More Info on Yip Harburg lyricistSimilar Undetermined MusicSearch Artistopia
Biography
Infobox musical artist| name = Yip Harburg| image = Harburg 6817310 127052567878.jpg| caption = Harburg c. 1950| image_size =| background = non_performing_personnel| birth_name = Isidore Hochberg| alias = E.Y. Harburg, Yipsel Harburg| birth_date = Birth date|1896|4|8|mf=y| death_date = Death date and age|1981|3|5|1896|4|8| origin = New York City, New York , United States|U.S.A. | instrument =| genre =| occupation = Lyricist | years_active =| label =| associated_acts = Harold Arlen , Vernon Duke , Jerome Kern , Jule Styne , Burton Lane | website = Edgar Yipsel Harburg (April 8, 1896 – March 5, 1981), known as E.Y. Harburg or Yip Harburg , was an United States|American popular song lyricist who worked with many well-known composers. He wrote the lyrics to the standards, " Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? ", " April in Paris (song)|April in Paris ", and " It's Only a Paper Moon (song)|It's Only a Paper Moon ", as well as all of the songs in The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz , including " Over the Rainbow ".
Life and career
Harburg, the youngest of four surviving children (out of ten), was born Isidore Hochberg on the Lower East Side of New York City on April 8, 1896. http://www.answers.com/topic/yip-harburg Yip Harburg: Biography from Answers.com. Retrieved January 2, 2010. His parents, Lewis Hochberg and Mary Ricing, http://www.nndb.com/people/371/000205753/ E. Y. Harburg. Retrieved from NNDB|Notable Names Database on January 12, 2010. were faithful, Yiddish -speaking Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jew s http://songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/bio/C14 Songwriters Hall of Fame - E.Y. Harburg Biography. Retrieved January 2, 2010. who had Immigration to the United States|emigrated from Russian Jews|Russia . http://www.yipharburg.com/biography.html Yip Harburg biography. Retrieved January 2, 2010. Harburg's nickname "Yipsel" (often shortened to "Yip") came about as "Yipsel" is how people pronounced "YPSL" -- the acronym for the Young People's Socialist League of which he was a member. Some have incorrectly believed that "Yipsel" is a Yiddish word meaning "squirrel."
Later, he adopted the name Edgar Harburg. He was best known as Edgar "Yip" Harburg. He attended Townsend Harris High School , where he and Ira Gershwin , who met over a shared fondness for Gilbert and Sullivan , worked on the school paper and became life-long friends. They went on to attend City College of New York|City College (later part of the City University of New York ) together. http://www.42ndstmoon.com/History/Harburg.html Spotlight on E. Y. Harburg.
After graduating from university, Harburg spent three years in Uruguay to avoid involvement in World War I , which he opposed as a committed socialist . There he worked as a factory supervisor. After the war he returned to New York, married and had two children and started writing light verse for local newspapers. He became co-owner of Consolidated Electrical Appliance Company. The company went bankrupt following the crash of 1929 , leaving Harburg "anywhere from $50,000 - $70,000 in debt," http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl? sid=04/11/25/0832252 Democracy Now article 25, November, 2004. which he insisted on paying back over the course of the next few decades. At this point, Ira Gershwin and Yip Harburg agreed that Yip should start writing song lyrics.
Gershwin introduced Harburg to Jay Gorney , who collaborated with him on songs for an Earl Carroll Musical theatre|Broadway review (''Earl Carroll's Sketchbook ): the show was successful and Harburg was engaged as lyricist for a series of successful revue s, including Americana in 1932, for which he wrote the lyrics of Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? to the tune of a lullaby Gorney had learned as a child in Russia . This song swept the nation, becoming an anthem of the Great Depression .
Harburg and Gorney were offered a contract with Paramount Pictures|Paramount : in Hollywood , Harburg worked with composers Harold Arlen , Vernon Duke , Jerome Kern , Jule Styne , and Burton Lane , and wrote the lyrics for The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz for which he won the Academy Award for Best Song|Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song for Over the Rainbow .
Of his work on The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz , his son (and biographer) Ernie Harburg said,
cquote2|So anyhow, Yip also wrote all the dialogue in that time and the setup to the songs and he also wrote the part where they give out the heart, the brains and the nerve, because he was the final script editor. And he — there were eleven screenwriters on that — and he pulled the whole thing together, wrote his own lines and gave the thing a coherence and unity which made it a work of art. But he doesn’t get credit for that. He gets lyrics by E. Y. Harburg, you see. But nevertheless, he put his influence on the thing. Working in Hollywood did not stop Harburg's career on Broadway. In the 1940s, he wrote a series of book musicals with social messages, including the very successful Bloomer Girl (1944) (about Temperance movement|temperance and women's rights activist Amelia Bloomer ) and his most famous Broadway show, '' Finian's Rainbow '' (1947) (perhaps the first Broadway musical with a racially integrated chorus line, featuring Harburg's "When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich"). It has had four major revivals (1955, 1960 and 1967, 2009), and was also made into Finian's Rainbow (film)|a film starring Fred Astaire and Petula Clark , directed by Francis Ford Coppola , in 1968. In 2004, the Irish Repertory Theatre staged a well-received Off-Broadway production starring Melissa Errico and Johnathan Freeman . New York's City Center Encores& #33; series performed a critically acclaimed concert version of the piece in March 2009. Directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, it starred Tony Award -winner Jim Norton (actor)|Jim Norton and Kate Baldwin as Finian and Sharon, with Cheyenne Jackson as Woody and Jeremy Bobb as Og, the leprechaun. A Broadway revival began on October 29 at the St. James Theatre with most of the Encores& #33; cast. Newly added to the Broadway cast are Christopher Fitzgerald as Og and Chuck Cooper as Billboard; Jim Norton (actor)|Jim Norton , Kate Baldwin and Cheyenne Jackson all reprise their roles. It closed on January 17, 2010.
Later years
True to his strongly leftist views, Harburg supported the 1948 presidential campaign of Henry A. Wallace|Henry Wallace , and wrote the lyrics of the campaign song "Everyone Likes Wallace, Friendly Henry Wallace." From about 1951 to 1962, Yip Harburg was a victim of the Hollywood blacklist when movie studio bosses blacklist ed industry people for actual or suspected involvement or sympathy with the American Communist Party . No longer able to work in Hollywood, he nevertheless continued to write musicals for Broadway, among which was Jamaica (musical)|Jamaica , which featured Lena Horne .
Death
Yip Harburg died on March 5, 1981 in an automobile accident on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood .cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=E.Y. (Yip) Harburg, Lyricist, 84, Dies. Did 'Wizard of Oz,' 'Finian's Rainbow. |url= |quote=E.Y. (Yip) Harburg, 84, the lyricist who wrote the words to such classic songs as "April in Paris," "It's Only a Paper Moon" and the "Wizard of Oz" song "Over the Rainbow," died Thursday in an automobile accident on Sunset Boulevard. |publisher= Washington Post |date=March 7, 1981 |accessdate=2008-06-18 cite news |author= |coauthors= |title=E. Y. Harburg, Lyricist, Killed In Car Crash |url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html? res=F50A14FC3E5D0C748CDDAA0894D9484D81 |quote=E. Y. (Yip) Harburg, who wrote the lyrics for Over the Rainbow, April In Paris, Brother, Can You Spare a Dime and the musical ''Finian's Rainbow,'' died Thursday when the car he was driving swerved into oncoming traffic and collided head-on with another vehicle on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. He was 84 years old. ... |work= New York Times |date=March 7, 1981 |accessdate=2010-11-30
Awards and recognition
In 1940 Harburg won an Academy Award|Oscar , shared with Harold Arlen , for Best Music, Original Song for " The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz ", (1939). In addition, he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song, along with Arlen, for " Cabin in the Sky ", (1943) and Best Music, Original Song for " Can't Help Singing ", shared with Jerome Kern in (1944).cite web |url= http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0361971/awards |title=Awards for E.Y. Harburg |publisher=IMDB |accessdate=2007-07-16
Harburg was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972.
In April 2005, the United States Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp recognizing his accomplishments. http://thefastertimes.com/theatertalk/2009/11/01/bustin-with-bliss-5q4-ernie-harburg/ | See this for a picture of the Yip Harburg commemorative and a description of the campaign to have it issued. The stamp is drawn from a portrait taken by photographer Barbara Bordnick in 1978 along with a rainbow and lyric from Over the Rainbow . The first day ceremony was held at the 92nd Street Y in New York.
Songs
" Over the Rainbow " (1939)
" Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? " with composer Jay Gorney (1932)
Mostly Stephen Sondheim|Sondheim (2002) - featured lyricist
Broadway musicals
Hooray for What! (1937) - lyricist and originator
Hold on to Your Hats (1940) - lyricist
Bloomer Girl (1944) - lyricist, originator and director for musical numbers
'' Finian's Rainbow (1947) - lyricist, originator and co-bookwriter
*Revived in 1955, 1960, 2009
Flahooley (1951) - lyricist, originator and co-bookwriter
Jamaica (musical)|Jamaica (1957) - lyricist, originator and co-bookwriter - Tony Award|Tony Nomination for Tony Award for Best Musical|Best Musical
The Happiest Girl in the World (1961) - originator and lyricist to music by JacquesOffenbach and originator of the story, based on Lysistrata by Aristophanes
Darling of the Day (musical)|Darling of the Day (1968) - lyricist
Films
Moonlight and Pretzels - 1933
The Singing Kid - 1936
Golddiggers of 1937 - 1936
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz - 1939
At the Circus - 1939
Babes on Broadway - 1941
Ship Ahoy - 1942
Cabin in the Sky - 1943 Harburg's song "Aint It The Truth" expressing religious skepticism was removed* http://www.ffrf.org/radio/podcast/ April 29, 2006 - Somewhere Over the Rainbow . . . Rhymes for the IrreverentFreedom From Religion Foundation 's Podcast 22:10
Meyerson, Harold and Ernie Harburg. Who Put the Rainbow in the Wizard of Oz: Yip Harburg, Lyricist , University of Michigan Press, (1993). ISBN 0-472-10482-9
External links
IMDb name|id=0361971|name= Yip Harburg
IBDB name|5177
Find a Grave|6817310
http://www.yipharburg.com The Yip Harburg Foundation website
http://www.usps.com/communications/news/stamps/2005/sr05_021.htm Biography of Harburg from USPS
http://www.democracynow.org/shows/2008/12/25 "A Tribute to Yip Harburg: The Man Who Put the Rainbow in The Wizard of Oz", a Democracy Now! special, including audio/video clips of Yip Harburg, and an extended interview with his son and biographer, Ernie Harburg (video, audio, and print transcript)
Shof|id=14|Yip Harburg
http://www.nypl.org/ead/4396 E. Y. Harburg papers (first installment) and http://www.nypl.org/ead/4395 E. Y. Harburg papers (second installment) in the http://www.nypl.org/research/lpa/the/the.html Billy Rose Theatre Collection of http://www.nypl.org/research/lpa/lpa.html The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
http://www.nypl.org/research/manuscripts/music/musharburg.xml E. Y. Harburg scores (his personal collection) in the http://www.nypl.org/musicdiv Music Division of http://www.nypl.org/research/lpa/lpa.html The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
Allmusic|class=artist|id=p84165|label=Yip Harburg
http://www.ffrf.org/news/2006/harburg.php Celebrated Lyricist Yip Harburg's Rhymes For The Irreverent Released February 2, 2006 article on The Freedom From Religion Foundation 's website
http://www.ffrf.org/radio/podcast/ April 29, 2006 - Somewhere Over the Rainbow . . . Rhymes for the IrreverentFreedom From Religion Foundation 's Podcast
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00n0xfq Over The Rainbow With Yip Harburg (BBC Radio 4 programme)
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20091110_who_put_the_rainbow_in_the_wizard_of_oz/ The Man Who Put the Rainbow in The Wizard of Oz by Amy Goodman
AcademyAwardBestOriginalSong 1934–1940Authority control|PND=11919158X|LCCN=n/85/342788|VIAF=120709724 Persondata | NAME = Harburg, Yip | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Harbur, Edgar Yipsel (full name); Harburg, E.Y. | SHORT DESCRIPTION = American popular song lyricist | DATE OF BIRTH = April 8, 1896 | PLACE OF BIRTH = New York City , New York , United States | DATE OF DEATH = March 4, 1981 | PLACE OF DEATH = Hollywood , California , United States DEFAULTSORT:Harburg, Yip Category:Jewish American writers Category:Jewish American composers and songwriters Category:American musical theatre lyricists Category:American socialists Category:Hollywood blacklist Category:Best Song Academy Award winning songwriters Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:City College of New York alumni Category:People from Manhattan Category:Road accident deaths in California Category:1896 births Category:1981 deaths Category:American atheists
de:E. Y. Harburg fr:Yip Harburg he:?? ?????? sh:Yip Harburg fi:E. Y. Harburg sv:E.Y. Harburg
