Al Hoffman

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Al Hoffman (born September 25, 1902 in Minsk , Russia , now Belarus , † July 21, 1960 in New York , United States ) was an American film composer , songwriter and drummer of Russian origin. He was nominated for an Oscar in 1951 .

Life

Hoffman, who was born to a Jewish family in Minsk, part of Russia at the time of his birth, now Belarus, moved with his parents to Seattle , Washington state , United States , when he was six years old. There he graduated from Franklyn High School in Seattle and soon formed his own band in which he played drums. In 1928 he moved to New York, where he saw better opportunities to advance his music career. Although he continued to play drums in a band and earned money on the side for a living, he began to write his own songs, where he made the acquaintance of other musicians, with whom he also began to work together. These included Mack David , Walter Kent, and Jerry Livingston . His first song for a film was Over the Garden Wall , which he delivered together with Alex Kramer and Mann Curtis in 1929 for the soundtrack of the short film The Roof Gardens Revue .

In 1934 Hoffman moved to London to use his creativity in stage productions and films. During this time, songs such as Everything Stops for Tea , which was heard in the 1935 musical film Come Out of the Pantry with Fay Wray , and several songs for the musical comedy She Shall Have Music from 1935, to which he contributed music titles along with other colleagues, were created. He worked on ten other films in 1935 alone, and seven productions were counted for 1936. In late 1936 Hoffman moved back to the United States, where he worked on the film First a Girl in late December . In 1937, thirteen film and television productions were on his program. In the following years he was also very busy and continuously contributed music titles to a myriad of films and television productions.

In 1951 , Hoffman and Mack David and Jerry Livingston received an Oscar nomination in the "Best Song" category for the song Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo from the feature-length cartoon Cinderella by Walt Disney Studios . However, the Oscar went to Ray Evans and Jay Livingston and their song Mona Lisa from the drama Captain Carey, USA .

Hoffman provided his last film music in 1954 for the science fiction film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea entitled A Whale of a Tale . In 1956 and 1959, the song Hot Diggity ( Dog Ziggity Boom ) , written by Hoffman, found its way into two episodes of the Perry Como show, after his music had been featured in the Bob Hope Show ( I'm Going to Live Until I Die ) and the Frank Sinatra Show (also I'm Gonna Live Until I Die ).

His works found plenty of use after his death, from 1961 with the title You Can't Hurt Me Anymore in the Western Buffalo Gun to countless titles, temporarily ending in 2014 with the dance show Strictly Come Dancing . In the course of his career he worked very often with Al Goodhart and Maurice Sigler, but also with Sammy Lerner, Jerry Livingston and Mack David . His best-known songs include I Apologize (1931), Fit As a Fiddle (1932), Black Coffee (1935), I'm in a Dancing Mood (1936), On the Bumpy Road to Love (1938), Chi- Baba, Chi-Baba (1947), Takes Two to Tango (1953) and his last hit from 1959 La Plume de Ma Tante .

In the summer of 1960, Al Hoffman died in New York of complications from prostate cancer . He found his final resting place in New Jersey . In 1984, 24 years after his death, Hoffman was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame . 1,500 pieces of music by him are registered in the ASCAP .

Filmography (selection)

- Soundtrack, songs -

  • 1929: The Roof Gardens Revue (short film; writer: Over the Garden Wall )
  • 1929: Kuschel-Liebe ( Angora Love ; Lyricist: You're Pain in the Heart to Me )
  • 1932: A thief with class ( Jewel Robbery , short film; writer: I Apologize )
  • 1932: Hollywood on Parade No. A-2 (short film; writer: Goodbye, My Dear )
  • 1933: The Magic Mummy (short film; music: The Cop on the Beat, the Man in the Moon )
  • 1933: Baby Face (Lyricist: Meet Me in the Gloaming )
  • 1933: King Kong's son ( The Son of Kong ; Lyricist: Fit As a Fiddle )
  • 1934: Marie Galante (Copywriter: Serves Me Right for Treating You Wrong )
  • 1935: She Shall Have Music (Lyricist: The Band That Jack Built , Moanin 'Minnie , Sailing Along on a Carpet of Clouds , Nothin' on Earth , Don't Ask Me Any Questions , Do The Runaround , May All Your Troubles Be Little Ones , My First Thrill )
  • 1935: Car of Dreams (Copywriter: Car of Dreams )
  • 1935: First a Girl (Lyricist: Little Silkworm , It's Written All Over Your Face , I Can Wiggle , My Ears , Say the Word and It's Yours , Every Thing's in Rhythm With My Heart , Half and Half , Londonola - as A. Hoffman )
  • 1935: Come Out of the Pantry ( Everything Stops for Tea , From One Minute to Another )
  • 1936: This'll Make You Whistle (Texter: I'm in a Dancing Mood , There Isn't Any Limit to My Love , Without Rhythm , You've Got the Wrong Rhumba , I'm Never Too Busy for You , Cocktail Time , Keep Your Eye on the Sky , I Don't Give a Continental , I Make a Motion , My Red Letter Day , Crazy with Love )
  • 1937: The Minstrel Boy (Lyricist: Sweet Muchacha )
  • 1937: Young and Innocent ( Young and Innocent ; Lyricist: No One Can Like the Drummer Man - as Hoffman)
  • 1938: Listen, Darling (Poetry and Music: On the Bumpy Road to Love )
  • 1939: Rabbit in a hat ( Perst-O Change-O , short film; writer: Black Coffee (1935))
  • 1940: Beware of the camera ( Elmer's Candid Camera , short film; music: Sticks and Stones )
  • 1941: Rabbit Plague ( Elmer's Pet Rabbit , short film; music: Apple Blossoms and Chapel Bells )
  • 1942: Get Hep to Love (Lyricist: Let's Hitch a Horsie to the Automobile )
  • 1943: The great race ( Tortoise Wins by a Hare , short film; writer: Black Coffee )
  • 1943: Stage Door Canteen (lyrics and music: Machine Gun Song )
  • 1944: Swing in the Saddle (Lyricist: She Broke My Heart in Three Places )
  • 1945: Christmas made to measure (Christmas in Connecticut; Copywriter: She Broke My Heart in Three Places )
  • 1946: Cinderella Jones (Writer: She Broke My Heart in Three Places )
  • 1947: Rose of Santa Rose (Lyricist: Rose of Santa Rosa )
  • 1948: Music Man (Lyricist: Little Man, You've Had a Busy Day )
  • 1949: Venus on the Beach ( The Girl from Jones Beach ; Lyricist: Auf Wiedersehen, My Dear )
  • 1950: Cinderella / Cinderella (lyrics and music: Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo , So This Is Love , A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes , Cinderella , The Work Song , Sing, Sweet Nightingale , all from 1949)
  • 1951: Alice in Wonderland ( Alice in Wonderland ; Lyricist: A Very Merry Un-Birthday ( The Un-Birthday Song ))
  • 1951: Three Women Conquer New York ( Two Tickets to Broadway ; Song: There's No Tomorrow )
  • 1952: Singin 'In The Rain (You too should be my lucky star; Music: Fit as a Fiddle (1932))
  • 1952: Once Really Live ( Ikiru ; Song: Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo )
  • 1953: A Mouse Divided (short film; music: Apple Blossoms and Chapel Bells )
  • 1954: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ( 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ; Music: A Whale of a Tale )
  • 1954–1956: Your Hit Parade (TV series / show, 3 episodes; writer: Hot Diggity , Papa Loves Mambo )
  • 1955: The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (TV series / show, 1 episode; writer: I Love Her, That's Why )
  • 1956–1958: You Bet Your Life (TV series, 2 episodes; music: Heartaches )
  • 1956–1959: The Perry Como Show (TV series / show, 2 episodes; writer: Hot Diggity ( Dog Ziggity Boom ))
  • 1957: The Bob Hope Show (TV series / show, 1 episode; writer: I'm Going to Live Until I Die )
  • 1957: No place for fine ladies (This Could Be the Night; I'm Gonna Live Till I Die )
  • 1957: The Gisele MacKenzie Show (TV series / show, 1 episode; lyrics: Little Man, You've Had a Busy Day )
  • 1958: The Frank Sinatra Show (TV series / show, 1 episode; lyricist: I'm Gonna Live Until I Die )
Selection of productions in which his works were included after his death

Award

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d Al Hoffman biography in the IMDb - Internet Movie Database (English)
  2. a b c d Artist Biography by Joslyn Layne via Al Hoffman at allmusic.com, accessed on January 16, 2016.
  3. Al Hoffman ( Memento of the original from January 17, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at songwritershalloffame.org. (English), accessed on January 16, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.songwritershalloffame.org