Review by Booklist Review
"Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?," "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?" and "April in Paris" are some of the most beloved songs of the American musical theater. Their lyricist, Yip Harburg, was, like so many of his peers, the son of Jewish immigrants, Russian in his case, who settled on the lower-east side of Manhattan. Inspired by the theater at an early age, he did not begin his career until he was in his thirties and had spent a stint managing the family business--an experience he detested. One of the songsmiths who changed the American musical from the revue format into a so-called book show in which song and dance became media for telling a dramatic story, Harburg's most famous collaborators were Harold Arlen, his partner in 111 efforts including The Wizard of Oz, and Barton Lane, with whom his most famous product was Finian's Rainbow. This biography benefits from the collaboration of Harburg's son Ernie; plenty of pictures; appendixes of Harburg's stage, film, and broadcast credits; a list of his song titles; and lots of quoted lyrics. ~--Edward Lighthart
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
From his Russian-Jewish, New York City roots through his prolific working years as lyricist for such successes as the film The Wizard of Oz and Broadway's Bloomer Girl and Finian's Rainbow, E. Y. (``Yip'') Harburg seemed ready for anything but the McCarthyism that blacklisted him in the 1950s for his associations with certain groups and his avowal of ``democratic socialist'' ideals. Illustrated with lyrics from his entire output, this admiring title adds to the literature on the history of the Broadway musical the perspective of an accomplished wordsmith who collaborated with major composers like Harold Arlen, Burton Lane, Vernon Duke, and Jerome Kern but whose own name has been less well remembered. A worthwhile addition for large musical theater collections.-- Bonnie Jo Dopp, formerly with Dist . of Columbia P.L. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Library Journal Review
