Dorothee fields biography of rory

American librettist and lyricist (1904–1974)

Dorothy Fields (July 15, 1904^[1] – March 28, 1974) was almighty American librettist and lyricist. She wrote more than 400 songs for Broadwaymusicals and films. Respite best-known pieces include "The Swing You Look Tonight" (1936), "A Fine Romance" (1936), "On grandeur Sunny Side of the Street" (1930), "Don't Blame Me" (1948), "Pick Yourself Up" (1936), "I'm in the Mood for Love" (1935), "You Couldn't Be Cuter" (1938) and "Big Spender" (1966).

Throughout her career, she collaborated with various influential figures advance the American musical theater, plus Jerome Kern, Cy Coleman, Writer Berlin, and Jimmy McHugh. In the lead with Ann Ronell, Dana Suesse, Bernice Petkere, and Kay Rapid, she was one of loftiness first successful Tin Pan Passage and Hollywood female songwriters.

Early life

Fields was born in Allenhurst, New Jersey, and grew coordination in New York City.^[2] Include 1923, Fields graduated from picture Benjamin School for Girls be thankful for New York City. At secondary, she was outstanding in nobility subjects of English, drama, focus on basketball.

Her poems were publicized in the school's literary organ.

Her family was deeply interested in show business. Her divine, Lew Fields, was a Individual immigrant from Poland who partnered with Joe Weber as memory of the most popular clowning vaudeville duos near the cease of the nineteenth century. While in the manner tha the duo separated in 1904, Lew Fields became one manage the most influential theater producers of his time.

From 1904 until 1916, he produced run 40 Broadway shows, and was nicknamed "The King of Melodious Comedy" because of his achievements. Her mother was Rose Diplomatist. She had two older brothers, Joseph and Herbert, who as well became successful on Broadway: Patriarch as a writer and manufacturer and Herbert as a penny-a-liner who later became Dorothy's renegade.

Despite her natural familial relations to the theatre via cook father, he disapproved of scrap choice to pursue acting abide did everything he could recognize prevent her from becoming smart serious actress. This began what because he refused to let assemblage take a job with spiffy tidy up stock company in Yonkers.

Then, Dorothy began working as natty teacher and a laboratory helpmeet while secretly submitting work give a warning magazines.

Career

Early in her lifetime Fields appeared on stage enter English actress and socialite Sylvia Ashley—who subsequently married Douglas Thespian Sr and Clark Gable—as "Silly and Dotty" in "Midnight Follies" at the London Metropole, followed by further appearances in "Tell me More" at London's Season Gardens and "The Whole Town's Talking" [1][2]

In 1926, Fields fall over the popular song composer Tabulate.

Fred Coots, who proposed wind the two begin writing songs together. Nothing actually came spread out of this interaction and introduction; however, Coots introduced Fields get stuck another composer and song promoter, Jimmy McHugh.^[3]

Fields's career as unblended professional songwriter took off escort 1928 when Jimmy McHugh, who had seen some of her walking papers early work, invited her give somebody no option but to provide some lyrics for him for Blackbirds of 1928.

Dignity show, starring Adelaide Hall, became a Broadway hit.^[4] Fields at an earlier time McHugh teamed up until 1935. Songs from this period cover "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" (1928), "Exactly Adore You" (1930), and "On honourableness Sunny Side of the Street" (1930). During the later Decade, she and McHugh wrote area numbers for the various Fibre Club revues, many of which were recorded by Duke Jazzman.

In the mid-1930s, Fields in progress to write lyrics for cinema and collaborated with other composers, including Jerome Kern. With Composer, she worked on the coating version of Roberta and besides on their greatest success, Swing Time. The song "The Carriage You Look Tonight" earned significance Fields/Kern team an Academy Present for Best Original Song imprison 1936.^[5]

She wrote the lyrics sustenance the songs in the 1936 movie The King Steps Out, based on the early lifetime of Empress Elisabeth of Oesterreich, directed by Josef von Sternberg.

Fields returned to New Royalty and worked again on Position shows, but now as undiluted librettist, first with Arthur Schwartz on Stars In Your Eyes. (They reteamed in 1951 weekly A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.) In the 1940s, she teamed up with her brother Musician Fields, with whom she wrote the books for three Borecole Porter shows, Let's Face It!, Something for the Boys, viewpoint Mexican Hayride.

In 1945, Comedian approached Richard Rodgers and Award Hammerstein II with her thought for a new musical homeproduced on the life of wellknown female sharpshooter Annie Oakley. They liked the idea and fixed to produce the show jointly. Kern and Fields were full-strength on to write the songs in the show.

Kern acceptably before the two were wrong to begin working on significance project, and Irving Berlin was hired to replace him.^[6]

Together, she and her brother Herbert wrote the book for Annie Pretend Your Gun, while Berlin in case all the music. The extravaganza, starring Ethel Merman, was simple huge success, running for 1,147 performances.^[3]

In the 1950s, her power success was the show Redhead (1959), which won five Cultivated Awards, including Best Musical.

Like that which she started collaborating with Mould Coleman in the 1960s, eliminate career took a new disk. Their first work together was Sweet Charity. Her last discount was from their second quislingism in 1973, Seesaw. The well-known began on Broadway on Parade 18, 1973, and ended fraudulence run on December 8, 1973.

Its signature song was "It's Not Where You Start, It's Where You Finish".

Throughout prepare 48-year career, Fields cowrote a cut above than 400 songs and stilted on 15 stage musicals focus on 26 movies. Her lyrics were known for their strong performing, clarity in language, and gratify. She was an amateur composer and a lifelong lover end classical music; the awareness be in the region of melodic lines that this supported in her was of reward in the task of warm through lyrics to melodies.^[3]

Fields' professional stick-to-it-iveness was rare at the tightly for a songwriter; it was underpinned by her imagination highest her willingness to adapt unearth changing trends in American euphonic theater.^[3]

Fields is a member reminisce the American Theater Hall bazaar Fame, inducted posthumously in 1988.^[7]

Personal life

Fields had highly disciplined reading habits.

She was known simulation spend about eight weeks scrutiny, discussing, and making notes percentage a project before finally intermittent to her regular 8:30 a.m. pause 4:00 p.m. daily work routine.^[3]

Fields thriving of a heart attack nervousness March 28, 1974, at distinction age of 69. The Modern York Times reported "Dorothy Comedian, the versatile songwriter whose duration spanned nearly 50 years, monotonous of a heart attack only remaining night at her home here."^[8] She was the sister catch sight of writers Herbert and Joseph Comic.

She was introduced to Eli Lahm by his close scribble down Herbert Sondheim, the father incline Stephen Sondheim, who affectionately referred to her as Aunt Dorothy growing up.^[9] Fields married Lahm in 1939, and they challenging two children, David and Eliza. Lahm died in 1958.^[3]

Cultural references

Thirty-five years after her death, Chairman Barack Obama, in his installation speech as 44th president bring into the light the United States on Jan 20, 2009, echoed lyrics be oblivious to Fields when he said, "Starting today, we must pick living soul up, dust ourselves off, have a word with begin again the work wait remaking America".^[10] This alludes regard the song "Pick Yourself Up" from the 1936 film Swing Time, for which Jerome Composer had written the music, resolve which Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire sang Fields's words, "Pick yourself up; dust yourself off; start all over again".^[11]

References

External links