Jule Styne ( ; was an English-American songwriter and composer widely known for a series of Broadway musicals, including several famous frequently-revived shows that also became successful films: Gypsy, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and Funny Girl.

Early life

Styne was born to a Jewish family in London, England. Even before his family left Britain, he did impressions on the stage of well-known singers, including Harry Lauder, who saw him perform and advised him to take up the piano. At the age of eight, he moved with his family to Chicago, where he began taking piano lessons. He proved to be a prodigy and performed with the Chicago, St. Louis, and Detroit symphonies before he was 10 years old.

Career

Before Styne attended Chicago Musical College, he had already attracted the attention of another teenager, Mike Todd, later a successful film producer, who commissioned him to write a song for a musical act that he was creating. It was the first of over 1,500 published songs Styne composed in his career. His first hit, "Sunday", was written in 1926.

Styne was a vocal coach for 20th Century Fox, His archiveincluding original hand-written compositions, letters, and production materialsis housed at the Harry Ransom Center.

Margaret Styne oversaw Styne's estate until she died on February 20, 2022.

Awards

Styne was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972 and the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981, and he was a recipient of a Drama Desk Special Award and the Kennedy Center Honors in 1990. Additionally, Styne won the 1955 Oscar for Best Music, Original Song for "Three Coins in the Fountain", and "Hallelujah, Baby!" won the 1968 Tony Award for Best Original Score.

  • "Long Before I Knew You"
  • "Make Someone Happy" (from Do Re Mi)
  • "Money Burns a Hole in My Pocket" (from Living It Up)
  • "Neverland"
  • "Papa, Won’t You Dance with Me?"
  • "The Party's Over" (from Bells Are Ringing)
  • "People" (from Funny Girl)
  • "Pico and Sepulveda"
  • "Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week)" sung by Frank Sinatra
  • "Small World", from Gypsy, which became a moderate hit when sung by Johnny Mathis in 1959
  • "Sunday" with Ned Miller
  • "The Things We Did Last Summer"
  • "Time After Time" (from It Happened in Brooklyn)
  • "Three Coins in the Fountain", Oscar-winning song from the film of the same name
  • "Together (Wherever We Go)" (from Gypsy)
  • "Winter Was Warm" (from Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol)

Credits

  • Ice Capades of 1943 (1942) – Styne contributed one song
  • Glad to See You! (1944) – closed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during tryout
  • High Button Shoes (1947)
  • Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949)
  • Michael Todd's Peep Show (1950) – Styne contributed 2 numbers
  • Two on the Aisle (1951)
  • Hazel Flagg (1953)
  • Peter Pan (1954) -additional music by Styne
  • My Sister Eileen (1955)
  • Bells Are Ringing (1956)
  • Say, Darling (1958)
  • A Party with Betty Comden and Adolph Green (1958)
  • First Impressions (1959) -Produced by Styne
  • Gypsy (1959)
  • Do Re Mi (1960)
  • Subways Are for Sleeping (1961)
  • Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962)
  • Arturo Ui (1963) – Styne contributed incidental music to this Bertolt Brecht play
  • Funny Girl (1964)
  • Wonderworld (1964) – lyrics by Styne's son, Stanley
  • Fade Out – Fade In (1964)
  • Something More! (1964) – directed by Styne
  • The Dangerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood (1965)
  • Hallelujah, Baby! (1967)
  • Darling of the Day (1968)
  • Look to the Lilies (1970)
  • The Night the Animals Talked (1970)
  • Prettybelle (1971) – closed in Boston
  • Sugar (1972) -revised as Some Like It Hot: The Musical for a 2002–03 national US tour starring Tony Curtis as Osgood Fielding, Jr.
  • Lorelei (1974) – essentially a sequel/revival of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
  • Hellzapoppin'! (1976) – closed in Baltimore during pre-Broadway tryout
  • Side by Side by Sondheim (1976) - included songs from Gypsy.
  • Bar Mitzvah Boy (1978)
  • One Night Stand (1980) – closed during preview period
  • Pieces of Eight (1985)
  • The Red Shoes (1993)

References

Further reading

  • Suskin, Steven (1986). Show Tunes 1905-1985: The Songs, Shows and Careers of Broadway's Major Composers, New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1986.
  • Suskin, Steven (2009). The Sound of Broadway Music, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
  • Taylor, Theodore. Jule: The Story of Composer Jule Styne, New York: Random House, 1979.
  • Jule Styne Papers at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin
  • Jule Styne at the Kennedy Center