Frank Loesser
Frank Henry Loesser (born June 29, 1910 in New York ; † July 28, 1969 there ) was an American composer and songwriter .
Life
Frank Loesser grew up in a musical, German-Jewish New York family. His father was a piano teacher, his older brother Arthur Loesser a well-known concert pianist and musicologist. However, he himself never received a higher musical education. In the early 1930s, during the Great Depression , he began his professional career with various jobs at newspapers. He also wrote song texts and manuscripts for the radio - from the mid-1930s also for revues by Irving Actman, among others, which attracted Hollywood's attention. He was signed to Hollywood in 1938, where he was mainly involved as a songwriter in a variety of films. Part of the reason for Loesser's success in Hollywood was Burton Lane , who recommended him to Paramount Pictures . His first hit, Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition , was written in 1942. During this time Loesser began to compose his own music. After the Second World War, Broadway producers Cy Feuer and Ernest Martin brought him in for the musical adaptation of Charley's aunt - Where's Charley? - back to New York. Successful musicals such as Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and the film musical success Hans Christian Andersen followed . In addition, Loesser founded the music publisher Frank Music .
Loesser worked with the composers Joseph Meyer , Burton Lane , Jimmy McHugh , Joseph J. Lilley and Arthur Schwartz throughout his career . With Arthur Schwartz, he was nominated for an Oscar in the "Best Song" category at the 1944 Academy Awards for the song They're Either Too Young or Too Old from the film Thank Your Lucky Stars . Another nomination for an Oscar came in 1953 for the song Thumbelina from the film Hans Christian Andersen and the Dancer .
Two of his compositions were able to advance to jazz standards : On a Slow Boat to China , published for the first time in 1948, became world famous in the same year through the interpretation of Charlie Parker ; He achieved another global success in 1964 with John Coltrane's interpretation of The Inch Worm, which was composed in 1952 . Frank Loesser died of lung cancer on July 26, 1969 in New York at the age of 59.
Musicals, music films
- 1938: Pirates in Alaska (Spawn of the North)
- 1941: Las Vegas Nights
- 1943: Thank Your Lucky Stars
- 1948: Where's Charley? - Film adaptation 1952
- 1949: Neptune's Daughter (Neptune's Daughter)
- 1950: Guys and Dolls - film adaptation in 1955
- 1952: Hans Christian Andersen and the Dancer ( Hans Christian Andersen ) - stage version 1974
- 1956: The Most Happy Fella
- 1960: Greenwillow
- 1961: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying - film adaptation 1967
- 1965: Pleasures and Palaces
- 2004: Señor Discretion Himself - posthumously
Well-known songs
- 1939: The Boys in the Back Room (with Frederick Hollander )
- 1940: I Hear Music (with Burton Lane )
- 1941: Dolores (with Frank Sinatra )
- 1942: Can't Get Out of This Mood (with Jimmy McHugh )
- 1943: Let's Get Lost (with Arthur Schwartz )
- 1943: They're Either Too Young or Too Old (with Arthur Schwartz)
- 1944: Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year
- 1948: On a Slow Boat to China
- 1949: Baby, It's Cold Outside
- 1952: The Inch Worm
- 1952: Thumbelina
- 1961: I Believe in You
Awards
- For the song Baby, It's Cold Outside from the film Neptune's Daughter (Neptune's Daughter) (Director: Edward Buzzell ) Loesser 1950 received the Oscar in the category "Best Song" .
- Loesser received the Tony Award in the “Best Musical” category in 1951 for Guys and Dolls and in 1962 for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying . For the latter, he also received the Pulitzer Prize for 1962, together with Abe Burrows Theater (Pulitzer-Price for Drama)
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
Web links
- Frank Loesser in the Internet Broadway Database (IBDb)
- Frank Loesser Website (English)
- Biography - Songwriters Hall of Fame (English)
- Obituary dated August 8, 1969 in TIME Magazine on the death of Frank Loesser (English)
- Frank Loesser in the Internet Movie Database (English)
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Loesser, Frank |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Loesser, Frank Henry (full name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American composer |
DATE OF BIRTH | June 29, 1910 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | New York , NY , United States |
DATE OF DEATH | July 28, 1969 |
Place of death | New York , NY , United States |