Fields, Dorothy

Fields, Dorothy
born July 15, 1905, Allenhurst, N.J., U.S.
died March 28, 1974, New York, N.Y.

U.S. lyricist and librettist.

Born to a family active in theatre (her father Lew was a comedian and impresario, and her brothers Herbert and Joseph were librettists), Fields taught drama and wrote poetry and later wrote songs for Broadway and Cotton Club revues with Jimmy McHugh, including "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" and "On the Sunny Side of the Street." With Jerome Kern, she later wrote songs for Hollywood, including "The Way You Look Tonight." Returning to Broadway, she wrote the book or lyrics for many musicals, including Annie Get Your Gun (1946) and Sweet Charity (1966).

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▪ American songwriter
born July 15, 1905, Allenhurst, N.J., U.S.
died March 28, 1974, New York, N.Y.
 American songwriter who collaborated with a number of Broadway's top composers during the heyday of American musical theatre, producing the lyrics for many classic shows.

      Fields was the daughter of Lew M. Fields of the vaudeville comedy team of Weber and Fields. After graduating from high school in New York City, she taught drama and published a few poems in magazines before she found her career. Her lyrics for Jimmy McHugh's song “Our American Girl” led to their successful collaboration on Blackbirds of 1928, a lavish Cotton Club show featuring “I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby” and “Diga Diga Doo.”

      For International Revue in 1930 Fields and McHugh wrote “On the Sunny Side of the Street” and “Exactly like You,” and for that year's Vanderbilt Review they wrote “Blue Again.” They wrote songs for the movies Love in the Rough in 1930, Singin' the Blues and Cuban Love Song in 1931, Dinner at Eight and Clowns in Clover in 1933, and Every Night at Eight (“I'm in the Mood for Love”) and Hooray for Love in 1935, among others. In 1936 they wrote the score for Swingtime, including the songs “A Fine Romance,” “Waltz in Swing Time,” and the Academy Award-winning “The Way You Look Tonight.” Fields also collaborated with her older brother Herbert on a number of screenplays.

      Fields worked with such songwriters as Jerome Kern (Kern, Jerome) and Cole Porter (Porter, Cole) on music for several movies. In 1945 Herbert and Dorothy Fields wrote the book and Dorothy wrote the lyrics to Sigmund Romberg (Romberg, Sigmund)'s melodies for the very successful Up in Central Park. Their book, Irving Berlin (Berlin, Irving)'s music, and Ethel Merman (Merman, Ethel)'s performance made Annie Get Your Gun the great Broadway hit of 1946. Most of their Broadway shows also became motion pictures.

      In 1951 Fields wrote lyrics to Arthur Schwartz's music for the Broadway production of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and collaborated with Schwartz and Harold Arlen (Arlen, Harold) on songs for Excuse My Dust and Texas Carnival. In 1954 she and Herbert Fields wrote the book and she wrote the lyrics for By the Beautiful Sea (music by Schwartz), and in 1959, with composer Albert Hague, they produced the hit Redhead. With composer Cy Coleman she produced the hit show Sweet Charity (1965), as well as Seesaw and PIN-UPS (both 1973). Dorothy Fields was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971.

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  • FIELDS, DOROTHY — (1904–1974), U.S. lyricist and librettist. Born in Allenhurst, New Jersey, Fields was the youngest of four children of the famous comedian Lew Fields. She and her two brothers, Herbert and Joseph, became writers in the entertainment field. In the …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Fields,Dorothy — Fields (fēldz), Dorothy. 1905 1974. American lyricist whose song credits include “On the Sunny Side of the Street” (1930) and “The Way You Look Tonight” (1936), which won an Academy Award. * * * …   Universalium

  • Fields, Dorothy — (15 jul. 1905, Allenhurst, N.J., EE.UU.–28 mar. 1974, Nueva York, N.Y.). Letrista y libretista estadounidense. Nacida en una familia dedicada al teatro (su padre Lew fue comediante y empresario, y sus hermanos Herbert y Joseph fueron libretistas) …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Dorothy Fields — working with Arthur Schwartz on A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1951) Background information Birth name Dor …   Wikipedia

  • Dorothy — /dawr euh thee, dor /, n. a female given name, form of Dorothea. * * * (as used in expressions) Day Dorothy Dunaway Dorothy Faye Fields Dorothy Hodgkin Dorothy Mary Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Parker Dorothy Dorothy Rothschild Richardson Dorothy Miller …   Universalium

  • Dorothy — (as used in expressions) Day, Dorothy Dunaway, (Dorothy) Faye Fields, Dorothy Hodgkin, Dorothy M(ary) Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Parker, Dorothy Dorothy Rothschild Richardson, Dorothy M(iller) Sayers, Dorothy L(eigh) Thompson, Dorothy Wordsworth,… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Fields — (as used in expressions) Fields, Dame Gracie Fields, Dorothy Fields, W.C …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Dorothy Fields — mit Arthur Schwartz bei den Arbeiten zu A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1951) Dorothy Fields (* 15. Juli 1905 in Allenhurst, New Jersey; † 28. März 1974 in New York City) war eine amerikanische Liedtexterin und Dramatikerin …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Dorothy Fields — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Dorothy Fields (15 de julio de 1905 – 28 de marzo de 1974) fue una libretista y letrista estadounidense. Escribió más de 400 canciones para los musicales de Broadway y películas. Junto con Ann Ronell, Dana Suesse y… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Dorothy Hodgkin — Born 12 May 1910(1910 05 12) Cairo, Egypt Died 29 July 1994(1994 07 29) (age …   Wikipedia

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