Frank Loesser

A respected Broadway name due to his Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, a composer who wrote half a dozen wartime songs including "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition," a Hollywood lyric-writer for several 1940s films -- it appears that Frank Loesser had several careers packed into his one life. Born into a musical family in New York City in 1910, Loesser refused formal training, however, deciding instead to learn by himself while at the piano. Never serious about a show-business career, he dropped out of college to work at a series of jobs including office boy, reporter, inspector, advertising salesman and part-time vaudevillian. After selling one song to a fellow performer, he earned a job as a lyric-writer in Tin Pan Alley, and first published in 1931. Though Fats Waller recorded another of his early-'30s compositions, "I Wish I Were Twins," Loesser was unsuccessful and had to augment his income by singing at a 52nd St. nightspot.

In 1936, Frank Loesser decided that he could make his fortune in Hollywood; after signing a contract with Universal, he was released less than a year later, but found success soon after with "The Moon of Manakoora," sung by Dorothy Lamour in 1937's The Hurricane. Several moderate film hits followed during the late '30s and early '40s ("I Fall in Love with You Every Day," "The Boys in the Back Room," "Kiss the Boys Goodbye"), all composed with a variety of musical collaborators.

Loesser's transition into true popular success came in 1942, just after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Writing a song around an overheard comment and composing a few notes of music to aid in the lyrical flow, Loesser came up with "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition." After being published in 1942, the song sold several million copies (including copies of sheet music) during the war years, with hit versions recorded by Kay Kyser and Merry Macs. Loesser later joined the military, and continued to to compose more service-related songs, including "First Class Mary Brown," "The WAC Hymn," "What Do You Do in the Infantry?" and "Salute to the Army Air Force."

At the end of World War II, Loesser continued to write in Hollywood (earning an Academy award in 1949 for "Baby It's Cold Outside" from Neptune's Daughter), but he also returned to Broadway, composing the score to 1948's Where's Charley? as a dry run for his biggest success, 1950's Guys and Dolls. The musical ran for over 1,200 performances, was continually revived on and off-Broadway, and became a feature film in 1955 starring Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando. The Most Happy Fella followed in 1956, and was the first for which Loesser composed the libretto as well as the score. It was a moderate success, as was 1960's Greenwillow. Loesser's second triumphant production came in 1961, when How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying captured a Pulitzer Prize, a Tony, and Drama Critics Circle award for best musical of the season. Loesser's last production (Pleasures and Palaces) was a failure, but the 1967 film version of How to Succeed in Business was enough to make most forget. Frank Loesser died of cancer in 1969.

from Wikipedia:

Frank Henry Loesser (June 29, 1910 – July 28, 1969) was an American songwriter who wrote the lyrics and music to the Broadway hits 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".

Early years

Loesser was born in New York City to Henry Loesser, a pianist, and Julia Ehrlich. He left City College of New York in 1925 after one year. After trying various jobs, by 1935 he was performing in a club with singer Lynn Blankenbaker Garland, whom he married in 1936.

After signing with Universal Pictures in 1936 he moved to Hollywood, and then worked for Paramount Pictures. He wrote the lyrics for many songs during this period, including "Two Sleepy People" and “I Hear Music.” He stayed in Hollywood until World War II, when he joined the Army Air Force.

One of the early films he worked on was Destry Rides Again (1939), for which he wrote the lyrics to "See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have", sung by Marlene Dietrich.

WWII era

During World War II, while enlisted as a song writer, Loesser wrote the popular war songs Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition (1942) and The Ballad of Rodger Young (1943), among others. Loesser had started out his career writing lyrics for other composers, and Praise the Lord was the first song for which he wrote the melody as well as the lyrics.

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!".

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. 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.

Career

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. This led to his next musical, Guys and Dolls (1950), based on the stories of Damon Runyon, and again produced by Feuer and Martin. Guys and Dolls became a hit and earned Loesser two Tony Awards.

He wrote the book, music and lyrics for his next two musicals, The Most Happy Fella (1956) and Greenwillow (1960). 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 that he worked on, Pleasures and Palaces (1965), closed during out-of-town tryouts.

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.

Personal life

Loesser divorced his first wife, Lynn, in 1957. They had two children together: John Loesser 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).

He married his second wife Jo Sullivan (born Elizabeth Josephine Sullivan) on April 29, 1959. Loesser was introduced to Jo by his first wife Lynn. Jo Sullivan had played a lead in The Most Happy Fella. They had two children, Hannah and Emily. Emily is a performer who is married to Don Stephenson.

Loesser died of lung cancer at age 59 in New York City.

Notable songs

See also Category: Musicals by Frank Loesser

Loesser was the lyricist of over 700 songs.

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", "I'll Know", "If I Were A Bell" (a favorite of Miles Davis, featured in recordings with John Coltrane), "Luck Be a Lady Tonight" and "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" 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 TryingFilms 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"Let's Get Lost" from Happy Go Lucky (1943) This song inspired the title to the documentary film with the same title about jazz trumpeter Chet Baker."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" (which is now the official song of the city of 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

Loesser received Tony Awards for music and lyrics for each of 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.

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)"Thumbelina" (1953)

In 2006 the PBS documentary, Heart & Soul: The Life and Music of Frank Loesser was released.