Theatre Register

J. Fred Coots

Shows · J. Fred Coots

Composer 1897–1985

John Frederick Coots, better known as J. Fred Coots or Fred Coots, (May 2, 1897 – April 8, 1985) was an American songwriter. He composed more than 700 popular songs and more than a dozen Broadway shows. In 1934, Coots wrote the melody with his then chief collaborator, lyricist Haven Gillespie, for the biggest success of either man's career, "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town." The song became one of the biggest sellers in American history. In 1934, when Gillespie brought him the lyrics to "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", Coots developed the outline of the melody in just ten minutes. Coots took the song to his publisher, Leo Feist, who liked it but thought it was "a kids' song" and didn't expect…

Also credited on1 work

June Days

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 literature2 passages

  • In the same category came the Shubert brothers’ Artists and Models , the first Broadway revues to feature naked women. To comply with local by-laws, the nudes were obliged not to move, so instead, they were draped in cloths connected to strings which the supporting cast handed out to the tired businessmen in the audience. When the strings…ebooks/Steyn, Mark/Broadway Babies Say Goodnight_ Musicals Then and Now - Mark Steyn.txt
  • TALLULAH HALLELUJAH! byTovah Feldshuh (with Larry Amoros and Linda Selman); Music/Lyrics, Van Alexander, Maxwell Arderson, Jean Barry, Nat Burton, Dick Charles, J. Fred Coots, Noel Coward, Henry Creamer, Mort Dixon, Ella Fitzgerald, Haven Gillespie, Ray Henderson, Jimmy Johnson, Walter Kent, Cecil Mack, Geoffrey Mack, Ray Noble, Cole Port…theatre-pdfs/Theatre World/Theatre World, 2000-01 Season, v. 57 (Willis).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.
  • Any portrait. 1,626 of 7,139 people have one, so this is the usual case rather than the exception.
  • Which of the credits above the roles on this record — composer — 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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