That’s Entertainment

Arthur Schwartz (1900–1984), a premier composer of American Popular Song during the mid-20th century, has been overlooked by historians. This first full-length biography covers his work on Broadway and in Hollywood, where he was known as the “master of the intimate revue” for his songs in the 1930s with Howard Dietz.

Schwartz wrote music for films in the 1940s—with Academy Award nominations for They’re Either Too Young or Too Old and A Gal in Calico—produced two popular movie musicals—Cover Girl and Night and Day—and was among the first songwriters to work in the new medium of television. The author describes his creative process and includes behind-the-scenes stories of each of his major musicals.

Tighe E. Zimmers has been researching and collecting memorabilia about American popular song composers for over two decades. A physician in Chicago, his previous writings include numerous articles on emergency medicine.

Tighe E. Zimmers
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 393
Bibliographic Info: 26 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2021
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7881-8
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4165-2
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments v
Preface 1
Introduction 5
1. Early Life 9
2. Early Songwriting 18
3. Howard Dietz 28
4. The Little Show and “I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plan” 33
5. The London Shows 41
6. Three’s a Crowd and “Something to Remember You By” 46
7. The Band Wagon and “Dancing in the Dark” 61
8. Flying Colors and “Alone Together” 75
9. The Gibson Family and Radio 84
10. Revenge with Music and “You and the Night and the Music” 97
11. At Home Abroad 105
12. Late Thirties: C.B. Cochran and Follow the Sun 112
13. Between the Devil: “By Myself” and “I See Your Face Before Me” 117
14. Virginia and the Rockefellers 130
15. Dorothy Fields and Stars in Your Eyes 140
16. Movie Songwriting: Frank Loesser and Johnny Mercer 153
17. Movie Producing and Hollywood 164
18. Songwriting 179
19. Park Avenue: Ira Gershwin and George S. Kaufman 188
20. Inside U.S.A. and Leo Robin 196
21. More Producing: Television and Inside U.S.A. with Chevrolet 210
22. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: Shirley Booth and “Make the Man Love Me” 219
23. Schwartz v. Broadcast Music, Inc. 233
24. The Band Wagon: The Movie and “That’s Entertainment” 241
25. By the Beautiful Sea and More Dorothy Fields 256
26. The Mid-Fifties: Odds and Ends and Mrs. ’Arris Goes to Paris 267
27. The Gay Life: Barbara Cook and “Magic Moment” 280
28. Jennie and Mary Martin 287
29. Later Life 297
Appendix A. Arthur Schwartz Chronology 311
Appendix B. Chronology of Produced Shows 317
Appendix C. Songs Composed by Schwartz with Various Lyricists 319
Appendix D. Tribute Albums 328
Appendix E. Schwartz Songs on Your Hit Parade 330
Chapter Notes 331
Bibliography 371
Index 377