de Sylva, Brown, and Henderson

de Sylva, Brown, and Henderson, songwriting team. [George Gard] B. G. De Sylva (1895–1950), known popularly as “Buddy,” was born in New York and raised in Los Angeles. While attending the University of Southern California, he performed with a small ukulele combo and wrote some of their songs. One of these songs, “‘N’ Everything,” caught the ear of Al Jolson, who used it in Sinbad (1918). Afterward De Sylva collaborated on several other songs that became Jolson standards: “Avalon,” “April Showers,” and “California, Here I Come.” In 1919 he wrote the lyrics to George Gershwin's first score for La, La Lucille and in 1922 and 1924 the words to Gershwin's melodies for George White's Scandals, including the hit songs “I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise” and “Somebody Loves Me.” De Sylva also created the lyrics for Jerome Kern's “Look for the Silver Lining” and Victor Herbert's “A Kiss in the Dark.” In 1925 he joined with Lew Brown and Ray Henderson, and for the next five years the team of De Sylva, Brown, and Henderson was the most successful in the musical theatre, their shows deemed the quintessential musical comedies and revues of the era. Ray[mond] [né Brost] Henderson (1896–1970) was the composer of the team. Born and raised in Chicago, he studied at the Chicago Conservatory of Music, then played piano in local dance bands before moving to New York, where he served as song‐plugger and arranger. In 1922 his publisher introduced him to lyricist Lew Brown and together they wrote “Georgette,” a hit song in the Greenwich Village Follies of 1922. Lew [né Louis Brownstein] Brown (1893–1958), the Russian‐born lyricist and occasional librettist, came to America at the age of five. His first important collaborator was Albert Von Tilzer, for whom he wrote the lyrics to “I'm the Lonesomest Gal in Town” and “I May Be Gone for a Long, Long Time,” the latter introduced in Hitchy‐Koo, 1917. The songs by the trio of De Sylva, Brown, and Henderson were characterized by jazz‐inspired rhythms and simple, upbeat lyrics. The shows, all hits, included George White's Scandals of 1925, 1926, and 1928 (introducing “Birth of the Blues,” “Black Bottom,” and “Lucky Day”), Good News! (1927), Manhattan Mary (1927), Hold Everything (1928), Follow Thru (1929), and Flying High (1930). After the team split, Henderson and Brown wrote George White's Scandals of 1931, Hot‐Cha! (1932), and Strike Me Pink (1933). Henderson had little luck on his own, but Brown found some success with Calling All Stars (1934) and Yokel Boy (1939) with other composers. De Sylva had the most fruitful career, producing and/or co‐writing such shows as Take a Chance (1932), Du Barry Was a Lady (1939), Louisiana Purchase (1940), and Panama Hattie (1940). One historian has described the work of De Sylva, Brown, and Henderson as possessing a “distinctive vernacular touch—lowdown in rhythm, piquant in love.”