Marshall Barer (born Marshall Louis Barer; February 19, 1923 in
Astoria, Queens
Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City to the southwest, Sunnyside to the southeast ...
– August 25, 1998 in
Santa Fe, New Mexico) was a lyricist, librettist, singer, songwriter and director.
Early career
Barer began his career as a lyricist and songwriter in the late 1940s while working as a commercial artist/designer in New York. His most-heard song is the
Mighty Mouse
Mighty Mouse is an American animated anthropomorphic superhero mouse character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox. The character was originally called Super Mouse, and made his debut in the 1942 short ''The Mouse of Tomorro ...
theme song.
Career
He had his greatest Broadway success came in 1959 with ''
Once Upon a Mattress
''Once Upon a Mattress'' is a musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer, and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. It opened off-Broadway in May 1959, and then moved to Broadway. The play was writte ...
'', for which he was lyricist and a book writer.
In 1972 he wrote 7 songs for ''
Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers'' a low-budget movie starring Holly Woodlawn.
Death
Marshall died aged 75 in
Santa Fe, New Mexico, at his home, after living many years in
Venice, California
Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California.
Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed by ...
.
Popular songs
*''River Run''
*''La Ronde (This Is Quite a Perfect Night)''
*''Scratch My Back''
*''Roller Coaster Blues''
*''Intoxication''
*''In a Little While''
*''Shy''
*''Normandy''
*''Very Soft Shoes''
*''Song of Love (I'm In Love With A Girl Named Fred)''
*''Christmas long Ago''
*''What'll I Do With All the Love I Was Savin' for You?''
*''Warm Winter''
*''On Such A Night As This''
Musicals/stage
*''Walk Tall'' (1954)
*''New Faces of 1956'' (1956)
*''Ziegfeld Follies'' (1957 starring Beatrice Lillie)
*''Once Upon a Mattress'' (1959)
*''Dancing on the Air'' (an adaptation of Shaw's The Devil's Disciple) with Dean Fuller
*''Around the World in Eighty Days'' with music by Michel Legrand
*''A Little Night Music'' (never produced)
External links
Obituary, The independentUnofficial site about Lorenz Hart and Marshall Barer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barer, Marshall
1923 births
1998 deaths
20th-century American composers
American musical theatre composers
Broadway composers and lyricists
Jewish American composers
Jewish American songwriters
LGBT composers
Male musical theatre composers
People from Astoria, Queens
20th-century American Jews
20th-century LGBT people