Frank Loesser

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Frank Loesser

Birth name Frank Henry Loesser

Born June 29, 1910

New York City, New York, USA

Died July 28, 1969 (aged 59)

New York City, New York, USA

Genres Musical theatre

Occupation(s) Composer, lyricist, screenwriter

Years active 1936–1969

Frank Henry Loesser (/ˈlɛsər/;[1] June 29, 1910 – July 28, 1969) was an American songwriter
who wrote the lyrics and music to the Broadwayhits Guys and Dolls and How To Succeed In
Business Without Really Trying, among others. He won separate Tony Awards for the music and
lyrics in both shows, as well as sharing the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the latter. He also wrote
numerous songs for films and Tin Pan Alley, many of which have become standards, and was
nominated for five Academy Awards for best song, winning once, for "Baby, It's Cold Outside".

Contents
[hide]

 1 Early years
 2 Writing career
 3 World War II era
 4 Career
 5 Later life and death
 6 Personal life
 7 Notable songs
 8 Awards and legacy
 9 Notes
 10 References
 11 External links

Early years[edit]
Loesser was born in New York City to Henry Loesser, a pianist,[2] and Julia Ehrlich.[3][4] He grew up
in a house on West 107th Street in Manhattan. His father had moved to America to avoid
Prussian military service and working in his family's banking business. He came to America and
married Berthe (Ehrlich), and had a son in 1884, Arthur Loesser. in 1888, Berthe's sister Julia
arrived in America. Julia and Henry soon fell in love and Julia really loved Arthur, but Berthe sent
her to Washington D.C. Sadly, Berthe died in childbirth, and Julia moved back in and married
Henry in 1907. Their first child, Grace, was born in December of that year.[5] His parents both
prized high intellect and culture and thus Loesser was taught musically in the vein of European
composers.[4] But although Henry was a full-time piano teacher, he never taught his son. In a
1914 letter to Frank's older half-brother Arthur Loesser, Henry wrote that the 14-year old Frank
could play by ear "any tune he's heard and can spend an enormous amount of time at the
piano."[6] (Frank Loesser would later collaborate with musical secretaries to ensure that his written
scores—he was self-taught—reflected the music as he conceived it.[7])
Loesser did not like his father's posh taste of music and resisted when he wrote his own music
and took up the harmonica. He was expelled from Townsend Harris High School, and from there
went to City College of New York (even though he had no high school diploma).[5] He was
expelled from the CCNY in 1925 after one year for failing every subject except English and gym.[4]
After his father died suddenly in 1926, Loesser went into the work force to earn money for his
family.[8] He held various jobs like restaurant reviewer, process server, sold classified ads for
the New York Herald Tribune, drew political cartoons for The Tuckahoe Record, sketch writer
for Keith Vaudeville Circuit, a knit-goods editor for Women’s Wear Daily, a press representative
for a small movie company, and city editor for a short-lived newspaper in New Rochelle, New
York called New Rochelle News.[4][5]

Writing career[edit]
After his many various jobs, he decided that he wanted to write in Tin Pan Alley and signed
several contracts with music publishers before his contracts were eventually terminated. His first
song credit is listed as "In Love with the Memory of You", with music by William Schuman,
published in 1931.[8]
Loesser's early lyrics included two hit songs of 1934, "Junk Man" and "I Wish I Were Twins" (both
with music by Joe Meyer, and the latter with co-lyric credit to Eddie DeLange). However, they
apparently did not help his reputation, and in later years, he never mentioned them.
In the mid-1930s he would sing for his suppers at The Back Drop, a night spot on east 52nd
Street along with composer Irving Actman, but during the day he worked on the staff of Leo Feist
Inc. writing lyrics to Joseph Brandfon's music at $100 a week. After a year, Feist had not
published any of them. He fared only slightly better collaborating with the future classical
composerWilliam Schuman, selling one song, that would flop, to Feist. Loesser described his
early days of learning the songwriting craft as having "a rendezvous with failure." But while he
dabbled in other trades, he inevitably returned to the music business.[4][9]
The Back Drop turned out to have some substantial connections. Due to his work there he was
able to secure his first Broadway musical, The Illustrator’s Show, a 1936 revue written with Back
Drop collaborator Irving Actman, lasted only four nights. The year before, while performing at the
Back Drop, he met an aspiring singer, Lynn Garland (born Mary Alice Blankenbaker). He
proposed in a September 1936 letter that included funds for a railroad ticket to Los Angeles
where Loesser's contract to Universal Pictures had just ended. The couple married in a judge's
office.[10] Loesser was subsequently offered a contract by Paramount Pictures. His first song credit
with Paramount was "Moon of Manakoora" written with Alfred Newman for Dorothy Lamour in the
film The Hurricane.[4] He wrote the lyrics for many songs during this period, including "Two Sleepy
People", "Heart and Soul" and "I Hear Music." He also worked with many famous composers
such as Newman, Arthur Schwartz, Burton Lane,[11] Hoagy Carmichael, Friedrich Hollaender,
and Joseph J. Lilley.[4]
One of his notable songs from this tenure was from the film Destry Rides Again (1939), for which
he wrote the lyrics to "See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have", with music by Hollaender
and sung by Marlene Dietrich. He also wrote I Don't Want to Walk Without You with Jules
Styne which was published in 1941 and included in the 1942 film Sweater Girl and sung by Betty
Jane Rhodes.[4] Irving Berlin was a huge fan of the song, and played it once for Loesser
numerous times over and over again telling him why he believed it was the greatest song that he
wish he wrote.[12]
He stayed in Hollywood until World War II, when he joined the Army Air Force.[2]

World War II era[edit]

During World War II, he was in the Army Air Force, and continued to write lyrics for films and
single songs.[2] Loesser wrote the popular war song "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition"
(1942) inspired by words spoken by navy chaplain William Maguire. Loesser usually wrote songs
to a "dummy" tune, meaning the music was just a stand-in until more suitable music could be
composed. After the positive reaction to Loesser writing both music and lyrics to the song, it
encouraged him to write both his own music and lyrics.[4] Loesser wrote other songs at the
request of the armed forces including "What Do You Do in the Infantry?" and "The Ballad of
Rodger Young" (1943), among others.[2] He also wrote "They’re Either Too Young or Too Old" for
the 1943 film Thank Your Lucky Stars.[4]
In 1944, Loesser worked as the lyricist on a little-known musical intended to be performed by and
for US soldiers abroad, titled Hi Yank!, the music for which was composed by Alex North. Hi
Yank! was produced by the U.S. Army Office of Special Services as a "blueprint special" to boost
the morale of soldiers located where USO shows could not visit. The "blueprint" was a book
containing a musical script with instructions for staging the show, using materials locally available
to deployed soldiers. A document located at the US Army Centre for Military History states, "A
touring company has been formed in Italy to tour a production of Hi, Yank!".[13]
This unique Hi Yank! show, without stars or a conventional theater run, was generally forgotten
until 2008, when the PBS History Detectives TV show researched the case of a long-saved
radio transcription disc.[14] The disc has two songs and a promotional announcement for the
show's Fort Dix premiere in August 1944, when the disc was broadcast there.[15]

Career[edit]

Guys and Dolls, Libretto and Vocal book, printed by Music Theatre International, 1978.

In 1948, Broadway producers Cy Feuer and Ernest Martin asked Loesser to write both music and
lyrics to George Abbott's book for an adaptation of the Brandon Thomas play Charley's Aunt.
That musical, Where's Charley? (1948), starred Ray Bolger, and ran for a successful 792
performances, with a film version being released in 1952.
In 1948, he sold the rights to a song he wrote in 1944 and performed informally at parties with his
then wife Lynn Garland to MGM. The studio included it in the 1949 movie Neptune's Daughter,
and the song, Baby, It's Cold Outside became a huge hit. Garland was mad at Loesser for selling
what she considered "their song" to MGM.[16] He ended up winning the Academy Award for Best
Original Song for the song.
His next musical, Guys and Dolls (1950), based on the stories of Damon Runyon, was again
produced by Feuer and Martin. Guys and Dolls became a hit and earned Loesser two Tony
Awards.[17] Bob Fosse called Guys and Dolls "the greatest American musical of all time."[4] A film
version was released in 1955, and starred Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra,
and Vivian Blaine.
In 1950, Loesser started his own publishing company Frank Music Corporation. It was created to
control and publish his work but eventually supported other writers such as Richard Adler, Jerry
Ross, and Meredith Willson.[8]
After working on Neptune's Daughter, he wished to write more than one song for a film. His wish
was granted in 1952 when he wrote the music and lyrics for the film Hans Christian Andersen.
The movie had notable songs such as "Wonderful Copenhagen", "Anywhere I Wander",
"Thumbelina", and "Inchworm".[8]
He wrote the book, music and lyrics for his next two musicals, The Most Happy Fella (1956)
and Greenwillow (1960). Around the beginning of 1957, Lynn and Loesser got divorced, and
Loesser then began a relationship with Jo Sullivan, who had a leading role in Fella. He wrote the
music and lyrics for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1961), which ran for
1,417 performances and won the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and for which he received two
more Tonys.
The last musical of his that was produced, Pleasures and Palaces (1965), closed during out-of-
town tryouts. At the time of his death he was working on Señor Discretion Himself, for which he
was writing the book, music and lyrics.

Later life and death[edit]

Another unproduced musical, Señor Discretion Himself, premiered after his death. He started
working on a musical version of the Budd Schulberg short story Señor Discretion Himself in 1966,
but stopped working on it after 2 years. A version was presented in 1985 at the New York Musical
Theatre Works. With the support of Jo Loesser, a completed version was presented at the Arena
Stage, Washington, DC, in 2004, reworked by the group Culture Clash and director Charles
Randolph-Wright.[18]
When he was asked why he did not write more shows, he responded by saying, "I don’t write
slowly, it’s just that I throw out fast." The New York Times confirmed his hard working habits and
wrote that Loesser "was consumed by nervous energy and as a result slept only four hours a
night, spending the rest of the time working."[4]
Loesser, an avid smoker, died of lung cancer at age 59 in New York City.[19]

Personal life[edit]
Lynn Garland and Frank Loesser divorced around the beginning of 1957, after 21 years of
marriage.[20] They had two children together: John Loesser, who works in theatre
administration,[21] and Susan Loesser, an author who wrote her father's biography A Most
Remarkable Fella: Frank Loesser and the Guys and Dolls in His Life: A Portrait by His
Daughter(1993, 2000, ISBN 0634009273).
He married his second wife Jo Sullivan (born Elizabeth Josephine Sullivan) on April 29,
1959.[22] Loesser was introduced to Jo by his first wife Lynn. Jo Sullivan had played a lead in The
Most Happy Fella.[2] They had two children, Hannah and Emily. Emily is a performer who is
married to Don Stephenson.[23] Hannah was an artist in oils, pastels and mixed media; she died of
cancer in 2007.[24]

Notable songs[edit]
See also Category:Musicals by Frank Loesser.
 The Ballad of Rodger
Young

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Performed by the West
Point Cadet Glee Club,
1959.

Problems playing this file? See media

help.

Loesser was the lyricist of over 700 songs.[25]

War songs

 "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" (1942)

 "The Ballad of Rodger Young" (1943)
Broadway musicals

 "Once in Love With Amy" from Where's Charley?

 "A Bushel and a Peck", "Fugue for Tinhorns", "If I Were A Bell" (a favorite of Miles Davis,
featured in recordings with John Coltrane), "Luck Be a Lady Tonight", "Sit Down, You're
Rockin' the Boat" and "I'll Know" from Guys and Dolls
 "Standing on the Corner" from The Most Happy Fella
 "Never Will I Marry" from Greenwillow
 "I Believe In You" and "The Brotherhood of Man" from How To Succeed In Business Without
Really Trying
Films and Tin Pan Alley

 "Baby, It's Cold Outside" from the M-G-M picture "Neptune's Daughter" (1949). This was
originally a song which Loesser and his wife Lynn performed at parties for the private
entertainment of friends. They also recorded the song for Mercury Records. Under contract
to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to supply a full score for Neptune's Daughter, Loesser included this
song which he had created in 1944, originally for their housewarming party.
 "Heart and Soul" (from the Paramount short subject A Song is Born) – lyrics
 "I Don't Want to Walk Without You" from the Paramount picture Sweater Girl (1942),
performed on screen by Betty Jane Rhodes
 "Can't Get Out of This Mood" from the RKO Radio Pictures film "7 Day's Leave" (1942)
 "Let's Get Lost" from Happy Go Lucky (1943) This song inspired the title to the 1988
documentary film with the same title about jazz trumpeter Chet Baker.
 "I Wish I Didn't Love You So" (1947), introduced by Betty Hutton in The Perils of Pauline
 "On a Slow Boat to China" (1948)
 "Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year" from the Universal picture Christmas Holiday (1944)
 "Inch Worm", "Thumbelina" and "Wonderful Copenhagen" from the Samuel Goldwyn
picture Hans Christian Andersen (1952)
 "Two Sleepy People" (music by Hoagy Carmichael) from the Paramount picture "Thanks for
the Memory" (1938)
 "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" (written in 1947)

Awards and legacy[edit]

Loesser received Tony Awards for music and lyrics for How to Succeed in Business Without
Really Trying and Guys and Dolls. He was nominated for the Tony Award for book, music and
lyrics for The Most Happy Fella and as Best Composer for How to Succeed in Business Without
Really Trying. Loesser was awarded a Grammy Award in 1961 for Best Original Cast Show
Album for How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.
Loesser is highly regarded as one of the most talented writers of his era. He is noted for writing
witty lyrics and using clever musical devices. He also introduced a more complex artistic style that
shaped the development of the Broadway musical. He was influential in challenging the standard
compositional approached of Broadway, Loesser opened the door for later composers to further
expand and develop the genre. He was noted for also using classical forms, such as imitative
counterpoint (Fugue for Tinhorns in Guys and Dolls).[8]
He won the 1949 Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song, "Baby, It's Cold Outside". He
was nominated four more times:
"Dolores" from Las Vegas Nights (1941)
"They're Either Too Young or Too Old" from Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943)
"I Wish I Didn't Love You So" from The Perils of Pauline (1947) (a hit that year for
both Vaughn Monroe and the film's star, Betty Hutton)
"Thumbelina" (1953)
In 2006 the PBS documentary, Heart &