Burton Lane

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Burton Lane (born February 2, 1912 in New York City as Burton Levy , † January 5, 1997 ibid) was an American musician , composer and songwriter of the Great American Songbook . He worked with EY Harburg , Frank Loesser and Alan Jay Lerner and wrote the jazz standards Old Devil Moon , How About You? and I Hear Music .

Live and act

Burton Lane started taking piano lessons at the age of three. Even as a teenager he showed a talent for composing; Lane wrote songs for a Broadway revue by Jacob J. Shubert at the age of 14 . Burton Lane's father believed in his talent and got it into his head that George Gershwin should hear him; he heard that Gershwin was staying at a hotel in Atlantic City and booked a room there. He let Burton play his compositions in the hotel lobby, hoping that Gershwin would come over and discover the young man's talent. The plan worked out; Gershwin became Lane's mentor . At the age of 15 he got a job with the Remick Publishing Company through Gershwin's mediation . There he met the songwriter Howard Dietz , who was working on the revue There's a Crowd (1930). At the premiere it contained two songs by Dietz and Lane, Out in the Open Air and Forget All Your Books .

He then worked with the songwriter Harold Adamson for the revue Earl Carrolls Vanities (1931). This brought the team an invitation to work in the emerging musical film production in Hollywood , first at MGM in 1933 for the musical film Dancing Lady . From this comes the classic song Everything I Have is Yours , Burton Lane's first hit song. He stayed in Hollywood for the next seven years, working on the film musicals. In 1940 he returned to Broadway and wrote the script for the show Hold On to Your Hats , in which Al Jolson and Martha Raye played the lead roles. From this came the song There's A Grat Day Coming Manana, composed with EY Harburg . Back in Hollywood, Lane continued to write songs with Harburg, mostly theme songs for non-music films. In 1947, with Harburg, he wrote his next successful revue, Finian's Rainbow . Popular songs like How Are Things in Glocca Morra? , If This Isn't Love , Look to the Rainbow and the later jazz standard, Old Devil Moon, interpreted by Miles Davis and many other musicians .

From 1951 Lane began working with the songwriter Alan Jay Lerner ; they wrote for the MGM musical Royal Wedding , in which Fred Astaire played the lead role. Eighteen years after Finian's Rainbow , Lane was finally writing again for Broadway. The musical On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1965) was created with texts by Alan Jay Lerner . Their last joint production was Carmelita in 1979 ; after that Lane retired from the music business.

At times in his career Lane served as President of the American Guild of Authors and Composers and was involved in the fight against music piracy. He also served three times as director of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers ( ASCAP ).

The discovery of Judy Garland

Burton Lane is - according to the Songwriters' Hall of Fame - the real discoverer of the eleven-year-old Frances Ethel Gumm, who became world famous as Judy Garland . He had organized a show for her sisters at the Paramount Theater in Hollywood. Sisters Susie and Mary Jane then brought their younger sister Frances, who sang the song Zing Went the Strings of My Heart . Lane immediately called Jack Robbins, head of music at MGM, and told him about the great talent he had just discovered. The next day Robbins heard the young girl's voice accompanying Lane on the piano; Robbins was enthusiastic and brought in Louis B. Mayer . Mayer was so impressed that he brought in every songwriter and producer. Frances (Judy) got her contract; this was the beginning of her great career. Lane didn't work with Garland ( Babes on Broadway ) again until seven years later .

Honors

Burton Lane received the 1965 Grammy Award for Best Broadway Album of the Year ( On a Clear Day You Can See Forever ).

Working for Broadway and Tony Award nominations

  • Earl Carroll's Vanities [1931] (1931) - (Revue) - co-composer and Go-lyricist
  • Singin 'the Blues (1931) - musician and co-composer
  • Hold on to Your Hats (1940) - musical composer
  • Laffing Room Only (1944) - (Revue) - composer and lyricist
  • Finian's Rainbow (1947, revivals 1955, 1960) - musical composer
  • On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1966) - Musical Composer - Tony Nomination Tony Award for Best Composer and Lyricist
  • We Bombed in New Haven (1968) - play - composer of the song Bomb, Bomb, Bombing Along
  • Carmelina (1979) - Musical Composer - Tony Nomination for Best Original Score .

Filmography (selection)

literature

  • Ken Bloom: The American Songbook - The Singers, the Songwriters, and the Songs . Black Dog & Leventhal, New York City 2005, ISBN 1-57912-448-8 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ s. a. The Shubert Organization

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Lane, Burton
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Levy, Burton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer and lyricist
DATE OF BIRTH February 2, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH January 5, 1997
Place of death New York City