View source for Irving Caesar

{{Short description|American composer and lyricist (1895–1996)}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name              = Irving Caesar
| image             = Irving Caesar (1930).jpg
| caption           = Caesar in 1930
| background        = non_performing_personnel
| birth_name        = Isidor Keiser
| alias             = 
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1895|07|04}}
| birth_place       = New York City, U.S
| death_date        = {{nowrap|{{death date and age|1996|12|17|1895|7|4}}}}
| death_place       = New York City, U.S
| genre             = 
| occupation        = Lyricist
| years_active      = 1918<ref name="ascapfoundation.org">https://www.ascapfoundation.org/irving-caesar/about</ref>–1994
| label             = 
| associated_acts   = 
| spouse            = {{marriage|Christina Ballesteros|1994}}<ref>{{cite news |title=(untitled news item) |first=Liz |last=Smith |newspaper=Newsday |location=Melville, New York |date=December 6, 1994 |page=13 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121115930/irving-caesar-marriage-1994/ }}</ref>  <!-- what? and daughter Danya Barazanji -->
}}

'''Irving Caesar''' (born '''Isidor Keiser''', July 4, 1895 &ndash; December 17, 1996)<ref>{{cite news |title=Lyricist of 'Swanee' Dies at 101 |newspaper=Ledger-Enquirer |location=Columbia, George |date=December 18, 1996 |page=C5}}</ref> was an American lyricist and composer primarily for [[Theatre|theater]] who wrote lyrics for numerous song standards, including "[[Swanee (song)|Swanee]]", "[[Sometimes I'm Happy]]",  "[[Crazy Rhythm]]", and "[[Tea for Two (song)|Tea for Two]]", one of the most frequently recorded tunes ever written.<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=1997|edition=Concise|isbn=1-85227-745-9|page=213}}</ref> In 1972, he was inducted into the [[Songwriters Hall of Fame]].<ref name=HoF>{{cite web|title=Irving Caesar Biography|url=https://www.songhall.org/awards/winner/Irving_Caesar|publisher=Songwriters Hall of Fame|access-date=April 1, 2018}}</ref>

==Biography==
Caesar, the son of Morris Keiser, a Romanian Jewish lawyer and [[Socialism|socialist]], was born in New York City, United States.<ref name="Larkin"/> His older brother [[Arthur Caesar]] was a successful [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] screenwriter. Around 1901, Caesar composed his first poem—which can be ascribed to his exposure to literature in the environment of his father's bookstore.<ref name="ascapfoundation.org">https://www.ascapfoundation.org/irving-caesar/about</ref> The Caesar brothers spent their childhood and teen years in [[Yorkville, Manhattan|Yorkville]], the same [[Manhattan]] neighborhood where the [[Marx Brothers]] were raised. Caesar knew the Marx Brothers during his childhood. He was educated at [[Chappaqua Mountain Institute]] in [[Chappaqua, New York]].

In his career, Caesar collaborated with a wide variety of composers and songwriters, including [[Rudolf Friml]], [[George Gershwin]], [[Sigmund Romberg]], [[Victor Herbert]], [[Ted Koehler]] and [[Ray Henderson]].<ref name=HoF/> Two of his best known numbers, "[[I Want to Be Happy]]" and "Tea for Two", were written with [[Vincent Youmans]] for the 1925 musical ''[[No, No, Nanette]]''.<ref name="Larkin"/> Another of his biggest hits, "[[Animal Crackers in My Soup]]", was popularized by [[Shirley Temple]] in her 1935 film ''[[Curly Top]].''<ref name="Larkin"/> "[[Just a Gigolo (song)|Just a Gigolo]]", his 1929 adaptation of an Austrian song, was a hit for [[Louis Prima]] in the 1950s and again for [[David Lee Roth]] in the 1980s.

In the late 1930s, along with composer [[Gerald Marks]], he wrote a famous series of children's songs focusing on safety. Caesar made hundreds of appearances in schools performing the "Sing a Song of Safety," "Sing a Song of Friendship" (a United Nations-inspired series focusing on world peace, racial tolerance and friendship) and "Songs of Health" collections.<ref name=HoF/>

Caesar served on the songwriters' [[Performance rights organisation|performance-rights organization]] [[ASCAP]] board of directors from 1930 to 1946 and again from 1949 to 1966. He was a founder of the [[Songwriters Guild of America]].<ref name=HoF/> He died, aged 101, in New York on December 18, 1996, at which point he had been married to Cristina Ballesteros, whose daughter Danya Barazanji assisted in his caretaking since 1992.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/18/arts/irving-caesar-lyricist-of-timeless-hits-like-tea-for-two-dies-at-101.html | title=Irving Caesar, Lyricist of Timeless Hits Like 'Tea for Two,' Dies at 101 | work=The New York Times | date=December 18, 1996 | last1=Severo | first1=Richard }}</ref><ref name="Larkin"/>

==Broadway credits==
Note: All productions are [[Musical theater|musicals]] unless otherwise stated.
*

{| align="right"
|{{Listen
|filename=Al Jolson, George Gershwin, Irving Caesar, Swanee 1920.ogg
|title=Swanee
|description=[[Al Jolson]]'s hit 1920 recording of [[George Gershwin]] and Irving Caesar's 1919 "[[Swanee (song)|Swanee]]".
|format=[[Ogg]]}}
|}
*''[[La La Lucille]]'' (1919) – additional lyrics
*''[[Kissing Time#History|Kissing Time]]'' (1920) – adaptation of an earlier version of this musical – co-lyricist
*''Pins and Needles'' (1922) – [[revue]] – co-lyricist
*''The Greenwich Village Follies of 1922'' (1922) – [[revue]] – co-lyricist and co-bookwriter
*''The Greenwich Village Follies of 1923'' (1923) – [[revue]] – co-lyricist
*''The Greenwich Village Follies of 1924'' (1924) – [[revue]] – co-lyricist
*''Betty Lee'' (1924) – co-lyricist
*''[[No, No, Nanette]]'' (1925) – co-lyricist
*''Charlot Revue'' (1925) – [[revue]] – featured lyricist for "Gigolette" and "A Cup of Coffee, a Sandwich and You"
*''[[Yes, Yes, Yvette]]'' (1926, Chicago;<ref name="Yes"/> 1927, Broadway)<ref name="nyt"/> – lyricist<ref name="Yes">{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mPWXg_NzsqkC&dq=%22Yes,+Yes,+Yvette%22+%22December+5+,+1926%22%C2%A0&pg=RA7-PA27|title=Chicago Premiere; Four Cohans Theatre; Yes, Yes, Yvette|date=December 18, 1926|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|author=Bob Morningstar}}</ref><ref name="nyt">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1927/10/04/archives/-yes-yes-yvette-is-cheery-refreshing-jack-whiting-and-jeanette.html|title= YES, YES, YVETTE' IS CHEERY, REFRESHING; Jack Whiting and Jeanette MacDonald Aid in Keeping Musical Comedy at Lively Pace|work=[[The New York Times]]|page=32|date=October 4, 1927}}</ref> 
*''Sweetheart Time'' (1926) – co-lyricist
*''[[Ziegfeld]]'s Revue "No Foolin'"'' (1926) – [[revue]] – co-lyricist
*''Betsy'' (1926) – co-bookwriter
*''Talk About Girls'' (1927) – lyricist
*''[[Here's Howe]]'' (1928) – lyricist
*''Americana of 1928'' (1928) – [[revue]] – co-lyricist
*''Polly'' (1929) – co-composer and co-lyricist
*''George White's Scandals of 1929'' (1929) – [[revue]] – co-composer and co-lyricist
*''[[Ripples (musical)|Ripples]]'' (1930) – co-lyricist
*''Nina Rosa'' (1930) – lyricist
*''The Wonder Bar'' (1931) – play – co-playwright/adaptor of the original German
*''George White's Scandals of 1931'' (1931) – [[revue]] – co-bookwriter
*''George White's Music Hall Varieties of 1932'' (1932) – [[revue]] – co-composer and lyricist
*''Melody'' (1933) – lyricist
*''Shady Lady'' (1933) – reviser
*''Continental Varieties'' (1934) – [[revue]] – dialogue-writer
*''[[The White Horse Inn (operetta)|The White Horse Inn]]'' (1936) – English-version lyricist
*''My Dear Public'' (1943) – co-composer, co-lyricist, and co-bookwriter

Post-retirement credits:

*''The American Dance Machine'' (1978) – dance [[revue]] – featured lyricist
*''Up in One'' (1979) – [[revue]] – featured songwriter
*''Big Deal'' (1986) – featured English-version lyricist for "Just a Gigolo"
*''Sally Marr...and her escorts'' (1994) – play – featured lyricist for "Tea for Two"

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
*{{Official website}}
*{{IBDB name|6455}}
*[https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/18/arts/irving-caesar-lyricist-of-timeless-hits-like-tea-for-two-dies-at-101.html?pagewanted=all ''New York Times'' obituary]
* [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/109068 Irving Caesar recordings] at the [[Discography of American Historical Recordings]].
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caesar, Irving}}
[[Category:Jewish American songwriters]]
[[Category:American lyricists]]
[[Category:American people of Romanian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:American men centenarians]]
[[Category:1895 births]]
[[Category:1996 deaths]]
[[Category:Townsend Harris High School alumni]]
[[Category:People from Yorkville, Manhattan]]
[[Category:People from Chappaqua, New York]]
[[Category:20th-century American musicians]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]
[[Category:Jewish centenarians]]