- Title Pages
- Show Tunes
- Dedication
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- How to Use this Book
- Part I Composers of the Early Years
- Part II New Composers of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s
- Hugh Martin
- Leonard Bernstein
- Frederick Loewe
- Jule Styne
- Frank Loesser
- Richard Adler
- Jerry Bock
- Bob Merrill
- Meredith Willson
- Stephen Sondheim
- Charles Strouse
- Harvey Schmidt
- Cy Coleman
- Jerry Herman
- John Kander
- Mitch Leigh
- PART III New Composers of the 1970s and Beyond
- PART IV Notable Scores by Other Composers
- Appendix 1 Chronological Listing of Productions
- Appendix 2 Collaborator Reference Listing
- Appendix 3 Bibliography
- Song Title Index
- Show Index
- People Index
Frank Loesser
Frank Loesser
Born: June 29, 1910, New York, New York
Died: July 28, 1969, New York, New York
- Chapter:
- (p.236) Frank Loesser
- Source:
- Show Tunes
- Author(s):
Steven Suskin
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This chapter examines the work of Frank Loesser. It begins with an extended commentary of his career, followed by details on productions, with data and song information. Loesser came from a musical family. His father, Henry, was a Prussian-born piano teacher; his older brother Arthur was a renowned concert pianist. Frank, though, was a musical black sheep; refusing to study the classics, he taught himself piano and immersed himself in popular music. His first published song was In Love with the Memory of You (1931), with music by William Schuman (later a classical composer and the president of Juilliard). By the mid-1930s Loesser was singing and playing in nightclubs, as well as writing special material with composer Irving Actman.
Keywords: Frank Loesser, popular music, nightclubs, musical theater, show tunes, lyricists, Irving Actman
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- Title Pages
- Show Tunes
- Dedication
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- How to Use this Book
- Part I Composers of the Early Years
- Part II New Composers of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s
- Hugh Martin
- Leonard Bernstein
- Frederick Loewe
- Jule Styne
- Frank Loesser
- Richard Adler
- Jerry Bock
- Bob Merrill
- Meredith Willson
- Stephen Sondheim
- Charles Strouse
- Harvey Schmidt
- Cy Coleman
- Jerry Herman
- John Kander
- Mitch Leigh
- PART III New Composers of the 1970s and Beyond
- PART IV Notable Scores by Other Composers
- Appendix 1 Chronological Listing of Productions
- Appendix 2 Collaborator Reference Listing
- Appendix 3 Bibliography
- Song Title Index
- Show Index
- People Index