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Billy Rose

sheet music cover: "It Happened in Monterey"
Vintage sheet music for
"It Happened in Monterey"
music by Mable Wayne; words by Billy Rose
from Paul Whiteman King of Jazz
1928

Basic Information

Born: Wiiliam Samuel Rosenberg, September 6, 1899, New York City

Died: February 10, 1966 (age 66), Montego Bay, Jamaica

Primary songwriting role: lyricist; also a theatrical impresario and producer

Co-writers: Rose worked with many co-writers, as lyricist, co-lyricist and as someone who received credit for other forms of contribution, a practice sometimes calledcutting in. For credits Rose received for working with 73 different co-writers, view the DBOPM database.

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Basic Songwiter Information
Overview and Commentary
Music-Video Cabinet
Songs by This Songwriter
in the Cafe Songbook Catalog
of The Great American Songbook
Web Research Resources
Print Research Resources
Visitor Comments
Master List of Songwriters
Credits

Overview and Commentary:
Billy Rose
(This section currently remains in preparation)


book cover: "The Jazz Age: Popular Music in the 1920s" by Arnold Shaw
Arnold Shaw, The Jazz Age: Popular Music in the 1920s,
New York: Oxford University Press, 1987


book cover, Tony Thomas, "Harry Warren and the Hollywood Musical"
Tony Thomas
(with forward by Bing Crosby)
Harry Warren and the Hollywood Musical,
Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press,
1975


 book cover:"The Melody Lingers On: The Great Songwriters and Their Movie Musicals" by Roy Hemming
Roy Hemming,
The Melody Lingers On: The Great Songwriters and Their Movie Musicals,
New York: Newmarket Press, 1986.


Book cover: Alec Wilder, "America's Popular Song"
Alec Wilder, American Popular Song The Great Innovators, 1900-1950, New York: Oxford University Press, 1972 --
paper-bound Ed. shown


Book cover Wilfred Sheed "The House That George: Built"
Wilfred Sheed, The House That George Built: With a Little Help from Irving, Cole, and a Crew of About Fifty, New York: Random House, 2007 (paper-bound ED. shown, 2008)

Billy Rosecutting in: Detractors and Defenders

Commentary on Billy Rose almost always refers to his extreme ambition and indeed megalomania with regard to his career as a theater/show business producer and promoter and seldom fails to take either a for or against position with regard to his true contribution to the song lyrics for which he has been given (or taken) credit.

Humorous songs were among his earliest undertakings as a songwriter. During the early Twenties he wrote the lyrics for "Barney Google" and "Does the Spearmint Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight," though as Arnold Shaw suggests these songs were "hardly an index of Billy Rose's talents or scope." On the Lower East Side of Manhattan where he was born (and where his wife for a time, Fanny Brice, also grew up), Rose was everything from a fifty-yard dash champion to the shorthand champion -- in both speed and accuracy -- of New York City.

His motive for becoming a songwriter came from having heard about the money one could make, so after service in WWI, he turned his obsessive attention "to analyzing past hits" with an eye to figuring out how to write one himself. He succeeded in 1920 collaborating with composer Cliff Friend on the novelty song "You Tell Her I Stutter." When listing a string of Rose's successful songwriting credits in the twenties, Shaw writes, "He was associated with [italics ours] a long list of hits," thus suggesting that Rose wascutting in, a common practice among song promoters, publishers and band leaders who felt they deserved credit for a song's success and, therefore, a portion of the royalties, even though they did not actually write any of it.

Two pairs of Rose's songwriting collaborators during the Twenties were both anchored by Harry Warren writing the music. Rose received credit on six songs by Warren and lyricist Mort Dixon ("Cheerful Little Earful," "I Found A Million Dollar Baby" and "Would You Like To Take a Walk") as well as on the first song, "Too Many Kisses" written by Warren and Al Dubin, with whom Warren wrote the greatest number of his Hollywood successes. In both cases, Rose received higher billing for the lyrics over Dixon or Dubin. Tony Thomas in his bookHarry Warren and the Hollywood Musical, quotes Warren on Rose:

Billy was a catalyst and very ambitious . . . . He had some good ideas of his own, but he bought ideas from other writers and possibly appropriated others. He had a compulsion to be rich and famous. That might not be admirable to some people, but you need that kind in show business. They get things going when the rest of us can't (Thomas, p. 16).

Roy Hemming, in his bookThe Melody Lingers On: The Great Songwriters and Their Movie Musicals, confirms Warren's view of Rose. Hemming writes that Warren's success both as a songwriter and song promoter was very limited until 1924 when he teamed up with Rose and Dixon"

The songs [the three of them] wrote together were mostly Warren's and Dixon's, but the ideas and titles were usually Rose's -- and it was Rose's aggressive pushing of them with publishers and other song pluggers that got them heard.

Alec Wilder is less generous with Rose. While discussing "It's Only a Paper Moon" (music, Harold Arlen; words, Yip Harburg and Billy Rose), Wilder says, "It has a very innocent lyric by E. Y. Harburg to which Billy Rose probably contributed the word 'The' and so is listed as the co-lyricist" (Wilder, American Popular Song The Great Innovators, 1900-1950, p. 261, hard-cover Ed.).

Wilfred Sheed at first seems in step with the Wilder view of Rose, but then acknowledges Warren's kinder, gentler and, perhaps, more realistic view of the physically diminutive man with enormous chutzpah:

The nerve-racking Billy Rose . . . took big bows and major money for just supplying the title to Warren's early hit "I Found a Million Dollar Baby (in a Five and Ten Cent Store)." Rose was Widely resented by other writers for just such tricks, but not by Warren, who admired Billy for having precisely what he lacked himself, the gift for promotion. He felt Rose's salesmanship, which would later run to aquacades and live elephants, was worth his cut anytime (Sheed, The House That George Built, p. 202, hard-cover Ed.).



Richard Rodgers,
Musical Stages: An Autobiography New York: Random House, 1975
(Da Capo paper bound ed., 2002, pictured above).

In his autobiography, Richard Rodgers writes of Billy Rose during the time Rose was producing the Rodgers and Hart scored show, Jumbo that opened on Broadway November 16, 1935. The show reenacted a circus with all of its spectacle. Rodgers writes:

Billy wasn't going to stint on a thing and was getting the best designers, directors and writers available. Jimmy Durante and Paul Whiteman and his band would be in the show, and his agents were scouring Europe for the greatest jugglers, tumblers, clowns, animal acts and trapeze artists they could find. It was, he assured us, going to be the most mammoth attraction of its kind, and appropriately, he was calling it Jumbo.
. . . . . . . . .
As befitting the super-showman that he was, Billy seldom thought along conventional lines. For his story, he went to Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, the co-authors of The Front Page and Twentieth Century, who had never before written a musical comedy book (Musical Stages, p. 172, hard-cover Ed.).

from PlaybillVault.com "The Billy Rose Theatre opened, as the National, in 1921. Financed by theatre agent Walter C. Jordan and designed by William Neil Smith, the National soon became the southernmost Broadway theatre as other nearby venues faced demolition. In 1959 impresario Billy Rose purchased and renamed the theatre for himself. In 1978 the Nederlander Organization purchased and refurbished it, renaming it the Trafalgar. Two years later it was renamed in honor of founder David T. Nederlander."
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Cafe Songbook
Music-Video Cabinet:
Billy Rose
(This section is currently in preparation)




Billy Rose as contestant on 1950s classic TV panel show "What's My Line?" hosted by John Daly with Dorothy Kilgallen, Steve Allen, Arlene Francis,
and Bennett Cerf (c. 1953)


"My Romance" from the 1962 movie version of Billy Rose's 1935 Broadway production of Jumbo performed by Doris Day; music by Richard Rodgers lyrics by Lorenz Hart

album cover: "Billy Rose's Jumbo" featuring Doris Day
Billy Rose's Jumbo
(1962 Film Soundtrack)

Amazon
   
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Billy Rose Songs
currently included in the
Cafe Songbook Catalog of
The Great American Songbook
  1. Great Day!
  2. I Found a Million Dollar Baby (in a five and ten cent store)
  3. I Wanna Be Loved
  4. It's Only a Paper Moon
  5. I've Got a Feelin' I'm Fallin'
  6. Me and My Shadow
  7. More Than You Know
  8. Without a Song
  9. Would You Like To Take a Walk?
Click here for a database of songs written or co-written by Billy Rose.
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Research Resources:
Billy Rose

Billy Rose research resources on the web (listed alphabetically by web source):
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Billy Rose research resources in print (listed chronologically):
 
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Credits

(Billy Rose page)

 

Credits for Videomakers of videos used on this page:

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Cafe Songbook
Master List
of Great American Songbook Songwriters

Names of songwriters who have written at least one song included in the Cafe Songbook Catalog of The Great American Songbook are listed below.

 

Names of songwriters with two or more song credits in the catalog (with rare exceptions) are linked to their own Cafe Songbook pages, e.g. Fields, Dorothy.

 

Names of songwriters with only one song credit in the catalog are linked to the Cafe Songbook page for that song, on which may be found information about the songwriter or a link to an information source for him or her.

 

Please note: Cafe Songbook pages for songwriters are currently in various stages of development.

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Adair, Tom

Adams, Lee

Adams, Stanley

Adamson, Harold

Ager, Milton

Ahbez, Eden

Ahlert, Fred

Akst, Harry

Alexander, Van

Allen, Lewis

Allen, Steve

Alter, Louis

Altman, Arthur

Anderson, Maxwell

Andre, Fabian

Arlen, Harold
Arnheim, Gus

Arodin, Sid

Atwood, Hub

Astaire, Fred

Austin, Gene

Ayer, Nat D.

Barbour, Dave

Barnes, Billy

Barris, Harry

Bassman, George

Belle, Barbara

Bennett, Dave

Bergman, Alan and Marilyn

Berlin, Irving

Bernie, Ben

Bernstein, Leonard

Best, William "Pat"

Blackburn, John

Blackwell, Otis (a.k.a. John Davenport)

Blake, Eubie

Blane, Ralph

Blitzstein, Marc

Bloom, Rube

Bock, Jerry

Block, Martin

Boland, Clay

Borne, Hal

Borodin, Alexander

Bowman, Brooks

Boyd, Elisse

Brent, Earl K.

Bricusse, Leslie

Brooks, Harry

Brooks, Shelton

Brown, Les

Brown, Lew

Brown, Nacio Herb

Brown, Seymour

Burke, Joe

Burke, Johnny

Burke, Sonny

Burnett, Ernie

Burns, Ralph

Burwell, Cliff

Bushkin, Joe

 

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Caldwell, Anne

Campbell, Jimmy

Carey, Bill (William D.)

Carmichael, Hoagy

Carroll, Harry

Carter, Benny

Casey, Kenneth

Casucci, Leonello

Chaplin, Charlie

Chaplin, Saul

Charlap, Moose

Clare, Sidney

Chase, Newell

Churchill, Frank

Clarke, Grant

Clifford, Gordon

Clinton, Larry

Coates, Carroll

Coleman, Cy

Comden, Betty and Adolph Green

Conley, Larry

Connelly, Reginald

Conrad, Con

Cooley, Eddie

Coots, J. Fred

Cory, George

Coslow, Sam

Creamer, Henry

Crosby, Bing

Cross, Douglas

Daniels, Charles N.
Davenport, John (See Otis Blackwell.)

David, Mack

Davis, Benny

Davis, Jimmy

Dee, Sylvia

De Lange, Eddie

Denniker, Paul

Dennis, Matt

De Paul, Gene

De Rose, Peter

De Sylva, B.G. (Buddy)

DeVries, John

Dietz, Howard

Distel, Sacha

Dixon, Mort

Donaldson, Walter

Dorsey, Jimmy

Dougherty, Doc

Drake, Ervin
Drake, Milton

Dreyer, Dave

Dubin, Al

Duke, Vernon

Edens, Roger

Edwards, Michael

Egan, Raymond B.

Eliscu, Edward

Ellington, Duke

Elman, Ziggy

Engvick, William

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Eyton, Frank

 

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Fischer, Carl

Fisher, Dan

Fisher, Fred

Fisher, Mark

Fisher, Marvin

Forrest, George

Freed, Arthur

Freed, Ralph

L. E. Freeman

Gaines, Lee

Gallop, Sammy

Gannon, Kim

Garner, Errol

Gaskill, Clarence

Gensler, Lewis E.

George, Don

Gershwin, George

Gershwin, Ira

Gillespie, Haven

Golden, John

Goodman, Benny

Goodwin, Joe

Gordon, Irving

Gordon, Mack

Gorney, Jay

Gorrell, Stuart

Goulding, Edmund

Grainger, Porter

Grand, Murray

Grant, Ian

Gray, Chauncey

Gray, Timothy

Grever, Maria

Grey, Clifford
Green, Adolph and Betty Comden

Green, Bud

Green, Freddie

Green, Johnny

Gross, Walter

Haggart, Bob

Hamilton, Arthur

Hamilton, Nancy

Hamm, Fred

Hammerstein, Arthur

Hammerstein II, Oscar

Hampton, Lionel

Handy, W. C.
Hanighen, Bernie

Hanley, James F.

Harbach, Otto

Harburg, E. Y. (Yip)

Harling, W. Franke

Harline, Leigh

Hart, Lorenz

Henderson, Jimmy

Henderson, Ray

Herbert, Victor

Herman, Woody

Herron, Joel S.

Herzog Jr., Arthur

Heyman, Edward

Heyward, Dubose

Higginbotham, Irene

Higgins, Billy

Hilliard, Bob

Hirsch, Walter

Hodges, Johnny

Holiday, Billie

Holiner, Mann

Hollander, Frederick

Holofcener, Larry

Homer, Ben

Hopper, Hal

Howard, Bart

Hubbell, Raymond

Hupfeld, Herman

 

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Jacobs, Jacob

Jaffe, Moe

James, Freddy (Pseud. for Teddy Powell)

James, Harry

James, Paul

Jenkins, Gordon

Johnson, James P.

Johnston, Arthur

Johnston, Patricia

Jolson, Al

Jones, Isham

Kahal, Irving

Kahn, Gus

Kahn, Roger Wolfe

Kalmar, Bert

Keith, Marilyn
Kent, Walter

Kern, Jerome

Kisco, Charles

Kitchings, Irene

Koehler, Ted

Kosma, Joseph

Kramer, Alex

Kramer, Joan Whitney

Kurtz, Manny

Laine, Frankie

Lamare, Jules (a.k.a Charles N.

Daniels and Neil Moret)

Lane, Burt
Landesman, Fran

Latouche, John

Lawrence, Eddie

Lawrence, Jack

Layton, Turner

Lee, Peggy

Leigh, Carolyn

Leonard, Anita

Lerner, Alan Jay
Leslie, Edgar

Levant, Oscar

Lewis, Morgan

Lewis, Sam M.

Link, Harry

Lippman, Sidney

Livingston, Fud

Livingston, Jay

Livingston, Jerry

Loeb, John Jacob

Loesser, Frank

Loewe, Frederick

Lombardo, Carmen

Lowe, Ruth

Lown, Bert
Lyman, Abe

 

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Magidson, Herb
Malneck, Matty

Mancini, Henry

Mandel, Frank

Mandel, Johnny

Mann, David

Marks, Gerald

Martin, Hugh

Maschwitz, Eric

Mayer, Henry
McCarey, Leo

McCarthy, Joseph

McCarthy, Jr., Joseph

McHugh, Jimmy

McCoy, Joe

Mellin, Robert

Mercer, Johnny

Merrill, Bob

Mertz, Paul Madeira

Meyer, Joseph

Miles, Dick

Miller, Glenn

Miller, Nathan Ned

Mills, Irving
Mitchell, Sidney D.

Moll, Billy

Monaco, Jimmy

Moret, Neil (aka Charles N. Daniels)

Morey, Larry

Moross, Jerome

Mundy, Jimmy

Muse, Clarence

Myrow, Josef

Nemo, Henry

Newley, Anthony

Nichols, Alberta

Noble, Ray

Norman, Pierre
Norton, George A.

Oakland, Ben

Overstreet, Benton W.

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Palmer, Bee

Parish, Mitchell

Parker, Dorothy

Parker, Sol

Parsons, Geoffrey

Perkins, Frank S.

Phillipe-Gérard M(ichel)

Pinkard, Maceo

Porter, Cole

Prima, Louis

Prince, Graham

Prince, Hughie

 

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Raksin, David

Ram, Buck

Ramirez, Roger (Ram)

Rand Lionel

Raye, Don

Razaf, Andy

Reardon, Jack

Redmond, John

Rene, Leon T.

Rene, Otis

Revel, Harry

Reynolds, Ellis

Reynolds, Herbert

Rhodes, Stan

Robin, Leo

Robin, Sid

Robison, Willard

Rodgers, Richard

Romberg, Sigmund

Rome, Harold

Ronell, Ann
Rose, Billy

Rose, Fred

Rose, Vincent

Ruby, Harry

Ruby, Herman

Ruskin, Harry

Russell, Bob

Sampson, Edgar

Sanicola, Henry

Santly, Lester

Savitt, Jay

Secunda, Sholom

Segal Jack
Schertzinger, Victor
Schwandt, Wilbur

Schwartz, Arthur

Scott, Bertha

Shapiro, Ted

Shavers, Charlie

Shay, Larry

Shearing, George

Sherman, Jimmy

Sherwin, Manning

Sigman, Carl

Signorelli, Frank

Silvers, Phil

Simons, Seymour

Sinatra, Frank

Sissle, Noble

Skylar, Sunny

Snyder, Ted

Sondheim, Stephen

Sour, Robert
Spence, Lew

Springer, Philip

Stept, Sam H.

Stock, Larry

Stordahl, Axel

Strachey, Jack

Strayhorn, Billy

Strouse, Charles

Styne, Jule

Suessdorf, Karl

Suesse, Dana

Sullivan, Henry

Swan, Einar Aaron

Swift, Kay

Symes, Marty

 

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Tauber, Doris

Teagarten, Jack

Thompson, Kay
Tobias, Charles

Tobias, Harry

Tormé, Mel

Tracey, William G.
Trent, Jo

Troop, Bobby

Turk, Roy

Turner, John

Van Heusen, Jimmy (James)

Vimmerstedt, Sadie

Waller, Fats

Warfield, Charles

Warren, Harry

Washington, Ned
Watson, Johnny

Webb, Chick

Webster, Paul Francis

Weill, Kurt

Weiss, George David

Wells, Robert

Weston, Paul

Whiting, Richard A.

Whiting, George A.

Wilder, Alec

Wiley, Lee

Wilkinson, Dudley


Williams, Clarence

Williams, Spencer

Wodehouse, P. G.

Wolf, Donald E.

Wolf, Jack

Wolf, Tommy

Wood, Guy B

Woods, Harry M.

Wright, Lawrence

Wright, Robert

Wrubel, Allie

Yellen, Jack

Youmans, Vincent

Young, Joe

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Young, Victor

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