Lennie Hayton
Currently no information available.
Among his many credits, Lennie was a musical director at MGM Pictures during the 1945 to 1951 period, serving in the famed Athur Freed Unit at the studios.

   Ray Henderson
b. Dec. 1, 1896, Buffalo, NY, USA, d. Dec. 31, 1970, Greenwich, CT, USA.
Here is a picture of a young Ray Henderson
Overview
Ray had a song in the Greenwich Village (NYC) Follies of 1922, and he had a song in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1943. He originally was teamed with lyricist Lew Brown in 1922, and in 1925, they teamed with lyricist Buddy DeSylva. DeSylva left for Hollywood in 1931, and Brown and Henderson continued to write together.

Ray's father played flute; violin and piano. At a very early age, Ray was not only singing in the choir of the local Episcopal church, but playing the organ as well. He received his early training with private teachers. In time, he was playing with the local dance bands.

He went to New York City, where he found work with many of the publishers of Tin Pan Alley, including Leo Feist Music; Fred Fisher Publishing; and Shapiro-Bernstein Music. Louis Bernstein thought very highly of Ray and gave him much help. He found jobs for Ray as a vaudeville accompanist (for some dance teams); for Lew Brice, and for Annette, a vaudeville violinist. It was Bernstein who connected Henderson with the experienced lyricist Lew Brown. In 1922, the team had their first hit, "Georgette", which was interpolated into the 'Greenwich Village Follies' show. Excited; Ray started writing in earnest.

Brief Chronology:
1923 "That Old Gang of Mine", lyric by Billy Rose and Mort Dixon
1923 "Annabelle", lyric by Lew Brown
1924 "Follow the Swallow", lyric by Rose and Dixon
1925 A number of his songs became Tin Pan Alley hits, including:
     "Alabamy Bound", lyric by Bud Green and Buddy De Sylva
     "Bye, Bye Blackbird", lyric by Mort Dixon
     "Five Foot Two, and Eyes of Blue", lyric by Sam Lewis and Joe Young.
     "I'm Sitting on Top of the World", lyric by Sam Lewis and Joe Young.

 Also in 1925, Henderson and De Sylva and Lew Brown decided to become a
 team. They became known as 'De Sylva, Brown and Henderson', a team that
 was to give America some of our greatest pop songs. Some of their first
 collaborations were:
        "It All Depends on You"
        "Broken Hearted"
        "Just a Memory"
        "Together"
The team now turned out the following Broadway scores:
1925 George White Scandals Broadway show.
1926 1926 version of the Scandals
1927 Their first Broadway Musical Comedy, Good News. This
     show became a Hollywood film, starring Joe Penner (Wanna buy a
     duck?), Jack Oakie, Cliff Edwards (Ukelele Ike) and Lyda Roberti
     (the 'Polish Bombshell').  In the 1940,s Hollywood again revived the
     show, this time with with June Allison and Van Johnson dancing and
     prancing on the campus of Tait College. Some of the hit songs were:
       "Good News"
       "The Best Things in Life Are Free"
       "Just Imagine"
       "Varsity Drag"
       "Lucky in Love"
1927 They scored the unsuccessful Broadway show 'Manhattan Mary'.
1928 The team scored the 1928 version of George White's Scandals
1928 The Broadway show Hold Everything. (Bert Lahr became a star here.)
       "You're The Cream in my Coffee"
       "Don't Hold Everything"
1929 The Broadway show Follow Through.
       "Button YUp YOur Overcoat"
       "You Are My Lucky Star"
       "I Want to be Bad"
1930 The Broadway show Flying High (Starring Bert Lahr again)
       "Without Love"
       "Wasn't It Beautiful While It Lasted"
       "Thank Your Father"

Also in 1928, the team began writing music for Hollywood Musicals:
1928 "Sonny Boy", made famous by Al Jolson in film The Singing Fool.
1929 They wrote the film score for 'Sunny Side Up', which included a
     delightfully young Janet Gaynor singing (and playing her autoharp):
     "Keep Your Sunny Side Up"
     "I'm A Dreamer, Aren't We All"
     "If I Had A Talking Picture of You"
The team also had some of their songs interpolated into:
     Say It With Songs, starring Al Jolson
     Follow the Leader, starring Ed Wynn
     Just Imagine

In 1930, the team split up. For a while, Buddy De Sylva remained in Hollywood as a successful producer, and later returned to Broadway as a producer (of musicals). In 1950, Buddy died in Hollywood.

Brown and Henderson continued as a team, returning to Broadway, where their songs were heard in a great many musical hit shows, including:

  1931 George White's Scandals, including their songs:
        "This Is The Missus"
        "The Thrill Is Gone"
        "My Song"
        "Life Is Just A Bowl of Cherries"
  1932 The Broadway musical, Hot Cha
  1933 The Show, Strike Me Pink, starring Jimmy Durante
  1934 The Show, Say When, starring Bob Hope and Harry Richmond.
  1935 George White's Scandals

After 1935, Henderson, with some other lyricists, wrote a few tunes for Hollywood productions, including a George White Scandals film and a film for Shirley Temple, called Curly Top.

Brown and Henderson continued writing in the 1940's but without the type of success they had before.

In 1956, Hollywood honored them with a film, 'The Best Things in Life are Free', starring Dan Dailey as Ray Henderson.

Although he continued composing through the early forties,