Lorenz "Larry" Milton Hart
(May 2, 1895 - November 22, 1943) U.S.A.
Lyricist
Lorenz "Larry" Hart was born in Harlem, New York City, to Jewish immigrant parents. He attended Columbia University, where a friend introduced him to Richard Rodgers, and the two joined forces to write songs for a series of amateur and student productions. In 1919, the team's song "Any Old Place With You" was included in the Broadway musical comedy A Lonely Romeo. The smashing success of their score for the 1925 Theatre Guild production, The Garrick Gaieties, brought them great acclaim.
They continued working together until Larry's death, along the way producing scores for a series of hit shows and making a substantial contribution to the Great American Songbook. Larry also translated plays for the Schubert brothers while continuing to collaborate with Richard. As a lyricist, Larry was an advocate of inner rhyming and multisyllabic rhyming, and his lyrics have often been praised for their wit and technical sophistication.
Larry struggled with homosexuality in an era when such a sexual orientation was socially unacceptable, and with alcoholism, which contributed to his death. Larry's homosexuality became news just 35 years after his death.
Hart also suffered great emotional turmoil toward the end of his life. His personal problems were often the cause of friction between him and Richard, and in fact led to a brief breakup in 1943, at which time Richard started working with Oscar Hammerstein II, a school friend of Larry.
Richard and Larry teamed a final time in the fall of 1943 for a revival of A Connecticut Yankee. Five days after this show opened, Larry died of pneumonia from exposure. He is believed to have died alone. He is buried in Mount Zion Cemetery in Queens County, New York.
Some of Larry Hart's more famous lyrics include, "Blue Moon", "Isn't It Romantic?", "Mountain Greenery", "The Lady Is a Tramp", "Manhattan", "Where or When", "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered", "Falling in Love with Love", and "My Funny Valentine".
From: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Musicals:
- Pal Joey (1940)
- On Your Toes
- The Boys From Syracuse
Songs:
- Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
- Ten Cents a Dance
- My funny Valentine
- The Lady Is a Tramp
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