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Jerome Kern Biography

in full Jerome David Kern

(1885–)

Related Works

Musicals
1912 The Red Petticoat
1914 The Girl From Utah (songs incl. They Didn't Believe Me)

1915 Very Good Eddie
1917 Oh Boy!
1920 Sally (Look For The Silver Lining)
1925 Sunny (Who?)
1928 Show Boat (Bill; Make Believe; Why Do I Love You?; Ol' Man River; Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man)
1931 The Cat and the Fiddle
1932 Music in the Air
1933 Roberta (Smoke Gets In Your Eyes; The Touch Of Your Hand)
1939 Very Warm For May (All The Things You Are)
Music for Films
1935 Swing Time (Waltz In Swingtime; The Way You Look Tonight; Pick Yourself Up; Never Gonna Dance; A Fine Romance; Bojangles Of Harlem)
1937 High, Wide And Handsome
1937 When You're In Love
1938 Joy Of Living
1940 One Night In the Tropics
1941 Lady Be Good (The Last Time I Saw Paris)
1942 You Were Never Lovlier
1943 Song Of Russia
1944 Cover Girl (Long Ago And Far Away)
1944 Can't Help Singing
1946 Centennial Summer

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Related People

(born Jan. 27, 1885, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died Nov. 11, 1945, New York City) U.S. composer, one of the major U.S. creators of the musical. Kern studied music in his native New York City and in Heidelberg, Ger., and he later gained theatrical experience in London. Returning to New York, he worked as a pianist and salesman for music publishers and wrote new numbers for European operettas. In 1912 he composed The Red Petticoat, the first musical to contain only his own music; its success was surpassed by Very Good Eddie (1915). Subsequent musicals include Oh, Boy! (1917) and Sally (1920). In 1927 his Show Boat, based on Edna Ferber's novel and with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein, became the first American musical with a serious plot drawn from a literary source; it represents a landmark in the history of musical theatre. It was followed by The Cat and the Fiddle (1931), Music in the Air (1932), and Roberta (1933). After 1933 he composed for Hollywood. Kern's classic songs include “The Song Is You,” “All the Things You Are,” “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” and “Ol' Man River.”