Burton Lane

Burton Lane
Background information
Birth name Morris Hyman Kushner
Born (1912-02-02)February 2, 1912
New York City, New York
Died January 5, 1997(1997-01-05) (aged 84)
New York City, New York
Occupation(s) Lyricist, composer

Burton Levy (February 2, 1912 – January 5, 1997) was an American composer and lyricist better known as Burton Lane. His most popular and successful works include Finian's Rainbow and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.

Biography

Burton Lane was born in New York City and studied classical piano as a child. At age 14 the theatrical producers the Shuberts commissioned him to write songs for a revue, Greenwich Village Follies. One source gives his birth name as "Morris Hyman Kushner",[1] however his obituary in The Independent gives his birth name as "Burton Levy".[2] His obituary in The New York Times gives his father's name as "Lazarus Levy".[3] At some later time he became known as Burton Lane.

He was known for his Broadway musicals, Finian's Rainbow (1947)[4] and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1965). He also wrote the music for the less remembered Broadway shows, Hold On to Your Hats (1940), Laffing Room Only (1944), and Carmelina (1979), the latter with lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, who had also written lyrics to Lane's music for On a Clear Day and the film Royal Wedding (1951). Lane mainly wrote music for films, such as Dancing Lady (1933), and Babes on Broadway (1942), writing for more than 30 movies.[5][6]

He was president of the American Guild of Authors and Composers from 1957 and for the next 10 terms, during which period he campaigned against music piracy. He also served three terms on the board of directors of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP).[5]

Lane's best-known songs include "Old Devil Moon," "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?", "Too Late Now," "How About You?", and the title song from "On a Clear Day." He shared a Grammy Award in 1965 for Best Broadway Cast Album of the year (On a Clear Day You Can See Forever).[5]

Finian's Rainbow has had four major revivals (1955, 1960, 1967, and 2009),[7][8] and was also made into a film starring Fred Astaire and Petula Clark, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, in 1968.[9] In 2004 and 2016 the Irish Repertory Theatre staged an Off-Broadway production.[10] New York's City Center Encores! series performed a critically acclaimed concert version of the musical in March 2009. Directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, it starred Jim Norton and Kate Baldwin as Finian and Sharon, with Cheyenne Jackson as Woody and Jeremy Bobb as Og, the leprechaun. [11] The most recent Broadway revival opened on October 29, 2009 at the St. James Theatre with most of the Encores! cast. Newly added to the Broadway cast are Christopher Fitzgerald as Og and Chuck Cooper as Billboard; Jim Norton, Kate Baldwin and Cheyenne Jackson all reprise their roles.[8]

Discovery of Judy Garland

Lane is credited [5] with discovering the 13-year-old Frances Gumm (Judy Garland).[12] He caught her sisters' act at the Paramount theater in Hollywood which featured a movie and a live stage show. The sisters, Virginia and Mary Jane, brought on their younger sister, Frances, who sang "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart". Lane immediately called Jack Robbins, head of the music department at MGM, and told him he'd just heard a great new talent.

Robbins told him to bring her in next day for an audition which Lane did. Robbins was knocked out by the little girl's voice (Lane played the audition piano for her), rushed upstairs and dragged Louis B. Mayer down to listen to her belt out some songs. Mayer was so impressed he ordered every writer, director and producer on the lot to hear her with the result that the audition, which began at 9 am, finished at 7:30 pm. Frances (Judy) was signed, and that was the start of her career. Because of circumstance, and contractual arrangements, Burton Lane didn't work with her again for seven years (Babes on Broadway), but it was definitely he who discovered her.[5][12]

Stage credits

References

  1. ↑ Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. Retrieved 8 December 2013
  2. ↑ Vallance, Tom. Obituary: Burton Lane" The Independent, 8 January 1997
  3. ↑ Severo, Richard. "Burton Lane, Composer for 'Finian's Rainbow' and 'Clear Day,' Is Dead at 84" The New York Times, January 7, 1997
  4. ↑ " Finian's Rainbow 1947" Playbill, retrieved July 28, 2018
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Burton Lane" songwritershalloffame.org, retrieved July 28, 2018
  6. ↑ "Burton Lane Filmography" tcm.com, retrieved July 28, 2018
  7. ↑ "Finian's Rainbow 1960" Playbill, retrieved July 28, 2018
  8. 1 2 " Finian's Rainbow 2009" Playbill, retrieved July 28, 2018
  9. ↑ " 'Finian's Rainbow' Film" tcm.com, retrieved July 28, 2018
  10. ↑ Clement, Olivia. " 'Finian’s Rainbow' Opens Off-Broadway Tonight" Playbill, November 6, 2016
  11. ↑ Isherwood, Charles. "An Irish Immigrant in Missitucky With the Lowdown on High Finance" The New York Times, March 27, 2009
  12. 1 2 Lane biography masterworksbroadway.com, retrieved December 8, 2009
  13. ↑ "'Earl Carroll's Vanities' Broadway" ibdb.com, retrieved July 28, 2018
  14. ↑ " 'On a Clear Day You Can See Forever' Broadway" ibdb.com, retrieved July 28, 2018
  15. ↑ " 'We Bombed in New Haven' Broadway" ibdb.com, retrieved July 28, 2018
  16. ↑ " 'Carmelina' Broadway" ibdb.com, retrieved July 28, 2018
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