Edward Pola (June 23, 1907 – November 3, 1995)Passenger list, S.S. ''Transylvania'', port of New York, 20 August 1931. was an

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lit ...

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a tr ...

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon ...

, and

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 ...

. Pola was born Sidney Edward Pollacsek 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 ...

, the son of Ida (Friedmann) and Alexander Pollacsek, who were

Hungarian Jews The history of the Jews in Hungary dates back to at least the Kingdom of Hungary, with some records even predating the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895 CE by over 600 years. Written sources prove that Jewish communities lived ...

. In the 1920s, Pola began to write songs. He scored one of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

's first sound films, '' Harmony Heaven'' (1930). Toward the end of the decade, he moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. He produced the radio comedy ''

The Alan Young Show ''The Alan Young Show'' is an American radio and television series presented in diverse formats over a nine-year period and starring English born comedian Alan Young. Radio The series began on NBC Radio as a summer replacement situation comedy i ...

'',Sies, Luther F. (2014). ''Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960, 2nd Edition, Volume 1''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 16. as well as

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

tic

programs. He continued as a producer, moving to

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

in the 1950s. His most famous songs include: * "

I Didn't Slip, I Wasn't Pushed, I Fell "I Didn't Slip, I Wasn't Pushed, I Fell" is a popular song. The music was written by George Wyle, the lyrics by Edward Pola. It was published in 1950. The recording by Doris Day was released by Columbia Records as catalog number 38818. It first r ...

" (co-written with

George Wyle George Wyle (born Bernard Weissman; March 22, 1916 – May 2, 2003) was an American orchestra leader and composer best known for having written the theme song to 1960s television sitcom ''Gilligan's Island''. He is the grandfather of musici ...

) * "

I Love the Way You Say 'Good Night' "I Love the Way You Say Goodnight" is a popular song. The music was written by George Wyle, the lyrics by Edward Pola. It was published in 1951. The song was heard in the film '' Lullaby of Broadway'' starring Doris Day and Gene Nelson. Day reco ...

" (co-written with

) * "

I Said My Pajamas (and Put on My Pray'rs) "I Said My Pajamas (and Put On My Pray'rs)" is a popular song with music by George Wyle and lyrics by Edward Pola. It was published in 1949. The songs describes somebody who is in love, but whose descriptions about what she does are full of swi ...

" (co-written with

) * "

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" is a popular Christmas song written in 1963 by Edward Pola and George Wyle. It was recorded and released that year by pop singer Andy Williams for his first Christmas album, ''The Andy Williams Christm ...

" (co-written with

) * " Quicksilver" (co-written with George Wyle and Irving Taylor) * "Till The Lights Of London Shine Again" (co-written with

Tommie Connor Thomas Patrick Connor (16 November 1904 – 28 November 1993) was a British lyricist and songwriter, credited with several hit songs over his long career. He wrote several of the most popular non-religious Christmas songs, including " The Litt ...

) In the 1980s, Pola taught Creative Writing to elementary school students at Smiley Elementary School in

Redlands, California Redlands ( ) is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 73,168, up from 68,747 at the 2010 census. The city is located approximately west of Palm Springs and east of Lo ...

. Pola died in

Jackson County, Oregon Jackson County is one of the Oregon counties, 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 223,259. The county seat is Medford, Oregon, Medford. The county Oregon Geographic Names, ...

References

External links

* 1907 births 1995 deaths Songwriters from New York (state) Jewish American songwriters 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American composers 20th-century American Jews {{US-songwriter-stub