Tom Adair

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Thomas "Tom" Montgomery Adair (* 15. June 1913 in Newton , Kansas ; † 24. May 1988 in Honolulu , Hawaii ) was an American songwriter , composer and screenwriter , who at the Academy Awards in 1957 for the Oscar for Best Song was nominated. With Matt Dennis he wrote several songs that were placed on the Billboard charts in 1941 . The song he wrote In the Blue of Evening was in the version of Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra with Frank Sinatra for three weeks in 1943 number one hit in the United States . He wrote numerous jazz standards and compositions and was inducted posthumously into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2010 .

Life

Thomas "Tom" Montgomery Adair graduated from Los Angeles Junior College and began writing lyrics for radio shows such as Duffy's Tavern in the 1940s , which ran on CBS , NBC Blue and most recently on NBC from 1941 to 1951 . His songs have been interpreted by Bing Crosby , Tommy Dorsey and Dinah Shore , and he also wrote the music for the Broadway show Along Fifth Avenue . He worked first with Gordon Jenkins and then with Matt Dennis with whom he in 1940 Will You Still Be Mine? composed. With Matt Dennis he wrote several songs that were placed on the Billboard charts in 1941 such as First Everything Happens to Me in the version by Tommy Dorsey & Orchestra with Frank Sinatra and then the even more successful Let's Get Away from It All in the version by Tommy Dorsey & his Orchestra, Frank Sinatra and Connie Haines & the Pied Pipers. The song In the Blue of Evening , written by him and Dennis, was in the version of Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra with Frank Sinatra for three weeks from August 21 to September 10, 1943 number one hit in the USA . Other well-known songs by him were The Night We Called It a Day , The Skyscraper Blues , A Home-Sweet-Home in the Army , How Will I Know My Love? , Sing a Smiling Song , Paul Bunyan , There's No You, and Weep No More .

At the Academy Awards 1957 followed with Leith Stevens for Julie from the film Murder in the Clouds (1956) a nomination for the Oscar in the category of best song . For the 1958 studio album Lady in Satin by Billie Holiday & Ray Ellis and His Orchestra, Adair and Dennis created the song Violets for Your Furs . In 1958, Adair first worked with James B. Allardice on The Ann Sothern Show . He also wrote lyrics for the soundtrack to the Disney film Sleeping Beauty from 1959. For this he was nominated at the 1959 Grammy Awards in the category "Best Soundtrack Album, Original Cast - Movie or TV". The collaboration with Allardice intensified in the early 1960s. Adair wrote the lyrics and Allardice wrote the scripts for television shows like The Ann Sothern Show , My Three Sons (1960), Hazel (1961), Gomer Pyle, USMC (1964), F Troop (1965), My Uncle From Mars (1965) as well Charming Jeannie (1966) After the death of James B. Allardice on February 15, 1966, he no longer wrote for sitcoms , but wrote mainly music for nightclubs and revues. Together with John Scott Trotter , he was also nominated for the music to Babar the Little Elephant (1968) at the Primetime Emmy Awards in 1969 in the category "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music" .

Adair's songs were still interpreted years after his death, such as Everything Happens to Me on the jazz album Always Say Goodbye released in 1993 , The Night We Called It a Day on the 36th studio album Shadows in the Night by Bob Dylan , released in 2015 .

Tom Adair was married to Frances Jeffords from 1949 until his death in 1988. For his life's work, he was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2010 .

Filmography (selection)

Remarks

  1. ^ For the television show Hazel , Adair and Allardice wrote the episodes "A Replacement for Phoebe" (first broadcast on October 2, 1961) and "Harold's Good Fortune" (first broadcast on November 30, 1961).
  2. ↑ For Mein Unkel vom Mars , Adair and Allardice wrote the episodes "Duett für zwei alten Pistolen" (first broadcast on November 21, 1965) and "Bubi can do everything" (first broadcast on January 30, 1966)
  3. ↑ For Charming Jeannie , Adair and Allardice wrote the episode "Twice Mecca and Back" from the first season, which first aired on January 8, 1966.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Adair, Tom
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Adair, Thomas Montgomery (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American songwriter, screenwriter and composer
DATE OF BIRTH June 15, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Newton , Kansas
DATE OF DEATH May 24, 1988
Place of death Honolulu , Hawaii