Buz Kohan | |
---|---|
Born | Alan W. Kohan August 9, 1933 Bronx, New York City, U.S. |
Occupation(s) | Television writer, record producer, composer, screenwriter |
Years active | 1963–2008 |
Spouse | |
Children | 3, including David and Jenji |
Parent(s) | Charles Kohan May Kohan |
Alan "Buz" Kohan (born August 9, 1933) is an American television writer, producer and composer. [1]
Kohan was born to a Jewish family [2] in the Bronx, New York City, [3] the son of Charles (b. 1902) and May Kohan. [3] His father was in the leotard business and his mother was a housewife. [3]
Kohan studied at the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music, earning bachelor's and master's degrees in 1955 and 1956, respectively. After working in New York, in 1967, he was offered work on The Carol Burnett Show, relocating to Los Angeles. [4]
As a television producer, he produced many television specials, including Bing Crosby's Christmas Show (1970), Perry Como's Winter Show (1971), Bing Crosby and the Sounds of Christmas (1971), The Arthur Godfrey Special (1972), The Keane Brothers Show, Gene Kelly: An American in Pasadena (1978), and Shirley MacLaine: Illusions (1982).
As a writer, he wrote special material for Night of One Hundred Stars, produced at Radio City Music Hall, New York City in 1982, and also (with Marvin Hamlisch, Christopher Adler, and Larry Grossman) Shirley MacLaine on Broadway, produced at Gershwin Theatre, New York City, in 1984. He wrote songs with (and for) his dear friend singer-entertainer Michael Jackson, such as "You Were There" (a tribute to Sammy Davis Jr. sung by Jackson), "Gone Too Soon" (written during the early '80s, recorded later for Jackson's Dangerous album released in 1991 as a tribute to Ryan White), "Scared of the Moon" (a rare song from 1984, sung by Michael Jackson, released in 2004 by Sony Music), and "Make a Wish," a never-heard song written by Kohan and sung by Jackson, for the Steven Spielberg version of Peter Pan, Hook. He also co-wrote the Christmas classic "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy" for David Bowie and Bing Crosby. [5]
Kohan met his wife Rhea Arnold when she was working in Lake George, New York. [4] They married on July 17, 1962, and they have three children together: Jono, David Kohan (who are twins), and Jenji Kohan. As Rhea Kohan, his wife has published the novels Save Me a Seat (Harper & Row, 1979) and Hand-Me-Downs (Random House, 1980).
He and his children David and Jenji have all won Emmys, making them one of just 15 families with parents and children who have won. [6]
Rhea Jo Perlman is an American actress. She is well-known for playing head waitress Carla Tortelli in the sitcom Cheers (1982–1993). Over the course of 11 seasons, Perlman was nominated for ten Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress — winning four times — and was nominated for a record six Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series. She has also appeared in films, including Canadian Bacon (1995), Matilda (1996), The Sessions (2012), Poms (2019), and Barbie (2023).
David Sanford Kohan is an American television producer and writer. After writing for The Wonder Years and The Dennis Miller Show, Kohan co-created and produced Will & Grace, Boston Common, Good Morning, Miami, Twins and Four Kings with Max Mutchnick. Kohan has won an Emmy and a People's Choice Award. He has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award. He and his business partner Max Mutchnick worked on a half-hour comedy series for CBS called Partners.
"Gwine to Run All Night, or De Camptown Races" is a minstrel song by Stephen Foster (1826–1864). It was published in February 1850 by F. D. Benteen of Baltimore, Maryland, and Benteen published a different version with guitar accompaniment in 1852 under the title "The Celebrated Ethiopian Song/Camptown Races". The song quickly entered the realm of popular Americana. Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829–1869) quotes the melody in his virtuoso piano work Grotesque Fantasie, the Banjo, op. 15 published in 1855. In 1909, composer Charles Ives incorporated the tune and other vernacular American melodies into his orchestral Symphony No. 2.
"On the Street Where You Live" is a song with music by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner from the 1956 Broadway musical My Fair Lady. It is sung in the musical by the character Freddy Eynsford-Hill, who was portrayed by John Michael King in the original production. In the 1964 film version, it was sung by Bill Shirley, dubbing for actor Jeremy Brett.
"Mule Train" is a popular song written by Johnny Lange, Hy Heath, Ramblin' Tommy Scott and Fred Glickman. It is a cowboy song, with the singer filling the role of an Old West wagon driver, spurring on his team of mules pulling a delivery wagon. As he goes about his work, the driver mentions the various mail-order goods he is delivering to far-flung customers. "Mule Train" was originally recorded by Ellis "Buz" Butler Jr. in 1947. Butler was the original writer of the song along with Fred Glickman. The original recording was released by Buz Butler on Decca Records.
"Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy" is a Christmas song performed by English singer-songwriter David Bowie and American singer Bing Crosby. Recorded on 11 September 1977 at ATV Elstree Studios near London for Crosby's television special Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas, the song features Crosby singing 1941 standard "The Little Drummer Boy" while Bowie sings the counterpoint tune "Peace on Earth", written by the special's musical supervisors Ian Fraser and Larry Grossman, and scriptwriter Buz Kohan, specifically for the collaboration. The duet was one of Crosby's final recordings before his death in October 1977.
"Something Wonderful" is a show tune from the 1951 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I.
Christopher Lane Noxon is an American writer and freelance journalist.
Jenji Leslie Kohan is an American television writer and producer. She is best known as the creator and showrunner of the Showtime comedy-drama series Weeds and the Netflix comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black. She has received nine Emmy Award nominations, winning one as supervising producer of the comedy series Tracey Takes On....
"I've Got a Crush on You" is a song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin. It is unique among Gershwin compositions in that it was used for two different Broadway productions: Treasure Girl (1928), when it was introduced by Clifton Webb and Mary Hay, and Strike Up the Band (1930), when it was sung by Doris Carson and Gordon Smith. It was later included in the tribute musical Nice Work If You Can Get It (2012), in which it was sung by Jennifer Laura Thompson. When covered by Frank Sinatra he was a part of Columbia Records.
Dwight Arlington Hemion Jr. was an American television director known mainly for music-themed television programs of the 1960s and 1970s. He held the record for the most Emmy nominations (47), and won 18 times, putting him at the top of his profession throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and well into the 1980s. He also won the Directors Guild of America's top TV award five times, six Ace awards and a Peabody award.
Tony Charmoli was an American dancer, choreographer, and director. He began dancing on Broadway in such shows as Make Mine Manhattan but soon began choreographing for television with Stop the Music in 1949. Charmoli then choreographed dance sequences for the popular Your Hit Parade, winning his first Emmy Award in 1956. He went on to direct and choreograph for some of the biggest stars including Dinah Shore, Lily Tomlin, Danny Kaye, Julie Andrews, Cyd Charisse, Shirley MacLaine, Mitzi Gaynor, Lucille Ball, and others. On Broadway, Tony choreographed Ankles Aweigh (1955) and Woman of the Year (1981) with Lauren Bacall. Over his career, he was nominated for fifteen Emmy awards and won three.
Robert Wells was an American songwriter, composer, script writer and television producer. During his early career, he collaborated with singer and songwriter Mel Tormé, writing several hit songs, most notably "The Christmas Song" in 1945. Later, he became a prolific writer and producer for television, for such shows as The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, as well as for numerous variety specials, such as If They Could See Me Now, starring Shirley MacLaine. He was nominated for several Academy Awards and won six Emmys and a Peabody Award.
"Dear Old Donegal" is an Irish-American song popularised by American singer Bing Crosby and written by Steve Graham. The song has an 'upbeat' rhythm and is meant to be the words of an Irishman returning to his native County Donegal after becoming successful in the United States.
Larry Grossman is an American composer for theatre, television, film, concerts, and cabaret.
Ian Fraser was an English composer, conductor, orchestrator, arranger and music director. In a career that spanned over 50 years, he received eleven Emmy Awards out of 32 total nominations, making him the most-honored musician in television history. His first 23 Emmy nominations, received between 1977 and 1999, were consecutive, which is the longest run of individual nominations in the history of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
The Star Maker is a 1939 American musical film directed by Roy Del Ruth, written by Frank Butler, Don Hartman and Arthur Caesar, and starring Bing Crosby, Louise Campbell, Linda Ware, Ned Sparks, Laura Hope Crews, Janet Waldo and Walter Damrosch. Filming started in Hollywood on April 17, 1939 and was finished in June. The film was released on August 25, 1939, by Paramount Pictures, and had its New York premiere on August 30, 1939. It was the only film in which Crosby played a happily married man.
Rhea Kohan is an American writer, author of the novels Save Me a Seat (1979) and Hand-Me-Downs (1980).
Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas is a 1977 Christmas television special starring Bing Crosby and his family with special guests Twiggy, David Bowie, Ron Moody, Stanley Baxter and Trinity Boys Choir. It includes a duet by the unusual pairing of Crosby and Bowie on "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy".