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Sammy Cahn

Shows · Sammy Cahn

Lyricist 1913–1993

Samuel Cohen (June 18, 1913 – January 15, 1993), known professionally as Sammy Cahn, was an American lyricist, songwriter, and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premiered by recording companies in the Greater Los Angeles area. He and his collaborators had a series of hit recordings with Frank Sinatra during the singer's tenure at Capitol Records, but also enjoyed hits with Dean Martin, Doris Day and many others. He played the piano and violin, and won an Oscar four times for his songs, including the popular hit "Three Coins in the Fountain". Among his most enduring songs is "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", co…

Also credited on5 works

High Button Shoes
Look to the Lilies
Skyscraper
Two’s Company
Jerome Robbins’ Broadway

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

  • Lyricist (1971): An Evening with Johnny Mercer, Alan Jay Lerner and Sammy Cahn Singing Their Own Songs . Contents (Lerner only): “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?,” “Oh Come to the Ball,” and spoken introduction to “On the Street Where You Live.” Book-of-the-Month-Club Records 70–5240 (re-released on DRG 5175 [1977]).ebooks/Block, Geoffrey/Enchanted Evenings_The Broadway Musical from 'Show Boat' to Sondheim and Lloyd Webber - Geoffrey Block.txt
  • This always brings up the next question. Which comes first, music or lyrics? Beyond Sammy Cahn’s oft-quoted quip, ‘Neither. The phone call – then the contract come first,’ and Richard Rodgers’s one-upmanship response: ‘The check,’ the answer, which has been rather thoroughly discussed in the preliminary section for composers (See Work Met…ebooks/Citron, Stephen/Musical From the Inside Out, The - Stephen Citron.txt
  • Lyrics and Music : Robert Wright, George Forrest, David Rose, Sammy Cahn, Al Rinker, Floyd Huddleston, M. K. Jerome, Jack Scholl, Barry Trivers, Vi Bradley, Leo Robin, Jack Elliott, Victor Young, Bob Hilliard, and Hal Borneebooks/Dietz, Dan/Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals, The - Dan Dietz.txt
  • The music for the title song had originally been heard as “Some Other Time” (lyric by Sammy Cahn) in the 1944 film musical Step Lively where it was introduced by Frank Sinatra (the film was based the 1937 comedy Room Service by John Murray and Allen Boretz, which was filmed in 1938 with the Marx Brothers).ebooks/Dietz, Dan/Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals, The - Dan Dietz.txt
  • More was less, as each story diluted the other. Composer James Van Heusen and lyricist Sammy Cahn’s dull score didn’t help.ebooks/Filichia, Peter/Strippers, Showgirls, and Sharks - Peter Filichia.txt
  • Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, Sammy Cahn and James Van Heusen, and Bob Merrill were variously announced for the score, but it was eventually written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, Academy Award-winning Hollywood songwriters making their Broadway debut. Danny Kaye was the first choice for the role of Henry, then David Wayne, Dennis King,…ebooks/Mandelbaum, Ken/Not Since Carrie_ Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops - Ken Mandelbaum.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 — 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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