Frank Loesser | |
|---|---|
 Frank Loesser in a 1936 Paramount studio headshot. | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Frank Henry Loesser (1910-06-29)June 29, 1910 Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Died | July 28, 1969(1969-07-28) (aged 59) East Harlem, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Musical theatre |
| Occupations | Composer,lyricist,librettist |
| Years active | 1931–1968 |
Spouses | |
| Website | frankloesser |
Frank Henry Loesser (/ˈlɛsər/ "lesser"; June 29, 1910 – July 28, 1969) was an American songwriter who wrote music and lyrics for theBroadway musicalsGuys and Dolls andHow to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, among others. He won aTony Award forGuys and Dolls and shared thePulitzer Prize for Drama forHow to Succeed. He also wrote songs for over 60 Hollywood films andTin Pan Alley, many of which have become standards, and was nominated for fiveAcademy Awards for best song, winning once for "Baby, It's Cold Outside."
Frank Henry Loesser was born to a Jewish family[1] in New York City, the son of Henry Loesser, apianist,[2] and Julia Ehrlich.[3][4] He grew up in a house on West 107th Street in Manhattan.[5]
Henry had moved to America to avoidGerman military service and work in his family's banking business. He married Bertha Ehrlich; their son,Arthur Loesser, was born August 26, 1894. Bertha's younger sister Julia arrived in America in 1898, marrying Henry in 1907 after Bertha died in childbirth. Grace, their first child, was born in December of that year. Their son Frank was born June 29, 1910.[6]
Loesser's parents, secular German Jews, prized high intellect and culture and educated him musically in the vein of European composers.[4] Although Henry was a full-time piano teacher, he never taught Frank. In a 1914 letter to Arthur, Henry wrote that four-year-old Frank could play by ear "any tune he's heard and can spend an enormous amount of time at the piano."[7] (Frank Loesser later collaborated with musical secretaries to ensure that his written scores reflected the music as he conceived it.)[8]
Loesser disliked his father's refined taste in music, and resisted by writing his own music and taking up the harmonica. He was expelled fromTownsend Harris High School; from there, he went to City College of New York[6] but was expelled in 1925 after one year for failing every subject except English and gym.[4]
After his father died suddenly on July 20, 1926, Loesser was forced to work to support his family.[9] His jobs included restaurant reviewer, process server, classified ad salesman for theNew York Herald Tribune, political cartoonist forThe Tuckahoe Record, sketch writer forKeith Vaudeville Circuit, knit-goods editor forWomen's Wear Daily, press representative for a small movie company, and city editor forNew Rochelle News, a short-lived newspaper in New Rochelle, New York.[4][6]
Loesser's first song credit was "In Love with the Memory of You," with music byWilliam Schuman, published in 1931.[9] Other early lyrical credits included two hit songs of 1934, "Junk Man" and "I Wish I Were Twins," both with music byJoe Meyer and the latter with co-lyric credit toEddie DeLange. "Junk Man" was first recorded that year byBenny Goodman withMildred Bailey on vocals.[10]
In the mid-1930s, Loesser (along with composerIrving Actman) performed at nightspot the Back Drop on East52nd Street. By day, he worked atLeo Feist Inc. writing lyrics to Joseph Brandfon's music for $100 per week. However, after a year, Feist had not published any of the songs. Loesser fared only slightly better collaborating with future classical composer Schuman, selling their 1931 song (which unfortunately would flop) to Feist. Loesser described his early days of learning the craft as having "a rendezvous with failure." While he dabbled in other trades, he persistently returned to the music business.[4][11]
Loesser's work at the Back Drop led to his first Broadway musical (which lasted only four nights),The Illustrator's Show, a 1936 revue written with Back Drop collaborator Actman. The previous year while performing at the Back Drop, Loesser met aspiring singer Lynn Garland (née Mary Alice Blankenbaker). He proposed marriage in a September 1936 letter that included money for a railroad ticket to Los Angeles, where Loesser's contract toUniversal Pictures had just ended. The couple was married in a judge's office.[12]
Loesser was offered a contract byParamount Pictures. His first song credit there was "Moon of Manakoora," written withAlfred Newman forDorothy Lamour for the filmThe Hurricane.[4] He wrote lyrics for many popular songs during this period, including "Two Sleepy People" and "Heart and Soul" withHoagy Carmichael and "I Hear Music" withBurton Lane. He also collaborated with the composersArthur Schwartz andJoseph J. Lilley.
One of his notable efforts (with music byFriedrich Hollaender) was "See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have," memorably sung byMarlene Dietrich inDestry Rides Again.
In 1941, Loesser wrote "I Don't Want to Walk Without You" withJule Styne, included in the 1942 filmSweater Girl and sung byBetty Jane Rhodes.[4]Irving Berlin was a huge fan of the song and once played it repeatedly, telling Loesser why he believed it was the greatest song he wished he'd written.[13]
Members of theWestern Writers of America chose the 1942 song "Jingle Jangle Jingle," for which Loesser wrote the lyrics, as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.[14]
Loesser stayed in Hollywood until World War II, when he joined the Army Air Forces.[2]
DuringWorld War II, Loesser enlisted in theUnited States Army Air Forces and continued to write lyrics for films and single songs.[2] Loesser created the popular war song "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" (1942), inspired by the words of Navy chaplain Howell Forgy.[15] Loesser wrote other songs at the request of the armed forces, including "What Do You Do in the Infantry?" and "The Ballad of Rodger Young" (1943).[2] He also wrote "They're Either Too Young or Too Old" for the 1943 filmThank Your Lucky Stars.[4]
In 1944, Loesser worked as the lyricist on the little-known musicalHi Yank!, performed by and for U.S. soldiers abroad, with music byAlex North.[16]Hi Yank! was produced by the U.S. Army Office of Special Services as a "blueprint special" to boost the morale of soldiers located where USO shows could not visit. The "blueprint" was a book containing a musical script with instructions for staging the show using materials locally available to deployed soldiers. According to a document at the U.S. Army Centre for Military History, a touring company formed in Italy was slated to produce the musical.[17]Hi Yank! was generally forgotten until 2008, when thePBSHistory Detectives researched the case of a long-saved radiotranscription disc.[18] The disc has two songs and a promotional announcement for the show'sFort Dix premiere in August 1944, when the disc was broadcast there.[19]
In 1948, Broadway producersCy Feuer andErnest H. Martin asked Loesser to write music and lyrics toGeorge Abbott's book for an adaptation of theBrandon Thomas playCharley's Aunt. The musical,Where's Charley? (1948), starredRay Bolger (who performed one of the musical's more memorable songs, "Once In Love With Amy") and ran for 792 performances. Afilm version was released in 1952.
Also in 1948, Loesser sold toMGM the rights to "Baby, It's Cold Outside", a song he wrote in 1944 and performed informally at parties with his then-wife Lynn Garland. The studio included it in the 1949 movieNeptune's Daughter, and the song became a huge hit, with several recordings on theBillboard charts that year. Garland was upset at Loesser for selling what she considered "their song,"[20] but it won theAcademy Award for Best Original Song.
His next musical,Guys and Dolls (1950), based on the stories ofDamon Runyon, was again produced by Feuer and Martin.Guys and Dolls became a hit and earned Loesser aTony Award.[21]Bob Fosse calledGuys and Dolls "the greatest American musical of all time".[4] A1955 film version starredMarlon Brando,Jean Simmons,Frank Sinatra, andVivian Blaine.
In 1950, Loesser started Frank Music Corporation. Initially created as a means of controlling and publishing his work, the company eventually supported other writers, includingRichard Adler,Jerry Ross, andMeredith Willson.[9] Loesser also started the theatrical licensing companyMusic Theatre International in 1952. Frank Music and MTI were sold toCBS Music in 1976.[22] CBS in turn sold Frank Music toPaul McCartney'sMPL Communications holding company in 1979.[23]
Also in 1952, Loesser wrote the score for the filmHans Christian Andersen. The movie's songs, performed by leading man Danny Kaye and other cast members, include "Wonderful Copenhagen," "Anywhere I Wander," "Thumbelina," and "Inchworm."[9]
He wrote the book, music, and lyrics for his next two musicals,The Most Happy Fella (1956) andGreenwillow (1960). Around the beginning of 1957, Garland and Loesser divorced, and Loesser began a relationship withJo Sullivan, who had played Rosabella inFella. He wrote the music and lyrics forHow to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1961), which ran for 1,417 performances, won the 1962Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and received another Tony and aGrammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.[24]
Pleasures and Palaces (1965), the last Loesser musical produced during his lifetime, closed during out-of-town tryouts.
From 1965 until 1968, Loesser was composing the book, music and lyrics forSeñor Discretion Himself, a musical version of aBudd Schulberg short story. A version was presented in 1985 at the New York Musical Theatre Works. With the support of his widow Jo Loesser, a completed version was presented at theArena Stage, Washington, D.C., in 2004, reworked by the groupCulture Clash and directorCharles Randolph-Wright.[25]
When asked why he did not write more shows, Loesser responded, "I don't write slowly. It's just that I throw out fast."The New York Times confirmed his hard working habits and wrote that Loesser "was consumed by nervous energy and as a result slept only four hours a night, spending the rest of the time working."[4]
Loesser, a heavy cigarette smoker, died of lung cancer at age 59 on July 28, 1969, atthe Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan'sEast Harlem neighborhood.[26]
Lynn Garland and Frank Loesser divorced around the beginning of 1957 after 21 years of marriage.[27] They had two children: John Loesser, who works in theatre administration,[28] and Susan Loesser, an author who wrote her father's biography,A Most Remarkable Fella: Frank Loesser and the Guys and Dolls in His Life: A Portrait by His Daughter (1993, 2000,ISBN 0634009273).
Loesser marriedJo Sullivan (born Elizabeth Josephine Sullivan) on April 29, 1959[29] after being introduced to her by Lynn. Frank and Jo had two daughters, Hannah and Emily. Emily is a performer who is married to actorDon Stephenson.[30] Hannah was an artist in oils, pastels and mixed media; she died of cancer on January 25, 2007.[31] Jo died on April 28, 2019, at age 91.[32]
Loesser was the lyricist of over 700 songs.[33]
Loesser received the 1951Tony Award for Best Musical for hisGuys and Dolls music and lyrics. He was nominated for the Tony Award for book, music and lyrics forThe Most Happy Fella and as Best Composer forHow to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.[34] Loesser was awarded aGrammy Award in 1962[35] forBest Original Cast Show Album forHow to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
Loesser is regarded as one of the more talented writers of his era, noted for writing witty lyrics and clever musical devices. He also introduced a complex artistic style that challenged and shaped the compositional approach of Broadway musicals. He was also noted for using classical forms, such asimitative counterpoint (in theFugue for Tinhorns inGuys and Dolls).[9]
Loesser won the 1950Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Baby, It's Cold Outside." He was nominated four more times:
The PBS documentaryHeart & Soul: The Life and Music of Frank Loesser was released in 2006.[36]
42nd Street Moon's artistic director, Greg MacKellan, developedOnce in Love with Loesser in 2013 as one of his musical tributes dedicated to exploring and celebrating the work of some of Broadway's great songwriters. The performance was built around the three stages of Loesser's career: Tin Pan Alley, Hollywood, and Broadway.Jason Graae performed "Once in Love with Amy" and "The King's New Clothes";Emily Skinner sang Cleo's "Ooh! My Feet" and Rosabella's "Somebody, Somewhere" (fromThe Most Happy Fella); Ashley Jarrett performed "If I Were a Bell"; and Ian Leonard provided a tongue-in-cheek rendition of "Sing a Tropical Song".[37]
Loesser, contrasted to his brotherArthur (1894-1969) in a humorous wordplay on the principle of "the lesser of two evils", was reportedly once referred to as "the evil of two Loessers". The two half-brothers died less than seven months apart in 1969.[38]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)My favourite, though, has to be Michael McDowell's comment on Gay Mitchell: 'He is the evil of two lessers' even if this witticism is culled from a comment once made even more piquantly about Frank Loesser and his brother.Note:Michael McDowell was comparingGay Mitchell to his brotherJim.
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