Saul Chaplin

Composer, Songwriter

About

Read More

Also Known As

Saul Kaplan

Birth Place

Brooklyn, New York, USA

Born

February 19, 1912

Died

November 15, 1997

Cause of Death

Complications From Injuries Sustained In A Fall

Biography

Read More

After graduating from NYU, Saul Chaplin teamed with lyricist Sammy Cahn and wrote songs for vaudeville. By the late 1930s, the team was producing a series of musical shorts at Vitaphone. Among their more successful tunes were "Until the Real Thing Comes Along" (1938) and "Please Be Kind" (1938). Cahn and Chaplin penned English lyrics to the Yiddish musical comedy number "Bei Meir Bist Du...

Filmography

Read More

Musicals Great Musicals (1996)

Rookies on Parade (1941)

That's Entertainment! II (1976)

Man of La Mancha (1972)

Associate Producer

The Sound of Music (1965)

Associate Producer

Photos & Videos

View All

Time Out For Rhythm (1941) -- (Movie Clip) Did Anyone Ever Tell You?

Time Out For Rhythm (1941) -- (Movie Clip) The Boogie-Woogie Man

Family & Companions

Read More

Betty Chaplin

Wife

Survived him.

Bibliography

Read More

"The Golden Age of the Movie Musical and Me"

Saul Chaplin (1994)

Biography

After graduating from NYU, Saul Chaplin teamed with lyricist Sammy Cahn and wrote songs for vaudeville. By the late 1930s, the team was producing a series of musical shorts at Vitaphone. Among their more successful tunes were "Until the Real Thing Comes Along" (1938) and "Please Be Kind" (1938). Cahn and Chaplin penned English lyrics to the Yiddish musical comedy number "Bei Meir Bist Du Schon" and the 1937 Andrews Sisters recording was a million-seller.

It was only a matter of time before the movies came calling and Chaplin joined the ranks of composers under contract with Columbia Pictures in the late 1930s where he worked on such efforts as "Manhattan Merry-Go-Round" (1937) and "Meet Me on Broadway" (1946). When he moved to MGM in 1948, Chaplin flourished as a music arranger. He went on to score a number of lush-sounding classic film musicals ranging from "On the Town" (1949) to his Oscar-winning work (usually in tandem with Johnny Green) on "An American in Paris" (1951), "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" (1954) and "West Side Story" (1961). He segued to production beginning with 1957's "Les Girls" and went on to amass credits for "Can-Can" (1960), "The Sound of Music" (1965) and "Man of La Mancha" (1972). He also produced the unsuccessful Gertrude Lawrence biopic "Star!" (1968) and the compilation film "That's Entertainment, Part 2" (1974).

Filmography

Cast (Feature Film)

Musicals Great Musicals (1996)

Writer (Feature Film)

Rookies on Parade (1941)

Producer (Feature Film)

That's Entertainment! II (1976)

Man of La Mancha (1972)

Associate Producer

The Sound of Music (1965)

Associate Producer

West Side Story (1961)

Associate Producer

Associate Producer

Merry Andrew (1958)

Associate Producer

Les Girls (1957)

Music (Feature Film)

Papillon (Remake) (2018)

Beasts of the Southern Wild (2011)

Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)

A Guy Thing (2003)

The Crew (2000)

Angela's Ashes (1999)

Blind Faith (1998)

Nil By Mouth (1997)

Song ("Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen (Means That You'Re Grand)")

Search and Destroy (1995)

Search and Destroy (1995)

That's Entertainment! III (1994)

Swing Kids (1993)

The Last Metro (1980)

That's Entertainment! II (1976)

I Could Go On Singing (1963)

Music Supervisor

West Side Story (1961)

Music Supervisor

Merry Andrew (1958)

Les Girls (1957)

High Society (1956)

Music Supervisor and Adapted by

The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956)

Music Supervisor

Jupiter's Darling (1955)

Music Supervisor

Interrupted Melody (1955)

Music Supervisor

Jupiter's Darling (1955)

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)

Music Supervisor

Give a Girl a Break (1954)

The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954)

Music Supervisor

Give a Girl a Break (1954)

Kiss Me Kate (1953)

The Affairs of Dobie Gillis (1953)

Sombrero (1953)

Lovely To Look At (1952)

Everything I Have Is Yours (1952)

An American in Paris (1951)

Saturday's Hero (1951)

Jolson Sings Again (1950)

Two Weeks with Love (1950)

Vocal Arrangements

Summer Stock (1950)

Jolson Sings Again (1950)

Summer Stock (1950)

On the Town (1949)

Vocal Arrangements

The Countess of Monte Cristo (1948)

Trail to Laredo (1948)

The Jolson Story (1947)

Vocal Arrangements

Smoky River Serenade (1947)

Rose of Santa Rosa (1947)

The Jolson Story (1947)

Two Blondes and a Redhead (1947)

Tars and Spars (1946)

Music Arrangement

The Thrill of Brazil (1946)

Vocal Arrangements

It's Great to Be Young (1946)

Betty Co-ed (1946)

The Desert Horseman (1946)

Cowboy Blues (1946)

Lone Star Moonlight (1946)

Meet Me on Broadway (1946)

Tonight and Every Night (1945)

Vocal Arrangements

Ten Cents a Dance (1945)

Rough Ridin' Justice (1945)

Eadie Was a Lady (1945)

Rockin' in the Rockies (1945)

Leave It to Blondie (1945)

A Thousand and One Nights (1945)

Carolina Blues (1944)

Vocal Arrangements

Kansas City Kitty (1944)

Beautiful But Broke (1944)

Louisiana Hayride (1944)

Cowboy Canteen (1944)

She's a Sweetheart (1944)

Ever Since Venus (1944)

Crazy House (1943)

He's My Guy (1943)

Let's Have Fun (1943)

Redhead from Manhattan (1943)

She Has What It Takes (1943)

Two Senoritas from Chicago (1943)

What's Buzzin' Cousin? (1943)

Blondie Goes to College (1942)

Blondie's Blessed Event (1942)

Lucky Legs (1942)

Two Yanks in Trinidad (1942)

Go West, Young Lady (1941)

Rookies on Parade (1941)

Time Out for Rhythm (1941)

Sing for Your Supper (1941)

Honolulu Lu (1941)

Two Latins from Manhattan (1941)

Ladies Must Live (1940)

Argentine Nights (1940)

Love, Honor and Behave (1938)

Manhattan Merry-Go-Round (1937)

Film Production - Main (Feature Film)

Sombrero (1953)

Assistant to the prod

Down to Earth (1947)

Prod Arrangements

Cast (Special)

Musicals Great Musicals: The Arthur Freed Unit at MGM (1996)

You're the Top: The Cole Porter Story (1990)

Producer (Special)

The Gene Kelly Pontiac Special (1959)

Associate Producer

Music (Short)

One for the Book (1940)

The Knight Is Young (1938)

Ups and Downs (1937)

Script Girl (1937)

Life Events

1933

Teamed with lyricist Sammy Cahn as songwriter for stage and vaudeville

1940

Joined Columbia Pictures

1947

Collaborated with Al Jolson on "The Anniversary Song", a million-seller

1948

Moved to MGM

1951

Shared first Oscar for adapting the Gershin score to "An American in Paris"

1953

Nominated for an Academy Award for his adaptation of the Cole Porter score to "Kiss Me, Kate"

1954

Won second Oscar (shared with Adolph Deutsch) for "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"

1956

With Johnny Green, received Academy Award nod for "High Society"

1957

First film as associate producer, "Les Girls"

1961

Shared a third Oscar for adaptation of the Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim score to "West Side Story"

1967

First film as producer, "Star!"

1976

Last film as producer, "That's Entertainment, Part 2"

Photo Collections

High Society - Grace Kelly Behind-the-Scenes Stills

Here are several photos of Grace Kelly taken behind-the-scenes during production of MGM's High Society (1956), costarring Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, and directed by Charles Walters.

Videos

Time Out For Rhythm (1941) -- (Movie Clip) Did Anyone Ever Tell You? Rollicking start, with Rosemary Lane belting a Sammy Cahn-Saul Chaplin original, Richard Lane her agent Mike at the bar with Harvard man Rudy Vallee, then fisticuffs when Princeton arrives, Allen Jenkins the piano player, in Columbia’s Time Out For Rhythm, 1941.

Time Out For Rhythm (1941) -- (Movie Clip) The Boogie-Woogie Man Quite the novelty number, after a time-lapse montage in which Rudy Vallee and Richard Lane have become big-time agents, a number sung by Pee Wee Hunt, with the Glen Gray (Casa Loma) Band, composition by Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin, Franz/Frank Planer on camera but no credit for special or photographic effects, in the Columbia variety vehicle Time Out For Rhythm, 1941.

Time Out For Rhythm (1941) -- (Movie Clip) A-Twiddlin' My Thumbs Ann Miller, first-billed among many in a Columbia variety feature, crushes a Sammy Cahn-Saul Chaplin tune, dance by LeRoy Prinz, as the maid for a singer that agents Rudy Vallee and Allen Jenkins hope to lure back, in B>Time Out For Rhythm, 1941.

Les Girls (1957) -- (Movie Clip) I've Seen You Dance Auditioning in Paris, Joanne (Mitzi Gaynor) and Sybil (Kay Kendall) are snarky and sweet as their boss Barry (Gene Kelly) hires French Angele (Tania Elg) for their act, in the first flashback, in George Cukor's loose adaptation of Vera Caspary's Idiot's Delight, Les Girls, 1957.

Thousand And One Nights, A (1945) -- (Movie Clip) I Can't Believe My Eyes Highly decorative Columbia stars, Adele Jergens as princess Armina, attended by the model and WWII pin-up Ruth “Dusty” Anderson as Novira, (who would soon retire from pictures and become Mrs. Jean Negulesco), pursued by Cornel Wilde as Alladin, with another song (vocal by Tom Clark) by Saul Chaplin and Eddie de Lange, in A Thousand And One Nights, 1945.

Merry Andrew (1958) -- (Movie Clip) Chin Up, Stout Fellow Public school teacher Andrew Larrabee (Danny Kaye) receives brothers Matthew (Noel Purcell) and Dudley (Robert Coote), who advise him to stand up to their father, his headmaster, their voices dubbed for the song by Saul Chaplin and Johnny Mercer, early in Merry Andrew, 1958.

Merry Andrew (1958) -- (Movie Clip) Salud The Gallini circus family led by their patriarch (Salvatore Baccaloni) celebrates the upcoming marriage of Andrew (Danny Kaye) and their Selena (Pier Angeli), director Michael Kidd with choreography to a tune by Saul Chaplin and Johnny Mercer, in Merry Andrew, 1958.

Merry Andrew (1958) -- (Movie Clip) Everything Is Tickety-Boo Now ebullient English public schoolmaster Andrew (Danny Kaye) has permission to resume his amateur archaeology, headed for Sussex with his theme song by Saul Chaplin and Johnny Mercer, spying Pier Angeli, her first appearance, in a makeshift shower, in Merry Andrew, 1958.

Sombrero (1953) -- (Movie Clip) Gypsy Dance Maybe the high point in the quasi-Mexican romantic-drama-musical from producer Jack Cummings at MGM, Cyd Charisse as gypsy maiden Lola must purge a guilt complex before she can marry suitor Ruben (Rick Jason), with a Hermes Pan dance to a Saul Chaplin tune in a costume by Helen Rose, in Sombrero, 1953.

High Society - (Trailer) High Society, 1956 Original theatrical trailer for High Society, 1956, starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Celeste Holm, featuring original songs by Cole Porter.

On the Town - (Original Trailer) Three sailors wreck havoc during a whirlwind 24-hour shore leave in New York City in On the Town (1949) starring Gene Kelly & Frank Sinatra.

Jolson Story, The - (Original Trailer) Larry Parks stars as the famous blackface performer of stage and screen, Al Jolson, in The Jolson Story (1947).

High Society promotional - (Original Trailer) Ed Sullivan and Bing Crosby introduce a special promotional trailer for the musical comedy.

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.

Can-Can - (Wide-release trailer) An ambitious judge tries to put a stop to the "forbidden dance" at a nightclub despite the protest of its owner in Can-Can (1960).

Merry Andrew - (Original Trailer) Danny Kaye is an archaeologist whose search for Roman treasure gets him mixed up with a circus troupe in Merry Andrew (1958).

Jupiter's Darling - (Original Trailer) Esther Williams' last MGM musical sent her to Ancient Rome as a senator's fiancee who falls for Hannibal and his elephants in Jupiter's Darling (1955).

Ladies Must Live - (Original Trailer) A country bumpkin tries to save his millionaire pal (Wayne Morris) from a gold-digging singer in Ladies Must Live (1940).

Les Girls - (Original Trailer) Three showgirls recall different versions of their time together touring Europe in Les Girls (1957), starring Gene Kelly.

Star! - (Original Trailer) Julie Andrews plays Gertrude Lawrence, Star! (1968) of London and Broadway in the 1920's.

I Could Go On Singing - (Original Trailer) An American singing star (Judy Garland) in London tries to reclaim the son she gave up for adoption in I Could Go On Singing (1963), co-starring Dirk Bogarde and directed by Ronald Neame.

Family

Judy Prince

Daughter

Survived him; married to producer, director Harold Prince.

Charles Prince

Grandson

Composer.

Daisy Prince

Granddaughter

Actor, director.

Companions

Betty Chaplin

Wife

Survived him.

Bibliography

"The Golden Age of the Movie Musical and Me"

Saul Chaplin (1994)

By using this site, you agree to our updated Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use