Mack Gordon

Mack Gordon (born Morris Gittler, June 21, 1904 – March 1, 1959) was a Jewish-American composer and lyricist of songs for the stage and film. He was nominated for the best original song Oscar nine times, including six consecutive years between 1940 and 1945, and won the award once, for "You'll Never Know". That song has proved amongst his most enduring and remains popular in films and television commercials to this day. "At Last" is another of his best-known songs.

Biography

Gordon was born in Warsaw and moved to New York City as a child. He appeared as a vaudeville actor and singer in the late 1920s and early 1930s but his songwriting talents were always paramount. He formed a partnership with English pianist Harry Revel that lasted throughout the 1930s. In the 1940s he worked with a string of other composers including Harry Warren.

The Internet Movie Database states that Gordon's songs have been used in the soundtrack of over 100 films, Gordon writing specifically for at least 50 of them. His catalogue includes more than 120 songs sung by some of the world's most famous and talented performers such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Etta James, Glenn Miller, Barbra Streisand, Christina Aguilera, Mel Tormé, Nat King Cole, and many more. His friendship with many of his artists (such as Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack) and his ability to write lyrics that were timeless allowed him to become a famous member of the world of music and a renowned lyricist. Thus there is perhaps no surprise that his exhibit in the Songwriter's Hall of Fame says he is "arguably one of the most successful lyricists to write for the screen". He was entombed in Corridor of Immortality at Home of Peace Cemetery.

Selected songs

• "A Lady Loves"
• "A Star Fell Out of Heaven"
• "A Tree Was a Tree"
• "All About Love"
• "An Old Straw Hat"
• "An Orchid to You"
• "At Last"
• "Baby, Won’t You Say You Love Me"
• "Chattanooga Choo-Choo"
• "Cigarettes, Cigars"
• "Danger, Love at Work"
• "Did You Ever See a Dream Walking?"
• "Doin' the Uptown Lowdown"
• "From the Top of Your Head to the Tip of Your Toes"
• "Goodnight My Love"
• "Help Yourself to Happiness"
• "I Can't Begin to Tell You"
• "I Feel Like a Feather in the Breeze"
• "I Had the Craziest Dream"
• "I Played Fiddle for the Czar"
• "I've Got a Date With a Dream"
• "I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo"
• "If You Feel Like Singing, Sing"
• "In Old Chicago"
• "It Happened In Sun Valley"
• "It Happens Every Spring"
• "It Was a Night in June"
• "It's Swell of You"
• "Listen to the German Band"
• "Lookie, Lookie, Lookie, Here Comes Cookie"
• "Love Thy Neighbor"
• "Mam'selle"
• "May I?"
• "My Heart is an Open Book"
• "My Heart Tells Me"
• "On the Boardwalk at Atlantic City"
• "Once in a Blue Moon"
• "Once Too Often"
• "Paris in the Spring"
• "Prelude to a Kiss"
• "Serenade in Blue"
• "She Reminds Me of You"
• "Somebody Soon"
• "Somewhere in the Night"
• "Sunny Southern Smile"
• "Takes Two to Make a Bargain"
• "Thanks for Everything"
• "The More I See You"
• "There Will Never Be Another You"
• "Through a Long and Sleepless Night"
• "Time on My Hands"
• "Underneath the Harlem Moon"
• "What Did I Do"
• "When I'm With You"
• "Wilhelmina"
• "Without a Word of Warning"
• "With My Eyes Wide Open, I'm Dreaming"
• "You Do"
• "You Make Me Feel So Young"
• "You Say the Sweetest Things Baby"
• "You'll Never Know"

Original Works for Broadway

• Fast and Furious (1931) - revue - primary lyricist
• Smiling Faces (1932) - musical - lyricist
• Strike Me Pink (1933) - revue - contributing dialogue-writer

External links

• Gordon's entry in the IMDb
• Gordon's entry in the Songwriter's Hall of Fame
• Mack Gordon at the Internet Broadway Database