@Harold Arlen : On February 15, 1905, Samuel and Celia Arluck gave birth to twin boys; one weighing seven pounds and the other, a mere four pounds. The larger of the two sadly died the following day. The Arlucks quickly changed their surviving son’s name to “Hyman,”
@The Songwriters Hall of Fame : By age 7 he was singing in his father’s synagogue chore and by age 15 he had become a professional pianist and entertainer in night clubs and lake steamers.
@Jewish Buffalo on the Web : : His most prominent local engagement ‘as a pianist during the 1920s) was with the “Southbound Shufflers” aboard the Crystal Beach boat S.S. Canadiana.
@IMDB : He was one of the members of the Ken Darby Vocal Trio. His voice can be heard as the Scarecrow in the Decca Records single of the Harburg-Arlen song “The Jitterbug”, which was cut from the final release print of “The Wizard of Oz”.
- Gary Peacock - Last Night When We Were Young09.33
- Norma Bengel - That Old Black Magic02.48
- Francine Reed - I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues04.04
- Johnny Griffin - Out of This World06.04
- Steve Tyrell - Let’s fall in love02.37
- Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers - It’s Only a Paper Moon06.41
- Nancy LaMott - Come Rain Or Come Shine03.59
- Judy Garland - The Man That Got Away04.07
- John Buzon Trio - Ill Wind02.16
- Stan Getz - Get Happy06.08
- Alvino Rey & His Orchestra - Blues In The Night03.04
- Etta James - Come Rain or Come Shine05.39
- Bill Evans - A Sleepin’ Bee06.05
- Toots Thielemans - Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea02.40
- For Every Man There’s A Woman02.49
- As Long As I Live03.16
- My Shining Hour04.52
- Its only a papermoon03.02
- Al the way one for my baby (and one more for the road)06.03
- Out Of This World07.16
- Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home04.13
@Everything 2 : By 1926, Hyman Arluck decided to change his name. The name Harold Arlen was a take on his mother’s maiden name, Orlin. Although a few of his early works were copyrighted under his given name, he never went back to it, and the bulk of his oeuvre was written under his new “stage name.”
@Riverwalk Jazz : Surprisingly, Arlen and producer Arthur Freed had to fight the studio (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) to keep “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” in the movie (The Wizard of Oz).
@ASCAP : : Sam Arlen says : “Gershwin used to have what they called the Gershwin Salon, where once a week he would listen to young budding composers. George always felt – as did others — that Harold’s melodies were just too complex for the average listener.
@TalkinBroadway.com : Barbra Streisand won her first singing job auditioning with the composer’s “A Sleepin’ Bee,” found on her debut solo album which had liner notes by Mr. Arlen himself. The tune was introduced in the charming musical House Of Flowers.
@Voice of America : Mark Horwitz says “Even people who had hit film scores, the composers weren’t as well known. It was really a Broadway thing, and Arlen had a kind of tragedy of never really having a hit Broadway musical.”
@Sweet Lyrics : It was a good life, reasonably tension-free, and he and his beautiful wife, Anya, enjoyed the languid pleasures of Beverly Hills, partying with their friends: the Gershwins, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Warren, et al.to be continued… probably
