Jerome Kern

Composer

About

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Also Known As

Jerome David Kern

Birth Place

New York City, New York, USA

Born

January 27, 1885

Died

November 11, 1945

Cause of Death

Heart Attack

Biography

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Celebrated composer of songs (from 1902) and Broadway scores (from 1912). Kern is probably best remembered for "Show Boat," which in fact ended a run of relatively unsuccessful stage works in 1927, and for the songs "Ol' Man River" and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." Although he was persuaded by actress Billie Burke to compose the accompaniment for "Gloria's Romance" (1916), Kern's next work ...

Filmography

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Men of the Sky (1931)

The Laundromat (2019)

Superfly (2018)

Hello, My Name Is Doris (2015)

The Music Never Stopped (2011)

Photos & Videos

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High, Wide And Handsome (1937) -- (Movie Clip) The Things I Want

High, Wide And Handsome (1937) -- (Movie Clip) The Morning's Half Over

Family & Companions

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Eva Kern

Wife

British; married in 1910.

Bibliography

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"Berlin, Kern, Rodgers, Hart, and Hammerstein: A Complete Song Catalogue"

Steven Suskin, McFarland (1990)

"Jerome Kern: His Life and Music"

Gerald Bordman, Oxford University Press (1980)

"Jerome Kern: A Biography"

Michael Freedland, Robson Books (1978)

"Show Boat: The Story of a Classic American Musical"

Miles Kreuger, Oxford University Press (1977)

Biography

Celebrated composer of songs (from 1902) and Broadway scores (from 1912). Kern is probably best remembered for "Show Boat," which in fact ended a run of relatively unsuccessful stage works in 1927, and for the songs "Ol' Man River" and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." Although he was persuaded by actress Billie Burke to compose the accompaniment for "Gloria's Romance" (1916), Kern's next work directly for film was not until 1930. He settled in Hollywood in 1934, adapting his musicals for the screen as well as composing some wonderful original scores (e.g. the Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire musical, "Swing Time" 1936). The MGM musical biopic "Till the Cloud Roll By" (1946) was a highly glamorized and somewhat fictionalized retelling of the life of one of the most important composers in the history of popular music.

Filmography

Writer (Feature Film)

Men of the Sky (1931)

Music (Feature Film)

The Laundromat (2019)

Superfly (2018)

Hello, My Name Is Doris (2015)

The Music Never Stopped (2011)

Step Up 3-D (2010)

Nanny McPhee Returns (2010)

Meet Monica Velour (2010)

Barney's Version (2010)

Somewhere (2010)

Valentine's Day (2010)

The Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Reign Over Me (2007)

Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)

Around the Bend (2004)

First Daughter (2004)

The Saddest Music in the World (2003)

Anything Else (2003)

What a Girl Wants (2003)

Catch Me If You Can (2002)

Mulholland Dr. (2001)

The Family Man (2000)

Finding Forrester (2000)

What Women Want (2000)

Love's Labour's Lost (2000)

October Sky (1999)

Angela's Ashes (1999)

Random Hearts (1999)

Tea With Mussolini (1999)

L' Ennui (1998)

Meet Joe Black (1998)

Nil By Mouth (1997)

Song ("Can'T Help Lovin' Dat Man")

Deconstructing Harry (1997)

My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)

Going All the Way (1997)

Vegas Vacation (1997)

L.A. Confidential (1997)

Song ("Look For The Silver Lining")

The Associate (1996)

The Grass Harp (1995)

Lush Life (1994)

That's Entertainment! III (1994)

Son-In-Law (1993)

Husbands and Wives (1992)

Career Opportunities (1991)

The Fred Astaire Songbook (1991)

Billy Bathgate (1991)

Pink Lightning (1991)

Old Explorers (1990)

Joe Versus the Volcano (1990)

How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989)

Song ("Smoke Gets In Your Eyes")

New York Stories (1989)

Catch Me If You Can (1989)

Kill Me Again (1989)

Song ("Smoke Gets In Your Eyes")

Rocket Gibraltar (1988)

Another Woman (1988)

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

Song ("Pick Yourself Up")

Everybody's All-American (1988)

Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)

September (1987)

La Bamba (1987)

Someone to Watch Over Me (1987)

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

Can She Bake A Cherry Pie? (1983)

Song ("The Way You Look Tonight")

American Pop (1981)

Yotzim Kavua (1979)

Song ("Smoke Gets In Your Eyes")

Newsfront (1978)

Alice, Sweet Alice (1977)

Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976)

Chinatown (1974)

American Graffiti (1973)

Fritz The Cat (1972)

Playing the Thing (1972)

Seven Hills of Rome (1958)

Paris Holiday (1958)

Tip on a Dead Jockey (1957)

The Helen Morgan Story (1957)

The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954)

Lovely To Look At (1952)

Show Boat (1951)

Footlight Varieties (1951)

Look for the Silver Lining (1949)

That Midnight Kiss (1949)

Till the Clouds Roll By (1947)

The Man I Love (1947)

Centennial Summer (1946)

Broadway Rhythm (1944)

Can't Help Singing (1944)

Cover Girl (1944)

Song of Russia (1944)

You Were Never Lovelier (1942)

Lady Be Good (1941)

Land of Liberty (1941)

One Night in the Tropics (1940)

Hit Parade of 1941 (1940)

Joy of Living (1938)

When You're in Love (1937)

High, Wide and Handsome (1937)

Swing Time (1936)

Show Boat (1936)

The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

The Flame Within (1935)

Music specially composed by

Reckless (1935)

I Dream Too Much (1935)

Music in the Air (1934)

The Cat and the Fiddle (1934)

Sweet Adeline (1934)

Men of the Sky (1931)

The 3 Sisters (1930)

Show Boat (1929)

Gloria's Romance (1916)

Music (Special)

Diana Krall and Michael Feinstein (2000)

Kitty Carlisle Hart: My Broadway Memories (1999)

Yours For a Song: The Women of Tin Pan Alley (1999)

Ira Gershwin at 100: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall (1997)

The Three Sopranos (1996)

An Evening With Kathleen Battle and Thomas Hampson (1995)

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: Steps Ahead (1991)

The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (1991)

The I Love America Concert (1991)

Flicka and Friends: From Rossini to "Show Boat" (1990)

Show Boat (1989)

The Show Boat Story (1989)

Maureen McGovern on Stage at Wolf Trap (1988)

Song ("Long Ago And Far Away" "All The Things You Are")

A Tribute to American Music: Jerome Kern (1987)

Sylvia Fine Kaye's Musical Comedy Tonight III (The Spark and the Glue) (1985)

Life Events

Videos

High, Wide And Handsome (1937) -- (Movie Clip) The Things I Want Our first look at Dorothy Lamour as singer Molly (working at her Paramount home, age 22, months before her star-making performance in the Samuel Goldwyn/John Ford spectacle The Hurricane), with a song written for the picture by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II, in 1859 Pennsylvania, with Alan Hale as evil interloping railroad baron Brennan, confronted by our hero, local oil driller Peter (Randolph Scott), High, Wide And Handsome, 1937.

High, Wide And Handsome (1937) -- (Movie Clip) The Morning's Half Over Arising on the Titusville, PA farm where she and her father (Raymond Walburn, with sidekick William Frawley) have been received as guests the day after their medicine-show wagon burned, Irene Dunne as Sally has a mixed exchange with hostess Grandma (Elizabeth Patterson), in Paramount’s High, Wide And Handsome, 1937, also starring Randolph Scott.

Sweet Adeline (1934) -- (Movie Clip) We Were So Young For the second of two songs from the 1929 Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II operetta, with an elaborate shot from director Mervyn LeRoy and cameraman Sol Polito, we find the title character (Irene Dunne) testing out a new tune by her beau Sid (Donald Woods), cueing a tiff, in Warner Bros.’ Sweet Adeline, 1934.

Sweet Adeline (1934) -- (Movie Clip) Here Am I In a Hoboken, NJ German-style beer garden ca. 1898, Irene Dunne (title character and daughter of the owner) aims to impress the U.S. Army recruiter and (Spanish-American War) hero Major Day (Louis Calhern), with a song from the original 1929 Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II operetta, in Warner Bros.’ Sweet Adeline, 1934.

Swing Time (1936) -- (Movie Clip) A Fine Romance Dance partners Penny (Ginger Rogers) and Lucky (Fred Astaire) are constrained from confessing their love for each other, Pop (Victor Moore) enlisted as his backstop, lyrics by Dorothy Fields written to Jerome Kern's tune to support the plot point, Ginger's vocal first, George Stevens directing, in Swing Time, 1936.

Cat And The Fiddle, The (1934) -- (Movie Clip) Music In Exchange For Indigestion Clever opening, Brussels already established, Ramon Novarro is introduced as composer-performer Victor, tangling with the proprietor (Paul Porcasi) and eventually meeting co-star Jeanette MacDonald as visiting American Shirley, in MGM’s version of the Jerome Kern/Otto Harbach Broadway hit, The Cat And The Fiddle, 1934.

Cat And The Fiddle, The (1934) -- (Movie Clip) The Night Was Made For Love Broke and infatuated composer Victor (Ramon Novarro) has crossed a Brussels rooftop pursuing American Shirley (Jeanette MacDonald), herself an aspiring performer, whom he’s just met, leading to a Jerome Kern-Otto Harbach song, then remembering his audition, in MGM’s The Cat And The Fiddle, 1934.

Cat And The Fiddle, The (1934) -- (Movie Clip) She Didn't Say Yes Daffy Brussels music patron Charles (Butterworth) caught a bouquet tossed out by American Shirley (Jeanette MacDonald), who’s both arguing and celebrating a new gig with new friend Victor (Ramon Novarro), whose friends turn up, for a Jerome Kern-Otto Harbach song, in MGM’s The Cat And The Fiddle, 1934.

Cover Girl (1944) -- (Movie Clip) Put Me To The Test People forget Margarita Cansino (a.k.a Rita Hayworth, here as "Rusty) was a dancer first, with Gene Kelly (as "Danny"), to Jerome Kern and Ira Gershwin's "Put Me To The Test," in Cover Girl, 1944.

Cover Girl (1944) -- (Movie Clip) Open, Show Must Go On Fleshy Technicolor opening with a song by Jerome Kern and Ira Gershwin, featuring star Rita Hayworth and supporting player Leslie Brooks, from Cover Girl, 1944, also starring Gene Kelly.

Till The Clouds Roll By (1946) -- (Movie Clip) Ol' Man River tillthecloudsrollby_olmanriversinatra_FC

Till The Clouds Roll By (1946) -- (Movie Clip) Kern, Jerome Kern Robert Walker as youthful bio-pic subject Jerome Kern has invited himself into the home of fictional admired classical composer James Hessler (Van Heflin), New York early 1900?s, Joan Wells as daughter Sally, in the MGM Freed Unit?s musical Till The Clouds Roll By, 1947.

Last Time I Saw Paris, The - (Original Trailer) A writer recalls his turbulent marriage to an expatriate heiress in The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954), starring Elizabeth Taylor.

Flame Within, The - (Original Trailer) Ann Harding is a psychiatrist who thinks she is remote from her patients' problems until she falls in love with one of them.

Till the Clouds Roll By - (Original Trailer) Robert Walker stars in the true story of composer Jerome Kern's rise to the top on Broadway and in Hollywood - Till the Clouds Roll By (1946), co-starring Van Heflin and Judy Garland.

Show Boat (1951) - (Original Trailer) Riverboat entertainers find love, laughs and hardships as they sail along "Old Man River" in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical SHOW BOAT (1951) starring Ava Gardner, Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson.

Song Of Russia - (Original Trailer) An American symphonic conductor (Robert Taylor) trapped in Russia during World War II helps with the resistance.

Man I Love, The - (Original Trailer) Night-club singer Ida Lupino gets involved with mobster Robert Alda in Raoul Walsh's The Man I Love (1947).

Swing Time - (Re-issue trailer) To prove himself worthy of his fiancee, a dancer tries to make it big, only to fall for his dancing partner in Swing Time (1936). It features the music of Jerome Kern and stars Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

Tip on a Dead Jockey - (Original Trailer) A grounded flier (Robert Taylor) gets mixed up with smugglers in Madrid in Tip on a Dead Jockey (1957).

Family

Henry Kern

Father

Fannie Kern

Mother

Elizabeth Kern

Daughter

Companions

Eva Kern

Wife

British; married in 1910.

Bibliography

"Berlin, Kern, Rodgers, Hart, and Hammerstein: A Complete Song Catalogue"

Steven Suskin, McFarland (1990)

"Jerome Kern: His Life and Music"

Gerald Bordman, Oxford University Press (1980)

"Jerome Kern: A Biography"

Michael Freedland, Robson Books (1978)

"Show Boat: The Story of a Classic American Musical"

Miles Kreuger, Oxford University Press (1977)

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