Jule Styne (December 31, 1905 – September 20, 1994) was a British-born American songwriter especially famous for a series of Broadway musicals, which included several very well known and frequently revived shows.

Early life [link]

Styne was born in London, England as Julius Kerwin Stein of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine.^[1] At the age of eight he moved with his family to Chicago, where at an early age he began taking piano lessons. He proved to be a prodigy and performed with the Chicago, St. Louis, and Detroit Symphonies before he was ten years old.

Career [link]

Styne attended Chicago Musical College, but before then he had already attracted attention of another teenager, Mike Todd, later a successful film producer, who commissioned him to write a song for a musical act that he was creating. It would be the first of over 1,500 published songs Styne would compose in his career.

Styne established his own dance band, which brought him to the notice of Hollywood, where he was championed by Frank Sinatra and where he began a collaboration with lyricist Sammy Cahn, with whom he wrote many songs for the movies, including "It's Been a Long, Long Time" (#1 for 3 weeks for Harry James and His Orchestra in 1945), "Five Minutes More," and the Oscar-winning "Three Coins in the Fountain". He collaborated on the score for the 1955 musical film My Sister Eileen with Leo Robin. Ten of his songs were nominated for the Oscar, many written with Cahn, including "I've Heard That Song Before" (#1 for 13 weeks for Harry James and His Orchestra in 1943), "I'll Walk Alone", "It's Magic" (a #2 hit for Doris Day in 1948) and "I Fall in Love Too Easily".

In 1947, Styne wrote his first score for a Broadway musical, High Button Shoes with Cahn, and over the next several decades wrote the scores for many Broadway shows, most notably Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Peter Pan (additional music), Bells Are Ringing, Gypsy, Do Re Mi, Funny Girl, Sugar (with a story based on the movie Some Like It Hot, but all new music), and the Tony-winning Hallelujah, Baby!.

His collaborators included, among others, Sammy Cahn, Leo Robin, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Stephen Sondheim, and Bob Merrill.

Styne wrote original music for the short-lived, themed amusement park Freedomland U.S.A. which opened on June 19, 1960.

Styne was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972^[2] and the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981,^[3] and he was a recipient of a Drama Desk Special Award and the Kennedy Center Honors in 1990.

Songs [link]

A selection of the many songs that Styne wrote:

• "The Christmas Waltz"
• "Don't Rain on My Parade" (from Funny Girl)
• "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend"
• "Everything's Coming Up Roses" (from Gypsy)
• "Every Street's a Boulevard in Old New York"
• "Fiddle Dee Dee"
• "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry"
• "How Do You Speak To An Angel"
• "I Don't Want to Walk Without You"
• "I Fall In Love Too Easily"
• "I Still Get Jealous"
• "I'll Walk Alone"
• "It's Been a Long, Long Time"
• "It's Magic" (from Romance on the High Seas)
• "I've Heard That Song Before"
• "Just In Time"
• "Let Me Entertain You"
• "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"
• "Long Before I Knew You"
• "Make Someone Happy"
• "Neverland"
• "Papa, Wont You Dance with Me?"
• "The Party's Over"
• "People" (from Funny Girl)
• "Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week)" sung by Frank Sinatra
• "Sunday" with Ned Miller
• "Time After Time"
• "Three Coins in the Fountain"

Credits

• Ice Capades of 1943 (1942) - Styne contributed one song
• Glad to See You! (1944) - closed in Philadelphia PA during tryout
• High Button Shoes (1947)
• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949)
• Michael Todd's Peep Show (1950) - Styne contributed 2 numbers
• Two on the Aisle (1951)
• Hazel Flagg (1953)
• Peter Pan (1954) (additional music)
• My Sister Eileen (1955)
• Bells Are Ringing (1956)
• Say, Darling (1958)
• A Party with Betty Comden and Adolph Green (1958)
• Gypsy (1959)
• Do Re Mi (1960)
• Subways Are For Sleeping (1961)
• Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962)
• Arturo Ui (1963) - Styne contributed incidental music to this Bertolt Brecht play
• Funny Girl (1964)
• Wonderworld (1964) - lyrics by Styne's son, Stanley
• Fade Out - Fade In (1964)
• Something More! (1964) -directed by Styne
• The Dangerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood (1965)
• Hallelujah, Baby! (1967)
• Darling of the Day (1968)
• Look to the Lilies (1970)
• The Night the Animals Talked (1970)
• Prettybelle (1971) - closed in Boston
• Sugar (1972)
• Lorelei (1974) - essentially a sequel/revival of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
• Hellzapoppin'! (1976) - closed in Baltimore during pre-Broadway tryout
• Side by Side by Sondheim (1976)
• Bar Mitzvah Boy (1978)
• One Night Stand (1980) - closed during preview period
• Pieces of Eight (1985)
• The Red Shoes (1993)

See also [link]

• Pico and Sepulveda

Footnotes [link]

External links [link]

• Official website
• Jule Styne at the Internet Broadway Database
• Jule Styne at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Jule Styne at the Internet Movie Database
• Kennedy Center biography
• PBS biography
• New York Times obituary, September 21, 1994