Irving Caesar
Irving Caesar (born July 4, 1895 in New York City , † December 18, 1996 in New York City) was an American songwriter and composer , known for various contributions to the Great American Songbook .
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Caesar is particularly known for the songs Tea for Two (a jazz standard , written in 1925 for the Broadway show No, No, Nanette , music by Vincent Youman ), Just a Gigolo (English text 1929), Swanee (with George Gershwin , a hit for Al Jolson ) Sometimes I'm Happy (Sometimes I'm Blue) (1927, music by Youmans), I Want to Be Happy (with Youmans in 1925 for No, No, Nanette ) and Animal Crackers in My Soup (a Shirley Temple hit in Curly Top 1935 , with Ray Henderson , Ted Koehler ) known. He wrote lyrics for over 700 songs and contributed to 44 Broadway shows.
He grew up with his older brother, screenwriter Arthur Caesar , on the Lower East Side , in the neighborhood of the Marx Brothers , whom he knew as a child. Caesar attended the Chappaqua Mountain Institute (a Quaker school ) and Townsend Harris High School in New York. He then studied for a year at the City College of New York before working for the Ford Motor Company from 1915 . He traveled as secretary on Henry Ford's Peace Ship , which campaigned for peace in neutral countries during World War I. In 1918 he had his first success as a songwriter and moved to New York as a writer in the Tin Pan Alley , where he met George Gershwin, with whom he became friends. In 1919 they wrote to Swanee on the way back from a restaurant visit.
He was known to school children in the United States in the 1930s for his Sing a Song of Safety series (1938 with composer Gerald Marks ). He also wrote the song series Sing a Song of Friendship ( inspired by the UN and promoting international understanding) and a series of Songs of Health . He wrote the official music for the US Eid Pledge of Allegiance and transferred the rights to the US government.
He was a co-founder of the Songwriters Guild of America and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972 . He was on the council of the copyright organization ASCAP several times (1930 to 1946 and 1949 to 1966).
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| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Caesar, Irving |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American songwriter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 4th July 1895 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 18, 1996 |
| Place of death | New York City |