Voting Station

Harry Warren

Please vote to return to collections.

Songwriter

The Resume

    (December 24, 1893-September 22, 1981)
    Born in Brooklyn, New York
    Birth name was Salvatore Antonio Guaragna
    Collaborators included Johnny Mercer, Ira Gershwin, Mack Gordon and Al Dubin
    Won three Oscars for Best Original Song: ‘Lullaby of Broadway’ (1935), ‘You’ll Never Know’ (1943) and ‘On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe’ (1945)
    Also co-wrote the songs ‘Chattanooga Choo-Choo,’ ‘Jeepers Creepers,’ ‘That’s Amore,’ ‘42nd Street,’ ‘You’re Getting to Be a Habit with Me,’ ‘You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby,’ ‘I Only Have Eyes for You,’ ‘We’re in the Money,’ ‘I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo’ and ‘At Last’

Why he might be annoying:

    He dropped out of school at 14 to join a traveling carnival.
    At the time of his death, he had written eleven new songs for a planned Hollywood musical, ‘Manhattan Melody,’ that was never produced.
    One critic noted, ‘The familiarity of Harry Warren’s songs is matched by the anonymity of the man…. His career [is] a prime example of the oblivion that cloaked so many writers who cranked out good songs for bad movies.’

Why he might not be annoying:

    He taught himself to play accordion, drums, and piano.
    He joined the Navy in World War I.
    He was married to Josephine Wensler for 64 years.
    He won each of his Oscars with a different collaborator.
    He wrote 21 songs that hit #1 on the radio program ‘Your Hit Parade.’
    David Merrick and Gower Champion incorporated songs he wrote for half a dozen movies into the hit Broadway musical ‘42nd Street.’ (1980)

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 13 Votes: 53.85% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 9 Votes: 44.44% Annoying