Burton Lane

Burton Lane
Background information
Birth nameBurton Levy
Born(1912-02-02)February 2, 1912
New York City, New York
DiedJanuary 5, 1997(1997-01-05) (aged 84)
New York City, New York
Occupation(s)Composer, lyricist

Burton Lane (né Levy; February 2, 1912 – January 5, 1997) was an American composer and lyricist primarily known for his theatre and film scores. His most popular and successful works include Finian's Rainbow in 1947 and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever in 1965.

Biography

Early life

Burton Lane was born Burton Levy, in Manhattan, New York City, on February 2, 1912, to Lazarus and Frances Fink Levy.[1][2][3][4] When a teenager, Burton changed his surname to Lane at the suggestion of someone with whom he was auditioning, and his brother and cousins followed suit.[5]

Lane's parents loved music, and his mother played piano, but she died when Burton was two years old.[6] He studied piano, viola and cello as a child, and composed two marches for his school band which were published. At age 14 the theatrical producers the Shuberts commissioned him to write songs for a revue, The Greenwich Village Follies. That show was canceled, but Lane remained committed to music.[7] He played piano so well that, when his father pushed him to play in public in a boarding house in Atlantic City during the winter holidays, George Gershwin's mother introduced herself to the Lanes, and Burton subsequently met George, his lyricist brother Ira, and Ira's best friend Yip Harburg, Burton's future collaborator.[8]

Lane dropped out of high school to compose for the music publisher J.H. Remick.[7] At the age of 18, he began his Broadway career when he composed "My Real Ideal" for the 1930 edition of the revue Artists and Models,[9] and two songs used in the revue Three's A Crowd: "Forget All Your Books" and "Out in the Open Air."[10] In the post-Depression Broadway slump Lane was only able to contribute to a few more shows. He continued writing and publishing single songs; two that had some success were "Look Who's Here" and "Tony's Wife", both with lyrics by Harold Adamson.[7]

Lane's early days on Tin Pan Alley and Broadway ended when his employer, Irving Berlin Inc., sent him to Hollywood for six weeks, and he remained there for 21 years.[7]

Career and notable works

Lane wrote the majority of his music for films. He composed freelance, usually with his New York colleague Harold Adamson, for several different studios from 1933 to 1936. He worked for Paramount Pictures from 1936 to 1941, and for other studios for more than a decade after that.[11] He wrote original songs for more than 50 movies with Adamson, Harburg, Alan Jay Lerner, Ralph Freed, Frank Loesser and other lyricists, including Dancing Lady (1933), Babes on Broadway (1941), and Royal Wedding (1951).[12]

But Lane was most celebrated for his Broadway musicals Finian's Rainbow (1947, with Harburg)[13] and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1965, with Lerner).[14] Both shows were subsequently made into films, in 1968 and 1970 respectively. He also wrote the music for the less remembered Broadway shows Hold On to Your Hats (1940, also with Harburg),[15] Laffing Room Only (1944), for which he himself also wrote almost all of the lyrics,[16] and Carmelina (1979, also with Lerner).[17] Both shows with Lerner, On a Clear Day and Carmelina, were nominated for a Tony Award for Best Original Score.

Lane's best-known songs include "How About You?" from Babes on Broadway, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1942;[18] "Old Devil Moon" and "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?" from Finian's Rainbow; "Too Late Now" from Royal Wedding, nominated in 1952;[19] and the title song from On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. In 1965, he shared a Grammy Award for Best Score from an Original Cast Show Album for the album of On a Clear Day.[20]

Professional and personal life

Lane was president of the American Guild of Authors and Composers for ten terms beginning in 1957, during which period he campaigned against music piracy. He also served three terms on the board of directors of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).[21] He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972,[21] elected its director in 1973,[22] and awarded its highest honor, the Johnny Mercer Award, in 1992.[23]

Lane married Marian Seaman in 1935, and had a daughter with her. In 1961 they divorced and he married Lynn Baroff Kaye.[24] He died at his home in Manhattan on January 5, 1997.[2]

Discovery of Judy Garland

Lane claimed[25] to have discovered the 13-year-old Judy Garland[26] in 1935:

He caught her sisters' act at the Paramount theater in downtown Los Angeles, which featured a live stage show along with the movie. The older sisters, Suzy and Jimmy, brought on their younger sister Judy. Lane immediately called the head of the music department at MGM and told him he'd just heard a great new talent. The head told Lane to have her brought in for an audition. Lane went backstage and arranged an audition with the girls' father.

The head of MGM, Louis B. Mayer, was so impressed by Garland's audition that he ordered every producer, director and writer to hear her, with the result that the audition, which began at 9:30 am, finished at 7:30 pm, and MGM signed her. Lane left MGM soon after and worked with other studios and projects for some years, so he didn't work with Garland until they made Babes on Broadway in 1941.

That's how Lane told the story (aside from minor inaccuracies of names and the date). Other people also claimed to have arranged that audition, and their and Garland's accounts differ from Lane's.[27]

Stage credits

  • Singin' the Blues (1931) – play with music – co-composer[30]
  • Carmelina (1979) – musical – composer – nominated for Tony Award for Best Original Score[17]

See also Musicals by Burton Lane.

Films

Lane wrote several original songs for each of these films.

He contributed original songs to many other films.[12]

Notable songs

See also List of songs composed by Burton Lane and Songs with music by Burton Lane.

Recordings of Lane's works

Stage shows and films

  • Fred Astaire, Jane Powell (1951). Royal Wedding (LP). US: MGM Records. E-543.
  • Original Broadway cast (1960). Finian's Rainbow (LP). US: RCA Victor. LSO-1057.
  • Original Broadway cast (1965). On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (LP). US: RCA Victor. LSOD-2006.
  • Fred Astaire, Petula Clark et al. (1968). Finian's Rainbow: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (LP). US: Warner Bros. BS 2550.
  • Barbra Streisand, Yves Montand et al. (1970). On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (LP). US: CBS. 70075.
  • Original Broadway cast (1980). Finian's Rainbow (CD). US: Sony Classical. SK 89208. This is a reissue of the 1947 original cast recording on 78 RPM shellac.
  • Original Broadway cast (1980). Carmelina (LP). US: Original Cast Records. OC 8019.
  • Ben Bagley et al. (1990). Hold On to Your Hats (CD). US: Painted Smiles Records. PSCD-120.
  • Irish Repertory Theatre (2004). Finian's Rainbow (CD). US: Ghostlight Records. 4402-2.
  • 2009 Broadway revival cast (2009). Finian's Rainbow (CD). US: PS Classics. PS 1088.

Songs

References

  1. ^ Vallance, Tom. Obituary: Burton Lane" The Independent, January 8, 1997
  2. ^ a b Severo, Richard. "Burton Lane, Composer for 'Finian's Rainbow' and 'Clear Day,' Is Dead at 84" The New York Times, January 7, 1997
  3. ^ Segal, Vivian W. (1994). "Burton Lane Oral History Memoir". New York Public Library Digital Collections. William E. Wiener Oral History Library of the American Jewish Committee at New York Public Library. Retrieved May 29, 2025. This source gives the most exact location of Lane's birth.
  4. ^ Randel, Don Michael, ed. (1996). The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. Cambridge, Mass. and London, England: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 482. ISBN 0-674-37299-9. Retrieved May 29, 2025. This source errs in giving Lane's birth name as "Morris Hyman Kushner".
  5. ^ Segal 1994, p. 16.
  6. ^ Segal 1994, p. 2-4.
  7. ^ a b c d Ewen, David (1987). American Songwriters. New York: H.W. Wilson. p. 253. ISBN 0-8242-0744-0.
  8. ^ Segal 1994, p. 7-9.
  9. ^ a b Bloom, Ken (1996). American Song: The Complete Musical Theatre Companion (2nd ed.). New York: Schirmer Books. p. 53. ISBN 0-02-870484-3.
  10. ^ a b Bloom 1996, p. 1122.
  11. ^ Ewen 1987, p. 254.
  12. ^ a b Craig, Warren (1980). The Great Songwriters of Hollywood. San Diego: A.S. Barnes. pp. 163–164. ISBN 0498024393. Retrieved June 5, 2025.
  13. ^ a b Bloom 1996, p. 317.
  14. ^ a b "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Retrieved May 29, 2025.
  15. ^ a b Bloom 1996, p. 492.
  16. ^ a b c Bloom 1996, p. 614.
  17. ^ a b "Carmelina". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Retrieved May 29, 2025.
  18. ^ "The 14th Academy Awards – 1942". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. October 3, 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  19. ^ "The 24th Academy Awards – 1952". Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved January 16, 2018.
  20. ^ "8th Annual Grammy Awards". Grammy Awards. Recording Academy. Retrieved May 30, 2025.
  21. ^ a b "Burton Lane". Songwriters Hall of Fame. Retrieved May 29, 2025.
  22. ^ Ewen 1987, p. 256.
  23. ^ "Burton Lane Johnny Mercer Award". Songwriters Hall of Fame. Retrieved May 29, 2025.
  24. ^ Ewen 1987, p. 254-255.
  25. ^ Segal 1994, p. 26-28.
  26. ^ Shipman, David (1992). Judy Garland: The Secret Life of an American Legend. New York: Hyperion. p. 41,48-49. ISBN 1-56282-846-0. Frances Gumm and her sisters began performing under stage names in 1934.
  27. ^ Shipman 1992, p. 51-53.
  28. ^ Bloom 1996, p. 1114.
  29. ^ "Earl Carroll's Vanities [1931]". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Retrieved May 29, 2025.
  30. ^ "Singin' the Blues". Playbill. Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  31. ^ Meyerson, Harold; Harburg, Ernie (1993). Who Put the Rainbow in the Wizard of Oz?. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. p. 289. ISBN 0-472-10482-9.
  32. ^ " 'We Bombed in New Haven' Broadway" ibdb.com, retrieved July 28, 2018
  33. ^ Burton, Jack (1953). The Blue Book of Hollywood Musicals. Watkins Glen, N.Y.: Century House. p. 49. Retrieved July 4, 2025.
  34. ^ Burton 1953, p. 57.
  35. ^ Burton 1953, p. 72.
  36. ^ a b Burton 1953, p. 108.
  37. ^ a b Burton 1953, p. 122.
  38. ^ Burton 1953, p. 153.
  39. ^ Burton 1953, p. 152.
  40. ^ Burton 1953, p. 170.
  41. ^ Burton 1953, p. 198-199.
  42. ^ Burton 1953, p. 266.
  43. ^ Craig 1980, pp. 198.
  44. ^ Craig 1980, pp. 140–142.
  45. ^ McHugh, Dominic; Asch, Amy (2018). The Complete Lyrics of Alan Jay Lerner. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. 352–356. ISBN 978-0-19-064673-8.
  46. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 183. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 5, 2025.
  47. ^ Hischak, Thomas (1999). The American Musical Film Song Encyclopedia. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. p. 70. ISBN 0-313-30737-7.
  48. ^ Hischak 1999, p. 361.
  49. ^ Hischak 1999, p. 288.
  50. ^ Hischak 1999, p. 260.
  51. ^ Hischak 1999, p. 202.
  52. ^ Hischak 1999, p. 172.
  53. ^ Hischak 1999, p. 116.
  54. ^ Hischak 1999, pp. 104–105.
  55. ^ Hischak, Thomas (1995). The American Musical Theatre Song Encyclopedia. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. p. 123. ISBN 0-313-29407-0.
  56. ^ Hischak 1995, p. 260.
  57. ^ Hischak 1995, p. 154.
  58. ^ Hischak 1999, p. 312.
  59. ^ Hischak 1995, p. 261.
Archives at
LocationMusic Division, Library of Congress
SourceBurton Lane papers, 1915-2012
How to use archival material

Interviews

  • Attie, Paulette (March 23, 1966). "Musical Playbill: Burton Lane". wnyc.org. The NYPR Archive Collections. Retrieved June 5, 2025. Audio interview with Lane on diverse topics. Includes sung and played performance of "On a Clear Day".
  • Burton Lane interview NAMM Oral History Library (1989)
  • "Guest: Lynn Lane". Freethought Radio. Freedom From Religion Foundation. December 19, 2009. Retrieved June 5, 2025. "The Unchristmas Show" features an interview with Burton Lane's widow.

Databases

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