1930s Composers Biographies
Did the music from Ashley Page's Pennies from Heaven get your tapping and whistling? Do you want to know who is behind those catchy numbers? Here you can find a brief biography on all the swinging stars! Why not pick up a copy of the soundtrack here at our online shop?
Down Sunny Side Lane
Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly
Jimmy Campbell was the lyricist behind the track Down Sunny Side Lane. His work was consistently successful and in the 1920s he formed a songwriting partnership with Reginald Connelly. The duo often wrote under the pseudonym Irving King and wrote a great number of hits that successfully gained popularity both in the UK and USA. They’re successful songs included Goodnight Sweetheart and Try a Little Tenderness which was a hit in 1933 and again with its reprise by Otis Reading in 1966.
The Clouds Will Soon Roll By
Harry Woods and Mort Dixon
Despite being born with no fingers on his left hand Harry MacGregor Woods was an excellent pianist and composed some of the most recognizable hits from the 1930s. Perhaps his best known is When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob Bob Bobbing Along. Most of his songs were known as ‘independent’ rather than for a specific musical or production. He frequently worked with collaborators and was one of the writers of ‘Try a Little Tenderness’ He often worked with the New York lyricist Mort Dixon, who is famed for writing ‘Bye Bye Blackbird’ and ‘That Old Gang of Mine.’
Pennies From Heaven
John Burke and Arthur Johnson
John Burke was regarded as one of the finest writers of popular songs in America between the 1920s and 50s. He began his career in the 1926 as a song salesman and pianist for the Irving Berlin publishing company before moving to Hollywood in 1936. It was here that he partnered with New York composer, Arthur Johnson. Johnson had moved to Hollywood in 1929 and the two wrote movie scores together, including Pennies from Heaven, before Johnson joined the 351st infantry during WWII. Burke went on to spend his entire career with just one studio, Paramount Pictures, as a lyricist on Bing Crosby films.
I’ve Found the Right Girl
Noel Gay
Noel Gay was one of Britain’s most successful British composers of the 1930s. He is the only composer to besides Andrew Lloyd Webber to have four shows running simultaneously at London’s West End his most famous being Me and My Girl. Gay went on to write songs for reviews and for star artists including Gracie Fields and George Formby, his most famous from this time is ‘Run Rabbit Run’.
You’ve Got Me Crying
Charles Newman and Isham Jones
Charles Newman wrote dozens of lyrics to band leader Isham Jones’ popular dance band. In the 1920s and 30s the band was one of the most popular in England before the band re-established itself in New York. Despite a tempestuous recording schedule, which saw the company disband and re-organise on numerous occasions, they managed to record timeless classics. These included Sweet Georgia Brown, with a young Bing Crosby, Old Lace and You’ve Got Me Crying. The band was taken over by Woody Herman after Isham retired in 1938.
Serenade In The Night
Ceasare Andrea Bixio and Jimmy Kennedy
Roll Along Covered Wagon
Jimmy Kennedy
The music was written by the popular Italian composer Ceasare Andrea Bixio. The British lyricist Jimmy Kennedy took the music as a base for the song. Arguably Kennedy’s most famous hour came when he re-worked the lyrics of the ‘Cokey Cokey’ and formed one of the most popular dance songs of all time The Hokey Cokey. However he can also lay claim to writing Teddy Bears Picnic and Istanbul, Not Constantinople. After serving in WWII he continued to write lyrics until the 1950s when rock and roll ended his popularity.
My Baby Said Yes
Con Conrad and Cliff Friend
Con Conrad received the first Academy Award for Best Song in 1934. He began his career in a Harlem movie house playing songs to accompany silent films. In 1920 he had his first hit Margie and continued to produce a string of standards over the next few years. As a member of the Tin Pan Alley group of song writers he collaborated with Cliff Friend who was a firm fixture with the now extinct breed of songwriters. Friend wrote a string of hits in his life, but perhaps his most famous was the song The Merry Go Round Broke Down which was later used as the theme song to the Looney Tunes.
Riptide
Gustav Gerson Kahn and Walter Donaldson
At the age of 20 Gustav Kahn began publishing his work. From here until the 1940s he contributed to numerous Broadway scores and several movies for MGM. As part of Tin Pan Alley he worked with composer Walter Donaldson who had previously worked in Irving Berlin’s publishing firm. He produced some 600 songs including Little White Lies, Making Whoopee and My Mammy which was a huge hit for Al Jolson.
Painting the Clouds with Sunshine
Al Dubin and Joseph Burke
In 1926 Al Dubin was one of the first songwriters to be hired for talking pictures. He wrote many songs with Joseph Burke, such as Tiptoe Through the Tulips, Painting the Clouds with Sunshine and The Kiss Waltz. Dubin later joined forces with Harry Warren and wrote massive hits including We’re in the Money and 42nd Street. Meanwhile Burke’s catalogue holds a bevy of Billboard number 1s in the 20s, 30s and 40s.
March Winds and April Showers
Walter Samuels and Teddy Powell
Teddy Powel was an American Jazz guitarist, composer and big band leader. He led his first big band when he was just 15 and they stayed together until 1944. He had a very successful six week run at the Famous Door in New York. A fire at the Rustic Cabin in New Jersey in 1941 resulted in the orchestra losing all of its instruments. After the bands break up he continued to compose and arrange and wrote several hit songs including Bewildered and If My Heart Could Talk.
You and the Night and the Music
Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz
As a publicist Howard Dietz conceived the MGM motto Ars Gratia Artis and the distinctive Leo the Lion. Many of his greatest songs were written with composer Arthur Schwartz with whom he first worked on The Little Show in 1929. Schwartz was a songwriter for Broadway until the 1960s and between them they created a number of memorable hits such as Dancing in the Dark and That’s Entertainment/ After the depression the duo wrote their first book musical Revenge With Music which featured the hit You and the Night and the Music.
Dreaming a Dream
James Waller and Joseph A. Tunbridge
James Tunbridge and James Waller were as inseparable as Laurel and Hardy. Virtually all of their successes were joint affairs. Waller began his career in minstrel shows while Turnbridge was a pianist of Star Music Publishers. Their partnership began in 1928 with Virginia which became popular with amateur societies up and down the country. In the early 30s several of their shows were staged at the Saville Theatre and later that decade the Hippodrome was favoured. After WWII the pair was pretty ‘played out’ but continued to work in musical theatre for around a decade or so.
My Woman
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby
As one of the first multimedia stars, Bing Crosby had unrivaled control of record sales from 1934 to 1954. He is cited among the most popular musical acts in history and is currently the most electronically recorded voice in history. In 1948 polls declared him as one of the most admired men alive and Music Digest estimated that his recordings filled more than 40,000 hours. His career lasted from 1926 until his death in 1977.