Lou Handman (September 10, 1894 – December 9, 1956) was an American
composer.
Born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, in his early career he toured in
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
shows in
Australia and New York. Handman worked closely with
Roy Turk
Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin.
In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise to ...
. They went on to make such chart-topping hits as:
*"
Are You Lonesome Tonight
"Are You Lonesome Tonight?" (sometimes stylized as Are You Lonesome To-night?) is a song written by Roy Turk and Lou Handman in 1926. It was recorded several times in 1927—first by Charles Hart, with successful versions by Vaughn De Leath, He ...
"
*"It's All the Same to Me"
*"My Sweetie Went Away" - a popular song in 1923 with versions by
Billy Murray & Ed Smalle, and by
Dolly Kay.
*"One Night of Love"
*"Two Ton Tessie"
*"You've Got Those Wanna Go Back Again Blues"
*"I'm Gonna Charleston Back to Charleston"
*"Me and the Moon"
Other hits were:
*"Give Me a Smile and a Kiss"
*"I Can't Get the One I Want"
*"What Good Would it Do?"
*"Is My Baby Blue Tonight?"
*"No Nothing"
*"Was it Rain?"
*"Don't Ever Change"
*"Baby Me"
*"Puddin' Head Jones"
*"Blue (And Broken Hearted)" - a hit for
Marion Harris
Marion Harris (born Mary Ellen Harrison; April 4, 1896 – April 23, 1944) was an American popular singer who was most successful in the late 1910s and the 1920s. She was the first widely known white singer to sing jazz and blues songs.Ward, Elij ...
in 1923.
Handman died in
Flushing, New York
Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a major commercial and retail area, and the i ...
in 1956 and was inducted into the
Songwriters Hall of Fame
The Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) is an American institution founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer, music publisher/songwriter Abe Olman, and publisher/executive Howie Richmond to honor those whose work, represent, and maintain, the her ...
in 1975.
References
Songwriters Hall of Fame
External links
Lou Handman recordingsat the
Discography of American Historical Recordings.
Jewish American songwriters
1894 births
1956 deaths
Vaudeville performers
20th-century American composers
20th-century American Jews
{{US-composer-19thC-stub