1925 (20) Makes his way to New York City with the group, The Buffalodians, with Arlen playing piano.Copyrighting the song as "My Gal, Won't You Please Come Back to Me?" and listed lyrics by Cheiffetz and music by Harold Arluck. 1924 (19) Wrote his first song, collaborating with friend Hyman Cheiffetz to write "My Gal, My Pal". 1924 (19) Performed at Lake Shore Manor during the summer of 1924.1923 (18) With his new band – The Southbound Shufflers, performed on the Crystal Beach lake boat "Canadiana" during the summer of 1923.1921 (16) Against his parents' wishes he left home.1920 (age 15) He formed his first professional band, Hyman Arluck's Snappy Trio.Samuel Arlen runs the company that owns the rights to the Arlen catalog.Īrlen (left) performs with Peggy Lee and Vic Damone in 1961 Shortly before his death, Arlen adopted the 22 year old adult son of his brother Julius "Jerry" Arluck, so that his estate would have an heir in order to extend his copyright. After Arlen's death, Irving Berlin summed up his life at a tribute, saying: "He wasn't as well known as some of us, but he was a better songwriter than most of us and he will be missed by all of us." Arlen is buried next to his wife at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. Īrlen never remarried and died of cancer on April 23, 1986, at his Manhattan apartment at the age of eighty-one. In 1951, Anya was institutionalized for seven years and died from a brain tumor in 1970. Marriage and death Īrlen and Anya Taranda married on January 6, 1937, over the objection of their parents, because she was a Gentile and he was Jewish. Barbra Streisand accompanied him on two songs. At her famous 1961 Carnegie Hall concert, after finishing a set of his songs, Garland acknowledged Arlen in the audience and invited him to receive an ovation.Īrlen recorded his debut album as a vocalist, Harold Sings Arlen (With Friend), in 1966. Īrlen composed two of the defining songs of Judy Garland's career: "Over the Rainbow" and " The Man That Got Away", the last written for the 1954 version of the film A Star Is Born. In the 1940s, he teamed up with lyricist Johnny Mercer, and continued to write hit songs like " Blues in the Night", " Out of this World", " That Old Black Magic", " Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive", " Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home", " Come Rain or Come Shine" and " One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)". Īrlen was a longtime friend and onetime roommate of actor Ray Bolger, who starred in The Wizard of Oz. They also wrote " Down with Love" (featured in the 1937 Broadway show Hooray for What!), " Lydia the Tattooed Lady", for Groucho Marx in At the Circus in 1939, and " Happiness is a Thing Called Joe", for Ethel Waters in the 1943 movie Cabin in the Sky. In 1938, the team was hired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to compose songs for The Wizard of Oz, the most famous of which is " Over the Rainbow", for which they won the Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song. It was at this time that he began working with lyricist E. In the mid-1930s, Arlen married, and spent increasing time in California, writing for movie musicals. Arlen continued to perform as a pianist and vocalist with some success, most notably on records with Leo Reisman's society dance orchestra. Arlen and Koehler's partnership resulted in a number of hit songs, including the familiar standards " Let's Fall in Love" and " Stormy Weather". Throughout the early and mid-1930s, Arlen and Koehler wrote shows for the Cotton Club, a popular Harlem night club, as well as for Broadway musicals and Hollywood films. In 1929, Arlen composed his first well-known song: " Get Happy" (with lyrics by Ted Koehler). Between 1926 and about 1934, Arlen appeared occasionally as a band vocalist on records by The Buffalodians, Red Nichols, Joe Venuti, Leo Reisman, and Eddie Duchin, usually singing his own compositions. He achieved some local success as a pianist and singer before moving to New York City in his early twenties, where he worked as an accompanist in vaudeville and changed his name to Harold Arlen. He learned to play the piano as a youth, and formed a band as a young man. Life and career Īrlen was born in Buffalo, New York, the child of a Jewish cantor. "Over the Rainbow" was voted the 20th century's No. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz (lyrics by Yip Harburg), including " Over the Rainbow", Arlen is a highly regarded contributor to the Great American Songbook. Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck Febru– April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide.
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