Lorenz Hart
b. May 2, 1895, New York, NY, USA. d. Nov. 22, 1943, New York, NY, USA.
Overview
Some of America's most romantic songs were written by the most improbable lyricists and composers. There was George Gershwin, who seemed incapable of entering into a true romance with any girl; Cole Porter, a dyed-in-the-wool homosexual; and Lorenz Hart, an alcoholic dwarf. And yet, their lyrics will live in our hearts for as long as people love good music. Hart's lyrics are ostensibly just simple rhymes for Pop tunes, yet they are somehow especially powerful. Hart first met and teamed up with Richard Rodgers while both were attending New York's Columbia University. Not long after their meeting, they had their first hit tune with "Any Old Place With You", used in Broadway's 1919 show 'A Lonely Romeo'. The 1920s show 'Poor Little Ritz Girl', included seven of their songs. Several years then went by with little success, but their big break came in 1925 with the show 'The Garrick Gaieties', followed by their first complete score for Broadway's 'Dearest Enemy '. Over the following years, the team would turn out one great song after another. By 1942, Hart had lost his drive to write due to problems with Alcohol and Mental Illness. In 1943, he contracted Double Pneumonia and died. Rodgers and Hart were one of the most successful songwriting teams of Broadway, influencing Musical Theater from the 1920s through the '40s.
Richard Rogdgers met Lorenz Hart through a friend, Phillip Levitt. Phillip was 5 years older than Richard - about the same age as Richard's brother - and he brought Richard and Lorenz together. Phillip took Rodgers (16 years old at the time) up to the brownstone house where 'Larry' Hart was living with his parents. Larry met them dressed in slippers, tuxedo pants, some kind of shirt, and needing a shave.
In later years, Rodgers recalled that he was tremendously impressed with Larry's understanding of poetry and rhyme. They spoke of 'interior' rhyme, 'start' rhyme, and 'end' rhyme. Years later, Rodgers remarked in that one afternoon, he found "a career; a partner; a best friend, and a source of permanent irritation". (2)
Rodgers was to find that Hart suffered periods of despondency; insecurity; and a feeling of being out of balance with the world, but Larry was a sweet person. You could become angry with Larry, but not for long. Hart would sublimate his feelings in alcohol, and, in time, this alcoholism would become much worse. Rodgers has given us an insight into Larry's character.
One day, Larry disappeared. He was gone for a week. He finally telephoned, and they met at Tony's restaurant for lunch. Larry's face was badly bruised; there was a swelling near his lip the size of a walnut. Larry ordered scrambled eggs, coffee, ice cream, things easy to eat. Larry told Rodgers that a man had arrived at his apartment with a letter of introduction from a friend on the west coast. Larry invited him to stay for dinner. After awhile, it was obvious that the fellow had had enough to drink. Larry wanted to get him out of his mother's apartment. When they got downstairs, Larry told him to go home and sleep it off. Words followed, with the friend calling Larry some vile names. A tremendous fight followed. All the taxi drivers parked there, made a circle around them and watched. Larry was very short, and the other person was tall and muscular. Larry took a good beating. That's why he stayed away for a week. Dick asked Larry if the police were notified, etc. Rodgers wanted the man put into jail. That's the way Larry would tell a story. First he would get your sympathy, then spring the rest of the story. Larry then said to Rodgers, that actually he felt a little sorry for the guy. Larry said that he had broken the man's wrist, knocked out some of his teeth, and had kicked him where it hurts the most. Rodgers said that Larry wore 'elevator' shoes and they could really hurt. (2) Dorothy Rodgers, Richard's wife has told of her feeling for Larry Hart. "Larry Hart was the best read person I ever met. He was brilliant and we loved him, but he was difficult." (1)
"He never put pencil to paper until Dick (Rodgers) finished a tune. And, Dick would have to stay in the room while Larry was working. Dick said that all the lyrics were written on the stationery of defunct companies with grand sounding names that Larry's father had started." (1)
Rodgers knew that Larry was destroying himself with alcohol. On many occasions he begged Larry to get help. Larry was well aware of the fact that he was destroying himself; but it was a compulsion. Hart was panic stricken at the idea of getting help. (2)
The changeover from using Hart to using Oscar Hammerstein as lyricist took about 2 years. Dick had gone to Philadelphia for a tryout of the play 'Best Foot Forward'. Rodgers knew that Larry was slipping away very fast, and Rodgers didn't know how long Larry would be able to work. Rodgers was friendly with Hammerstein, and went to visit him at his farm in Doylestown, PA. They had a long discussion and they came to the conclusion that when, Larry could no longer work, Rodgers and Hammerstein would begin to collaborate. That time came 2 years later, when Rodgers asked Hart to help him on a new musical adaptation of 'Green Grows My Garden', later to be re-named 'Oklahoma'. Larry declined. Dick told him that he would do the show with somebody else. Larry said that was fine with him. 'Oklahoma' became the first Rodgers and Hammerstein collaboration. That was in 1941.
Hart's health weakened and he caught pneumonia. He died shortly after A Connecticut Yankee opened, in 1943.
(1) N.Y. Times - Sunday Magazine Section April 22, 1990. Quotes from an interview with Dorothy Rodgers.
(2) Radio Interview with Richard Rodgers by Arnold Michaelis on Dec. 15, 1957 (WBAI).
The 1920's
1925 "Manhattan"
1926 "The Blue Room"
"Mountain Greenery"
1927, from Broadway show 'A Connecticut Yankee', the songs;
"Thou Swell"
"My Heart Stood Still"
1928 from Broadway show, 'Present Arms',
"You Took Advantage of Me"
1928 from Broadway show, 'She's My Baby', the song;
"My Lucky Star"
1929 from Broadway show, 'Spring Is Here',
"With a Song in My Heart"
The 1930's
1930 from Broadway show, 'Simple Simon';
"Ten Cents a Dance"
"Dancing on the Ceiling" (dropped from the show, popularized in 1932)
1931 from Broadway show, 'America's Sweetheart';
"I've Got Five Dollars"
1932 from the movie 'Love Me Tonight' ;
"Isn't It Romantic?"
"Mimi"
"Lover"
1935 from Broadway show, 'Jumbo';
"My Romance"
"Little Girl Blue"
"The Most Beautiful Girl in the World"
"There's a Small Hotel" (dropped from the show, used in the show 'On Your Toes', 1936)
"Blue Moon," written earlier, and went through several transformations and shows
Commissioned by MGM to write a tune for the 1933 film "Hollywood Party', Rodgers and Hart wrote a song called "Prayer" It was neither in the film, or recorded, but it was registered for copyright as an unpublished work on July 10, 1933 as MGM Song #225 "Prayer (Oh Lord, make me a movie star)"
For the 1934 film 'Manhattan Melodrama', Hart wrote a new lyric and the song, now titled "It's Just That Kind Of Play", was cut from the film before release and and again registered for copyright as an unpublished work on March 30, 1934.
For still another film, MGM asked for a tune, and Rodgers, still liking the melody, asked Hart to write a third lyric. The song, now titled "The Bad In Every Man" was sung by Shirley Ross (in blackface), released as sheet music, and flopped.
As head of MGM's publishing company, it was Jack Robbins' job to make money from the studio's songs. He felt that with a better title and a more romantic lyric, the tune had possibilities. Once more, Hart was persuaded to write still another lyric, and now the tune was titled "Blue Moon".
MGM then licensed the tune to the 'Hollywood Hotel' radio program for use as a theme song. On January 15, 1935, Connee Boswell recorded it for the Columbia label, and with its new found popularity, It was subsequently featured in at least seven more MGM films including the Marx Brothers' 'A Day at the Circus' and 'Viva Las Vegas.'
1937 from Broadway show 'Babes in Arms';
"Babes in Arms,"
"Where or When"
"The Lady Is a Tramp"
"My Funny Valentine"
"Johnny One Note"
1938 from 'I Married an Angel';
"I Married an Angel"
1938 From the Broadway show 'The Boys From Syracuse';
"This Can't Be Love"
"Falling in Love with Love"
1939 from Broadway show, 'Too Many Girls';
"I Didn't Know What Time It Was"
The early 1940's (before Rodgers and Hart split-up)
1941 from Broadway show, 'Pal Joey';
"Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"
"I Could Write a Book"
George Haentzschel
b. Dec. 23, 1907, Berlin, Germany, d. April 12, 1992, Cologne, Germany.
Early in his career, Haentzschel worked as a pianist and arranger. One of his earliest jobs was as pianist/arranger for the popular Lud Gluskin orchestra. He later became a movie score writer. As a screen writer, he worked on Nazi films all during WWII, and continued writing for films into the 1950s.