Harry WarrenGreat <strong>America</strong>n Composerby Don FioreHarry Warren considered himselfto be an extraordinarily lucky fellow.How else could you describesomeone who had enjoyed a long andhealthy lifetime doing exactly what heloved to do, and put a fortune in the bankwhile doing it?For forty years, the songs <strong>of</strong>Harry Warren rolled out like a musicaltapestry <strong>of</strong> the times, lending new colorand definition to the changing tastes andtrends <strong>of</strong> <strong>America</strong>n popular culture.They blended into the backdrop <strong>of</strong> thefree-wheeling, Roaring Twenties, andhelped buoy the nation's careworn spiritsthrough the gloom <strong>of</strong> the Depression.When <strong>America</strong> marched <strong>of</strong>f to war,Warren's music was there to do its patrioticbit, with big bands striking up histunes in every U.S.O. dance hall, andenlisted men uamping to his beat oo theparade grounds. Into the Fifties, andeven the Sixties, the songs kept right oncoming; some to be left behind with thefading eras for which they were crafted,but many being here to stay. More thana few <strong>of</strong> Warren's titles can still ring abell even among members <strong>of</strong> GenerationX.The roll call is an excursionPerspectivesdown the lane <strong>of</strong> familiarity: You MustHave Been a Beautiful Baby ... Shuffle OffTo Buffalo ... Chattanooga Choo Choo ...I Found A Million Dollar Baby In AFive & Ten Cent Store .. JeepersCreepers ... We're In The Money .. ] OnlyHave Eyes For You ... The Atchison,Topeka and The Santa F e ... September InThe Rain ...Warren was indisputably one <strong>of</strong>the most prolific and successful songwriters<strong>of</strong> the century. But though heshared friendship and peerage with IrvingBerlin, the Gershwin brothers, and allthe other musical greats <strong>of</strong> his day, heremained a shadowy figure outside showbusiness circles. Given the popularityand sheer number <strong>of</strong> his hit tunes, thisseemed like an injustice to some. LyricistJohnny Mercer thought so, complainingthat Warren "never got any acclaim, nothalf as much as he deserved."But Warren wasn't complaining.S<strong>of</strong>t-spoken and shy, he steeredclear <strong>of</strong> the spotlight and kept a wellmarkeddistance between his private lifeand the public eye. Not the least amongthe various things that were largely onknownabout Harry Warren was that hewasn't Harry Warren at all, but SalvatoreGuaragna, the Brooklyn-born son<strong>of</strong> Italian immigrants.Warren camouflaged his realname behind phonetics friendlier to the<strong>America</strong>n tongue at some strategicpoint on his journey down the yellowbrick road, a trek that bore all the elements<strong>of</strong> the classic Hollywood successstory. The eleventh <strong>of</strong> his impoverishedparents' brood <strong>of</strong> twelve, be began lifethe bard way in the crowded tenements<strong>of</strong> tum-<strong>of</strong>-the-century New York.The ar,esome responsibility <strong>of</strong>feeding a dozen kids gave Warren's fatherlittle time to think <strong>of</strong> music. But itmust have been a real, if displaced, componentsomewhere in the seniorGuaragna' s soul, since he packed alongan accordion with his meager luggageon the boat to <strong>America</strong> It was, in fact,on this battered, old relic that little Salvatoresqueezed out his first notes.A high school drop-out, Warrentaught himself to play a variety <strong>of</strong> instrumentsand then set his sights on thebig time. The vision <strong>of</strong> better thingsahead saw him through the inevitableCHARLES RIZZO & ASSOCIATEBUILDING AND ZONING LAW CONSULTANTSELEVEN PENNSYLVANIA PLAZA I NEW YORK, NEW YORK 1 0001-2091('212) 695-5980 FAX (212) 695-6058CHARLES RIZZOSALVATORE J. COCOLICCHIOSTUART KLEIN, ESQ.GENERAL COUNSELThe <strong>Italic</strong> Way16<strong>XXII</strong>.1994
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