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Harold Arlen

Shows · Harold Arlen

ComposerLyricist 1905–1986

Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck; February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz (lyrics by Yip Harburg), including "Over the Rainbow", which won him the Oscar for Best Original Song, he was nominated as composer for 8 other Oscar awards. Arlen is a contributor to the Great American Songbook. "Over the Rainbow" was voted the 20th century's No. 1 song by the RIAA and the NEA.

Also credited on8 works

Bloomer Girl
Hooray For What!
House of Flowers
Jamaica
Rainbow
St. Louis Woman
The Wizard Of Oz
Swing!

These come off the person record, which names a work and not a production. So we can say this name is attached to the work and we cannot say which staging, or in what capacity. For a composer or a writer that is the whole career we hold; there is no cast list to find them in.

In the literature8 passages

  • “American Popular Song: Great American Songwriters” (clockwise from left): Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Dorothy Fields, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Hoagy Carmichael, George Gershwin, and Duke Ellington. 1983. © AL HIRSCHFELD. Reproduced by arrangement with Hirschfeld’s exclusive rep…ebooks/Block, Geoffrey/Enchanted Evenings_The Broadway Musical from 'Show Boat' to Sondheim and Lloyd Webber - Geoffrey Block.txt
  • The company rumors were that Yvonne’s new number was going to be a Harold Arlen—style blues song and that Steve was also fiddling with “Uptown, Downtown.” Steve hadn’t been seen in a few days, so it was only natural that rumors would get started. In this instance, however, they were true. Michael was never happy with “Uptown, Downtown,” f…ebooks/Chapin, Ted/Everything Was Possible_ The Birth of the Musical Follies (Applause Books) - Ted Chapin.txt
  • Act Two: “Dance Hall Hostess” (Rhapsody in Black , 1931; lyric by Mann Holiner, music by Alberta Nichols); “Odd Moments” (music by Reginald Beane) (Reginald Beane); Jerome Kern Medley (Reginald Beane); “Taking a Chance on Love” (Cabin in the Sky , 1940; lyric by Ted Fetter and John LaTouche, music by Vernon Duke); “Somethin’ Told Me Not t…ebooks/Dietz, Dan/Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals, The - Dan Dietz.txt
  • Harold Arlen’s score is not only his masterwork, it’s one of the richest in the history of musical theater, and combined with his and Capote’s fanciful lyrics, the songs comprise a finely integrated Caribbean cantata of musical explosions (“Bamboo Cage,” “Two Ladies in de Shade of de Banana Tree,” “Mardi Gras”) and exultant flights of fan…ebooks/Dietz, Dan/Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals, The - Dan Dietz.txt
  • The score wasn’t Harold Arlen’s most inspired and was a distinct let-down after his masterpiece House of Flowers which had opened three years earlier. The cast album is a curious affair that gives the listener no idea of what the show is about. The songs are pleasant enough, but are basically a series of incidental moments that have littl…ebooks/Dietz, Dan/Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals, The - Dan Dietz.txt
  • The collection Harold Arlen ‘Americanegro Suite’ Plus Songs from Stage and Screen (Premier CD # PRCD-1004) includes “The Man in My Life” and “Goose Never Be a Peacock,” and the latter is also performed in Sylvia McNair and Andre Previn’s Come Rain or Come Shine: The Harold Arlen Songbook (Philips CD # 446-818-2). Audrey Lavine at Home wit…ebooks/Dietz, Dan/Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals, The - Dan Dietz.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.

What this page does not know

  • What this person played. No cast list we hold records a character against a performer.
  • Any staging. This name appears in no production cast list we hold — 1,877 of 7,139 people are in that position, most of them writers, composers and designers rather than performers.
  • Which of the credits above the roles on this record — composer, lyricist — apply to. The roles sit on the person and never on a credit, so a director who also acted looks the same here as one who did not.

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