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Desmond Carter

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Lyricist 1895–1939

Herbert Desmond Carter (15 June 1895 – 3 February 1939) was a British lyricist who worked with George and Ira Gershwin, Ivor Novello, and others, and also wrote one of the first English language versions of the notorious "suicide song", "Gloomy Sunday". He was born in Bristol. In 1924 he wrote most of the lyrics for the London musical Primrose, for which Gershwin wrote the music, his first commission outside the US. The musical was revived in 2003, when one reviewer wrote: "...by far the most outstanding contribution to Primrose is the comedy lyrics of Desmond Carter, who penned the words to seventeen of the score's twenty-two songs and collaborated with Ira Gershwin on four of the remaining…

Also credited on1 work

The Great Waltz

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In the literature8 passages

  • The translation of the song done for the London production by Desmond Carter rendered the verse thus:ebooks/Hinton, Stephen/Weill's Musical Theater_ Stages of Reform - Stephen Hinton.txt
  • Der Kuhhandel (operetta, Robert Vambery), 1934 [incomplete]; revised as A Kingdom for a Cow (musical play, Reginald Arkell; lyrics Desmond Carter), London, Savoy, 28 June 1935.ebooks/Hinton, Stephen/Weill's Musical Theater_ Stages of Reform - Stephen Hinton.txt
  • Tryout: no information. London run: Winter Garden, opened September 11, 1924. 255 performances. Music by George Gershwin. Lyrics by Desmond Carter and Ira Gershwin. Produced by George Grossmith and J.A.E. Malone. Book by George Grossmith and Guy Bolton. Book staged by George Grossmith and Charles A. Maynard. Dances and ensembles by Laddie…theatre-pdfs/The Complete Lyrics of Ira Gershwin - Gershwin, Ira, 1896-1983.txt
  • Published September 1924. Lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Desmond Carter. Introduced by Margery Hicklin (Joan) and ensemble. Original title: “Once There Were Two of Us (Now We’re Only One).” The version performed in Primrose was based on an earlier lyric of Ira’s alone; the published version contained additional alterations.theatre-pdfs/The Complete Lyrics of Ira Gershwin - Gershwin, Ira, 1896-1983.txt
  • WAIT A BIT, SUSIE Published September 1924. Lyrics by Desmond Carter and Ira Gershwin. Introduced by Percy Heming (Hilary), Margery Hicklin (Joan), and ensemble. The same music was used later for “Beautiful Gypsy,” intended for but not used in Rosalie (1928).theatre-pdfs/The Complete Lyrics of Ira Gershwin - Gershwin, Ira, 1896-1983.txt
  • Published September 1924, but probably written at least one year earlier. Lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Desmond Carter (based on an earlier lyric by Ira alone). Introduced by Margery Hicklin (Joan) and ensemble.theatre-pdfs/The Complete Lyrics of Ira Gershwin - Gershwin, Ira, 1896-1983.txt

Passages naming this person, found by keyword across 178 books. A keyword match is not a biography, and a common name will pull in the wrong one.

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