Gus Edwards was a songwriter and vaudevillian. Over the course of his career, he wrote and produced numerous vaudevillian classics and later established his own company through which many notable stars such as Eddie Cantor and Ina Ray Hutton gained fame. His success as a music producer led him to start the Gus Edwards Music Hall in New York where he collaborated with figures like William Cobb to produce major Broadway numbers. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. He looks assuredly at the camera in this portrait while resting his elbow comfortably on a surface. A carnation adorns the lapel of his suit jacket.