Jay Gorney(1896-1990)

Composer, songwriter ("Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?"), producer, author and teacher. He arrived in the USA in 1906 and was educated at the University of Michigan (BA, LL.B)) and was also a music student of Earl Moore. He composed five Michigan Union musicals, and became a United States Navy bandmaster during World War II. His Broadway stage scores include "Top Hole", "Vogues of 1924", "Merry-Go-Round", "Earl Carroll's Sketch Book", "Earl Carroll's Vanities of 1930", "Meet the People" (which he also co-produced), "Heaven on Earth", and "Touch and Go"; and he wrote songs for "Greenwich Village Follies (1924), "Artists and Models", and "Americana". Between 1929 and 1930, he headed the Paramount Studios music department in Astoria, New York, then came to Hollywood in 1933, under contract to 20th Century-Fox. Between 1942 and 1943, he produced films for Columbia and, by 1948, was chairman of the musical-play department of the Dramatic Workshop at the New School in New York, which continued into 1951. The following year, he joined the faculty of the American Theatre Wing, and began producing, directing and writing television programs. His awards include a Tony (1962) from the American Theatre Wing, and a Yale Drama School citation. Joining ASCAP in 1925, his chief musical collaborators included E.Y. Harburg, Henry Myers, Edward Eliscu, Lew Brown, Sidney Clare, Howard Dietz, Walter Kerr and Jean Kerr. His other popular-song compositions included "Kinda Cute", "Hogan's Alley", "You're My Thrill", "I've Got You On Top of My List", "Baby, Take a Bow", "A Girl in Your Arms", "Meet the People", "The Stars Remain", A Fellow and a Girl", "This Had Better Be Love", "It Will Be All Right", "He Was a Gentleman", "What Wouldn't I Do for That Man?", "Ah, But Is It Love?", "I Found a Dream", "Ting-a-ling-a-ling", "The Bill of Rights" and "In Chi-Chi-Castenango".