Harold Arlen

Harold Arlen

  • Birthday: 1905-02-15
  • Deathday: 1986-04-23
  • Place of birth: Buffalo, New York, USA

Biography

No American has written more first-rate songs than Arlen. He grew up in a musical family (his father was a cantor), and disappointed but didn't surprise his parents by dropping out of high school to become a musician. A stint as pianist and singer with a dance band, the Buffalodians, allowed him to escape Buffalo for New York City. Arlen stayed on after the band's demise; after some mostly unsuccessful attempts to conquer vaudeville or Broadway, Arlen stumbled onto a tune that, with lyrics by Ted Koehler, became "Get Happy", his first hit. With Koehler as lyricist, Arlen became the staff composer for Harlem's Cotton Club, a premiere showcase for African-American entertainers such as Cab Calloway and Ethel Waters. They wrote "I've Got the World on a String" and "Ill Wind", among dozens of others. Arlen's second important collaborator was E.Y. Harburg, with whom he composed the score for _Wizard of Oz, The (1939)_, celebrated specialty numbers for Bert Lahr and Groucho Marx, and two Broadway musicals. In the 1940s, Arlen reached the peak of his popularity with his third major partner, Johnny Mercer; most of their hits, such as "Blues in the Night", "My Shining Hour" and "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)", were written for the movies, as Hollywood replaced the stage as the songwriters' most lucrative market. As he aged, Arlen grew increasingly frustrated with Hollywood's waste of material and Broadway's rigmarole; his personal life in this period was also unhappy. His best songs, though, in renditions by performers li ke Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra and later cabaret singers and jazz musicians, have continued to be seen as classics.

Filmography

Production

I Wake Up Screaming

1941

As Additional Music

They Got Me Covered

1943

As Original Music Composer

The Wizard of Oz

1939

As Music

The Country Girl

1954

As Songs

Love Affair

1939

As Songs

Slightly French

1949

As Songs

Stage Struck

1936

As Music Score Producer

Casbah

1948

As Original Music Composer

Gay Purr-ee

1962

As Songs

Bloomer Girl

1956

As Songs

The Singing Kid

1936

As Music

A Star Is Born

1954

As Songs

Kismet

1944

As Songs

The Sky's the Limit

1943

As Original Music Composer

Berlin Jazz Piano Workshop 1965

2007

As Original Music Composer

The Wizard of Oz

1939

As Songs

Summer Stock

1950

As Songs

Cabin in the Sky

1943

As Songs

Let's Fall in Love

1933

As Songs

Splendor

1935

As Songs

Strike Me Pink

1936

As Songs

The Singing Kid

1936

As Songs

Stage Struck

1936

As Songs

Stage Struck

1936

As Music

Gold Diggers of 1937

1936

As Songs

At the Circus

1939

As Songs

Blues in the Night

1941

As Songs

Rio Rita

1942

As Songs

Star Spangled Rhythm

1942

As Songs

The Sky's the Limit

1943

As Songs

Up in Arms

1944

As Songs

Youth Runs Wild

1944

As Songs

Here Come the Waves

1944

As Songs

Out of This World

1945

As Songs

Casbah

1948

As Songs

The Petty Girl

1950

As Songs

My Blue Heaven

1950

As Songs

Mr. Imperium

1951

As Songs

I Could Go on Singing

1963

As Songs

Artists & Models

1937

As Songs

The Singing Kid

1936

As Lyricist

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