Dorothy Fields

Dorothy Fields ( born July 15, 1905 in Allenhurst, New Jersey, † March 28, 1974 in New York City ) was an American songwriter and playwright.

Dorothy Fields comes from a Jewish family in New York theater. She is the sister of Herbert Fields and Joseph Fields, which were also known as authors. Her father, Lew Fields was a famous vaudeville comedian and Broadway producer.

Life

Her career as a writer began in 1927 through the acquaintance with the composer Jimmy McHugh, for which she wrote the lyrics. Fields and McHugh wrote initially for revues of the Harlem Cotton Club. Her first success was the hit " I Can not Give You Anything But Love, Baby" from the revue Delmar 's Revels. With this hit they moved to Broadway for their first show, the Blackbirds of 1928. During the same year her father produced them their first " book musical" Hello, Daddy, her brother Herbert Fields wrote the book for that. There were other shows, including the International Revue of her father in 1930, for which originated the songs " On the Sunny Side of the Street" and " Exactly Like You ".

Because of the global economic crisis and the associated difficulties on Broadway, but also because of the cinema boom, Fields and McHugh changed the early 1930s to Hollywood. They drew up the scores ( scores ) for several films; 1935 was built for the film For Every Night at Eight of the song "I'm In the Mood For Love". That same year, ended their professional partnership. Dorothy Fields then wrote lyrics for several other composers, but had their greatest success in collaboration with Jerome Kern. For the title "The Way You Look Tonight " from the musical film Swing Time from 1936 Fields and core received the Oscar for best song.

In 1939 Fields back to New York, where she worked in the same year with Arthur Schwartz on the Musical Stars In Your Eyes. In the early 1940s began a collaboration with her brother Herbert, by which they distinguished himself as a playwright. The Fields wrote the books for the Cole Porter musical Let's Face It! (1941 ), Something for the Boys (1943 ) and Mexican Hayride (1944). 1946 followed the book for the highly successful musical Annie Get Your Gun with music by Irving Berlin. Fields last work with her brother ( he died in 1958) was for the musical Redhead, for 1959 both a Tony Award were awarded for best musical. After her brother's death, Dorothy Fields again worked as a songwriter. With composer Cy Coleman wrote the songs for the musical Sweet Charity (1966) and Seesaw (1973).