Walter Donaldson (composer)

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Walter Donaldson (born February 15, 1893 in Brooklyn , New York , † July 15, 1947 in Santa Monica , California ) was an American composer of the Great American Songbook . He worked with Gus Kahn and Irving Berlin and wrote standards like " Makin 'Whoopee " and "My Baby Just Cares For Me".

Live and act

The son of a piano teacher showed early talent for composition and wrote songs for pieces written by classmates. After high school , he worked for a Wall Street broker and then found work as a salesman for a music publisher ("Songplugger").

Donaldson's first success was "Back Home in Tennessee," a top five hit by the Prince's Orchestra in 1915. Between 1916 and 1919 he wrote several hits including "The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady", "You're a Million Miles from Nowhere ”,“ I'll be Happy When the Preacher Makes You Mine ”,“ How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm? "And" Don't Cry, Frenchy ". He also worked as a pianist in troop entertainment in US Army camps during World War I ; while he met the young Irving Berlin at Camp Upton . In 1919 he joined Berlin's Irving Berlin, Inc publishing house and wrote songs like “My Mummy” for singer Al Jolson and the sentimental song “My Buddy” with the lyrics by Gus Kahn , which was perfect for the post-war era , as well as songs like "My Little Bimbo Down on the Bamboo Isle", " My Blue Heaven ". For the victory parade that President Wilson was to receive in Paris, he wrote the humorous song "How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm After They've Seen Paree?"

In the 1920s, Donaldson worked as a composer and lyricist for various Broadway revues. In 1926 he composed the music for the musical score for Sweetheart Time , followed in 1929 by the musical Whoopee! which includes titles like "Love Me, or Leave Me" and "Makin 'Whoopie", which later became popular jazz standards .

In 1928 he separated from Berlin and founded his own publishing house: Donaldson, Douglas & Gumble, Inc , mainly to ensure the great success of his musical comedy Whoopee! that he had written for Eddie Cantor . Walter Donaldson published about 600 of his compositions himself.

In 1929 Donaldson moved to Hollywood , where the producer Samuel Goldwyn brought him to see from the musical Whoopee! to produce a film version that was then one of the first films to be shot in Technicolor . He also composed and arranged music in Hollywood for films such as Glorifying the American Girl , The Great Ziegfeld , Panama Hattie , Follow the Boys and Nevada .

With lyricists such as Paul Ash , Edgar Leslie , Sam Lewis , Joe Young , Gus Kahn , Cliff Friend, Harold Adamson and Johnny Mercer , Donaldson wrote a number of songs during this time that have now become part of the classic collection of the Great American Songbook . After Gus Kahn's death in 1941, Donaldson worked more with the younger generation like Johnny Mercer, Mort Greene and others. Until his illness in 1945 he also worked in the troop support of the USO .

Walter Donaldson & Gus Kahn were one of the most famous songwriting teams on Broadway of the 1920s and 1930s , both of which were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame .

Works

Walter Donaldson / Gus Kahn: My Baby Just Cares For Me (Ted Weems & His Orchestra, 1930).

His greatest hits were:

Web links

literature

  • Ken Bloom: The American Songbook - The Singers, the Songwriters, and the Songs . New York City, Black Dog & Leventhal, 2005 ISBN 1-57912-448-8 )

Remarks

  1. ↑ on the signing of the Versailles Treaty
  2. ↑ Lieutenant James Reese Europe, the band leader of the legendary Hellfighter's Regiment of African American recruits, played the song at the Victory Parade in New York City; see. Bloom, p. 212.
  3. ^ All publications now showed Walter Donaldson's name in capital letters while the name of the company was in lowercase.
personal data
SURNAME Donaldson, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer
DATE OF BIRTH February 15, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York
DATE OF DEATH July 15, 1947
Place of death Santa Monica , California