Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin

Sing The Songs of Harold Arlen

If Harold Arlen (1905-86) had only composed 'Over The Rainbow, ' the world would be in his debt. But Arlen had a wide-ranging and very productive career, writing over 500 songs. While never quite as well known as George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin, Arlen created a body of work that could match those three famous songwriters. Born Hyman Arluck, he was the son of a cantor and had some classical music training. However from an early age he was much more interested in jazz and blues. In 1920 when he was just 15, he formed the Snappy Trio, leaving home a year later. Arlen worked as an accompanist in vaudeville, sang, and in 1929 worked as a rehearsal pianist for Fletcher Henderson He recorded a few songs as a singer with jazz groups including Red Nichols, Joe Venuti and the Leo Reisman Orchestra, and as late as 1934 was performing with Eddy Duchin's society orchestra. Because Arlen's background was in jazz, his songs always seemed to be a bit bluesy. At least a dozen of his songs were almost immediately adopted by jazz musicians, becoming regularly recorded classics. Arlen began writing regularly for the movies by the mid-1930s with his 1939 score for The Wizard Of Oz including a great deal of delightful material including 'If I Only Had Brain' plus of course 'Over The Rainbow. ' Other songs that he wrote originally written for films included 'Blues In The Night' (with words by Johnny Mercer), 'Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe, ' 'The Man That Got Away' (sung by Judy Garland in A Star Is Born), 'That Old Black Magic, ' and two songs introduced by Fred Astaire: 'One For My Baby' and 'My Shining Hour. ' The Arlen-Mercer team also composed such songs as 'Out Of This World, ' 'Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive' and 'Come Rain Or Come Shine. ' Harold Arlen returned to Broadway in 1946, writing 'Come Rain Or Come Shine' with Johnny Mercer for the show St. Louis Woman. His final plays were House OF Flowers (1954), Jamaica (1957) and Saratoga (1959). While he wrote some more songs in the 1960s and even recorded as a vocalist in 1966, Harold Arlen was largely retired during his last 15 years, living to be 81 in 1986. The Harold Arlen Story would never be much of a movie for he was a consistent songwriter whose work was always rewarding. He did not have any off periods until he retired, and he could always be relied upon to write memorable songs.