Hoagy Carmichael | |
|---|---|
 Carmichael in 1947 | |
| Born | Hoagland Howard Carmichael[1] (1899-11-22)November 22, 1899 Bloomington, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | December 27, 1981(1981-12-27) (aged 82) |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1918–1981 |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | Musical films, popular songs, Country-western music |
| Instruments |
|
Musical artist | |
| Website | hoagy |
Hoagland Howard Carmichael (November 22, 1899 – December 27, 1981) was an American musician, composer, songwriter, actor, author and lawyer. Carmichael was one of the most successfulTin Pan Alley songwriters of the 1930s and 1940s, and was among the first singer-songwriters in the age of mass media to use new communication technologies such asold-time radio broadcasts,television,microphones, andsound recordings (musical records).
Carmichael composed several hundred songs, including 50 that achieved hit record status. He is best known for composing four of the most-recorded American songs of all time: "Stardust" (1927), with lyrics byMitchell Parish, "Georgia on My Mind" (1930), with lyrics byStuart Gorrell, "The Nearness of You" (1937), with lyrics byNed Washington, and "Heart and Soul" (1938), with lyrics byFrank Loesser.[2]
He also collaborated with lyricist-songwriterJohnny Mercer (1909-1976), on "Lazybones" (1933), and later "Skylark" (1941). Carmichael's "Ole Buttermilk Sky" of 1946, was anAcademy Award nominee for an Oscar in the following year of March 1947, with the eponymous theme song from theWestern filmCanyon Passage (1946), starringDana Andrews,Brian Donlevy,Susan Hayward andWard Bond, in which he co-starred as a ukulele and guitar-playing balladeer musician and prospector-miner riding amule.
Four years later, "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," with lyrics byJohnny Mercer, won theAcademy Award for Best Original Song in 1951. Carmichael also appeared as a character actor and musical performer in 14 other films, hosted three musical-varietyradio programs, performed on television, and wrote two autobiographies or memoirs.
Hoagland Howard ("Hoagy") Carmichael was born inBloomington (Monroe County), in centralIndiana, on November 22, 1899. He was the first child and only son of Howard Clyde and Lida Mary (Robison) Carmichael. His parents named him after acircus troupe called the "Hoaglands" that had stayed at the Carmichael house during his mother's pregnancy.[3][4] Howard worked as ahorse-drawn taxi driver and later as anelectrician, while Lida, a versatile pianist, played musical accompaniment at localnickelodeons andsilent movie theaters and private parties to earn extra income.[5] Hoagy had two younger sisters, Georgia and Joanne.[6]
Because of Howard's unstable job history, the family moved frequently. Hoagy lived most of his early years inBloomington, thecounty seat of surroundingMonroe County, Indiana. Bloomington was also acollege town (for the main campus ofIndiana University) and the nearbystate capital town ofIndianapolis, Indiana.[5] In 1910, the Carmichaels moved far northwest toMissoula, Montana, when young Hoagland was about 11 years old.[7]
Carmichael's mother taught him to sing and play the piano at an early age. With the exception of somepiano lessons in nearby Indianapolis withReginald DuValle (1893-1953), a bandleader, pianist andaccordion-player, known later as "the elder statesman of Indianajazz" and billed as "the Rhythm King", Carmichael had no other academic or professional musical training.[8]
The family moved back east to Indianapolis when Carmichael was age 17 in 1916, but Carmichael only followed and returned to Bloomington three years later in 1919 when he was age 20 to complete high school.[6] For musical inspiration, Carmichael would listen to prominentragtime music pianistsHank Wells andHube Hanna. At 18, Carmichael helped supplement his family's meager income by doing manual jobs in building construction, or at abicycle chain factory, and in a meatslaughterhouse. This bleak time was partially relieved bypiano duets with his mother and by his long friendship with local musician-bandleader DuValle, who taught him piano-jazz improvisation.[9] Carmichael earned $5 playing at a collegefraternity dance at nearby Indiana University in 1918, marking the beginning of his professional musical career.[10]
The death of Carmichael's three-year-old younger sister in 1918 (possibly from the world-wide infamousSpanish flu pandemic of 1918-1923) affected him deeply. He later wrote "My sister Joanne—the victim of poverty. We couldn't afford a good doctor or good attention, and that's when I vowed I would never be broke again in my lifetime."[11]
Carmichael attended the nearby campus of theIndiana University at Bloomington, where he earned a bachelor of arts academic degree in 1925 and a subsequentlaw degree in 1926. He was a member ofKappa Sigma fraternity, and played the piano around Indiana andOhio with his recently organized band, "Carmichael's Collegians".[8][12]
Around 1922, Carmichael first metLeon ("Bix") Beiderbecke (1903-1931), acornetist and sometime pianist fromIowa. The two became friends and played music together. Around 1923, during a visit to Chicago, Beiderbecke introduced Carmichael to fellow musician trumpeterLouis Armstrong (1901-1971), with whom Carmichael would later collaborate, while Armstrong was playing with Chicago-basedKing Oliver (1881-1938)'s Creole Jazz Band.[8][13][14] Armstrong would continue to influence Carmichael's compositions; Carmichael reflected in a letter to his wife in the early 1930s that he was going to see Armstrong to learn about the "purty notes."[15] Under Beiderbecke's influence, Carmichael began playing the cornet but found his lips unsuited to themouthpiece and soon stopped.[16] He was also inspired by Beiderbecke'simpressionistic and classical music ideas and influences from the master composers of previous centuries.
Carmichael's first recorded song, initially titled "Free Wheeling," was written for Beiderbecke, whose band,The Wolverines, recorded it as "Riverboat Shuffle" in 1924 forGennett Records inRichmond, Indiana. The song became a jazz staple. (Mitchell Parish's lyrics were added in 1939.)[17] Carmichael's other early musical compositions included "Washboard Blues" and "Boneyard Shuffle," whichCurtis Hitch and his band, "Hitch's Happy Harmonists", recorded at theGennett Records studio in Richmond.[13] The band's instrumental rendition of "Washboard Blues," recorded on May 19, 1925, was the earliest recording in which Carmichael performed his own songs, including an improvised piano solo.[18][19]
After graduating from IU's law school in 1926, Carmichael moved to Florida, where he worked as alegal clerk in aWest Palm Beach legal firm, but he returned to Indiana in 1927 after failing the Floridabar exam.[20] He joined an Indianapolis law firm (Bingham, Mendenhall and Bingham) and passed the Indiana bar, but devoted most of his energies to music.[21][22] Carmichael had discovered his method of songwriting, which he described later: "You don't write melodies, you find them…If you find the beginning of a good song, and if your fingers do not stray, the melody should come out of hiding in a short time."[23]
Carmichael composed several hundred songs, including fifty that achieved hit-record status during his long career.[4] In his early days as a songwriter inIndiana (1924–1929), he wrote and performed in theHot Jazz improvisational style, popular with jazz dance bands. While he was living in New York City (1929–1936), he wrote songs that were intended to stand alone, independent of any other production, such as a theatrical performance or a motion picture. Carmichael's songs from this period continued to include jazz influences. During his later years in California (1936–1981), his songs were predominatelyinstrumentals. Nearly four dozen were written expressly for, or were incorporated into, motion pictures.[24]
Carmichael made hundreds of recordings between 1925 and his death in 1981. He also appeared on radio and television and in motion pictures and live performances, where he demonstrated his versatility. Because Carmichael lacked the vocal strength to sing without amplification on stage, as well as the unusual tone of his voice, which he described as "flatsy through the nose," he took advantage of new electrical technologies, especially the microphone, sound amplification, and advances in recording. As a singer-pianist, Carmichael was adept at selling his songs to lyricists,music publishers, film producers, and promoting them to the public via microphones on stage and in mass media.[25]
On October 31, 1927, Carmichael recorded "Star Dust," one of his most famous songs, at theGennett Records studio inRichmond, Indiana, playing the piano solo himself.[26] Carmichael recruitedFrank Trumbauer and Bix Beiderbecke, along with members of thePaul Whiteman Orchestra that included the Dorsey brothers, to play at the late October recording session with him; it is not known which of the orchestra's musicians were at the October 31 session when "Star Dust" was initially recorded.[27][28] New York'sMills Music published the song as an upbeat piano solo in January 1929 and renamed it "Stardust." (Mills Music republished the song with the addition of Mitchell Parish's lyrics in May 1929.)[29] "Stardust" attracted little attention until 1930, whenIsham Jones and his orchestra recorded it as a sentimental ballad with a slower tempo, the re-timing often credited to the band's arranger,Victor Young. It became a hit song, the first of many for Carmichael.[26][30] Its idiosyncratic melody in medium tempo–a song about a song–later became a standard of theGreat American Songbook, recorded by hundreds of artists, includingArtie Shaw,Nat King Cole,Ella Fitzgerald,Frank Sinatra,Willie Nelson, andWynton Marsalis.[31][32][33]
Carmichael received more recognition after Paul Whiteman and his orchestra recorded "Washboard Blues" onVictor Records in Chicago in November 1927, with Carmichael singing and playing the piano.[34][35] Carmichael's "March of the Hoodlums" and Sheldon Brooks's "Walkin' the Dog" were produced from Carmichael's last recording session at the Gennett Records studio on May 2, 1928, with a band he had hand-selected.[36]
In 1929, after realizing that he preferred making music and had no aptitude for or interest in becoming a lawyer (he was sacked from his job at the law firm), Carmichael moved to New York City, where he worked for a brokerage firm during the weekdays and spent his evenings composing music, including some songs forHollywood musicals.[37] In New York, Carmichael metDuke Ellington's agent andsheet music publisher,Irving Mills, and hired him to set up recording dates. Carmichael's first major song with his own lyrics was "Rockin' Chair," recorded byLouis Armstrong andMildred Bailey, and eventually with his own hand-picked studio band (featuring Beiderbecke,Bubber Miley,Benny Goodman,Tommy Dorsey,Bud Freeman,Eddie Lang,Joe Venuti, andGene Krupa) on May 21, 1930.[38]
After theOctober 1929 stock market crash, Carmichael's hard-earned savings declined substantially. Fortunately, Louis Armstrong had recorded "Rockin' Chair" atOkeh studios in 1929, giving Carmichael a badly needed financial and career boost. The song became one of Carmichael's jazz standards.[39][40] Carmichael composed and recorded "Georgia on My Mind" (lyrics byStuart Gorrell) in 1930. The song became another jazz staple, as well as a pop standard, especially afterWorld War II.[41] Carmichael also arranged and recorded "Up a Lazy River" in 1930, a tune bySidney Arodin. Although Carmichael and the band he assembled had first recorded "Stardust" as an instrumental in 1927,Bing Crosby recorded the tune with Mitchell Parish's lyrics in 1931.[42]
Carmichael joinedASCAP in 1931. The following year he began working as a songwriter forRalph Peer's Southern Music Company, the first music firm to occupy the newBrill Building, which became a famous New York songwriting mecca. TheGreat Depression rapidly put an end to the jazz scene of theRoaring Twenties. People were no longer attending clubs or buying music, forcing many musicians out of work. Carmichael was fortunate to retain his low-paying but stable job as a songwriter with Southern Music. Beiderbecke's early death in 1931 also darkened Carmichael's mood.[43] Of that time, he wrote later: "I was tiring of jazz and I could see that other musicians were tiring as well. The boys were losing their enthusiasm for the hot stuff…. No more hot licks, no more thrills."[44]
Carmichael's eulogy for "hot" jazz, however, was premature.Big bandswing was just around the corner, and jazz soon turned in another direction with new bandleaders, such asBenny Goodman,Jimmy andTommy Dorsey, and new singers, such asBing Crosby, leading the way. Carmichael's output followed the changing trend. In 1933 he began a long-lasting collaboration with lyricistJohnny Mercer, newly arrived in New York, on "Lazybones," which became a hit.Southern Music published the sheet music in 1933; more than 350,000 copies were sold in three months.[42][45] Carmichael collaborated with Mercer on nearly three dozen songs,[22] including "Thanksgiving," "Moon Country," and the 1951Academy Award-winner for best song, "In the Cool, Cool, Cool, of the Evening."[46]
Carmichael also began to emerge as a solo singer-performer, first at parties, then professionally. He described his unique, laconic voice as sounding "the way a shaggy dog looks... I have Wabash fog and sycamore twigs in my throat."[47] Some fans were dismayed as he steadily veered away from "hot" jazz, but Armstrong's recordings continued to "jazz up" Carmichael's popular songs. In 1935 Carmichael left Southern Music Company and began composing songs for a division ofWarner Brothers, establishing his connection withHollywood. "Moonburn," the first song Carmichael wrote for a motion picture, was sung by Bing Crosby in Paramount Pictures' filmAnything Goes in 1936.[42]
Following his marriage to Ruth Mary Meinardi, the daughter of aPresbyterian minister, on March 14, 1936, the couple moved to California, where Carmichael hoped to find more work in the film industry.[48] In 1937, the year before the birth of the couple's first son, Hoaglund Jr. (Hoagy Bix), Carmichael accepted a contract withParamount Pictures for $1,000 a week, joining other songwriters working for the Hollywood studios, includingHarry Warren at Warner Brothers,E. Y. Harburg atMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer, andRalph Rainger andLeo Robin at Paramount.[49][50]
Carmichael found work as a character actor in Hollywood. His on-screen debut occurred in 1937 inTopper, withCary Grant andConstance Bennett. Carmichael portrayed a piano player and performed his song "Old Man Moon" in the film.[43] The effort led to other character actor roles in the 1940s.[51]
Carmichael also continued to write individual songs. His song "Chimes of Indiana" was presented to Indiana University, Carmichael's alma mater, in 1937 as a gift from the class of 1935.[52][53] In 1938, Carmichael collaborated with Paramount lyricistFrank Loesser on "Heart and Soul," "Two Sleepy People," and "Small Fry." "Heart and Soul" was included in Paramount's motion pictureA Song Is Born (1938), performed by Larry Clinton and his orchestra. (After 1950, a simpler version became a popular piano duet among American children.)Dick Powell premiered Carmichael's "I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes)" in a national radio broadcast in 1938.[54]
"Little Old Lady," included inThe Show Is On (1936), was Carmichael's first song to appear in aBroadway musical and became a hit,[50] but Carmichael's score for the Broadway productionWalk with Music, which he did with Mercer, was unsuccessful. The musical opened in 1940 and ran for only three weeks,[43] producing no hit songs. Carmichael never attempted another musical, resuming his career as a singer-songwriter and character actor in Hollywood.[55]
The growing Carmichael family, which included Hoagy, Ruth, and their sons, Hoagy Bix (born in 1938) and Randy Bob (born in 1940), moved into the former mansion of chewing-gum heirWilliam P. Wrigley Jr. in Los Angeles in 1942, when the United States entered World War II after theattack on Pearl Harbor.[56] His contribution to the war effort was similar to other patriotic efforts byIrving Berlin ("This Is the Army, Mr. Jones"), Johnny Mercer ("G.I. Jive"), andFrank Loesser ("Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition"). Carmichael's wartime songs (most with lyrics byPaul Francis Webster) included "My Christmas Song for You," "Don't Forget to Say 'No' Baby," "Billy-a-Dick," "The Army of Hippocrates," "Cranky Old Yank," "Eager Beaver," "No More Toujours l'Amour," "Morning Glory," and the never-completed "Hitler Blues."[57]
Throughout the 1940s Carmichael maintained a strong personal and professional relationship with Mercer. In later 1941 their continuing collaboration led to "Skylark," considered one of Carmichael's greatest songs. Bing Crosby recorded it almost immediately in January 1942. Since then many others have recorded the song, includingGlenn Miller,Dinah Shore,Helen Forrest (withHarry James),[58] Aretha Franklin andBette Midler.
Carmichael's 1942 song "I'm a Cranky Old Yank" was listed in the 1967 edition of theGuinness Book of Records under the title "I'm a Cranky Old Yank in a Clanky Old Tank on the Streets of Yokohama with My Honolulu Mama Doin' Those Beat-o, Beat-o Flat-On-My-Seat-o, Hirohito Blues" as the longest song title.[59]
Carmichael appeared as an actor in 14 motion pictures, performing at least one of his songs in each. He described his on-screen persona as the "hound-dog-faced old musical philosopher noodling on the honky-tonk piano, saying to a tart with a heart of gold: 'He'll be back, honey. He's all man.'"[60] In 1944 Carmichael played Cricket in the screen adaptation ofErnest Hemingway'sTo Have and Have Not, oppositeHumphrey Bogart andLauren Bacall. He sang "Hong Kong Blues" and "The Rhumba Jumps," and played piano as Bacall sang "How Little We Know." In the multi-Academy Award-winning filmThe Best Years of Our Lives (1946) withDana Andrews,Myrna Loy andFredric March, Carmichael's character teaches a disabled veteran with metal prostheses to play "Chopsticks," and also performs "Lazy River."[61] Carmichael played Hi Linnett inCanyon Passage (1946), aUniversal Pictures western that starredDana Andrews (his costar inThe Best Years of Our Lives andNight Song),Susan Hayward, andBrian Donlevy. He also composed several songs for the film, including "Ole Buttermilk Sky," anAcademy Award nominee.[62]
Carmichael's career as a recording artist peaked in the mid-1940s when he recorded exclusively forDecca Records andV-Disc (the Armed Forces label for service personnel overseas), acted and performed in motion pictures, and hosted variety shows on the radio. He also sang in live shows across the United States, and debuted in the United Kingdom at theLondon Casino in 1948.[55] According to his son Randy, Carmichael was an incessant composer, working on a song for days or even weeks until it was perfect. His perfectionism extended to his clothes, grooming, and eating. Once the work was done, however, Carmichael would cut loose—relax, play golf, drink, and indulge in the Hollywood high life.[63] Carmichael also found time to write his first autobiography,The Stardust Road, published in 1946.[64] In addition, Carmichael composed an orchestral work,Brown County in Autumn, in 1948, but it was not well received by critics.[55]
Between 1944 and 1948, Carmichael became a well-known radio personality and hosted three musical-variety programs. In 1944–45, the 30-minuteTonight at Hoagy's aired onMutual radio on Sunday nights at 8:30 p.m. (Pacific time), sponsored by Safeway supermarkets. Produced by Walter Snow, the show featured Carmichael as host and vocalist. Musicians includedPee Wee Hunt andJoe Venuti. Fans were rather blunt about Carmichael's singing, providing comments such as "you cannot sing for your soul" and "your singing is so delightfully awful that it is really funny."[65]
During the 1950s, the public's musical preferences shifted toward rhythm and blues and rock and roll, ending the careers of most older artists. Carmichael's songwriting career also slowed down, but he continued to perform.[51]
In the early 1950s, variety shows were particularly popular on television. Carmichael's most notable appearance was as the host ofSaturday Night Review in June 1953, a summer replacement series forYour Show of Shows.[55][66] He was also a regular cast member in the first season of NBC's western TV seriesLaramie (1959–63), playing the character role of Jonesy the ranch hand.[55]
As his songwriting career started to fade, Carmichael's marriage also dissolved. He and his wife Ruth divorced in 1955.[67]
TheJohnny Appleseed Suite, Carmichael's second classical work for orchestra, suffered the same ill fate as his earlier attempt,Brown County Autumn. The suite received little notice and only limited success,[55] but Carmichael remained financially secure due to the royalties from his past hits. During the 1940s and 1950s Carmichael also wrote more than a dozen songs for children, including "The Whale Song," "Merry-Go-Round," and "Rocket Ship."[68]
Ray Charles's classic rendition of "Georgia on My Mind," released on August 19, 1960, was a major hit. (Charles receivedGrammys both for Best Male Vocal and Best Popular Single that year.)[69] In 1961, Carmichael was featured in an episode ofThe Flintstones titled "The Hit Songwriters."[70]Jerry Lee Lewis recorded "Hong Kong Blues" during his finalSun sessions in 1963, but it was never released.[71] In 1964, whilethe Beatles were exploding on the scene, Carmichael lamented, "I'll betcha I have 25 songs lying in my trunk" and no one was calling to say "have you got a real good song for such-and such an artist."[72] (Beatles guitaristGeorge Harrison released covers of "Baltimore Oriole" and "Hong Kong Blues" in early 1981.)[73] Royalties on his standards were earning Carmichael over $300,000 a year.[74]
Carmichael's second memoir,Sometimes I Wonder: The Story of Hoagy Carmichael, was published in 1965.[75] By 1967 he was spending time in New York, but his new songs were unsuccessful and his musical career came to a close. Carmichael took up other interests in retirement, including golf, coin collecting, and enjoying his two homes, one onSunset Boulevard in Los Angeles and the other inRancho Mirage, California.[51]
As he passed his 70th birthday, Carmichael's star continued to wane and was nearly forgotten in a world dominated by rock music. With the help and encouragement of his son, Hoagy Bix Carmichael, Carmichael participated in thePBS television showHoagy Carmichael's Music Shop, which featured jazz-rock versions of his hits byStark Reality. He appeared onFred Rogers's PBS showOld Friends, New Friends in 1978.[76] With more time on his hands, Carmichael resumed painting, and after a long courtship he marriedDorothy Wanda McKay, an actress, in 1977.[55]
Carmichael received several honors from the music industry in his later years. He was inducted into the USA'sSongwriters Hall of Fame in 1971, along withDuke Ellington.[77] In 1972, Indiana University awarded Carmichael an honorary doctorate in music.[55][78] On June 27, 1979, theNewport Jazz Festival honored Carmichael's 80th birthday with a concert titled "The Stardust Road: A Hoagy Carmichael Jubilee" inCarnegie Hall.[55] The tribute concert was hosted by former bandleaderBob Crosby and included performances by many major musical performers, such as singersKay Starr,Jackie Cain,Dave Frishberg, andMax Morath, and musiciansBilly Butterfield,Bob Wilber,Yank Lawson,Vic Dickenson, andBob Haggart.National Public Radio broadcast the concert later that summer. "Piano Pedal Rag," a new Carmichael tune, was performed during the concert. Carmichael told host Crosby that he wrote it because he admired Beiderbecke's writing "so much that I didn't want to stop until I wrote something that was a little bit like something Bix might have liked."[79]
On his 80th birthday, Carmichael was reflective, observing, "I'm a bit disappointed in myself. I know I could have accomplished a hell of a lot more... I could write anything any time I wanted to. But I let other things get in the way.... I've been floating around in the breeze."[80] He spent his final years at home inRancho Mirage, nearPalm Springs, California, where he continued to play golf and remained an avid coin collector.[55]
Shortly before his death in 1981, Carmichael appeared on a United Kingdom-recorded tribute album,In Hoagland (1981), withAnnie Ross andGeorgie Fame. Carmichael sang and played "Rockin' Chair" on the piano. His last public appearance occurred in early 1981, when he filmedCountry Comes Home with country music performerCrystal Gayle for CBS.[81]
According to his biographer, Carmichael had supported theRepublican Party since his youth, and did so throughout his life.[82] He voted forWendell Willkie at the1940 presidential election, and backedBarry Goldwater, the party's candidate, at the1964 United States presidential election.[82][83]
Carmichael marriedWanda McKay in 1977. He died of a heart attack at the Eisenhower Medical Center inRancho Mirage, California, on December 27, 1981, at age 82. His remains are buried in Rose Hill Cemetery inBloomington, Indiana.[84][85][86][87]
Carmichael is considered to be among the most successful of theTin Pan Alley songwriters of the 1930s, and he was among the first singer-songwriters in the age of mass media to exploit new communication technologies, such as television and the use of electronic microphones and sound recordings.[88] Carmichael was an industry trailblazer who recorded varied interpretations of his own songs and provided material for many other musicians to interpret. His creative work includes several hundred compositions, some of them enduring classics, as well as numerous sound recordings and appearances on radio and television and in motion pictures.[89]
Music historian Ivan Raykoff described Carmichael as "one of America's most prolific songwriters" and an "iconic pianist" whose work appeared in more than a dozen Hollywood films, including his performances in classic films such asTo Have and Have Not andThe Best Years of Our Lives. Among the hundreds of Carmichael's published songs, "Stardust" is one of the most frequently recorded.[90] Carmichael's greatest strength was as a melodist,[55] but he also became known as an "experimental" and "innovative" songwriter, whose "catchy, often jazz-infused, melodies" and "nostalgic, down-home lyrics"[51] were memorable and had wide public appeal, especially with mass media promotion and through the efforts of numerous entertainers who performed his songs.[91]
In 1986, Carmichael's family donated his archives, piano, and memorabilia to his alma mater, Indiana University, which established a Hoagy Carmichael Collection in its Archives of Traditional Music and the Hoagy Carmichael Room to permanently display selections from the collection.[51][92] Carmichael was an avid coin collector; his coin collection was auctioned off on January 27 and 28, 1986 at theCentury Plaza Hotel.[93][94]
Carmichael and lyricist Johnny Mercer received an Academy Award for Best Music, Song, for "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," which was featured in the 1951 filmHere Comes the Groom. "Ole Buttermilk Sky" received anOscar nomination for Best Music, Song, of 1946, but it was not the winner.[95][96] Carmichael's recording of "Star Dust" in 1927 at the Gennett Records studio that includes him playing the piano solo was inducted into theGrammy Hall of Fame. In addition, it was selected for inclusion in theNational Recording Registry at theLibrary of Congress in 2004.[8][97]
Carmichael was inducted into theHollywood Walk of Fame on February 8, 1960. (His sidewalk star tribute is located at 1720 Vine Street in Hollywood.)[98] In 1971 Carmichael was inducted into theSongwriters Hall of Fame as one of its initial ten inductees.[43] In 2007 Carmichael was inducted into the Gennett RecordsWalk of Fame in Richmond, Indiana. Bronze and ceramic medallions, one for each of the inductees, have been placed near the location of the Starr Piano Company's manufacturing complex.[99]
Carmichael is memorialized with an Indiana statehistorical marker, installed in 2007 in front of the former Book Nook (one of Carmichael's favorite local hangouts) on South Indiana Avenue, near the corner of Kirkwood and Indiana Streets in Bloomington. The marker is located across the street from the heart of the Indiana University campus.[100] In 2008, the bronze Hoagy Carmichael Landmark Sculpture by artist Michael McAuley was installed at the northeast corner of the IU Auditorium on IU's Bloomington campus.[101]
On June 27, 1979, the Newport Jazz Festival honored Carmichael with a tribute concert, "The Star Dust Road: A Hoagy Carmichael Jubilee," at New York City's Carnegie Hall.[43]
"Georgia On My Mind," composed by Carmichael with lyrics byStuart Gorrell, is the U.S. state ofGeorgia's official song.[102]
Carmichael also appeared as a Stone Age version of himself inThe Flintstones, in which he sings "The Yabba Dabba Doo Song," written by Barney, and based on an idea from Fred.[103][104] Fred, Barney, Wilma, and Betty also contribute to the lyrics.
InIan Fleming's firstJames Bond novel,Casino Royale, both Bond's fellow secret agentRené Mathis and his love interestVesper Lynd remark that Bond looks like Hoagy Carmichael. Later in the novel, after looking at his reflection in a mirror, Bond disagrees.[95][105] Ian Fleming repeated the comparison to Carmichael in his third James Bond novel,Moonraker.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1937 | Topper | Piano Player | Uncredited |
| 1944 | To Have and Have Not | Cricket | |
| 1945 | Johnny Angel | Celestial O'Brien | |
| 1946 | Canyon Passage | Hi Linnet | |
| 1946 | The Best Years of Our Lives | Uncle Butch Engle | |
| 1948 | Night Song | Chick Morgan | |
| 1949 | Johnny Holiday | Himself | |
| 1950 | Young Man with a Horn | Smoke Willoughby | |
| 1952 | The Las Vegas Story | Happy | |
| 1952 | Belles on Their Toes | Thomas George Bracken | |
| 1955 | Timberjack | Jingles | |
| 1959-1960 | Laramie | Jonesy | 31 episodes |
| 1961 | The Flintstones | Himself (voice) | "The Hit Songwriters" |
| 1965 | The Man Who Bought Paradise | Mr Leoni | TV movie |
| Year | Song[106] | Lyrics by |
|---|---|---|
| 1924 | "Riverboat Shuffle" | Carmichael, Dick Voynow,Irving Mills,Mitchell Parish |
| 1925 | "Washboard Blues" | Carmichael, Fred B. Callahan, Irving Mills |
| 1928 | "Stardust" | Mitchell Parish |
| 1929 | "Rockin' Chair" | Carmichael |
| 1930 | "Georgia on My Mind" | Stuart Gorrell |
| 1931 | "Come Easy Go Easy Love" | Sunny Clapp |
| 1931 | "(Up a) Lazy River" | Carmichael and Sidney Arodin |
| 1932 | "New Orleans" | Carmichael |
| 1932 | "Daybreak" | Carmichael |
| 1932 | "In the Still of the Night" | Jo Trent |
| 1933 | "Lazybones" | Carmichael andJohnny Mercer |
| 1933 | "One Morning in May" | Mitchell Parish |
| 1936 | "Little Old Lady" | Carmichael andStanley Adams |
| 1936 | "Lyin' to Myself" | Stanley Adams |
| 1936 | "Moonburn" | Edward Heyman |
| 1937 | "Old Man Moon" | Unknown |
| 1937 | "The Nearness of You" | Ned Washington |
| 1938 | "Heart and Soul" | Frank Loesser |
| 1938 | "Small Fry" | Frank Loesser |
| 1938 | "Two Sleepy People" | Frank Loesser |
| 1938 | "I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes)" | Jane Brown Thompson |
| 1939 | "Hong Kong Blues" | Carmichael |
| 1940 | "Can't Get Indiana Off My Mind" | Robert DeLeon |
| 1940 | "I Walk with Music" | Johnny Mercer |
| 1940 | "Way Back in 1939 A.D." | Johnny Mercer |
| 1941 | "Skylark" | Johnny Mercer |
| 1941 | "We're The Couple In The Castle" | Frank Loesser |
| 1942 | "Baltimore Oriole" | Paul Francis Webster |
| 1942 | "The Lamplighter's Serenade" | Paul Francis Webster |
| 1943 | "Old Music Master" | Johnny Mercer |
| 1945 | "Billy-a-Dick" | Paul Francis Webster |
| 1945 | "Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief" | Paul Francis Webster |
| 1945 | "Memphis in June" | Paul Francis Webster |
| 1946 | "Ole Buttermilk Sky" | Carmichael andJack Brooks |
| 1951 | "Who Killed the Black Widder" | Hoagy Carmichael,Janice Torre &Fred Spielman |
| 1951 | "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening" | Johnny Mercer |
| 1951 | "My Resistance Is Low" | Harold Adamson |
| 1952 | "Watermelon Weather" | Paul Francis Webster |
| 1953 | "Ain't There Anyone Here for Love?" | Harold Adamson |
| 1953 | "When Love Goes Wrong (Nothin' Goes Right)" | Harold Adamson |
Carmichael wrote two autobiographies thatDa Capo Press combined into a single volume for a paperback, published in 1999:[114]
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