William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholoff Smith (23 November, 1893Usually given as 25 November 1897, see under "William Henry Smith" at the [LINK: http://www.doctorjazz.co.uk/draftcards2.html] Doctor Jazz website. – 18 April, 1973) was an American jazz pianist and one of the masters of the stride style. Smith was born as in Goshen, New York. In his memoir he reports that his father, Frank Bertholoff, was Jewish, and his mother Ida Oliver, had "Spanish, Negro, and Mohawk Indian blood". "Frank Bertholoff was a light skinned playboy who loved his liquor, girls, and gambling." His mother threw Frank out of the house when "The Lion" was two years old. When his father died in 1901, his mother married John Smith, a master mechanic from Paterson, NJ. The surname Smith was added to that of the "The Lion" at age 3. Career By the early 1910s he was playing in New York City and Atlantic City, New Jersey.