Five Foot Two, Eyes Of Blue
Ray Henderson
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Browse piano sheets by Ray Henderson on Zen Virtual Piano. Raymond Brost, who became Ray Henderson, was born on December 1, 1896, and both his parents were musicians. His mother gave him piano lessons and he played organ at church. Private study in Buffalo came first; later he seems to have studied more formally, though accounts differ, perhaps at the Chicago Conservatory of Music. Parents who were musicians and lessons from his mother hint at how naturally music entered his childhood. Around 1918 he moved to New York and became a song plugger, staff pianist and arranger at a series of music publishers, building contacts that allowed him to turn to songwriting. Lew Brown, a lyricist, was introduced to him in 1922, and in 1925 the two joined the lyricist Buddy De Sylva, forming a songwriting and publishing trio. Piano lessons from his mother and later work as a staff pianist hint at a keyboard thread running through his career. Contacts built at publishers, followed by an introduction to Lew Brown in 1922, hint at how a business apprenticeship led to a partnership. He is best known as the composing member of De Sylva, Brown and Henderson; nine Broadway shows and four Hollywood movies carried the team's songs between 1925 and 1931, which made it the period's most successful partnership. Timely, upbeat numbers were the trio's specialty, among them The Best Things in Life Are Free, You're the Cream in My Coffee and Button Up Your Overcoat. Henderson wrote the music for Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue, with lyrics by Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young. A team built from one composer and two lyricists suggests how songwriting could be divided among specialists. Songs carried by shows and movies alike hint at material that worked across different media. Mort Dixon, Sam Lewis, Joe Young, Billy Rose, Ted Koehler, Jack Yellen and Irving Caesar were further lyricists who worked with him, besides Brown and De Sylva. The publishing firm that De Sylva, Brown and Henderson founded in 1925 was sold in 1929, when the three went to Hollywood on a Fox contract; in March 1931 the team split up, De Sylva staying in Hollywood to pursue a career as a producer and Brown and Henderson going back to New York. ASCAP made him a director from 1942 to 1951, and in 1943 he and Yellen wrote the songs for a Ziegfeld Follies starring Milton Berle. Composing more or less ended for him in the late 1940s, and he worked on an opera he never finished; the revue It's the Cherries, built from his music, opened in New York City in 2000 as the first show of the American Composer Series. Songs for a 1943 Ziegfeld Follies hint at stage work that continued after the trio parted. A move to Hollywood in 1929 followed by a split in March 1931 suggests the partnership did not outlast that change of setting.
Browse piano sheets by Ray Henderson on Zen Virtual Piano.
Raymond Brost, who became Ray Henderson, was born on December 1, 1896, and both his parents were musicians. His mother gave him piano lessons and he played organ at church. Private study in Buffalo came first; later he seems to have studied more formally, though accounts differ, perhaps at the Chicago Conservatory of Music. Parents who were musicians and lessons from his mother hint at how naturally music entered his childhood.
Around 1918 he moved to New York and became a song plugger, staff pianist and arranger at a series of music publishers, building contacts that allowed him to turn to songwriting. Lew Brown, a lyricist, was introduced to him in 1922, and in 1925 the two joined the lyricist Buddy De Sylva, forming a songwriting and publishing trio. Piano lessons from his mother and later work as a staff pianist hint at a keyboard thread running through his career. Contacts built at publishers, followed by an introduction to Lew Brown in 1922, hint at how a business apprenticeship led to a partnership.
He is best known as the composing member of De Sylva, Brown and Henderson; nine Broadway shows and four Hollywood movies carried the team's songs between 1925 and 1931, which made it the period's most successful partnership. Timely, upbeat numbers were the trio's specialty, among them The Best Things in Life Are Free, You're the Cream in My Coffee and Button Up Your Overcoat. Henderson wrote the music for Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue, with lyrics by Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young. A team built from one composer and two lyricists suggests how songwriting could be divided among specialists. Songs carried by shows and movies alike hint at material that worked across different media.
Mort Dixon, Sam Lewis, Joe Young, Billy Rose, Ted Koehler, Jack Yellen and Irving Caesar were further lyricists who worked with him, besides Brown and De Sylva. The publishing firm that De Sylva, Brown and Henderson founded in 1925 was sold in 1929, when the three went to Hollywood on a Fox contract; in March 1931 the team split up, De Sylva staying in Hollywood to pursue a career as a producer and Brown and Henderson going back to New York. ASCAP made him a director from 1942 to 1951, and in 1943 he and Yellen wrote the songs for a Ziegfeld Follies starring Milton Berle. Composing more or less ended for him in the late 1940s, and he worked on an opera he never finished; the revue It's the Cherries, built from his music, opened in New York City in 2000 as the first show of the American Composer Series. Songs for a 1943 Ziegfeld Follies hint at stage work that continued after the trio parted. A move to Hollywood in 1929 followed by a split in March 1931 suggests the partnership did not outlast that change of setting.
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Common questions
Ray Henderson, born Raymond Brost, was an American songwriter and the composing member of De Sylva, Brown and Henderson.
It is a popular song with lyrics by Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young and music by Henderson, most popular in the 1920s.
They wrote songs for nine Broadway shows and four Hollywood movies between 1925 and 1931.
The team split in March 1931, with De Sylva staying in Hollywood while Brown and Henderson returned to New York.