Irving Caesar (born Isidor Keiser, July 4, 1895 – December 18, 1996) was an American lyricist and theater composer who wrote lyrics for numerous song standards, including "
Swanee", "
Sometimes I'm Happy
"Sometimes I'm Happy" is a popular song. The music was written by Vincent Youmans, the lyrics by Irving Caesar. The song was originally published in 1923 under the title "Come On And Pet Me," with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and William Cary ...
", "
Crazy Rhythm", and "
Tea for Two", one of the most frequently recorded tunes ever written.
In 1972, he was inducted into the
Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Biography
Caesar, the son of Morris Keiser, a Romanian Jew, was born in New York City, United States.
His older brother
Arthur Caesar was a successful
Hollywood screenwriter. The Caesar brothers spent their childhood and teen years in
Yorkville, the same
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...
neighborhood where the
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AF ...
were raised. Caesar knew the Marx Brothers during his childhood. He was educated at
Chappaqua Mountain Institute
Chappaqua Mountain Institute was a private co-educational college preparatory school in Chappaqua, New York founded by the Quakers in 1870. The school closed in 1908 and re-opened in Valhalla, New York where it eventually became a girls-only board ...
in
Chappaqua, New York.
In his career, Caesar collaborated with a wide variety of composers and songwriters, including
Rudolf Friml,
George Gershwin
George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...
,
Sigmund Romberg,
Victor Herbert
Victor August Herbert (February 1, 1859 – May 26, 1924) was an American composer, cellist and conductor of English and Irish ancestry and German training. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and conductor, he is bes ...
,
Ted Koehler and
Ray Henderson.
[ Two of his best known numbers, '' I Want to Be Happy'' and ''Tea for Two'', were written with Vincent Youmans for the 1925 musical '' No, No, Nanette''.]Louis Prima
Louis Leo Prima (December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and trumpeter. While rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing music, and jump blues, Prima touched on various genres throughout his career: he for ...
in the 1950s and again for David Lee Roth in the 1980s.
In the late 1930s, he and composer Gerald Marks
Gerald Marks (October 13, 1900 – January 27, 1997) was an American composer from Saginaw, Michigan. He was best known for the song " All of Me" which he co-wrote with Seymour Simons and has been recorded about 2,000 times. He also wrote the s ...
wrote a famous series of children's songs focusing on safety. Caesar made hundreds of appearances in schools performing the "Sing a Song of Safety," "Sing a Song of Friendship" (a United Nations-inspired series focusing on world peace, racial tolerance and friendship) and "Songs of Health" collections.[
Caesar served on the songwriters' performance-rights organization ASCAP board of directors from 1930 to 1946 and again from 1949 to 1966. He was a founder of the ]Songwriters Guild of America The Songwriters Guild of America (SGA) is an organization founded in 1931, to help "advance, promote, and benefit" the profession of songwriters. It was founded as the Songwriters Protective Association by Billy Rose, George W. Meyer and Edgar Les ...
.[ He died, aged 101, in New York on December 18, 1996.]
Broadway credits
Note: All productions are musicals unless otherwise stated.
*
*''La La Lucille
''La La Lucille'' is a musical
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film and television, a genre of film and televisio ...
'' (1919) - additional lyrics
*'' Kissing Time'' (1920) - adaptation of an earlier version of this musical - co-lyricist
*''Pins and Needles'' (1922) - revue - co-lyricist
*''The Greenwich Village Follies of 1922'' (1922) - revue - co-lyricist and co-bookwriter
*''The Greenwich Village Follies of 1923'' (1923) - revue - co-lyricist
*''The Greenwich Village Follies of 1924'' (1924) - revue - co-lyricist
*''Betty Lee'' (1924) - co-lyricist
*'' No, No, Nanette'' (1925) - co-lyricist
*''Charlot Revue'' (1925) - revue - featured lyricist for "Gigolette" and "A Cup of Coffee, a Sandwich and You"
*''Sweetheart Time'' (1926) - co-lyricist
*'' Ziegfeld's Revue "No Foolin'"'' (1926) - revue - co-lyricist
*''Betsy'' (1926) - co-bookwriter
*''Talk About Girls'' (1927) - lyricist
*''Yes, Yes, Yvette'' (1927) - story originator
*''Here's Howe'' (1928) - lyricist
*''Americana of 1928'' (1928) - revue - co-lyricist
*''Polly'' (1929) - co-composer and co-lyricist
*''George White's Scandals of 1929'' (1929) - revue - co-composer and co-lyricist
*'' Ripples'' (1930) - co-lyricist
*''Nina Rosa'' (1930) - lyricist
*''The Wonder Bar'' (1931) - play - co-playwright/adaptor of the original German
*''George White's Scandals of 1931'' (1931) - revue - co-bookwriter
*''George White's Music Hall Varieties of 1932'' (1932) - revue - co-composer and lyricist
*''Melody'' (1933) - lyricist
*''Shady Lady'' (1933) - reviser
*''Continental Varieties'' (1934) - revue - dialogue-writer
*'' The White Horse Inn'' (1936) - English-version lyricist
*''My Dear Public'' (1943) - co-composer, co-lyricist, and co-bookwriter
Post-retirement credits:
*''The American Dance Machine'' (1978) - dance revue - featured lyricist
*''Up in One'' (1979) - revue - featured songwriter
*''Big Deal'' (1986) - featured English-version lyricist for "Just a Gigolo"
*''Sally Marr...and her escorts'' (1994) - play - featured lyricist for "Tea for Two"
References
External links
*
*
''New York Times'' obituary
Irving Caesar recordings
at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caesar, Irving
Jewish American songwriters
American lyricists
American people of Romanian-Jewish descent
American centenarians
Men centenarians
1895 births
1996 deaths
Townsend Harris High School alumni
People from Yorkville, Manhattan
People from Chappaqua, New York
20th-century American musicians
20th-century American Jews