Broadway Composers: Kalmar and Ruby

Kalmar and Ruby are another famous songwriting team of the first half of the 20th Century. The team consisted of lyricist Bert Kalmar and composer Harry Ruby. Bert Kalmar was born on February 10, 1884 in New York City. Harry Ruby was also born in New York City, on October 29, 1895.  Both men began Read More

Broadway Composers: Kern and Hammerstein

Just as Richard Rodgers was part of the Rodgers and Hart collaboration, prior before he joined Oscar Hammerstein, so was Hammerstein part of a writing partnership also. Kern and Hammerstein was a duo that consisted of Jerome Kern as the composer and Oscar Hammerstein II as the lyricist. They are best known for their book Read More

Broadway Composers: Rodgers and Hart

Long before there was Rodgers and Hammerstein, there was Rodgers and Hart. The duo consisted of composer Richard Rogers and lyricist Lorenz Hart.  They worked together on 28 stage musicals and more than 500 songs from 1919 until Hart’s death in 1943. Rodgers and Hart first met when they were both students at Columbia University Read More

Profile of a Composer: George Gershwin

George Gershwin is known for his orchestral compositions such as Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris and the opera Porgy and Bess. George Jacob Gershwine was born on September 26,1898 in New York City.  He was the son of Moishe and Roza Bruskina Gershowitz.   The Gershowitz name was soon Americanized to Gershwine. George had Read More

Broadway Players: Florenz Ziegfeld

If you’ve heard of the Ziegfeld follies than you at least have an idea of the man behind the famed group. He is considered to have “glorified of the American girl.” Florenz Edward Ziegfeld, Jr. was born on March 21, 1867 in Chicago, Illinois.  He was the son of Florenz and Rosalie Hez Ziegfeld. He Read More

Profile of a Composer: Cole Porter

Anyone that is a fan of Frank Sinatra or the music of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s will recognize songs by the talented composer and songwriter Cole Porter. His songs include I’ve Got You Under My Skin, I Get a Kick Out of You, You’re the Top, Night and Day, Begin the Beguine, Anything Goes, Read More

Profile of a Composer: Jerome Kern

Before Rodgers and Hammerstein changed the book of the musical theatre, Kern and Hammerstein created that book with the production of Show Boat. But, who was the Kern in the duo? Jerome David Kern was born on January 27, 1885 in New York to Henry and Fannie Kakeles Kern. From a young age, Kern is Read More

Profile of a Composer: Lorenz Hart

Before there was Rodgers and Hammerstein there was Rodgers and Hart.  But, who is the Hart in Rodgers and Hart. The Hart is Lorenz Milton Hart.  You’ve probably heard of some of the songs he wrote with Richard Rodgers.  Songs such as Blue Moon, The Lady is a Tramp, Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, My Funny Read More

A Perfect Day

A Perfect Day was written by Carrie Smith-Bond, also known as the author of I Love You Truly. A Perfect Day was another hit for Bond.  The story of A Perfect Day is interesting. While traveling in California around 1909, Carrie stopped by at the Mission Inn in Riverside, California. In her own words: “..while dressing for Read More

Carrie Jacobs-Bond Triumphed over Tragedy

We recently looked at the song I Love You Truly.  However, the author has an interesting life worth reviewing in her own right.   Carrie was born on August 11, 1862, during the midst of the Civil War.  She was born in a brick house in Janesville, Wisconsin. By a young age she could pick Read More