- Buddy DeSylva
George Gard "Buddy" DeSylva (
January 27 1895 -July 11 1950 ) was an American songwriter and film producer. He was born inNew York City , but grew up in California and attended theUniversity of Southern California . His father, Aloysius J. De Sylva, was better known to American audiences as the Portuguese-born actor,Hal De Forrest .cite web| title = Composers-Lyricists Database, Biography: Buddy DeSylva| url= http://www.nfo.net/cal/td3.html|accessdate = 2008-01-10]DeSylva's first successful songs were those used by
Al Jolson on Broadway in the 1918 +Sinbad production, which included "I'll Say She Does." Soon thereafter he met Jolson and in 1918, the pair went to New York and De Sylva began working as a songwriter atTin Pan Alley . In 1925, he became one third of the songwriting team with lyricistLew Brown and composerRay Henderson , one of the topTin Pan Alley songwriter s of the era. The writing and publishing partnership continued until 1930. The 1956Hollywood film "The Best Things in Life Are Free", starringGordon MacRae , depicted the life of theDeSylva, Brown and Henderson team.De Sylva joined
ASCAP in 1920 and served on the ASCAP board of directors between 1922 and 1930. He became a producer of stage and screen musicals. DeSylva relocated to Hollywood and went under contract to Fox Studios. During this tenure, he produced movies such as "The Little Colonel ", "The Littlest Rebel ", "Captain January", "Poor Little Rich Girl" and "Stowaway". In 1941, he became the Executive Producer atParamount Pictures , a position he would hold until 1944. At Paramount, he was also an uncredited executive producer for "Double Indemnity" and "The Glass Key ".The Paramount all-star extravaganza "
Star Spangled Rhythm ", which takes place at the Paramount film studio in Hollywood, features a fictional movie executive named "B.G. DeSoto" (played byWalter Abel ) who is a parody of DeSylva.In 1942,
Johnny Mercer ,Glenn Wallichs and De Sylva together foundedCapitol Records , which continues to this day. He also founded the Cowboy labelHe is sometimes credited as: Buddy De Sylva, Buddy DeSylva, Bud De Sylva, Buddy G. DeSylva and B.G. DeSylva.
Buddy De Sylva died in Hollywood, aged 55, and was buried in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in
Glendale, California .Broadway credits
*1919 - "
La La Lucille " (music byGeorge Gershwin )
*1922 - "George White's Scandals of 1922" (music byGeorge Gershwin )
*1922 - "Orange Blossoms " (music byVictor Herbert )
*1922 - "The Yankee Princess " (music byEmmerich Kalman )
*1923 - "George White's Scandals of 1923" (music byGeorge Gershwin
*1924 - "Sweet Little Devil " (music byGeorge Gershwin )
*1924 - "George White's Scandals of 1924" (music byGeorge Gershwin
*1925 - "Big Boy " (music by Joseph Meyer and James F. Hanley)
*1925 - "Tell Me More! " (co-lyricist withIra Gershwin music byGeorge Gershwin )
*1925 - "George White's Scandals of 1925" (DeSylva, Brown and Henderson )
*1925 - "Captain Jinks " (music byLewis Gensler )
*1926 - "George White's Scandals of 1926" (DeSylva, Brown and Henderson )
*1926 - "Queen High " (music byLewis Gensler )
*1927 - "Good News" (DeSylva, Brown and Henderson )
*1927 - "Manhattan Mary " (DeSylva, Brown and Henderson )
*1928 - "George White's Scandals of 1928" (DeSylva, Brown and Henderson )
*1928 - "Hold Everything! " (DeSylva, Brown and Henderson )
*1929 - "Follow Thru " (DeSylva, Brown and Henderson )
*1930 - "Flying High " (DeSylva, Brown and Henderson )
*1932 - "Take A Chance " (music byNacio Herb Brown ,Richard A. Whiting andVincent Youmans )Notes
External links
*
*
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.