Arthur Freed

Arthur Freed (September 9, 1894 – April 12, 1973) was born Arthur Grossman in Charleston, South Carolina. He was an American lyricist and a Hollywood film producer.

Biography

Freed began his career as a song plugger and pianist in Chicago. After meeting Minnie Marx, he sung as part of the act of her sons, the Marx Brothers, on the vaudeville circuit, and also wrote material for the brothers.^[1] He soon began to write songs, and was eventually hired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. For years, he wrote lyrics for numerous films, many set to music by Nacio Herb Brown.

In 1939, after working (uncredited) in the role of associate producer^[2] on The Wizard of Oz, he was promoted to being the head of his own unit within MGM, and helped elevate the studio to the leading creator of film musicals. His first solo credit as producer was the film version of Rodgers and Hart's smash Broadway musical Babes in Arms (also 1939), released only a few months after The Wizard of Oz, and in itself not a very distinguished film due to the fact that it gutted most of the original stage score. But it did star Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, and was so successful that it ushered in a long series of "let's put on a show" "backyard" musicals, all starring Rooney and Garland.

However, Freed did bring an outstanding amount of talent from the Broadway theaters to the MGM soundstages including Vincente Minnelli, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Roger Edens, Kay Thompson, Zero Mostel, June Allyson, Nancy Walker, choreographer Charles Walters, orchestrators Conrad Salinger, Johnny Green, Lennie Hayton, and many others.

He also helped shape the careers of stars including Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Red Skelton, Lena Horne, Jane Powell, Esther Williams, Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Cyd Charisse, Ann Miller, Vera-Ellen, and many others. He brought Fred Astaire to MGM after Astaire's tenure at RKO and coaxed him out of semi-retirement to star with Garland in Easter Parade. His team of writers, directors, composers and stars produced a steady stream of popular, critically acclaimed musicals until the late 1950s.

He allowed his directors and choreographers free rein, something unheard of in those days of committee-produced film musicals, and is credited for furthering the boundaries of film musicals by allowing such moments in films as the fifteen-minute ballet at the end of An American in Paris (1951), after which the film concludes moments later with no further dialogue or singing, and he allowed the musical team of Lerner and Loewe complete control in their writing of Gigi (1958).

Two of his films won the Academy Award for Best Picture: An American in Paris and Gigi. On the night that An American in Paris won Best Picture, Freed received an Honorary Oscar, and his version of Show Boat (1951) was also up for two Oscars that year, though it lost both to An American in Paris. But what is now his most highly regarded film, Singin' in the Rain (1952), won no Oscars whatsoever. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972.

Freed left MGM in 1970 after failing for almost a decade to bring his dream project, a biopic of Irving Berlin, Say It With Music, to the screen. He died three years later surrounded by his family.

References

Hit songs

With Nacio Herb Brown

• "The Broadway Melody"
• "You Were Meant for Me"
• "Wedding of the Painted Doll"
• "Singin' in the Rain"
• "Pagan Love Song"
• "Should I"
• "Beautiful Girl"
• "Going Hollywood"
• "Temptation"
• "We'll Make Hay While the Sun Shines"
• "Cinderella's Fella Fell off the clif"
• "All I Do Is Dream of You"
• "You Are My Lucky Star"
• "I've Got a Feelin' You're Foolin'"
• "Broadway Rhythm"
• "Sing Before Breakfast"
• "Alone"
• "Would You"
• "Yours and Mine"
• "Smoke Dreams"
• "Good Morning"
• "Make 'Em Laugh"

With others

• "I Cried for You" (with Gus Arnheim and Abe Lyman)
• "Our Love Affair" (with Roger Edens)
• "This Heart of Mine" (with Harry Warren)
• "There's Beauty Everywhere" (with Harry Warren)
• "Here's to the Girls" (with Roger Edens)

Producing credits

• The Wizard of Oz (1939) (associate producer)
• Babes in Arms (1939)
• Strike Up the Band (1940)
• Little Nellie Kelly (1940)
• Lady Be Good (1941)
• Babes on Broadway (1941)
• Panama Hattie (1942)
• For Me and My Gal (1942)
• Cabin in the Sky (1943)
• Best Foot Forward (1943)
• Du Barry Was a Lady (1943)
• Girl Crazy (1943)
• Meet the People (1944) (executive producer)
• Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
• The Clock (1945)
• Yolanda and the Thief (1945)
• The Harvey Girls (1946)
• Ziegfeld Follies (1946)
• Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)
• Good News (1947)
• Summer Holiday (1948)
• The Pirate (1948)
• Easter Parade (1948)
• Words and Music (1948)
• Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949)
• The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)
• Any Number Can Play (1949)
• On the Town (1949)
• Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
• Crisis (1950)
• Pagan Love Song (1950)
• Royal Wedding (1951)
• Show Boat (1951)
• An American in Paris (1951)
• The Belle of New York (1952)
• Singin' in the Rain (1952)
• The Band Wagon (1953)
• Brigadoon (1954)
• It's Always Fair Weather (1955)
• Kismet (1955)
• Invitation to the Dance (1956)
• Silk Stockings (1957)
• Gigi (1958)
• Bells Are Ringing (1960)
• The Subterraneans (1960)
• The Light in the Piazza (1962)

External links

• SHoF page on Arthur Freed
• Full list of Freed's songs on SHoF site
• Arthur Freed at the Internet Broadway Database
• Arthur Freed at the Internet Movie Database
• Arthur Freed - Filmography - New York Times