Harry Warren

born Dec. 24, 1893, Brooklyn, N.Y.
died Sept. 22, 1981, Los Angeles, CA.

Warren was born Salvatore Guaragna, the son of a Brooklyn bootmaker. He taught himself to play various musical instruments and found work in the early New York movie industry, and also (like another Dorothy Fields collaborator, Jimmy McHugh) as a song plugger.

He became successful as a songwriter in the 1920s in NewYork, and then joined the rush to the West Coast to write for Hollywood. He hit a golden streak, working with lyricist Al Dubin on a series of Busby Berkeley musicals. Among his hits from this period are: Shuffle Off to Buffalo, You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me, We're in the Money, I Only Have Eyes for You, y. He won three Academy Awards.

Warren had two other productive and successful partnerships with lyricists. The first was with Johnny Mercer, with whom he wrote the score for the Judy Garland film The Harvey Girls. Their most famous songs were Jeepers Creepers, You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby and The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe. The other was Mack Gordon, lyricist for Chattanooga Choo Choo and You'll Never Know.

Warren also wrote with Ira Gershwin, Arthur Freed, Ralph Blane and Harold Adamson. In 1951 he collaborated with Dorothy Fields, producing a complete score for the film Texas Carnival, starring Esther Williams

For more information on Harry Warren , see the official Harry Warren site, and also a wonderful site set up by an enthusiast, the Harry Warren Web Site.