Walter Donaldson (February 15, 1893 – July 15, 1947) was an American prolific popular songwriter and publishing company founder, composing many hit songs of the 1910s to 1940s, that have become standards and form part of the

Great American Songbook The Great American Songbook is the loosely defined canon of significant early-20th-century American jazz standards, popular songs, and show tunes. Definition According to the Great American Songbook Foundation: The "Great American Songbook" is ...

History

Walter Donaldson was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

, United States, the son of a piano teacher. While still in school he wrote original music for school productions, and had his first professional songs published in 1915. In 1918, he had his first major hit with "The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady". During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Donaldson entertained troops at

Camp Upton Camp Upton was a port of embarkation of the United States Army during World War I. During World War II it was used to intern enemy aliens. It was located in Yaphank, New York in Suffolk County on Long Island, on the present-day location of Bro ...

, New York. His time there inspired him to write " How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree)?" After serving in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

in World War I, Donaldson was hired as a songwriter by

Irving Berlin Music Company Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russ ...

. He stayed with Berlin until 1928, producing many hit songs, then in 1928 established his own publishing company. His company was legally known as "Donaldson, Douglas & Gumble, Inc", but all the publications had Walter Donaldson's name in large letters, and the legal name of the company in fine print. Donaldson frequently worked with lyricist

Gus Kahn Gustav Gerson Kahn (November 6, 1886October 8, 1941) was an American lyricist who contributed a number of songs to the Great American Songbook, including "Pretty Baby", "Ain't We Got Fun?", "Carolina in the Morning", "Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo' By ...

. Donaldson is primarily known as a composer, rather than as a lyricist, although he wrote words and music for dozens of songs. Among the big hits for which he wrote both words and music were " At Sundown" and " Little White Lies". In his prolific career, he published some 600 original songs. At the end of the 1920s, Donaldson moved to Hollywood,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, and worked composing and arranging music for

motion pictures A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

. His film credits include work on such pictures as ''

Glorifying the American Girl ''Glorifying the American Girl'' is a 1929 American pre-Code musical comedy film produced by Florenz Ziegfeld that highlights Ziegfeld Follies performers. The last third of the film, which was filmed in early Technicolor, is basically a Follie ...

'', '' Suzy'', ''

The Great Ziegfeld ''The Great Ziegfeld'' is a 1936 American musical drama film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and produced by Hunt Stromberg. It stars William Powell as the theatrical impresario Florenz "Flo" Ziegfeld Jr., Luise Rainer as Anna Held, and ...

'', ''

Panama Hattie ''Panama Hattie'' is a 1940 American musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and book by Herbert Fields and B. G. DeSylva. The musical is about a nightclub owner, Hattie Maloney, who lives in the Panama Canal Zone and ends up dealing with ...

'', '' Follow the Boys'' and ''

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

''. He married Dorothy in 1935, who was on the New York stage as Wanda Mansfield, but they divorced in 1942 after having two children. Walter Donaldson retired in 1943, and died four years later in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

, after being ill for a year with kidney problems. He is buried at an unmarked grave at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn.

Selected works

* " At Sundown (When Love is Calling Me Home)" * " The Army's Full of Irish (A Man from Erin Never Runs, He's Irish)" (lyrics by Bert Hanlon) * "Away Down East in Maine" * "Because My Baby Don't Mean 'Maybe' Now" * "

Carolina in the Morning "Carolina in the Morning" is a popular song with words by Gus Kahn and music by Walter Donaldson, first published in 1922 by Jerome H. Remick & Co. The song debuted on Broadway in the elaborate and risqué musical revue '' The Passing Show of ...

" (lyrics by

) * "Can't We Fall in Love" (lyrics by

Harold Adamson Harold Campbell Adamson (December 10, 1906 – August 17, 1980) was an American lyricist during the 1930s and 1940s. Early life Adamson, the son of building contractor Harold Adamson and Marion "Minnie" Campbell Adamson, was born and raised in ...

) * "Did I Remember" (lyrics by

) * "Dixie Vagabond" (lyrics by Gus Kahn) * "Don't Be Angry" * "

Don't Cry Frenchy, Don't Cry Don't Cry Frenchy, Don't Cry is a 1919 song written during World War I. The lyrics were written by Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young, and the music was written by Walter Donaldson.The song was published by Waterson, Berlin & Snyder Company in New York ...

" (lyrics by

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 ...

and Joe Young) * "Down Where the South Begins" (lyrics by Gus Kahn) * "Dreamy Delaware" (music by "Violinsky" (Sol Ginsberg)) * "Duke of Kak-I-Ak" (lyrics by

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 lo ...

) * "Eight Little Letters" * "An Ev'ning in Caroline" * "For No Reason at All" (lyrics by Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young) * "Georgia" * "A Girlfriend of a Boyfriend of Mine" (lyrics by Gus Kahn) * "Give Me Just a Little Bit of What You've Got" (lyrics by

George A. Whiting George A. Whiting was a vaudeville song and dance man, and also a writer of lyrics for popular songs during the vaudeville era. He toured with singer Sadie Burt, whom he later married and had 3 daughters with. His best-known work is " My Blue ...

) * "Give Me My Mammy" (lyrics by

Buddy DeSylva George Gard "Buddy" DeSylva (January 27, 1895 – July 11, 1950) was an American songwriter, film producer and record executive. He wrote or co-wrote many popular songs and, along with Johnny Mercer and Glenn Wallichs, he co-founded Capitol Re ...

) * "Goodness Gracious Agnes" (lyrics by Gus Kahn) * " How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree)? (lyrics by Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young) * "Kansas City Kitty" (lyrics by Edgar Leslie) * " Little White Lies" * " Love Me or Leave Me" (lyrics by Gus Kahn) * "

Makin' Whoopee "Makin' Whoopee" is a jazz/ blues song, first popularized by Eddie Cantor in the 1928 musical '' Whoopee!''. Gus Kahn wrote the lyrics and Walter Donaldson composed the music for the song as well as for the entire musical. The title refers to ce ...

" (lyrics by Gus Kahn) * "Maybe It's the Moon" (lyrics by Robert Wright and Chet Forrest) * "Mississippi Honeymoon" (lyrics by Gus Kahn) * "Mister Meadowlark" (lyrics by Johnny Mercer) * " My Baby Just Cares for Me" (lyrics by Gus Kahn) * " My Blue Heaven" (lyrics by George A. Whiting) * " My Buddy" (lyrics by Gus Kahn) * "My Heart and I Decided" * "My Little Bimbo Down on a Bamboo Isle" (lyrics by

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, ...

) * "

My Mammy "My Mammy" is an American popular song with music by Walter Donaldson and lyrics by Joe Young and Sam M. Lewis. Though associated with Al Jolson, who performed the song very successfully, "My Mammy" was performed first in 1918 by William Fra ...

" (lyrics by Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young) (a huge hit for

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 ...

) * "My Man from Caroline" (lyrics by Gus Kahn) * "My Ohio Home" (lyrics by Gus Kahn) * "My Papa Doesn't Two-Time No Time" * "No One to Blame But Myself" (lyrics by

Mitchell Parish Mitchell Parish (born Michael Hyman Pashelinsky; July 10, 1900 – March 31, 1993) was an American lyricist, notably as a writer of songs for stage and screen. Biography Parish was born to a Jewish family in Lithuania, Russian Empire in July 190 ...

) * "Out of the Dawn" * "Sam, the Old Accordion Man" * "Sweet Jennie Lee" * "That Certain Party" (lyrics by Gus Kahn) * "A Thousand Goodnights" * " What Can I Say After I Say I'm Sorry?" (lyrics by

Abe Lyman Abe Lyman (August 4, 1897 – October 23, 1957) was a popular bandleader from the 1920s to the 1940s. He made recordings, appeared in films and provided the music for numerous radio shows, including ''Your Hit Parade''. His name at birth was Abra ...

) * "Why'd Ya Make Me Fall In Love?" * "Without That Gal!" * " Yes Sir, That's My Baby" (lyrics by Gus Kahn) * "

You're Driving Me Crazy "You’re Driving Me Crazy" is an American popular song composed (music and lyrics) by Walter Donaldson in 1930 and recorded the same year by Lee Morse, Rudy Vallée & His Connecticut Yankees and Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians (with vocal ...

References

Bibliography

*Holsinger, M. Paul, "How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm?" (Song) in ''War and American Popular Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia''. Edited by M Paul Holsinger, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999.

External links

Walter Donaldson's Official Website

Walter Donaldson 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 ...

.
Walter Donaldson (1893-1947) - Find A Grave...
find-a-grave site for Walter Donaldson
Sheet music for
How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree)?', Waterson, Berlin & Snyder Co., 1919. * *
Sheet music and MP3 for "The Army's Full of Irish"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Donaldson, Walter 1893 births 1947 deaths Songwriters from New York (state) 20th-century American musicians Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Brooklyn United States Army soldiers