Harold Arlen | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Arlen in 1960 | |
| Born | Hyman Arluck (1905-02-15)February 15, 1905 Buffalo, New York, U.S. |
| Died | April 23, 1986(1986-04-23) (aged 81) New York City, U.S. |
| Resting place | Ferncliff Cemetery |
| Occupation | Composer |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Adopted his brother's son in 1985[1] |
Harold Arlen (bornHyman Arluck; February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music,[2] who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 filmThe Wizard of Oz (lyrics byYip Harburg), including "Over the Rainbow", which won him the Oscar forBest Original Song, he was nominated as composer for 8 other Oscar awards. Arlen is a contributor to theGreat American Songbook. "Over the Rainbow" was voted the 20th century's No. 1 song by theRIAA and theNEA.[3][4]
Arlen was born inBuffalo, New York, the child of a Jewishcantor.[2] His twin brother died the next day. He learned to play the piano as a youth,[5] and formed a band, Hyman Arluck's Snappy Trio, at age 15. He left home at 16 against his parents' wishes; within two years, he was performing on the Crystal Beach lake boat "Canadiana" with his new band, The Southbound Shufflers. In 1924, he performed at the Lake Shore manor and co-wrote his first song, "My Gal, My Pal", with his friend Hyman Cheiffetz. They copyrighted it as "My Gal, Won't You Please Come Back to Me?" and attribute the lyrics to Cheiffetz and music to Harold Arluck.[citation needed] He achieved some local success as a pianist and singer before moving to New York City in his early twenties, where he worked as an accompanist in vaudeville[5] and changed his name to Harold Arlen. Between 1926 and about 1934, Arlen appeared occasionally as a band vocalist on records by The Buffalodians,Red Nichols,Joe Venuti,Leo Reisman, andEddie Duchin, usually singing his own compositions. He also played piano with The Buffalodians. In 1926, he and Dick George wrote "Minor Gaff (Blues Fantasy)", which became his first published song.
In 1929, Arlen composed his first well-known song: "Get Happy" (with lyrics byTed Koehler)[2] and subsequently signed a yearlong song-writing contract with the George and Arthur Piantadosi firm. The same year, he held a singing and acting gig as Cokey Joe in the musicalThe Great Day. Throughout the early and mid-1930s, Arlen and Koehler wrote shows for theCotton Club, a popularHarlem night club, as well as forBroadway musicals andHollywood films.[2] Arlen and Koehler's partnership resulted in a number of hit songs, including the familiar standards "Let's Fall in Love" and "Stormy Weather".[2] For their last show at the Cotton Club Parade in 1934, he andTed Koehler wrote "Ill Wind (You're Blowin' Me No Good)", with lyrics by Koehler and sung byAdelaide Hall[6] Arlen continued to perform as a pianist and vocalist with some success, most notably on records withLeo Reisman's society dance orchestra.
In the mid-1930s, Arlen married, and spent increasing time in California, writing for movie musicals. It was at this time that he began working with lyricistE. Y. "Yip" Harburg.[2] He signed withSamuel Goldwyn in 1935 to write songs for the filmStrike Me Pink.[citation needed] In 1938, the team was hired byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer to compose songs forThe Wizard of Oz,[2] the most famous of which is "Over the Rainbow", for which they won theAcademy Award for Best Music, Original Song. They also wrote "Down with Love" (featured in the 1937 Broadway showHooray for What!), "Lydia the Tattooed Lady", forGroucho Marx inAt the Circus in 1939, and "Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe", forEthel Waters in the 1943 movieCabin in the Sky.[2] Arlen was a longtime friend and one-time roommate of actorRay Bolger, who starred inThe Wizard of Oz.
In the 1940s, he teamed up with lyricistJohnny Mercer, and continued to write hit songs like "Blues in the Night", "Out of this World", "That Old Black Magic", "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive", "Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home", "Come Rain or Come Shine" and "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)".[2] In 1949, he collaborated with Ralph Blane to write the score forMy Blue Heaven. The following year, he and Mercer worked on the filmThe Petty Girl, out of which came the song "Fancy Free". He worked withDorothy Fields on the 1952 filmThe Farmer Takes a Wife.[citation needed] Arlen composed two of the defining songs ofJudy Garland's career: "Over the Rainbow" and "The Man That Got Away", the last written for the 1954 version of the filmA Star Is Born.[2] At her famous1961 Carnegie Hall concert, after finishing a set of his songs, Garland acknowledged Arlen in the audience and invited him to receive an ovation.[citation needed]
In 1962, he wrote the score for the animated musicalGay Purr-ee, with lyrics byE.Y. Harburg.[citation needed] Arlen recorded his debut album as a vocalist,Harold Sings Arlen (With Friend), in 1966.Barbra Streisand accompanied him on two songs.[7] The theme song for theABCsitcomPaper Moon is based on the song of that title, written by Arlen and Harburg in 1932. The series was based on a 1973Peter Bogdanovichfilm of the same name, which used the same song.[citation needed] He was inducted into theAmerican Theater Hall of Fame in 1979.[8]
Arlen andAnya Taranda married on January 6, 1937, over the objection of their parents, because she wasGentile and he was Jewish.[9] Arlen's father died in 1953.[citation needed] In 1951, Anya was institutionalized for seven years. Coming home the same year that Celia Arluk (Harold's mother) had died,[9] she was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 1969, which became fatal by 1970.[10]
Arlen never remarried. He died of cancer on April 23, 1986, at his Manhattan apartment at the age of eighty-one.[10][11][12] Arlen is buried next to his wife at theFerncliff Cemetery inHartsdale, New York. After Arlen's death,Irving Berlin summed up his life at a tribute, saying: "He wasn't as well known as some of us, but he was a better songwriter than most of us and he will be missed by all of us."[13]
Shortly before his death, Arlen adopted his own nephew, Samuel, the 22-year-old adult son of his brother Julius "Jerry" Arluck; his estate would have an heir in order to extend his copyright.[14][1] Known as Samuel Arlen, he is a musician in his own right, as both a saxophonist as well as a music publisher;[15] his control extends to the company that owns the rights to the Arlen catalog.
... In November 1958, Arlen's mother, Celia Arluck, died. Shortly thereafter, perhaps not coincidentally, Anya Arlen came home ...
... Harold Arlen adopted Samuel as his own son, though Jerry Arlen was still alive ...
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