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Arthur Freed

 

(born Sept. 9, 1894, Charleston, S.C., U.S. — died April 12, 1973, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. film producer and lyricist. He performed in vaudeville and wrote songs in the 1920s. MGM hired him in 1929 to write lyrics for musicals, and over the next decade he produced hits such as "Singin' in the Rain," "Temptation," and "You Are My Lucky Star." After serving as associate producer of The Wizard of Oz (1939), he was promoted to producer. He was largely responsible for the high quality of MGM's musicals of the 1940s and '50s, including Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Easter Parade (1948), An American in Paris (1951, Academy Award), Singin' in the Rain (1952), and Gigi (1958, Academy Award).

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Artist: Arthur Freed
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Similar Artists:

Robert Taylor, Charles King, Gene Buck, Sam Ash, Mickey Rooney, Donald O'Connor, Gene Kelly

Formal Connection With:

Nacio Herb Brown, Harry Woods, Louis Silvers
  • Born: September 09, 1894, Charleston, SC
  • Died: April 12, 1973, Los Angeles, CA
  • Active: '20s, '30s, '40s
  • Genres: Jazz
  • Instrument: Producer, Lyricist, Score Representative Album: "Meet Me in St. Louis"

Biography

Lyricist and movie producer Arthur Freed wrote such hit songs as "Pagan Love Song" and "Singin' in the Rain," scored the 1929 film Broadway Melody, and produced many successful movie musicals including The Wizard of Oz. Although he was born in Charleston, SC, (1894), Freed was raised in Seattle, WA. After he graduated from high school, he worked as a pianist and song plugger for a Chicago music publisher, where he met Minnie Marx. This led to Freed joining up with the Marx Brothers and touring the vaudeville circuit. He wrote material for vaudeville and performed with Louis Silvers, with whom he co-wrote New York revue material. Freed served in the Army during WWI and afterwards wrote for cabaret. He was songwriting and managing an L.A. theater when he was signed up by MGM as a lyricist. Freed's best-known songs include his first hit, "When Buddha Smiles" (1921); the follow-up that established him, 1923's "I Cried for You"; "Pagan Love Song"; "Singin' in the Rain" (1929); "Temptation" (1933); "All I Do Is Dream of You" (1934); "Broadway Rhythm"; and "You Are My Lucky Star" (1935). Freed began writing for musicals in 1929 and then got involved in producing. He produced over 45 hit movies during his career, including Babes in Arms, The Wizard of Oz (1939), Girl Crazy (1943), The Harvey Girls (1946), Easter Parade (1948), Annie Get Your Gun, Brigadoon (1954), and Gigi (1958). His last film was 1960's The Bells Are Ringing. Arthur Freed's chief collaborator was composer Nacio Herb Brown. Freed is also a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. ~ Joslyn Layne, All Music Guide
Actor: Arthur Freed
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  • Born: Sep 09, 1894 in Charleston, South Carolina
  • Died: Apr 12, 1973 in Hollywood, California
  • Active: '30s-'50s
  • Major Genres: Musical, Romance
  • Career Highlights: The Band Wagon, An American in Paris, On the Town
  • First Major Screen Credit: The Broadway Melody (1929)

Biography

American filmmaker Arthur Freed began his lifelong love affair with popular music while working as a song plugger and vaudeville performer. His first big hit as a songwriter was the plaintive ballad "I Cried For You." After playing the nightclub circuit, Freed was hired by MGM in 1928 to write songs for the studio's new musical department. Usually teamed with Nacio Herb Brown, Freed was responsible for most of the top tunes heard in MGM's early-talkie manifest, including "Broadway Melody," "My Lucky Star," "Wedding of the Painted Doll," and the Oscar-winning "Singin' in the Rain." Even after the first cycle of musical films had passed, Freed was still churning out such classics as "Temptation."

Appointed associate producer of MGM's 1939 The Wizard of Oz, Freed became fascinated with the concept of the "integrated" musical, wherein the songs are important to the storyline (and vice versa) rather than being mere disposable "highlights." After Wizard, Freed was given his own production unit at MGM, where he immediately went to work changing the face of filmed musicals. When one uses the phrase "MGM musicals," one is generally speaking of such Freed-produced films as Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) and The Harvey Girls (1948) rather than the conventional operetta-style endeavors filmed by the rival Joe Pasternak unit. Freed developed and nurtured such talents as Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Stanley Donen, Vincente Minnelli, Andre Previn and Michael Kidd. He also gave Fred Astaire's flagging career a shot in the arm with such productions as Easter Parade (1948) and The Band Wagon (1953). While it was An American in Paris (1951) and Gigi (1958) that attracted all the Oscars, Freed's masterpiece was Singin' in the Rain (1952), a brilliant musical spoof of the early-talkie era. (Millard Mitchell's portrayal in Rain of studio head R. K. Simpson is said to be based on Freed himself). Freed left MGM in 1961, at a time when his brand of pure-cinema musical was on the outs and big-budget adaptations of Broadway hits (West Side Story, The Music Man) were the current rage. From 1963 through 1966, Freed served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, applying his showmanship savvy to the annual Oscar telecast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Filmography: Arthur Freed
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Angel Heart

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Bells Are Ringing

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Gigi

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Silk Stockings

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Invitation to the Dance

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It's Always Fair Weather

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Kismet

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Brigadoon

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Wikipedia: Arthur Freed
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Arthur Freed
Birth name Arthur Grossman
Born September 9, 1894(1894-09-09)
Origin Charleston, South Carolina, United States
Died April 12, 1973 (aged 78)
Occupations Lyricist, film producer

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.

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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

  1. ^ "Find a Grave" memorial site.
  2. ^ Imdb gives this job title to Freed's uncredited work on the film, so does the documentary on the Freed unit in the 50th Anniversary edition of Singin' in the Rain, but Thomas Hischak in The Oxford Companion to the American Musical (NYC: OUP, 2008, p264) suggests "co-producer".

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

Producing credits

External links


Non-profit organization positions
Preceded by
Wendell Corey
President of Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences
1963-1967
Succeeded by
Gregory Peck

 
 
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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Artist. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
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