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Mort Dixon |
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Basic InformationBorn: March 20, 1892, New York City Died: March 23, 1956 (age 64), Bronxville, New York Primary songwriting role: lyricist Co-writers: chiefly Billy Rose, Ray Henderson, Harry Warren, Harry Woods, and Allie Wrubel. Click here to view a database of 15 Mort Dixon co-writers. |
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Overview and Commentary |
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Overview
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Before becoming a working lyricist, Dixon was educated at DeWitt Clinton High School in New York City, tried his hand as a vaudeville actor, and served in the US Army during World War I, where he directed the Army show "Whiz Bang." Dixon's big push into professional songwriting came from his contribution to the lyrics (in 1923) of "That Old Gang of Mine." By 1927, the first year for the talkies, he was already writing songs for the movies and in the early 1930's, he wrote the lyrics for Broadway productions like Laugh Parade and Chamberlain Brown's Scrapbook. Certainly his biggest hits were "Bye Bye Blackbird" (1926) and "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover" (1927). During his career, his major collaborators included Billy Rose, Ray Henderson, Harry Warren, Harry Woods, and Allie Wrubel. Dixon lyrics for songs not in the Cafe Songbook Catalog of The Great American Songbookinclude "That Old Gang of Mine," "The Lady in Red," "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover," "If I Had a Girl Like You," "Just Like a Butterfly that's Caught in the Rain," "Marching Along Together," "My Old Man," "Nagasaki," "Ooh, That Kiss," "Pop Goes Your Heart," "Happiness Ahead," "Mr. and Mrs. Is the Name," "Flirtation Walk," "Fare Thee Well, Annabelle," and "I See Two Lovers." |
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For Gary Marmorstein in his book Hollywood Rhapsody, Mort Dixon was one of the songwriters on the Warners lot in the early thirties who "contributed tremendously to the resurgence of the musical." Dixon, a former streetcar conductor, bank clerk and vaudeville performer who had made a fortune form his lyrics for "Bye Bye Blackbird" and "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover," was paired at Warners with composer Allie Wrubel. Marmorstein states, "If [Al] Dubin and [Harry] Warren helped make Dick Powell a star [in films such as 42nd Street and Gold Diggers of 1933], Dixon and Wrubel kept him a star in Happiness Ahead . . . and Flirtation Walk," both from 1934. (p. 57). |
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Credits(Mort Dixon page) |
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