Jimmy Van Heusen | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Van Heusen playing the piano | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Edward Chester Babcock |
| Born | (1913-01-26)January 26, 1913 Syracuse, New York, U.S. |
| Died | February 6, 1990(1990-02-06) (aged 77) Rancho Mirage, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Popular music |
| Occupation(s) | Songwriter,pianist |
| Years active | Mid 1930s–late 1970s |
James Van Heusen (bornEdward Chester Babcock; January 26, 1913 – February 6, 1990[1]) was an Americancomposer. He wrote songs for films, television, andtheater, and won anEmmy and fourAcademy Awards for Best Original Song.[2] Many of his compositions later went on to becomejazz standards.
Born inSyracuse, New York, Edward Chester Babcock began writing music while in high school. He renamed himself to Jimmy Van Heusen at age 16, after the shirt makersPhillips-Van Heusen, to use as his on-air name during local shows. His close friends called him "Chet".[3] Jimmy was raisedMethodist.[4]
Studying atCazenovia Seminary andSyracuse University, he became friends with Jerry Arlen, the younger brother ofHarold Arlen. With the elder Arlen's help, Van Heusen wrote songs for theCotton Club revue, including "Harlem Hospitality". He then became a staff pianist for some of theTin Pan Alley publishers, and wrote "It's the Dreamer in Me" (1938) with lyrics byJimmy Dorsey. Collaborating with lyricistEddie DeLange, on songs such as "Heaven Can Wait", "So Help Me", and "Darn That Dream", his work became more prolific, writing over 60 songs in 1940 alone. It was in 1940 that he teamed up with the lyricistJohnny Burke. Burke and Van Heusen moved toHollywood and wrote for stage musicals and films throughout the 1940s and early 1950s, winning anAcademy Award for Best Original Song for "Swinging on a Star" (1944). Their songs were featured in manyBing Crosby films of the era, including some of theRoad installments andA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949).
He also was a pilot of some accomplishment; he met Joe Hornsby, who worked for the FAA in Los Angeles CA (Hornsby was the son ofDan Hornsby and the father ofNikki Hornsby), because of his music career with his interest in flying. Joe Hornsby sponsored Jimmy into an exclusive pilots club called theQuiet Birdmen which held meetings atProud Bird restaurant at LAX; this friendship endured until Hornsby and his wife Dorothea died in short succession the late 1970s. He remained close friend with Nikki Hornsby until his own death. Using his birth name, Van Heusen also worked as a part-timetest pilot forLockheed Corporation duringWorld War II.
Van Heusen then teamed up with lyricistSammy Cahn. Their three Academy Awards for Best Song were won for "All the Way" (1957) fromThe Joker Is Wild, "High Hopes" (1959) fromA Hole in the Head, and "Call Me Irresponsible" (1963) fromPapa's Delicate Condition. Their songs were also featured inOcean's Eleven (1960), which includedDean Martin's version of "Ain't That a Kick in the Head", and inRobin and the 7 Hoods (1964), in whichFrank Sinatra sang the Oscar-nominated "My Kind of Town".
Cahn and Van Heusen also wrote "Love and Marriage" (1955), "To Love and Be Loved", "Come Fly with Me", "Only the Lonely", and "Come Dance with Me" with many of their compositions being the title songs forFrank Sinatra's albums of the late 1950s.
Van Heusen wrote the music for fiveBroadwaymusicals:Swingin' the Dream (1939);Nellie Bly (1946),Carnival in Flanders (1953),Skyscraper (1965), andWalking Happy (1966). While Van Heusen did not achieve nearly the success on Broadway that he did in Hollywood, at least two songs from Van Heusen musicals can legitimately be considered standards:[3] "Darn That Dream" fromSwingin' the Dream; "Here's That Rainy Day" fromCarnival in Flanders.
He became an inductee of theSongwriters Hall of Fame in 1971.[5]
Van Heusen composed over 1000 songs of which 50 songs became standards. Van Heusen songs are featured in over five hundred and eighty films.
Van Heusen was known to be quite popular among women.James Kaplan in his bookFrank: The Voice (2010) wrote, "He played piano beautifully, wrote gorgeously poignant songs about romance...he had a fat wallet, he flew his own plane; he never went home alone." Van Heusen was once described byAngie Dickinson, "You would not pick him overClark Gable any day, but his magnetism was irresistible."[6] In his 20s he began to shave his head when he started losing his hair, a practice ahead of its time. He once said "I would rather write songs than do anything else – even fly." Kaplan also reported that he was a "hypochondriac of the first order" who kept aMerck manual at his bedside, injected himself with vitamins and painkillers, and had surgical procedures for ailments real and imagined.[6]
I took song writing seriously when I discovered girls.[7]
It was Van Heusen who rushed Sinatra to the hospital after Sinatra, in despair over the breakup of his marriage toAva Gardner, slashed one of his wrists in asuicide attempt in November 1953.[8] However, this event was never mentioned by Van Heusen in any radio or print interviews given by him. Van Heusen himself married for the first time in 1969, at age 56, to Bobbe Brock, originally one of theBrox Sisters and widow of the late producerBill Perlberg.
Van Heusen retired in the late 1970s and died in 1990 inRancho Mirage, California, from complications following a stroke at the age of 77.[9] His wife, Bobbe, survived him. Van Heusen is buried near the Sinatra family inDesert Memorial Park, inCathedral City, California.[1][10] His grave marker readsSwinging on a Star.[11]
Van Heusen was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Song 14 times in 12 different years (in both 1945 and 1964 he was nominated for two songs), and won four times: in 1944, 1957, 1959, and 1963.[2]
He won oneEmmy Award for Best Musical Contribution, for the song "Love and Marriage" (1955) (lyrics bySammy Cahn), written for the 1955Producers' Showcase production ofOur Town.[12]
He was nominated for aGrammy Award in 1965 for Best Musical Score Written for a Motion Picture or TV show forRobin and the Seven Hoods.
He was also nominated for three Tony awards:
He was nominated three times for aGolden Globe Award.
He won aChristopher Award in 1955 for the song "Love and Marriage".
