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Lionel Bart | |
|---|---|
 Bart in 1973, byAllan Warren | |
| Born | Lionel Begleiter (1930-08-01)1 August 1930 |
| Died | 3 April 1999(1999-04-03) (aged 68) Acton, London, England |
| Burial place | Golders Green Crematorium, London, England |
| Occupations | Composer and writer |
| Years active | 1952–1999 |
Lionel Bart (1 August 1930 – 3 April 1999) was an English writer and composer of pop music and musicals. He wroteTommy Steele's "Rock with the Caveman" and was the sole creator of the musicalOliver! (1960). WithOliver! and his work alongside theatre directorJoan Littlewood atTheatre Royal, Stratford East, he played an instrumental role in the 1960s birth of the British musical theatre scene after an era when American musicals had dominated theWest End.[1]
Best known for creating the book, music and lyrics forOliver!, Bart was described byAndrew Lloyd Webber as "the father of the modern British musical".[1][2][3] In 1963 he won theTony Award for Best Original Score forOliver!, and the1968 film version of the musical won a total of six Academy Awards including theAcademy Award for Best Picture.[1]
Some of his other songs include the theme song to theJames Bond filmFrom Russia with Love, and the songs "Living Doll" byCliff Richard, "Far Away" byShirley Bassey, "Do You Mind?" (recorded by bothAnthony Newley andAndy Williams), "Big Time" (a 1961 cover byJack Jones of his show tune fromFings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be), "Easy Going Me" byAdam Faith, "Always You And Me" byRuss Conway, and several songs recorded byTommy Steele ("A Handful of Songs", "Butterfingers" and "Little White Bull").[1] By the mid 1960s, he was as well known for his outlandish lifestyle, his celebrity friends, his excesses and his parties, as he was for his work.
He was bornLionel Begleiter, the youngest of seven surviving children ofGalician Jews, Yetta (née Darumstundler) and Morris Begleiter, a master tailor.[4] He grew up inStepney; his father worked in the area as a tailor in a garden shed. The family had escaped the pogroms against Jews by Ukrainian cossacks inGalicia.
As a young man he was an accomplished painter. When Bart was aged six, a teacher told his parents that he was a musical genius. His parents gave him an old violin, but he did not apply himself and the lessons stopped.[citation needed]
He started his songwriting career in amateur theatre, first at The International Youth Centre in 1952 where he and a friend wrote a revue together calledIYC Revue 52. The following year the pair auditioned for a production of the Leonard Irwin playThe Wages of Eve at London'sUnity Theatre. Shortly afterward Bart began composing songs for Unity Theatre productions, contributing material (including the title song) to its 1953 revueTurn It Up, and songs for its 1953 pantomime, anagitprop version ofCinderella. While at the Unity he was talent-spotted byJoan Littlewood, and so joinedTheatre Workshop.[5] He also wrote comedy songs for the Sunday lunchtime BBC radio programmeThe Billy Cotton Band Show.[6]
He first gained widespread recognition through his pop songwriting, penning numerous hits for the stable of young male singers promoted by artist manager and music publisherLarry Parnes. Bart's pop output in this period includes the hits "Living Doll" (written forCliff Richard) and "Rock with the Caveman", "Handful of Songs", "Butterfingers" and "Little White Bull" (all forTommy Steele). During this period, Steele andMike Pratt were his songwriting partners. He won threeIvor Novello Awards in 1957, a further four in 1958, and two in 1960. He wrote the theme song for the 1963James Bond filmFrom Russia with Love, and worked withJohn Barry again on the score to the 1964 filmMan in the Middle. His other hits include "Do You Mind", recorded by bothAndy Williams andAnthony Newley, whose recording reached number one on the UK charts on 30 March 1960[7] and was the 100th song to do so, "Big Time" (a 1961 cover byJack Jones of his show tune fromFings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be), "Easy Going Me" (Adam Faith), and "Always You and Me" (withRuss Conway).
Bart was also responsible for the discovery of two of Parnes' biggest stars. It was on his recommendation that Parnes went to see singer Tommy Hicks, whom he signed and renamed Tommy Steele, and Bart also suggested that Parnes see singer Reg Smith, who was then performing at the Condor Club. Although Parnes missed his performance, he went round to Smith's house and signed him up on the basis of Bart's recommendation. Smith went on to score a number of UK hits under his new stage name,Marty Wilde.[8]
Twenty-seven years after it became a number one hit for Cliff Richard, "Living Doll" was re-recorded byThe Young Ones and Richard forComic Relief, and spent another three weeks at number one.[9]
Bart's first professional musical was 1959'sLock Up Your Daughters, based on the 18th-century playRape upon Rape byHenry Fielding. Following that,Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be, produced by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop, was noted for encouraging the use of authenticCockney accents on the London stage and bringing an end to censorship of British theatre.Oliver! (1960), based onDickens'sOliver Twist, was a major success. The music forOliver! was transcribed byEric Rogers, who wrote and composed 21 scores for theCarry On films. Bart hummed the melodies and Rogers wrote the notes on his behalf as Bart could not read or write music.[10]
In 1968Oliver! was made into a movie starringRon Moody,Oliver Reed andShani Wallis that won severalOscars, including best film. It is estimated that around this time Bart was earning 16pounds a minute fromOliver![11]
Bart's next two musicals,Blitz! (1962) (from which came the song "Far Away", a hit forShirley Bassey) andMaggie May (1964) had successful and respectable West End runs (Blitz!, at the time London's most expensive musical ever, had a run of 568 performances),[12] butTwang!! (1965), a musical based on theRobin Hood legend, was a flop andLa Strada (1969), which opened onBroadway after the removal of most of Bart's songs, closed after only one performance. By this time Bart was takingLSD and other drugs and was drinking heavily.[13]
Bart used his personal finances to try to rescue his last two productions, selling his past and future rights to his work, includingOliver! which he sold to the entertainerMax Bygraves for £350 (Bygraves later[when?] sold them on for £250,000)[14] to realise capital to finance the shows; Bart later estimated that this action lost him over £1 million.[13] By 1972, Bart was bankrupt with debts of £73,000. A twenty-year period of depression and alcoholism ensued. He eventually stopped drinking, although the years of substance abuse seriously damaged his health, leaving him with diabetes and impaired liver function.[13]
He wroteNext Year in Jerusalem in 1975–1976, but it was not staged until 2021 in a virtual performance at theJewish Music Institute featuringMaureen Lipman.[15] In May 1977, an autobiographical musical calledLionel! opened in theWest End at theNew London Theatre. It was loosely based on Bart's early life as a child prodigy. Bart added some new songs for the show. The cast includedClarke Peters,Marion Montgomery andAdrienne Posta. The role of Lionel was shared by a youngTodd Carty and Chris Nieto. The show closed after six weeks.[citation needed]
Bart continued writing songs and themes for films, but his only real success in his later years was "Happy Endings", a song he wrote for a 1989Abbey National advertising campaign, which featured Bart playing the piano and singing to children.[16]
He received a specialIvor Novello Award for life achievement in 1986. In 1987, encouraged by long-time friendBarry Humphries, he travelled to Australia to attend the opening of a new production ofBlitz!, which was then revived in London's West End in 1990 by the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the London blitz. In April 1991, he appeared onThis Is Your Life.[citation needed]Cameron Mackintosh, who owned half the rights toOliver!, revived the musical at theLondon Palladium in 1994 in a version featuring rewrites by Bart. Mackintosh gave Bart a share of the production royalties. At the peak of his career, Bart was romantically linked in the media with singersJudy Garland andAlma Cogan,[6] though he washomosexual. His sexual preferences were known to friends and colleagues, but he did not announce them publicly until a few years before his death.[13]
Bart died at theHammersmith Hospital in West London on 3 April 1999,[17] of liver cancer.[18] A memorial bench is dedicated to him inKew Gardens.[19]
A workshop of a musical based on Bart's life and using his songs,It's a Fine Life, was staged in 2006 at theQueen's Theatre, Hornchurch.[20] A later version titledMore! was presented in concert at Theatre Royal Stratford East in 2015 featuringNeil McDermott as Bart,Jessica Hynes as Joan Littlewood and Sonny Jay as Charlene, with an appearance by 1960s pop-starGrazina Frame, who was an original cast member in Bart'sBlitz!.[citation needed]
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