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Jimmy Van Heusen
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{{Short description|American composer (1913β1990)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Jimmy Van Heusen | image = Jimmy Van Heusen (2).jpg | caption = Van Heusen playing the piano | background = non_performing_personnel | birth_name = Edward Chester Babcock | birth_date = {{birth date|1913|1|26}} | birth_place = [[Syracuse, New York]], U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1990|2|6|1913|1|26}} | death_place = [[Rancho Mirage, California]], U.S. | genre = Popular music | occupation = [[Songwriter]], [[pianist]] | years_active = Mid 1930sβlate 1970s }} '''James Van Heusen''' (born '''Edward Chester Babcock'''; January 26, 1913 β February 6, 1990<ref name=PSCemDis>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pscemetery.com/pdfs/interments.pdf|title=Palm Springs Cemetery District, "Interments of Interest"|website=Pscemetery.com|access-date=September 29, 2019|archive-date=September 26, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926121359/http://www.pscemetery.com/pdfs/interments.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>) was an American [[composer]]. He wrote songs for films, television, and [[theater]], and won an [[Emmy]] and four [[Academy Award for Best Original Song|Academy Awards for Best Original Song]].<ref name = AcademyAward> {{cite web | title =Academy Awards Database, Jimmy Van Heusen | work= Oscars.org|publisher = The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences | url =http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/Search/GetResults?query=%7B%22Nominee%22:%22james%20van%20heusen%22,%22Sort%22:%221-Nominee-Alpha%22,%22Search%22:%22Basic%22%7D |access-date = June 11, 2017}}</ref> Many of his compositions later went on to become [[jazz standard]]s. ==Life and career== Born in [[Syracuse, New York]], Edward Chester Babcock began writing music while in high school. He renamed himself to Jimmy Van Heusen at age 16, after the shirt makers [[PVH Corp.|Phillips-Van Heusen]], to use as his on-air name during local shows. His close friends called him "Chet".<ref name = book>Coppula, C. (2014). ''Jimmy Van Heusen: Swinging on a Star''. Nashville: Twin Creek Books.</ref> Jimmy was raised [[Methodist]].<ref>Jimmy Van Heusen - Vanity Fair https://www.vanityfair.com βΊ archive-march-2015-jimmy-van-heusen βJimmy,β Van Heusen's good friend and occasional lover Angie Dickinson recalls ... Jessica Lange Breaks Down Her Career, from King Kong to American Horror Story .... He had been born in 1913, in Syracuse, New York, to rock-ribbed Methodists ... βJimmy was a really interesting composer,β says Sammy Cahn's son, jazz ...</ref> Studying at [[Cazenovia Seminary]] and [[Syracuse University]], he became friends with Jerry Arlen, the younger brother of [[Harold Arlen]]. With the elder Arlen's help, Van Heusen wrote songs for the [[Cotton Club]] revue, including "Harlem Hospitality". He then became a staff pianist for some of the [[Tin Pan Alley]] publishers, and wrote "It's the Dreamer in Me" (1938) with lyrics by [[Jimmy Dorsey]]. Collaborating with lyricist [[Eddie DeLange]], on songs such as "Heaven Can Wait", "So Help Me", and "[[Darn That Dream]]", his work became more prolific, writing over 60 songs in 1940 alone. It was in 1940 that he teamed up with the lyricist [[Johnny Burke (lyricist)|Johnny Burke]]. Burke and Van Heusen moved to [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] and wrote for stage musicals and films throughout the 1940s and early 1950s, winning an [[Academy Award for Best Original Song]] for "[[Swinging on a Star]]" (1944). Their songs were featured in many [[Bing Crosby]] films of the era, including some of the ''[[Road to ...|Road]]'' installments and ''[[A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949 film)|A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court]]'' (1949). He also was a pilot of some accomplishment; he met Joe Hornsby, who worked for the FAA in Los Angeles CA (Hornsby was the son of [[Dan Hornsby]] and the father of [[Nikki Hornsby]]), because of his music career with his interest in flying. Joe Hornsby sponsored Jimmy into an exclusive pilots club called the [[Quiet Birdmen]] which held meetings at ''Proud Bird'' restaurant at LAX; this friendship endured until Hornsby and his wife Dorothea died in short succession the late 1970s. He remained close friend with Nikki Hornsby until his own death. Using his birth name, Van Heusen also worked as a part-time [[test pilot]] for [[Lockheed Corporation]] during [[World War II]]. Van Heusen then teamed up with lyricist [[Sammy Cahn]]. Their three Academy Awards for Best Song were won for "[[All the Way (Frank Sinatra song)|All the Way]]" (1957) from ''[[The Joker Is Wild]]'', "[[High Hopes (1959 song)|High Hopes]]" (1959) from ''[[A Hole in the Head]]'', and "[[Call Me Irresponsible]]" (1963) from ''[[Papa's Delicate Condition]]''. Their songs were also featured in ''[[Ocean's Eleven (1960 film)|Ocean's Eleven]]'' (1960), which included [[Dean Martin]]'s version of "[[Ain't That a Kick in the Head]]", and in ''[[Robin and the 7 Hoods]]'' (1964), in which [[Frank Sinatra]] sang the Oscar-nominated "[[My Kind of Town]]". Cahn and Van Heusen also wrote "[[Love and Marriage]]" (1955), "To Love and Be Loved", "[[Come Fly with Me (1957 song)|Come Fly with Me]]", "[[Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely|Only the Lonely]]", and "[[Come Dance with Me (song)|Come Dance with Me]]" with many of their compositions being the title songs for [[Frank Sinatra]]'s albums of the late 1950s. Van Heusen wrote the music for five [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] [[musical theater|musicals]]: ''Swingin' the Dream'' (1939); ''Nellie Bly'' (1946), ''[[Carnival in Flanders (musical)|Carnival in Flanders]]'' (1953), ''[[Skyscraper (musical)|Skyscraper]]'' (1965), and ''[[Walking Happy]]'' (1966). While Van Heusen did not achieve nearly the success on Broadway that he did in Hollywood, at least two songs from Van Heusen musicals can legitimately be considered standards:<ref name = book /> "[[Darn That Dream]]" from ''Swingin' the Dream''; "[[Here's That Rainy Day]]" from ''Carnival in Flanders''. He became an inductee of the [[Songwriters Hall of Fame]] in 1971.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/C100 |title=Songwriters Hall of Fame, Jimmy Van Heusen |access-date=November 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161106063129/http://songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/C100 |archive-date=November 6, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Van Heusen composed over 1000 songs of which 50 songs became standards. Van Heusen songs are featured in over five hundred and eighty films. ==Personal life== Van Heusen was known to be quite popular among women. [[James Kaplan]] in his book ''Frank: The Voice'' (2010) wrote, "He played piano beautifully, wrote gorgeously poignant songs about romance...he had a fat wallet, he flew his own plane; he never went home alone." Van Heusen was once described by [[Angie Dickinson]], "You would not pick him over [[Clark Gable]] any day, but his magnetism was irresistible."<ref name = vanityFair>{{cite web |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2015/02/archive-march-2015-jimmy-van-heusen |title=The King Of Ring-A-Ding-Ding|website=Vanityfair.com |date=February 5, 2015 |access-date=November 5, 2016}}</ref> In his 20s he began to shave his head when he started losing his hair, a practice ahead of its time. He once said "I would rather write songs than do anything else β even fly." Kaplan also reported that he was a "[[hypochondriac]] of the first order" who kept a [[Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy|Merck]] manual at his bedside, injected himself with vitamins and painkillers, and had surgical procedures for ailments real and imagined.<ref name = vanityFair /> {{Quote box|I took song writing seriously when I discovered girls.<ref name=pc1a>{{Pop Chronicles 40s|1|A |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1633237/m1/#track/5}} Van Heusen [https://findingaids.library.unt.edu/?p=collections/findingaid&id=959&q=&rootcontentid=204947 interviewed 1971 July 22] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200207074429/https://findingaids.library.unt.edu/?p=collections/findingaid&id=959&q=&rootcontentid=204947 |date=February 7, 2020 }}</ref>}} It was Van Heusen who rushed Sinatra to the hospital after Sinatra, in despair over the breakup of his marriage to [[Ava Gardner]], slashed one of his wrists in a [[suicide attempt]] in November 1953.<ref name = hmag>{{cite news |date= January 29, 2016 |title= Fridays Are For Frank: "(Love Is) The Tender Trap" β Sinatra & Jimmy Van Heusen|url=http://hmag.com/fridays-frank-love-tender-trap-sinatra-jimmy-van-heusen/ |newspaper=[[hMag]]|access-date= November 5, 2016 }}</ref> However, this event was never mentioned by Van Heusen in any radio or print interviews given by him. Van Heusen himself married for the first time in 1969, at age 56, to Bobbe Brock, originally one of the [[Brox Sisters]] and widow of the late producer [[William Perlberg|Bill Perlberg]]. ===Death=== Van Heusen retired in the late 1970s and died in 1990 in [[Rancho Mirage, California]], from complications following a stroke at the age of 77.<ref name=UCLA>{{cite web|title=Jimmy Van Heusen Collection of Musical Works and Papers|url=http://unitproj.library.ucla.edu/music/mlsc/collection.cfm?id=137&f=x|publisher=UCLA Libraries|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309070141/http://unitproj.library.ucla.edu/music/mlsc/collection.cfm?id=137&f=x|archive-date=March 9, 2012|access-date=April 13, 2011}}</ref> His wife, Bobbe, survived him. Van Heusen is buried near the Sinatra family in [[Desert Memorial Park]], in [[Cathedral City, California]].<ref name=PSCemDis/><ref>{{cite book|last1=Brooks|first1=Patricia|title=Laid to Rest in California: a guide to the cemeteries and grave sites of the rich and famous |chapter=Chapter 8: East L.A. and the Desert |page=239 |year=2006|publisher=Globe Pequot Press|location=Guilford, CT|isbn=978-0762741014|last2=Brooks |first2=Jonathan |oclc= 70284362}}</ref> His grave marker reads [[Swinging on a Star]].<ref>{{find a Grave|3218|James "Jimmy" Van Heusen}}</ref> ==Academy Awards== Van Heusen was nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Song]] 14 times in 12 different years (in both 1945 and 1964 he was nominated for two songs), and won four times: in 1944, 1957, 1959, and 1963.<ref name = AcademyAward /> ;Wins * 1944 β "[[Swinging on a Star]]" (lyrics by [[Johnny Burke (lyricist)|Johnny Burke]]) for ''[[Going My Way]]'' * 1957 β "[[All the Way (Frank Sinatra song)|All the Way]]" (lyrics by [[Sammy Cahn]]) for ''[[The Joker Is Wild]]'' * 1959 β "[[High Hopes (1959 song)|High Hopes]]" (lyrics by Sammy Cahn) for ''[[A Hole in the Head]]'' * 1963 β "[[Call Me Irresponsible]]" (lyrics by Sammy Cahn) for ''[[Papa's Delicate Condition]]'' ;Nominations * 1945 β "Sleigh Ride in July" (lyrics by [[Johnny Burke (lyricist)|Johnny Burke]]) from the film ''[[Belle of the Yukon]]'' * 1945 β "[[Aren't You Glad You're You?]]" (lyrics by Johnny Burke) from the film ''[[The Bells of St. Mary's|Bells of St. Mary's]]'' * 1955 β "[[(Love Is) The Tender Trap]]" (lyrics by Sammy Cahn) introduced by Frank Sinatra and [[Debbie Reynolds]] in the film ''[[The Tender Trap (film)|The Tender Trap]]'' * 1958 β "To Love and Be Loved" (lyrics by Sammy Cahn) for the film ''[[Some Came Running (film)|Some Came Running]]'' * 1960 β "[[The Second Time Around (1960 song)|The Second Time Around]]" (lyrics by Sammy Cahn) for the film ''[[High Time (film)|High Time]]'' * 1961 β "Pocketful of Miracles" (lyrics by Sammy Cahn) for the film ''[[Pocketful of Miracles]]'' * 1964 β "Where Love Has Gone" (lyrics by Sammy Cahn) for the film ''[[Where Love Has Gone (film)|Where Love Has Gone]]''. * 1964 β "[[My Kind of Town]]" (lyrics by Sammy Cahn) for the film ''[[Robin and the 7 Hoods]]'' * 1967 β "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (lyrics by Sammy Cahn) for the film ''[[Thoroughly Modern Millie]]'' * 1968 β "Star" (lyrics by Sammy Cahn) for the film ''[[Star! (film)|Star!]]'' ==Emmy Award== He won one [[Emmy Award]] for Best Musical Contribution, for the song "[[Love and Marriage]]" (1955) (lyrics by [[Sammy Cahn]]), written for the 1955 ''[[Producers' Showcase]]'' production of ''[[Our Town (Producers' Showcase)|Our Town]]''.<ref>{{cite web | title =Best Musical Contribution β 1956 | publisher =Academy of Television Arts and Sciences |url=http://www.emmys.com/award_history_search?person=%22Van+Heusen%22&program=Producers+Showcase&start_year=1954&end_year=1956&network=All&web_category=All&winner=All | access-date =July 26, 2012}}</ref> ==Other awards== He was nominated for a [[Grammy Award]] in 1965 for Best Musical Score Written for a Motion Picture or TV show for ''[[Robin and the Seven Hoods]]''. He was also nominated for three Tony awards: * Best Musical in 1966 for ''[[Skyscraper (musical)|Skyscraper]]'' * Best Musical in 1967 for ''[[Walking Happy]]'' * Best Composer and Lyricist in 1967 ''[[Walking Happy]]'' He was nominated three times for a [[Golden Globe Award]]. * 1965 β "Where Love Has Gone" (lyrics by [[Sammy Cahn]]) for the film ''[[Where Love Has Gone (film)|Where Love Has Gone]]'' * 1968 β "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (lyrics by [[Sammy Cahn]]) for the film ''[[Thoroughly Modern Millie]]''. * 1969 β "Star" (lyrics by [[Sammy Cahn]]) for the film ''[[Star! (film)|Star!]]''. He won a [[Christopher Award]] in 1955 for the song "Love and Marriage". ==Namesakes== * [[Bob Hope]]'s character in ''[[The Road to Hong Kong]]'' (1962) is named Chester Babcock, in reference to Van Heusen's birth name. ==Songs== ===With lyricist [[Sammy Cahn]]=== {{div col}} * "[[Ain't That a Kick in the Head]]" * "All For One and One For All" * "All My Tomorrows" * "[[All the Way (Frank Sinatra song)|All the Way]]" * "The Auction" * "Bang! Bang!" * "B-R-A-N-E" * "California" * "[[Call Me Irresponsible]]" * "Charlotte Couldn't Charleston" * "Clog and Grog" * "Come Blow Your Horn" * "[[Come Dance with Me (song)|Come Dance with Me]]" * "[[Come Fly with Me (1957 song)|Come Fly with Me]]" * "Come on Strong" * "Come Waltz with Me" * "Don't Worry" * "Eee-O Eleven" * "An Elephant Never Forgets" * "Everybody Has the Right to Be Wrong!" * "A Faraway Land" * "The Gaiety" * "Haute Couture" * "H-E-A-R-T" * "[[High Hopes (1959 song)|High Hopes]]" * "The Horse on the Carousel" * "How Are Ya' Fixed For Love?" * "How D'ya Talk to a Girl" * "I Don't Think I'm In Love" * "I Like to Lead When I Dance" * "I Wouldn't Trade Christmas" * "I'll Make a Man of the Man" * "I'll Only Miss Her When I Think of Her" * "If I Be Your Best Chance" * "If You're Gonna be A Witch, Be A Witch" * "The Impatient Years" * "Incurably Romantic" * "Indiscreet" * "It Gets Lonely Early" * "It Might As Well Be Her" * "It's Nice to Go Trav'ling" * "A Joyful Thing" * "Keep a Happy Thought" * "The Last Dance" * "Let's Make Love" * "Local 403" * "The Look of Love" * "Look to Your Heart" * "[[Love and Marriage]]" * "[[(Love Is) The Tender Trap]]" * "The Man with the Golden Arm" * "More Than One Way" * "Mr. Booze" * "[[My Kind of Town]]" * "N-E-R-V-E" * "Nobody's Perfect" * "Nothing in Common" (with [[Keely Smith]]) * "Occasional Flight of Fancy" * "An Old-Fashioned Christmas" * "Only the Lonely" * "Opposites" * "Our Town" * "People Who Are Nice" * "Pocketful Of Miracles" * "Return to the Land of Oz" * "[[Ring-a-Ding Ding!]]" * "Run For Your Life!" * "The Same Old Song and Dance" (with [[Bobby Worth]]) * "The Second Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World" * "The Second Time Around" * "[[The Secret of Christmas]]" * "[[September of My Years]]" * "Sleigh Ride in July" * "Spare That Building" * "Specialization" * "Star!" * "Style" * "Such a Sociable Sort" * "That Feeling for Home" * "The Tapioca" * "There's Love and There's Love and There's Love" * "They Came to Cordura" * "Think of Something Else" * "Thoroughly Modern Millie" * "To Love and Be Loved" * "Use Your Noggin" * "Walking Happy" * "What Makes It Happen" * "When Somebody Loves You" * "When No One Cares" * "Where Love Has Gone" * "Where Was I" * "Who Was That Lady?" * "Wrong!" * "You Can't Love 'Em All" * "You Have Only You" * "You Never Had It So Good" * "You're Right, You're Right" {{div col end}} ===With lyricist [[Johnny Burke (lyricist)|Johnny Burke]]=== {{div col}} * "[[Aren't You Glad You're You?]]" * "[[But Beautiful (song)|But Beautiful]]" * "Busy Doing Nothing" * "[[Going My Way]]" * "[[Here's That Rainy Day]]" (from ''[[Carnival in Flanders (musical)|Carnival in Flanders]]'') * "[[Imagination (1940 song)|Imagination]]" * "[[It Could Happen to You (song)|It Could Happen to You]]" * "[[It's Always You]]" * "[[Like Someone in Love]]" * "Life Is So Peculiar" * "[[Moonlight Becomes You (song)|Moonlight Becomes You]]"<ref name=pc1a/> * "[[Oh, You Crazy Moon]]" * "[[Personality (1946 song)|Personality]]" * "[[Polka Dots and Moonbeams]]" * "[[Sunday, Monday, or Always]]" * "[[Swinging on a Star]]" * "That Christmas Feeling" * "Welcome To My Dream" * "[[(We're Off on the) Road to Morocco]]" * "You Lucky People You" * "You May Not Love Me" * "A Friend Of Yours" * "You're In Love With Someone"{{div col end}} ===With lyricist [[Eddie DeLange]]=== * "All I Remember Is You" * "[[All This and Heaven Too (song)|All This and Heaven Too]]" * "[[Darn That Dream]]" * "Deep in a Dream" * "Heaven Can Wait" * "I'm Good for Nothing (But Love)"<ref>[http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt5s20204k Online Archive of California (OAC)]. Finding Aid for the Jimmy Van Heusen Collection of Musical Works and Papers 1853-1994, bulk 1939-1972.</ref> * "Shake Down the Stars" * "So Help Me" ===With others=== * "Blue Rain" (lyrics by [[Johnny Mercer]]) * "Far Away" (lyrics by David Kapp) * "I Could Have Told You" (lyrics by [[Carl Sigman]]) * "[[I Thought About You]]" (lyrics by Johnny Mercer) * "[[It's the Dreamer in Me]]" (lyrics by Jimmy Van Heusen; music by [[Jimmy Dorsey]]) * "[[Nancy (With the Laughing Face)]]" (lyrics by [[Phil Silvers]]) * "Not as a Stranger" (lyrics by [[Buddy Kaye]]) * "Sha-Sha" King / Kutz (minor hit for The Andrews Sisters and Jimmy Dorsey 1938) ===Independent=== * "It's 1200 miles from Palm Springs to Texas"<ref>{{OCLC|498384972}}</ref> ==Notes== {{Reflist|30em}} ==References== * [[James Kaplan]] (2010). ''Frank: The Voice'', pp. 49, 666β669. * [[Wilfred Sheed]] (2007). ''The House That George Built'', "Jimmy Van Heusen: On The Radio With Bing and Frank" pp. 225β251. * [[Alec Wilder]] (1990). ''American Popular Song'', "The Great Craftsmen: Jimmy Van Heusen" pp. 442β451. * William Ruhlmann (2001). [https://web.archive.org/web/20150329162217/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3491813269.html "Van Heusen, James βJimmyβ (originally, Babcock, Edward Chester)."] ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians''. Gale. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20081207195804/http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/C100?exhibitId=100 Songwriters Hall Of Fame Website] * [https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/08/obituaries/jimmy-van-heusen-is-dead-at-77-prolific-composer-of-pop-songs.html ''New York Times'' Obituary, February 8, 1990] ==External links== * {{Official website|http://www.jimmyvanheusen.com}} * {{IMDb name|id=0006329|name=Jimmy Van Heusen}} * {{IBDB name}} {{AcademyAwardBestOriginalSong 1941β1950}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Heusen, Jimmy}} [[Category:1913 births]] [[Category:1990 deaths]] [[Category:American musical theatre composers]] [[Category:American male musical theatre composers]] [[Category:Best Original Song Academy Awardβwinning songwriters]] [[Category:Broadway composers and lyricists]] [[Category:Burials at Desert Memorial Park]] [[Category:Cazenovia College alumni]] [[Category:Nottingham High School (New York) alumni]] [[Category:Musicians from Syracuse, New York]] [[Category:Songwriters from New York (state)]] [[Category:Syracuse University alumni]] [[Category:People with hypochondriasis]] [[Category:20th-century American pianists]] [[Category:20th-century American composers]] [[Category:American male pianists]] [[Category:20th-century American male musicians]] [[Category:American male songwriters]] [[Category:20th-century American songwriters]]
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