Harry Revel

Harry Revel (born December 21, 1905 in London , † November 3, 1958 in New York City ) was a British-American composer and pianist.

Life

Harry Revel was the son of Rosa Revel and had a brother named Sam and a sister named Reni. He received his first piano lessons at the age of nine and was later trained at the Guild Hall of Music in London as well as in Austria and Germany before joining a Paris band with whom he toured Europe. He released his first song, Oriental Eyes , at the age of 15. He wrote musicals that were staged in Paris , Vienna , Copenhagen and London . After an engagement with the New York Jazz Band he played in various other groups in Europe. In 1927 he composed the operetta What women dream .

In 1929 he emigrated to the United States, where he wrote for the Ziegfeld Follies . He later worked in Hollywood for Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox . Works in which he was involved were Sitting Pretty , Broadway Through a Keyhole , We're Not Dressing , She Loves Me Not , Shoot the Words , College Rhythm , Love in Bloom , Paris in the Spring , Stolen Harmony , Two for Tonight , Collegiate , Stowaway , Poor Little Rich Girl , Ali Baba Goes to Town , Wake Up and Live , You Can't Have Everything , Head Over Heels , Love and Kisses , Four Jacks and a Jill and Love Finds Andy Hardy . Copywriters he worked with included Mack Gordon ( Did You Ever See a Dream Walking? ), Mort Greene , Paul Francis Webster, and Arnold Horwitt .

He initially toured with the singer Gordon as his pianist before they also cooperated as a composer and lyricist. Her first hit was Underneath the Harlem Moon . It was not until 1939, after they had created numerous songs, including for Shirley Temple , Bing Crosby , Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers , that they parted ways.

During the Second World War , Revel was still productive, but mostly organized shows. During the war years he collaborated with copywriters Paul Francis Webster and Arnold B. Horwitt. In the late 1940s, he experimented with electronic music, particularly the theremin . The album Music Out of the Moon came out in 1947, arranged by Les Baxter . This album is considered an early representative of Space Age Pop . This was followed Perfume Set to Music , Music for Peace of Mind and Music From Out of Space . In the years of this experimental music, Revel didn't write many songs anymore. One of his last songs to become more popular was Jet , sung by Nat King Cole in 1951 .

In 1943 he and Mort Greene were nominated for an Oscar in the category of best song for the song When There's a Breeze on Lake Louise from the film The Mayor of 44th Street . In 1945 , Remember Me to Carolina from the film Minstrel Man received his second Oscar nomination.

Harry Revel died of a brain hemorrhage.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Harry Revel in the Notable Names Database (English)
2. ↑ Songwriters Hall of Fame ( Memento of the original from February 14, 2012 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. 
3. ↑ Gordon and Revel  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ biography on allmusic.com

Web links

• Harry Revel in the Internet Movie Database (English)