Jean Schwartz

Jean Schwartz (November 4, 1878 – November 30, 1956) was a Hungarian-born Jewish American composer and pianist. He is best known for his work writing the scores for more than 30 Broadway musicals, and for his creation of more than 1,000 popular songs with the lyricist William Jerome. Schwartz and Jerome also performed together on the vaudeville stage in the United States; sometimes in collaboration with Maude Nugent, Jerome's wife, and the Dolly Sisters. Schwartz was married to Jenny Dolly from 1913 to 1921. With Jerome, Schwartz created a large body of work for both Broadway and Tin Pan Alley, with the majority of their songs written between the years 1901 and 1910. Many of their popular songs were interpolated into Broadway musicals created by others during the 1900s, 1910s, and 1920s. The pair were also the primary creators of eight Broadway musicals, the most successful of which were Piff! Paff! (1904) and The Ham Tree (1905). Their most enduring song, "Chinatown, My Chinatown", was written in 1906, interpolated into their final musical together, Up and Down Broadway (1910), and became a jazz standard when a series of recording artists, including Louis Armstrong and Fletcher Henderson, made popular recordings of the work. Their collaborative output slowed significantly after 1910 and came to an end during World War I. While Schwartz was mainly concerned with writing the music to his songs, he did on occasion work as a lyricist as well. He was a founding member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in 1914. Schwartz formed a prolific partnership with the lyricist and playwright Harold Atteridge with whom he created more than a dozen Broadway musicals. Many of these shows were also made with the composer Sigmund Romberg. The trio of Schwartz, Atteridge, and Romberg created five of The Passing Show musical revues together as well as the musicals Monte Cristo, Jr. (1919) and Innocent Eyes (1924). Schwartz also created several Broadway musicals in collaboration with the lyricist Alfred Bryan; sometimes in conjunction with Atteridge as musical book writer. Schwartz collaborated with many other songwriters during his lengthy career. He wrote the 1918 popular standard "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody" with Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young. In 1930, he intentionally ended his career as a New York City based songwriter with the aptly named "Au Revoir Pleasant Dreams", a work which became the theme song for Ben Bernie and his orchestra. After this, he lived in retirement in Los Angeles and was mostly finished with music making. His final song of significance, the 1937 popular standard "Trust in Me", was written in collaboration with Milton Ager and Ned Wever. That song has been recorded by numerous artists, most recently by Beyonce for the 2008 film Cadillac Records. He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.

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