Jerome Kern: A Biography

Stein and Day, 1981. Unabridged.. Hardcover. New/Fine. Stein and Day, 1981. Unabridged.. New in fine dust jacket.. 182 p. Stein Day, USA, 1981. Hardcover. Book Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine, shelf wear to DJ. 8vo-over 7?"-9?" tall. . Vastly influential songwriter and creator of the American musical. US composer and songwriter. He wrote many of the century's best-loved songs and played a leading part in replacing the European operetta by the American musical. He studied music in his native New York and briefly in Heidelberg. By 1904 he was working as a song plugger and rehearsal pianist in New York and also had a brief spell in London (1906). From 1915 he began to transform the American musical theatre by integrating songs with the dramatic action, rather than simply dropping them in. Very Good, Eddie was his first success that year, and deeply influenced Richard Rodgers. Showboat (1927) was probably the most influential show in the history of American musical plays; it included the hit songs Ol Man River', Can't Help Lovin Dat Man', and Why do I Love You? . It was filmed several times and entered the repertory of the New York City Opera Company in 1954. Other Kern successes included Roberta (1933; Smoke Gets in Your Eyes ), Swing Time (1936; The Way You Look Tonight ), and Very Warm for May (1939; All the Things You Are ). In 1939 he moved to Hollywood and wrote exclusively for films, including Lady Be Good (1941; The Last Time I Saw Paris ), and Cover Girl (1944; Long Ago and Far Away ). Altogether he wrote more than a thousand songs for over a hundred plays and films, working with lyricists P. G. Wodehouse, Johnny Mercer (1909-76), Oscar Hammerstein II, and many others. B007