Happy birthday, dear Hils!
Amid an impressive "mixed bag" of fellow birthday celebrants including Terry Wogan, Jean Hagen, Steven Berkoff, Dolores del Rio, Gina G, Martin Sheen, Rupert Brooke, Evangeline Lilly, Stanley Baldwin, Tasmin Archer, PD James, Martha Stewart, Kirk Brandon, Nadia Ali of iiO, John Landis, Tony Bennett (95 today), Skin from Skunk Anansie... and my sister Hils - it's the centenary today of another of the great composers/lyricists of the classic era of musicals, Mr Richard Adler!
Among the great man's long list of compositions are these camp standards:
Love 'em all!
Facts:
- Mr Adler's second wife was none other than "Truly Scrumptious" Sally Anne Howes.
- His partnership with fellow composer/lyricist Jerry Ross produced not only the enduring musicals The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees, but the duo also wrote all the musical numbers for the revue John Murray Anderson's Almanac [an original cast recording of which is, needless to say, in our collection here at Dolores Delargo Towers], which launched the careers in the US of Harry Belafonte and Hermione Gingold.
- He was the producer of the famous 1962 Madison Square Garden birthday celebration for John F. Kennedy, when Marilyn Monroe sang Happy Birthday, Mister President.
- Mr Adler also composed the symphonic work The Lady Remembers, which was among the pieces performed at the Statue of Liberty's centennial in 1984.
Richard Adler (3rd August 1921 – 21st June 2012)
