homage to him, he was a well-known personality, especially among many older residents in the Stroudsburg area.

He could be seen walking along Main Street, always impeccably dressed in a Brooks Brothers suit and hat, His other favorite places were the now long-gone Biggs American Restaurant and the Tea Room at Wyckoff’s Department Store.

As you might expect, he was generally sought out each time March 17 rolled around, and his song got a lot of air play and public exposure. I interviewed him formally on two occasions - once for a radio piece I did and once for a newspaper feature story. It was common for him to regale me with stories about his songwriting days when he and I had breakfast together.

Our monthly breakfast discussions also covered the gamut, from music - he was not a big fan of rock ‘n’ roll but tolerated it as an important part of the music scene - to world events.

Graff was a charter member of ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers). Although he collaborated on many other song lyrics with the likes of Arthur Fields and Ernest Ball, none of the songs achieved the runaway fame of “Irish Eyes.” Despite the ability to capture the Irish spirit in the song, he never did get to go to Ireland, although he said he always wanted to get there “some day.”

Graff was not of Irish descent either. He said he had mostly German and Dutch blood coursing through his veins. Graff was a prolific writer who wrote more than 400 songs, including ditties for The Ziegfeld Follies and other burlesque type productions.

Family members said that Graff and Fred Waring, famous big band conductor and leader of the choral group The Pennsylvanians, were rivals and were not particularly friendly to each other. Waring was owner of Shawnee Inn along the Delaware River from where he did most of his weekly radio broadcasts for nearly a quarter century (1933-1957).

Graff wound up in the Stroudsburg area in the 1940s to help his father-in-law who ran a kitchen business in Delaware Water Gap. The business was destroyed in the devastating flood of 1955. That’s when Graff moved to the Penn Stroud.

One of Graff’s most memorable moments came when he was invited to Washington, D.C., in 1913 and honored by President William Howard Taft for penning the song “Let Us Have Peace” to commemorate the 100th anniversary of peace among English-speaking nations of the world.

By Bruce Frassinelli?|?tneditor@tnonline.com