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Jimmy Van Heusen

January 26, 2023

James Van Heusen (born Edward Chester Babcock; January 26, 1913 – February 6, 1990[1]) was an American composer. He wrote songs for films, television and theater, and won an Emmy and four Academy Awards for Best Original Song.[2]

Jimmy Van Heusen
Jimmy Van Heusen playing the piano
Background information
Birth nameEdward Chester Babcock
Born(1913-01-26)January 26, 1913
Syracuse, New York, United States
DiedFebruary 6, 1990(1990-02-06) (aged 77)
Rancho Mirage, California, United States
GenresPopular music
Occupation(s)Songwriter, pianist
Years activeMid 1930s–Late 1970s

Life and career

Born in Syracuse, New York, Van Heusen began writing music while at high school. He renamed himself at age 16, after the shirt makers Phillips-Van Heusen, to use as his on-air name during local shows. His close friends called him "Chet".[3] Jimmy was raised Methodist.[4]

Studying at Cazenovia Seminary and Syracuse University, he became friends with Jerry Arlen, the younger brother of Harold Arlen. With the elder Arlen's help, Van Heusen wrote songs for the Cotton Club revue, including "Harlem Hospitality". He then became a staff pianist for some of the Tin Pan Alley publishers, and wrote "It's the Dreamer in Me" (1938) with lyrics by Jimmy Dorsey. Collaborating with lyricist Eddie DeLange, on songs such as "Heaven Can Wait", "So Help Me", and "Darn That Dream", his work became more prolific, writing over 60 songs in 1940 alone. It was in 1940 that he teamed up with the lyricist Johnny Burke. Burke and Van Heusen moved to Hollywood and wrote for stage musicals and films throughout the 1940s and early 1950s, winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Swinging on a Star" (1944). Their songs were also featured in many Bing Crosby films including some of the Road films and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949).

He was also a pilot of some accomplishment; He met Joe Hornsby, who worked for the FAA in Los Angeles CA, (Joe was the son of the famous Dan Hornsby, the father of Nikki Hornsby), because of his music career with his interest in flying. Joe Hornsby sponsored Jimmy into an exclusive pilots club called the Quiet Birdmen which held meetings at Proud Bird restaurant at LAX and these men were lifelong friends until Joe and his wife Dorothea's death in the late 1970s. Using his birth name, Jimmy also worked as a part-time test pilot for Lockheed Corporation in World War II.

Van Heusen then teamed up with lyricist Sammy Cahn. Their three Academy Awards for Best Song were won for "All the Way" (1957) from The Joker Is Wild, "High Hopes" (1959) from A Hole in the Head, and "Call Me Irresponsible" (1963) from Papa's Delicate Condition. Their songs were also featured in Ocean's Eleven (1960), which included Dean Martin's version of "Ain't That a Kick in the Head", and in Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964), in which Frank Sinatra sang the Oscar-nominated "My Kind of Town".

Cahn and Van Heusen also wrote "Love and Marriage" (1955), "To Love and Be Loved", "Come Fly with Me", "Only the Lonely", and "Come Dance with Me" with many of their compositions being the title songs for Frank Sinatra's albums of the late 1950s.

Van Heusen wrote the music for five Broadway musicals: Swingin' the Dream (1939); Nellie Bly (1946), Carnival in Flanders (1953), Skyscraper (1965), and Walking Happy (1966). While Van Heusen did not achieve nearly the success on Broadway that he did in Hollywood, at least two songs from Van Heusen musicals can legitimately be considered standards:[3] "Darn That Dream" from Swingin' the Dream; "Here's That Rainy Day" from Carnival in Flanders.

He became an inductee of the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971.[5]

Van Heusen composed over 1000 songs of which 50 songs became standards. Van Heusen songs are featured in over five hundred and eighty films.

Personal life

Van Heusen was known to be quite a ladies' man. James Kaplan in his book Frank: The Voice (2010) wrote, "He played piano beautifully, wrote gorgeously poignant songs about romance...he had a fat wallet, he flew his own plane; he never went home alone." Van Heusen was once described by Angie Dickinson, "You would not pick him over Clark Gable any day, but his magnetism was irresistible."[6] In his 20s he began to shave his head when he started losing his hair, a practice ahead of its time. He once said "I would rather write songs than do anything else – even fly." Kaplan also reported that he was a "hypochondriac of the first order" who kept a Merck manual at his bedside, injected himself with vitamins and painkillers, and had surgical procedures for ailments real and imagined.[6]

I took song writing seriously when I discovered girls.[7]

It was Van Heusen who rushed Sinatra to the hospital after Sinatra, in despair over the breakup of his marriage to Ava Gardner, slashed one of his wrists in a suicide attempt in November 1953.[8] However, this event was never mentioned by Van Heusen in any radio or print interviews given by him. Van Heusen himself married for the first time in 1969, at age 56, to Bobbe Brock, originally one of the Brox Sisters and widow of the late producer Bill Perlberg.

Death

Van Heusen retired in the late 1970s and died in 1990 in Rancho Mirage, California, from complications following a stroke at the age of 77.[9] His wife, Bobbe, survived him. Van Heusen is buried near the Sinatra family in Desert Memorial Park, in Cathedral City, California.[1][10] His grave marker reads Swinging on a Star.[11]

Academy Awards

Van Heusen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song 14 times in 12 different years (in both 1945 and 1964 he was nominated for two songs), and won four times: in 1944, 1957, 1959, and 1963.[2]

Wins
Nominations

Emmy Award

He won one Emmy Award for Best Musical Contribution, for the song "Love and Marriage" (1955) (lyrics by Sammy Cahn), written for the 1955 Producers' Showcase production of Our Town.[12]

Other awards

He was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1965 for Best Musical Score Written for a Motion Picture or TV show for Robin and the Seven Hoods.

He was also nominated for three Tony awards:

He was nominated three times for a Golden Globe Award.

He won a Christopher Award in 1955 for the song "Love and Marriage".

Namesakes

Songs

With lyricist Sammy Cahn

With lyricist Johnny Burke

With lyricist Eddie DeLange

  • "All I Remember Is You"
  • "All This and Heaven Too"
  • "Darn That Dream"
  • "Deep in a Dream"
  • "Heaven Can Wait"
  • "I'm Good for Nothing (But Love)"[13]
  • "Shake Down the Stars"
  • "So Help Me"

With others

Independent

  • "It's 1200 miles from Palm Springs to Texas"[14]

Notes

  1. ^ a b "Palm Springs Cemetery District, "Interments of Interest"" (PDF). Pscemetery.com. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Academy Awards Database, Jimmy Van Heusen". Oscars.org. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  3. ^ a b Coppula, C. (2014). Jimmy Van Heusen: Swinging on a Star. Nashville: Twin Creek Books.
  4. ^ Jimmy Van Heusen - Vanity Fair https://www.vanityfair.com › archive-march-2015-jimmy-van-heusen “Jimmy,” Van Heusen's good friend and occasional lover Angie Dickinson recalls ... Jessica Lange Breaks Down Her Career, from King Kong to American Horror Story .... He had been born in 1913, in Syracuse, New York, to rock-ribbed Methodists ... “Jimmy was a really interesting composer,” says Sammy Cahn's son, jazz ...
  5. ^ . Archived from the original on November 6, 2016. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
  6. ^ a b "The King Of Ring-A-Ding-Ding". Vanityfair.com. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
  7. ^ a b Gilliland, John (1994). Pop Chronicles the 40s: The Lively Story of Pop Music in the 40s (audiobook). ISBN 978-1-55935-147-8. OCLC 31611854. Tape 1, side A. Van Heusen interviewed 1971 July 22
  8. ^ "Fridays Are For Frank: "(Love Is) The Tender Trap" – Sinatra & Jimmy Van Heusen". hMag. January 29, 2016. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
  9. ^ . UCLA Libraries. Archived from the original on March 9, 2012. Retrieved April 13, 2011.
  10. ^ Brooks, Patricia; Brooks, Jonathan (2006). "Chapter 8: East L.A. and the Desert". Laid to Rest in California: a guide to the cemeteries and grave sites of the rich and famous. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press. p. 239. ISBN 978-0762741014. OCLC 70284362.
  11. ^ James "Jimmy" Van Heusen at Find a Grave
  12. ^ "Best Musical Contribution – 1956". Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
  13. ^ Online Archive of California (OAC). Finding Aid for the Jimmy Van Heusen Collection of Musical Works and Papers 1853-1994, bulk 1939-1972.
  14. ^ OCLC 498384972

References

  • James Kaplan (2010). Frank: The Voice, pp. 49, 666–669.
  • Wilfred Sheed (2007). The House That George Built, "Jimmy Van Heusen: On The Radio With Bing and Frank" pp. 225–251.
  • Alec Wilder (1990). American Popular Song, "The Great Craftsmen: Jimmy Van Heusen" pp. 442–451.
  • William Ruhlmann (2001). Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. Gale. Retrieved January 9, 2013, from HighBeam Research
  • New York Times Obituary, February 8, 1990

External links

January 26, 2023
jimmy, heusen, james, heusen, born, edward, chester, babcock, january, 1913, february, 1990, american, composer, wrote, songs, films, television, theater, emmy, four, academy, awards, best, original, song, playing, pianobackground, informationbirth, nameedward. James Van Heusen born Edward Chester Babcock January 26 1913 February 6 1990 1 was an American composer He wrote songs for films television and theater and won an Emmy and four Academy Awards for Best Original Song 2 Jimmy Van HeusenJimmy Van Heusen playing the pianoBackground informationBirth nameEdward Chester BabcockBorn 1913 01 26 January 26 1913Syracuse New York United StatesDiedFebruary 6 1990 1990 02 06 aged 77 Rancho Mirage California United StatesGenresPopular musicOccupation s Songwriter pianistYears activeMid 1930s Late 1970s Contents 1 Life and career 2 Personal life 2 1 Death 3 Academy Awards 4 Emmy Award 5 Other awards 6 Namesakes 7 Songs 7 1 With lyricist Sammy Cahn 7 2 With lyricist Johnny Burke 7 3 With lyricist Eddie DeLange 7 4 With others 7 5 Independent 8 Notes 9 References 10 External linksLife and career EditBorn in Syracuse New York Van Heusen began writing music while at high school He renamed himself at age 16 after the shirt makers Phillips Van Heusen to use as his on air name during local shows His close friends called him Chet 3 Jimmy was raised Methodist 4 Studying at Cazenovia Seminary and Syracuse University he became friends with Jerry Arlen the younger brother of Harold Arlen With the elder Arlen s help Van Heusen wrote songs for the Cotton Club revue including Harlem Hospitality He then became a staff pianist for some of the Tin Pan Alley publishers and wrote It s the Dreamer in Me 1938 with lyrics by Jimmy Dorsey Collaborating with lyricist Eddie DeLange on songs such as Heaven Can Wait So Help Me and Darn That Dream his work became more prolific writing over 60 songs in 1940 alone It was in 1940 that he teamed up with the lyricist Johnny Burke Burke and Van Heusen moved to Hollywood and wrote for stage musicals and films throughout the 1940s and early 1950s winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song for Swinging on a Star 1944 Their songs were also featured in many Bing Crosby films including some of the Road films and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur s Court 1949 He was also a pilot of some accomplishment He met Joe Hornsby who worked for the FAA in Los Angeles CA Joe was the son of the famous Dan Hornsby the father of Nikki Hornsby because of his music career with his interest in flying Joe Hornsby sponsored Jimmy into an exclusive pilots club called the Quiet Birdmen which held meetings at Proud Bird restaurant at LAX and these men were lifelong friends until Joe and his wife Dorothea s death in the late 1970s Using his birth name Jimmy also worked as a part time test pilot for Lockheed Corporation in World War II Van Heusen then teamed up with lyricist Sammy Cahn Their three Academy Awards for Best Song were won for All the Way 1957 from The Joker Is Wild High Hopes 1959 from A Hole in the Head and Call Me Irresponsible 1963 from Papa s Delicate Condition Their songs were also featured in Ocean s Eleven 1960 which included Dean Martin s version of Ain t That a Kick in the Head and in Robin and the 7 Hoods 1964 in which Frank Sinatra sang the Oscar nominated My Kind of Town Cahn and Van Heusen also wrote Love and Marriage 1955 To Love and Be Loved Come Fly with Me Only the Lonely and Come Dance with Me with many of their compositions being the title songs for Frank Sinatra s albums of the late 1950s Van Heusen wrote the music for five Broadway musicals Swingin the Dream 1939 Nellie Bly 1946 Carnival in Flanders 1953 Skyscraper 1965 and Walking Happy 1966 While Van Heusen did not achieve nearly the success on Broadway that he did in Hollywood at least two songs from Van Heusen musicals can legitimately be considered standards 3 Darn That Dream from Swingin the Dream Here s That Rainy Day from Carnival in Flanders He became an inductee of the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971 5 Van Heusen composed over 1000 songs of which 50 songs became standards Van Heusen songs are featured in over five hundred and eighty films Personal life EditVan Heusen was known to be quite a ladies man James Kaplan in his book Frank The Voice 2010 wrote He played piano beautifully wrote gorgeously poignant songs about romance he had a fat wallet he flew his own plane he never went home alone Van Heusen was once described by Angie Dickinson You would not pick him over Clark Gable any day but his magnetism was irresistible 6 In his 20s he began to shave his head when he started losing his hair a practice ahead of its time He once said I would rather write songs than do anything else even fly Kaplan also reported that he was a hypochondriac of the first order who kept a Merck manual at his bedside injected himself with vitamins and painkillers and had surgical procedures for ailments real and imagined 6 I took song writing seriously when I discovered girls 7 It was Van Heusen who rushed Sinatra to the hospital after Sinatra in despair over the breakup of his marriage to Ava Gardner slashed one of his wrists in a suicide attempt in November 1953 8 However this event was never mentioned by Van Heusen in any radio or print interviews given by him Van Heusen himself married for the first time in 1969 at age 56 to Bobbe Brock originally one of the Brox Sisters and widow of the late producer Bill Perlberg Death Edit Van Heusen retired in the late 1970s and died in 1990 in Rancho Mirage California from complications following a stroke at the age of 77 9 His wife Bobbe survived him Van Heusen is buried near the Sinatra family in Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City California 1 10 His grave marker reads Swinging on a Star 11 Academy Awards EditVan Heusen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song 14 times in 12 different years in both 1945 and 1964 he was nominated for two songs and won four times in 1944 1957 1959 and 1963 2 Wins1944 Swinging on a Star lyrics by Johnny Burke for Going My Way 1957 All the Way lyrics by Sammy Cahn for The Joker Is Wild 1959 High Hopes lyrics by Sammy Cahn for A Hole in the Head 1963 Call Me Irresponsible lyrics by Sammy Cahn for Papa s Delicate ConditionNominations1945 Sleigh Ride in July lyrics by Johnny Burke from the film Belle of the Yukon 1945 Aren t You Glad You re You lyrics by Johnny Burke from the film Bells of St Mary s 1955 Love Is The Tender Trap lyrics by Sammy Cahn introduced by Frank Sinatra in the film The Tender Trap 1958 To Love and Be Loved lyrics by Sammy Cahn for the film Some Came Running 1960 The Second Time Around lyrics by Sammy Cahn for the film High Time 1961 Pocketful of Miracles lyrics by Sammy Cahn for the film Pocketful of Miracles 1964 Where Love Has Gone lyrics by Sammy Cahn for the film Where Love Has Gone 1964 My Kind of Town lyrics by Sammy Cahn for the film Robin and the 7 Hoods 1967 Thoroughly Modern Millie lyrics by Sammy Cahn for the film Thoroughly Modern Millie 1968 Star lyrics by Sammy Cahn for the film Star Emmy Award EditHe won one Emmy Award for Best Musical Contribution for the song Love and Marriage 1955 lyrics by Sammy Cahn written for the 1955 Producers Showcase production of Our Town 12 Other awards EditHe was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1965 for Best Musical Score Written for a Motion Picture or TV show for Robin and the Seven Hoods He was also nominated for three Tony awards Best Musical in 1966 for Skyscraper Best Musical in 1967 for Walking Happy Best Composer and Lyricist in 1967 Walking HappyHe was nominated three times for a Golden Globe Award 1965 Where Love Has Gone lyrics by Sammy Cahn for the film Where Love Has Gone 1968 Thoroughly Modern Millie lyrics by Sammy Cahn for the film Thoroughly Modern Millie 1969 Star lyrics by Sammy Cahn for the film Star He won a Christopher Award in 1955 for the song Love and Marriage Namesakes EditBob Hope s character in The Road to Hong Kong 1962 is named Chester Babcock in reference to Van Heusen s birth name Songs EditWith lyricist Sammy Cahn Edit A Horse on a Merry go round Ain t That a Kick in the Head All My Tomorrows All the Way B r a n e Call Me Irresponsible Come Blow Your Horn Come Dance with Me Come Fly with Me Eee O Eleven An Elephant never forgets Everybody Has the Right to Be Wrong A Faraway Land H e a r t High Hopes I ll Only Miss Her When I Think of Her Incurably Romantic I Wouldn t Trade Christmas If you re gonna be a witch be a witch Keep a Happy Thought Last Dance Let s Make Love Love and Marriage Love Is The Tender Trap Mr Booze My Kind of Town N e r v e Only the Lonely Pocketful Of Miracles Return to the Land of Oz Ring a Ding Ding The Second Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World The Second Time Around The Secret of Christmas September of My Years Sleigh Ride in July Specialization Star Style That Feeling for Home There s Love and There s Love and There s Love Thoroughly Modern Millie To Love and Be Loved Where Love Has Gone Who Was That lady You have only You With lyricist Johnny Burke Edit Aren t You Glad You re You But Beautiful Busy Doing Nothing Going My Way Here s That Rainy Day from Carnival in Flanders Imagination It Could Happen to You It s Always You Like Someone in Love Life Is So Peculiar Moonlight Becomes You 7 Oh You Crazy Moon Personality Polka Dots and Moonbeams Sunday Monday or Always Swinging on a Star That Christmas Feeling Welcome To My Dream We re Off on the Road to Morocco You Lucky People You You May Not Love Me A Friend Of Yours You re In Love With Someone With lyricist Eddie DeLange Edit All I Remember Is You All This and Heaven Too Darn That Dream Deep in a Dream Heaven Can Wait I m Good for Nothing But Love 13 Shake Down the Stars So Help Me With others Edit Blue Rain lyrics by Johnny Mercer Far Away lyrics by David Kapp I Could Have Told You lyrics by Carl Sigman I Thought About You lyrics by Johnny Mercer It s the Dreamer in Me lyrics by Jimmy Van Heusen music by Jimmy Dorsey Nancy With the Laughing Face lyrics by Phil Silvers Not as a Stranger lyrics by Buddy Kaye Sha Sha King Kutz minor hit for The Andrews Sisters and Jimmy Dorsey 1938 Independent Edit It s 1200 miles from Palm Springs to Texas 14 Notes Edit a b Palm Springs Cemetery District Interments of Interest PDF Pscemetery com Retrieved September 29 2019 a b Academy Awards Database Jimmy Van Heusen Oscars org The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Retrieved June 11 2017 a b Coppula C 2014 Jimmy Van Heusen Swinging on a Star Nashville Twin Creek Books Jimmy Van Heusen Vanity Fair https www vanityfair com archive march 2015 jimmy van heusen Jimmy Van Heusen s good friend and occasional lover Angie Dickinson recalls Jessica Lange Breaks Down Her Career from King Kong to American Horror Story He had been born in 1913 in Syracuse New York to rock ribbed Methodists Jimmy was a really interesting composer says Sammy Cahn s son jazz Songwriters Hall of Fame Jimmy Van Heusen Archived from the original on November 6 2016 Retrieved November 5 2016 a b The King Of Ring A Ding Ding Vanityfair com Retrieved November 5 2016 a b Gilliland John 1994 Pop Chronicles the 40s The Lively Story of Pop Music in the 40s audiobook ISBN 978 1 55935 147 8 OCLC 31611854 Tape 1 side A Van Heusen interviewed 1971 July 22 Fridays Are For Frank Love Is The Tender Trap Sinatra amp Jimmy Van Heusen hMag January 29 2016 Retrieved November 5 2016 Jimmy Van Heusen Collection of Musical Works and Papers UCLA Libraries Archived from the original on March 9 2012 Retrieved April 13 2011 Brooks Patricia Brooks Jonathan 2006 Chapter 8 East L A and the Desert Laid to Rest in California a guide to the cemeteries and grave sites of the rich and famous Guilford CT Globe Pequot Press p 239 ISBN 978 0762741014 OCLC 70284362 James Jimmy Van Heusen at Find a Grave Best Musical Contribution 1956 Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Retrieved July 26 2012 Online Archive of California OAC Finding Aid for the Jimmy Van Heusen Collection of Musical Works and Papers 1853 1994 bulk 1939 1972 OCLC 498384972References EditJames Kaplan 2010 Frank The Voice pp 49 666 669 Wilfred Sheed 2007 The House That George Built Jimmy Van Heusen On The Radio With Bing and Frank pp 225 251 Alec Wilder 1990 American Popular Song The Great Craftsmen Jimmy Van Heusen pp 442 451 William Ruhlmann 2001 Van Heusen James Jimmy originally Babcock Edward Chester Baker s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians Gale Retrieved January 9 2013 from HighBeam Research Songwriters Hall Of Fame Website New York Times Obituary February 8 1990External links EditOfficial website Jimmy Van Heusen at IMDb Jimmy Van Heusen at the Internet Broadway Database Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Jimmy Van Heusen amp oldid 1135176335, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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