Gus Kahn

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Gustav Gerson "Gus" Kahn (born November 6, 1886 in Koblenz , Germany , † October 8, 1941 in Beverly Hills , California ) was an American musician , songwriter and lyricist .

Live and act

In 1890 the family emigrated to Chicago , Illinois , USA . After high school he worked as a mail order clerk before embarking on one of Tin Pan Alley's most successful careers .

In his early days, Kahn wrote for the vaudeville theater . In 1913 he began a productive partnership with the established composer Egbert van Alstyne, with whom he created several notable hits of the era such as Memories and, together with Tony Jackson , Pretty Baby . He later began to write lyrics for the composer and band leader Isham Jones . This partnership led to a famous Kahn works, I'll See You in My Dreams (German: In all my dreams you are ), also the title of a film about his life with Danny Thomas and Doris Day in the lead roles. It is one of the most distinctive songs in Woody Allen's film Sweet and Lowdown, with Sean Penn in the lead role.

Kahn married Grace LeBoy in 1916 and had two children, Donald and Irene. Irene was later married to Arthur Marx .

In the 1920s, Kahn worked occasionally at the same time for Broadway - musicals , Holka Polka (1925), Kitty's Kisses (1926), Artists and Models (1927) Whoopee! (1928), and Show Girl (1929) and for a number of films, mostly for MGM .

Kahn wrote the music for films like Flying Down to Rio , Thanks a Million , Kid Millions , A Day at the Races (German title Die Marx Brothers: Ein Tag beim Rennen ), Everybody Sing (German title Curtain up for Judy ), One Night of Love , Three Smart Girls , Let's Sing Again , San Francisco , Tolle Marietta and The Merry Widow (he wrote additional lyrics for both) and Ziegfeld Girl .

Kahn was also the lyricist for the Ted Healy / Three Stooges short film Beer and Pretzels (1933) with music by Al Goodhart.

He worked primarily with his golf friend Walter Donaldson and also with some of the best composers of the time such as Grace LeBoy Kahn (his wife), Richard A. Whiting , Buddy DeSylva , Al Jolson , Raymond Egan, Ted Fio Rito , Ernie Erdman, Neil Moret, Vincent Youmans , George Gershwin , Ira Gershwin , Harry Akst, Harry M. Woods, Edward Eliscu, Victor Schertzinger , Arthur Johnston, Bronisław Kaper , Jerome Kern , Walter Jurmann , Sigmund Romberg and Harry Warren.

The report of his son Donald gives an insight into Kahn's creativity and way of working.

Kahn died of a heart attack in 1941 and was buried in Glendale, California .

His life's work includes some of the most famous songs of the first half of the 20th century. In 1970, almost 30 years after his death, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame .

His most famous songs are It Had To Be You (1924) with the music of Isham Jones (referred to as "the greatest pop song ever written" by Johnny Mercer and played in over 40 films Casablanca , Der Stadtneurotiker , Harry und Sally ) and Makin 'Whoopee! (1928) with the music of Walter Donaldson.

Works

Web links

footnote

  1. ↑ Interview with Gus Kahn's son about his father ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 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. (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.riverwalkjazz.org
personal data
SURNAME Kahn, Gus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kahn, Gustav Gerson (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American musician, songwriter, and lyricist
DATE OF BIRTH November 6, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Koblenz , Germany
DATE OF DEATH October 8, 1941
Place of death Beverly Hills , California