{"id":1429,"date":"2021-05-12T12:18:18","date_gmt":"2021-05-12T12:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/?p=1429"},"modified":"2023-06-12T21:32:20","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T21:32:20","slug":"ed-mortons-wild-about-wildwood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/ed-mortons-wild-about-wildwood\/","title":{"rendered":"Ed Morton’s Wild About Wildwood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Sheet music found in the Wildwood Historic Museum<\/strong>
If you\u2019ve ever been to Wildwood,<\/em><\/strong>
Wildwood by the sea; then you know the reason<\/em><\/strong>
I would always like to be<\/em><\/strong>
Strolling along it\u2019s beautiful strand<\/em><\/strong>
Bathing all day in the ocean so Grand<\/em><\/strong>
Dancing to the music of the band<\/em><\/strong>
All aboard! Let\u2019s go!<\/em><\/strong>
Oh, I\u2019m wild, simply wild about Wildwood,<\/em><\/strong>
Down by the murmuring sea<\/em><\/strong>
with its sweet bathing peaches, and long level beaches<\/em><\/strong>
That\u2019s the place for me<\/em><\/strong>
There\u2019s just one thing that my heart craves<\/em><\/strong>
To hear the music of the sad sea waves<\/em><\/strong>
Oh I\u2019m wild, simply wild about Wildwood, Wildwood by the Sea<\/em><\/strong>
When you\u2019re feeling sort of weary, lonesome tired or blue,<\/em><\/strong>
Here\u2019s a way to make you cheery, here\u2019s what you should do<\/em><\/strong>
Just pack your grip and whistle goodbye<\/em><\/strong>
beat it for Wildwood, the fair isn\u2019t high<\/em><\/strong>
When you get there, you will surely cry<\/em>
\u201c just the place for me!\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ed Morton made an entertaining contribution to the town of Wildwood beginning in the early 1900s. Once a Philadelphia police officer, he went on to become a singer, songwriter, vaudevillian and ultimately a Wildwood restauranteur and community activist.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CD, \u201cEd Morton\u2019s \u2018Bit of Broadway (The Sound of Broadway, Volume 2),\u201d features 27 of Morton\u2019s songs, written and performed by him between 1911 and 1926, and pays homage to Morton\u2019s restaurant, once located on the Boardwalk where North Wildwood meets Wildwood at 26th Avenue (now the home of Gateway Arcade). The success of the song, \u201cI\u2019m Wild about Wildwood\u201d was credited to but not written by Morton, who included it in his vaudeville act (2,000 copies were ultimately sold).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Now…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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… and Then<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A big vaudevillian hit, and newfound Wildwood lover, Morton and his family rented a summer home here in 1911. Starting in 1912, he coordinated his bookings so that he would have 12 weeks off during the summer to be spent in Wildwood. This led to his restaurant, \u201cA Bit of Broadway,\u201d as well as a tobacco shop. He entertained at the Nixon Vaudeville Theater and played a part in the start of the Wildwood Golf Club, before taking on yet another role, that of chairman of the house committee, for 10 years.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He took his final stage bow in 1926 and died on April 11, 1938. Two days following his death, the much-loved Wildwood entertainer was honored by the fireman and police at a silent tribute banquet.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Now,  all these years after his death, his place in Wildwood\u2019s extensive history book is fondly recalled.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note: After seeing The Sun post a preview of this story on social media, Erin Knoll McMann reached out to let us know that Ed Morton was her great-great-grandfather. Her father\u2019s grandmother was Ed\u2019s daughter Agnes \u201cEffie\u201d Knoll of Knoll’s Motel and Hassles. It\u2019s amazing to know that his love for Wildwood continues to live on through generations of his family.<\/em>
<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ed Morton made an entertaining contribution to the town of Wildwood beginning in the early 1900s. Once a Philadelphia police officer, he went on to become a singer, songwriter, vaudevillian and ultimately a Wildwood restauranteur and community activist.\u00a0 The CD, \u201cEd Morton\u2019s \u2018Bit of Broadway (The Sound of Broadway, Volume 2),\u201d features 27 of Morton\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[7,1,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1429"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1429"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1489,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1429\/revisions\/1489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sunbythesea.com\/ww\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}