The Grosvenor Room welcomes new Arlen and Yellen songs to our sheet music collection!

Twenty-one Harold Arlen and Jack Yellen songs have been added to the Grosvenor Room’s sheet music collection.  The Grosvenor Room now carries about 260 songs (combined) by these Buffalo composers.

Harold Arlen was born in Buffalo in 1905 and lived here until 1924.  It was here that Harold formed his first band, Hyman Arluck’s Snappy Trio, in 1919. The Snappy Trio expanded into the six-piece Southbound Shufflers and played in clubs and on excursion boats cruising Lake Erie.  He disbanded the Shufflers in 1925 and joined The Yankee Six, which grew to 11 pieces and became The Buffalodians.  They moved to New York City in 1926 where they eventually broke up.

Arlen went on to become one of the major song composers of the 1930’s and 1940’s.  His compositions were overtly influenced by blues and jazz music at the time.  He contributed to 15 Broadway stage shows and 33 feature films between 1930 and 1963.

Among his best-remembered film scores are those for The Wizard of Oz, Cabin in the Sky, and A Star is Born.  He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song nine times, winning for “Over the Rainbow.”  Among his other major hits drawn from films are “That Old Black Magic” and “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive.”  Many of his most popular songs originated in the five nightclub revues he wrote for the Cotton Club from 1930 to 1934 with Ted Koehler, including “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” and “Stormy Weather.”  His other major collaborators were Ira Gershwin and Johnny Mercer.

The nature of his music made it popular with African American performers such as Duke Ellington, Ethel Waters, Cab Calloway, and Lena Horne.  But he also became a particular favorite of Judy Garland, who frequently sang his songs in her films and concerts, and Barbara Streisand, with whom he recorded an album late in his career.

Arlen Sheet Music Additions:

Hittin’ the Bottle

I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues

I Promise You

Let’s Take the Long Way Home

The Merry Old Land of Oz

One for My Baby

Saratoga

Tell Me with a Love Song

Tess’s Torch Song (I Had a Man)

Jack Yellen’s family emigrated from Poland to Buffalo in 1897.  They owned a small pawnshop on William Street.  He attended Buffalo’s Old Central High School and then the University of Michigan.  After college, Yellen came back to Buffalo to work as a reporter and sports editor with the Courier Express.  During his time in college and with the Express he collaborated on songs with composer George Cobb.

Around 1916, Yellen moved to New York City to advance his career as a songwriter.  After a brief stint in the war, he met success.  His songs were gaining notoriety in Tin Pan Alley and were starting to be included in The Ziegfeld Follies and in George White’s Scandals.

A pivotal moment in Yellen’s career came when he began his collaboration with Milton Ager in 1920 for the revue What’s in a Name.  This partnership would last throughout the 20’s and yield a wealth of hit songs for radio, theater, and the movies.  His most popular songs include “Ain’t She Sweet,” “Hard Hearted Hannah,” and “Happy Days are Here Again,” which was adopted as the theme song for President Franklin D. Roosevelt by the Democratic Party.

Yellen went on to work with other composers writing songs for both stage and screen.  In 1931, he worked with Buffalo-born composer Harold Arlen on the successful Broadway musical, You Said It.  He continued writing for such stars as Shirley Temple and Sophie Tucker until the 1950’s.

 Yellen Sheet Music Additions:

According to the Moonlight

Alabama Jubilee

Good Night, My Beautiful

A Gypsy Told Me

I May Be Wrong (But, I Think You’re Wonderful!)

I Was Born Too Late

It’s Home

Listen to That Dixie Band

Oh Baby

Please My Nerves

That Twilight Melody

Welcome Honey to Your Old Plantation Home

 

Songs from the Arlen and Yellen collections are for reference use only and may be viewed in the Grosvenor Room.

A Curiosity for Mother’s Day

This charming book was found in the Grosvenor Room’s music stacks.  Published in 1907, it was intended to entertain and build moral character.  The authors, John Alden Carpenter and his wife Rue, were well-known in music circles during the first half of the twentieth century.  Mr. Carpenter composed the music and collaborated with his wife on the lyrics.  Mrs. Carpenter was the sole illustrator.  Multiple editions of the book were published in the pre-WWI era, usually offering new songs.  The humorous songs were frequently played in concerts during their time.  Be sure to read the playing instructions at the beginning of every song for an extra chuckle.  To view the complete book, visit us in the Grosvenor Room.