Harold Arlen

American composer

Also known as: Hyman Arluck

Written and fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

History

Harold Arlen (born Feb. 15, 1905, Buffalo, N.Y., U.S.—died April 23, 1986, New York, N.Y.) was an American composer, arranger, pianist, and vocalist who contributed such popular songs as “Over the Rainbow,” “Blues in the Night,” “Come Rain or Come Shine,” “I Love a Parade,” and “Stormy Weather” to Hollywood movies and Broadway musicals. Arlen was most prolific from 1929 through the 1950s.

The son of a Jewish cantor and a pianist, Arlen showed exceptional musical talent in childhood. He left school as a teenager to form a band, and, until he was 24, he made a living chiefly as a performer and arranger. Thereafter he concentrated on composition, beginning a successful collaboration with the lyricist Ted Koehler in 1929 with the song “Get Happy.” From the late 1920s until the mid-1930s Arlen and Koehler wrote a number of songs, including “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” and “I’ve Got the World on a String,” that were featured in shows at Harlem’s Cotton Club. Arlen’s work for the Broadway stage included scores for the musicals You Said It (1931); Life Begins at 8:40 (1934); Hooray for What? (1937); Bloomer Girl (1944); St. Louis Woman (1946) and Saratoga (1959), both with lyrics by Johnny Mercer; and House of Flowers (1954), with lyrics by Truman Capote.

For Hollywood films, Arlen wrote, among other songs, “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” “Let’s Fall in Love,” Groucho Marx’s theme song “Lydia the Tatoo’d Lady,” and “That Old Black Magic.” “Over the Rainbow” (lyrics by E.Y. Harburg), introduced by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz (1939) and used thereafter as her theme, won him a 1939 Academy Award. Arlen also worked with Ira Gershwin on music for the film The Country Girl (1954), starring Bing Crosby, and he recorded as a vocalist with Leo Reisman and Cole Porter. He was widely honoured for his life achievements by both film and theatre societies.