This song is a product of George Gershwin and Irving Caesar working in New York's Tin Pan Alley District writing a parody of Stephen Foster's " Old folks At Home" in ten minutes. Tin Pan Alley was a district of commercial music producers and writers that began in the 1880s and continued into the era of rock n' roll. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) acted as a copyright organization for later work but this song was part of public domain. It was performed on Vaudeville ( a combination of entertainment variety from saloons, Yiddish theatre, minstrel shows, etc) initially but really took off when recorded by Al Jolson on stage and in movies, usually in 'Black face' that made fun of minstrel or medicine shows . where a 'white' person would impersonate a 'black person' in a stylized, stereotypical, way. African American music was beginning to find its way into the urban and rural America. As many African Americans migrated into the industrial North this would continue throughout the 20th century. This song has been covered by many singers including Judy Garland.