Jean Schwartz (November 4, 1878 – November 30, 1956) was a Hungarian-born 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 ...

. Schwartz was born in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. His family moved to

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 ...

when he was 13 years old. He took various music-related jobs including demonstrating and selling

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses List of musical symbols, musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chord (music), chords of a song or instrumental Musical composition, musical piece. Like ...

in department stores before being hired as a staff

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and song-plugger by the Shapiro-Bernstein Publishing House of

Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley was a collection of music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It originally referred to a specific place: West 28th Street ...

. He published his first composition, a

cakewalk The cakewalk was a dance developed from the "prize walks" (dance contests with a cake awarded as the prize) held in the mid-19th century, generally at get-togethers on Black Slavery in the United States, slave plantations before and after End ...

, in 1899. He became known as an accomplished lyricist, although he also continued to write music. In 1901, he began a successful collaboration with

William Jerome William Jerome Flannery, September 30, 1865 – June 25, 1932) was an American songwriter, born in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York of Irish immigrant parents, Mary Donnellan and Patrick Flannery. He collaborated with numerous well-known composers a ...

. They co-wrote many songs which were used in

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

shows, including "Mr. Dooley," which was sung by the title character in '' The Wizard of Oz'', as well as the

Ziegfeld Follies The ''Ziegfeld Follies'' was a series of elaborate theatrical revue productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 to 1931, with renewals in 1934 and 1936. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as ''The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air ...

. They worked with Eddie Morton for the song "I'm a Member of the Midnight Crew" in 1909. Their biggest hit together was the 1910 song "

Chinatown, My Chinatown "Chinatown, My Chinatown" is a popular song written by William Jerome (words) and Jean Schwartz (music) in 1906 and later interpolated into the musical ''Up and Down Broadway'' (1910).Ruhlmann, ''Breaking Records''p. 31 The song has been record ...

", still popular with

Dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...

bands. Schwartz and Jerome stopped working together in 1913.

Songwriters on parade

In the late 1930s, Schwartz and several of his fellow hitmakers formed a revue called " Songwriters on Parade", performing all across the Eastern Seaboard on the Loew's and

Keith Keith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Keith (surname) * Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949) * Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons ...

circuits. Schwartz continued working on show tunes through 1937. He died in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

on the 30th of November 1956.

Songs

* 1911 "April Fool Rag" * 1911 "Rum Tum Tiddle" * 1912 "That Chop Stick Rag" * 1914 "I Love You Just Like Lincoln Loved the Old Red, White and Blue" (w.

& Joe Young) * 1915 "Goodbye Virginia" (w.

Grant Clarke Grant Clarke (May 14, 1891, Akron, Ohio – May 16, 1931, California) was an American songwriter. Clarke moved to New York City early in his career, where he worked as an actor and a staff writer for comedians. He began working on Tin Pan Alley, ...

) * 1915 "

Hello, Hawaii, How Are You? Hello, Hawaii, How Are You? is a song written in 1915, by Jean Schwartz, Bert Kalmar and Edgar Leslie. The song was inspired by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company's recent successful radio (then commonly called "wireless") telephone trans ...

" (with

Bert Kalmar Bert Kalmar (February 10, 1884 – September 18, 1947) was an American songwriter, who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. He was also a screenwriter. Biography Kalmar, a native of New York City, left school at an early age ...

and

Edgar Leslie Edgar Leslie (December 31, 1885 – January 22, 1976) was an American songwriter. Biography Edgar Leslie was born in Stamford, Connecticut, in 1885. He studied at the Cooper Union in New York. He published his first song in 1909, starting a l ...

}. * 1915 "Shooting the Bull Around the Bulletin Board" (w.

) * 1916 "Are You Prepared for the Summer?" (w.

) * 1916 "I'm Going Back Home and Have a Wonderful Time" (w.

) * 1917 "America Needs You Like a Mother. Would You Turn Your Mother Down?" (w. Grant Clark) * 1918 "Boots Boots Boots" (w.

Blanche Merrill Blanche L. Merrill (born Blanche V. Dreyfoos; July 22/23, 1883"Blanche Merrill," ''U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014'' on ''Ancestry.com'' accessed June 5, 2018 (access by subscription). – October 5, 1966) was a songwriter specia ...

) * 1918 "

Hello Central! Give Me No Man's Land '"Hello Central! Give Me No Man's Land" is a World War I era song released in 1918. Lyrics were written by Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young. Jean Schwartz composed the music. The song was published by Waterson Berlin & Snyder, Co. of New York City. Ar ...

" (w.

Sam M. Lewis Sam M. Lewis (October 25, 1885 – November 22, 1959) was an American singer and lyricist. Career Lewis was born Samuel M. Levine in New York City, United States. He began his music career by singing in cafés throughout New York City, and be ...

& Joe Young) * 1918 "I'm On a Long Long Ramble - Over There I'll Be Rambling with You" (w. Sam Lewis & Joe Young) * 1918 " Tell That to the Marines" with

Al Jolson Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jews, Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-bi ...

(w.

Harold Atteridge Harold Richard Atteridge (July 9, 1886 – January 15, 1938) was an American composer, librettist and lyricist primarily for musicals and revues. He wrote the book and lyrics for over 20 musicals and revues for the Shubert family, including seve ...

) * 1918 "I'm Over Here and You're Over There" (w.

) * 1918 "On the Level You're a Little Devil" (w. Joe Young) * 1918 "

Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody" is a popular song written by Jean Schwartz, with lyrics by Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young. The song was introduced by Al Jolson in the Broadway musical '' Sinbad'' and published in 1918. Probably the best- ...

" (w.

& Joe Young) * 1918 "Twit, Twit, Twit" (w. Blanche Merrill) * 1918 "Wedding Bells, Will You Ever Ring for Me?" (w.

& Joe Young) * 1919 "I'm Going to Break That Mason-Dixon Line Until I Get to That Gal of Mine" (w. Alfred Bryan) * 1930 "Au Revoir, Pleasant Dreams" (was adopted by

Ben Bernie Benjamin Anzelwitz, known professionally as Ben Bernie (May 30, 1891 – October 23, 1943),DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. ...

as his broadcasting theme song)

Selected works

*Schwartz, Jean, and William Jerome. ''Bedelia: The Irish Coon Song Serenade''. New York: Shapiro, Remick & Co, 1903. *Schwartz, Jean, and William Jerome. ''Chinatown, My Chinatown''. New York: Jerome H. Remick & Co, 1910. *Schwartz, Jean, Sam M. Lewis, and Joe Young. ''Hello Central! Give Me No Man's Land''. New York: Waterson-Berlin & Snyder Co., 1918. *Schwartz, Jean, Sam M. Lewis, Joe Young, and Sigmund Romberg. ''Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody''. New York: Waterson, Berlin & Snyder, 1918.

References

External links

*
Jean Schwartz recordings
at the

Discography of American Historical Recordings The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The DAHR provides some of these original recordings, free of charge, via audio streaming, along with ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Schwartz, Jean 1878 births 1956 deaths Musicians from Budapest Jewish American songwriters Hungarian musicians