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Frank Henry Loesser was an American songwriter who wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, among others. He won a Tony Award for Guys and Dolls and shared the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for How to Succeed. He also wrote songs for over 60 Hollywood 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".
Guys and Dolls is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon stories, such as "Pick the Winner".
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a 1961 musical by Frank Loesser and book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, and Willie Gilbert, based on Shepherd Mead's 1952 book of the same name. The story concerns young, ambitious J. Pierrepont Finch, who, with the help of the book How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, rises from window washer to chairman of the board of the World Wide Wicket Company.
The Most Happy Fella is a 1956 musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Frank Loesser. The story, about a romance between an older man and younger woman, is based on the 1924 play They Knew What They Wanted by Sidney Howard. The show is described by some theatre historians and critics as operatic. The original Broadway production ran for 14 months and it has enjoyed several revivals, including one staged by the New York City Opera.
"A Bushel and a Peck" is a popular song written by Frank Loesser and published in 1950. The song was introduced in the Broadway musical Guys and Dolls, which opened at the 46th Street Theater on November 24, 1950. It was performed on stage by Vivian Blaine and a women's chorus as a nightclub act at the Hot Box. It is the first of two nightclub performances in the musical. Although Blaine later reprised her role as Miss Adelaide in the 1955 film version of the play, "A Bushel and a Peck" was omitted from the film and replaced by a new song, "Pet Me, Poppa."
Elizabeth Josephine Sullivan Loesser was an American actress and high lyric soprano singer. She became a musical theatre star with her performance in the original production of The Most Happy Fella, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award in 1957.
John Francis McMartin was an American actor of stage, film and television.
Bella and Samuel Spewack were a husband-and-wife writing team.
Don Walker was a prolific Broadway orchestrator, who also composed music for musicals and one film and worked as a conductor in television.
Music Theatre International (MTI) is a theatrical licensing agency based in New York City and founded in 1952 by American composer and lyricist Frank Loesser and orchestrator Don Walker. Along with licensing the rights to Loesser's works, the firm licenses production rights of over 500 Broadway, Off-Broadway, and West End musicals. CBS acquired MTI in 1976. After SBK acquired CBS' music publishing in 1986, MTI was spun off as a separate company to a group led by Nicholas Firth. A different group led by Freddie Gershon acquired MTI in 1989. Cameron Mackintosh became a partner in 1990 and majority owner in 2015.
Heart & Soul: The Life and Music of Frank Loesser is a 2006 American documentary film about Guys and Dolls composer/lyricist Frank Loesser. Directed by Walter J. Gottlieb, it is credited as the first-ever TV documentary about Loesser and was produced by Gottlieb and associate producer James F. Cooney in co-operation with Frank Loesser Enterprises and his widow, Broadway actress and singer Jo Sullivan Loesser. The documentary debuted on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Public television stations nationwide in 2006 and ran throughout 2007. The film details the triumphant musical career of Loesser, who rose from humble New York City beginnings as the son of German Jewish immigrant parents to become the acclaimed composer/lyricist of 5 Broadway musicals and several Hollywood movie songs which became American pop standards, such as "Heart and Soul", "On a Slow Boat to China", and "Baby, It's Cold Outside".
Finger-Style Guitar is the sixth studio album by American guitarist Chet Atkins, released in 1956.
Andy Blankenbuehler is an American dancer, choreographer and director primarily for stage and concerts. He has been nominated for the Tony Award for Best Choreography five times, and has won three times: for In the Heights (2008), Hamilton (2016), and Bandstand (2017). Blankenbuehler's other Broadway choreography work includes 9 to 5, Bring it On: The Musical, and the 2016 Cats revival. Blankenbuehler was awarded the Kennedy Center Honor in 2018 for his work on Hamilton. He also choreographed the movie adaptation of Cats. Most recently he choreographed, directed and co-wrote Only Gold - a new musical with Music by Kate Nash at MCC Theater.
The Ballad of Rodger Young is an American war song by Frank Loesser, written and first performed during World War II in March 1945. The ballad is an elegy for Army Private Rodger Wilton Young, who died after rushing a Japanese machine-gun nest on 31 July 1943, and is largely based on the citation for Young's posthumous Medal of Honor.
Tony Stevens, born Anthony Pusateri, was an American choreographer, dancer, and director who worked with, danced with, and directed many of Broadway and Hollywood's theatre-centric actors and actresses, including Chita Rivera, Martin Short, Robert Redford, and Gene Kelly.
Herbert Greene was an American conductor, music director and vocal arranger prominent on the Broadway stage in New York City. He won two Tony Awards for the 1958 musical The Music Man.
"What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" is a popular song written in 1947 by Frank Loesser as an independent song.
Kiss the Boys Goodbye is a 1941 comedy film directed by Victor Schertzinger and starring Mary Martin, Don Ameche and Oscar Levant. It is based on a play by Clare Boothe Luce which was inspired by the search for an actress to play Scarlett O'Hara in the film version of Gone with the Wind. The score, under the musical direction of Victor Young, includes the title song and "Sand in My Shoes," both by Frank Loesser and Victor Schertzinger.
"More I Cannot Wish You" is a song written and composed by Frank Loesser and first performed by Pat Rooney, Sr. in 1950. The song was featured in the musical Guys and Dolls. The sentimental lyrics relate the feelings of the oldest character in the play, missionary Arvide Abernathy, who sings it tenderly to his granddaughter, Sarah Brown.
"Wonderful Copenhagen" is a song and single written by Frank Loesser performed by Danny Kaye with Gordon Jenkins and his orchestra and released in 1953.
References
- ↑ "Once There Was a Russian". IBDB.com. Internet Broadway Database.
- ↑ Suskin, Steven. "Frank Loesser" Show Tunes : The Songs, Shows, and Careers of Broadway's Major Composers (2010), (books.google.com), Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-988615-6, p.242
- ↑ Loesser, Susan. "Pleasures and Palaces" A Most Remarkable Fella: Frank Loesser and the Guys and Dolls in His Life (2000), books.google.com, Hal Leonard Corporation, ISBN 0-634-00927-3, p. 245
- A Most Remarkable Fella: Frank Loesser and the Guys and Dolls in His Life by Susan Loesser, published by Hal Leonard (2000), pp. 245–246 ISBN 0-634-00927-3