Bruce Hart (January 15, 1938 – February 21, 2006) was an American
songwriter
A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...
and screenwriter perhaps best known for composing the
lyrics
Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...
to the
theme song
Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...
to the children's TV series ''
Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...
''.
Biography
Hart was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, grew up in
Watertown, New York
Watertown is a city in, and the county seat of, Jefferson County, New York, United States. It is approximately south of the Thousand Islands, along the Black River about east of where it flows into Lake Ontario. The city is bordered by the ...
, and completed an arts degree at
Syracuse University
Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...
. After graduation, he wrote material for
Carl Ballantine
Carl Ballantine (September 28, 1917 – November 4, 2009) was an American magician, comedian and actor. Billing himself as "The Great Ballantine", "The Amazing Ballantine" or "Ballantine: The World's Greatest Magician", his vaudeville-style com ...
,
Larry Hankin
Larry Hankin (born ) is an American character actor, performer, director, comedian and producer. He is known for his major film roles as Charley Butts in '' Escape from Alcatraz'' (1979), Ace in '' Running Scared'' (1986), and Carl Alphonse in ...
, and the
Charles Playhouse
The Charles Playhouse is a theater at 74 Warrenton Street Boston in the Boston Theater District. The venue comprises an approximately 500-seat mainstage, which hosts the long-running Blue Man Group, and a 200-seat second stage that hosted ''Shear M ...
in Boston.
Hart starting writing sketches for ''Sesame Street'' with his wife
Carole Carole is a feminine given name (see Carl for more information) and occasionally a surname.
Carole may refer to:
Given name
* Carole B. Balin (born 1964), American Reform rabbi, professor of Jewish history
*Carole Bayer Sager (born 1947), America ...
after the program made its debut in 1969. He won an Emmy in 1970 for the pilot of Sesame Street titled "Sally Sees Sesame Street". He cowrote the theme song with
Joe Raposo
Joseph Guilherme Raposo, OIH (February 8, 1937 – February 5, 1989) was an American composer, songwriter, pianist, singer and lyricist, best known for his work on the children's television series ''Sesame Street'', for which he wrote the theme ...
and
Jon Stone
Jon Arthur Stone (April 13, 1931 – March 30, 1997) was an American writer, director and producer, who was best known for being an original crew member on The Muppets' ''Sesame Street'' and is credited with helping develop characters such a ...
.
He also wrote the lyrics for
Marlo Thomas
Margaret Julia "Marlo" Thomas (born November 21, 1937) is an American actress, producer, author, and social activist. She is best known for starring on the sitcom ''That Girl'' (1966–1971) and her children's franchise '' Free to Be... You and ...
's ''
Free to Be... You and Me'' from an album and television special of the same name in the early 1970s.
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...
and
Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an interna ...
also featured on both the album and special.
Hart also wrote "
One Way Ticket" which became a hit for
Cass Elliot
Ellen Naomi Cohen (September 19, 1941 – July 29, 1974), known professionally as Mama Cass and later on as Cass Elliot, was an American singer and voice actress. She was a member of the singing group the Mamas & the Papas. After the group brok ...
. With his wife Carole, he produced an Emmy Award–winning show for adolescents, ''
Hot Hero Sandwich
Hot or the acronym HOT may refer to:
Food and drink
*Pungency, in food, a spicy or hot quality
*Hot, a wine tasting descriptor
Places
* Hot district, a district of Chiang Mai province, Thailand
**Hot subdistrict, a sub-district of Hot Distric ...
'', which appeared on NBC in 1979. The Harts also wrote, directed, and produced the television movie ''
Sooner or Later'', which appeared on NBC in 1979. The couple also co-wrote several books, including ''Sooner or Later'', published in 1978, and ''Waiting Games'' in 1981.
See also
*
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Bruce
1938 births
2006 deaths
Songwriters from New York (state)
Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state)
Musicians from New York City
Sesame Street crew
Syracuse University alumni
20th-century American musicians