Arthur Freed

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Arthur Freed was born Arthur Grossman in 1894 in Charleston, South Carolina. He began as a song plugger and pianist in Chicago, sang for a while in the act of the Marx Brothers and then wrote songs. At the film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer he wrote lyrics for films for years, often to music by Nacio Herb Brown. His song I Cried for You, written with Gus Arnheim and Abe Lyman, has become a standard.

Music and breakthrough

In 1939 he worked uncredited on The Wizard of Oz as assistant to the producer. After that he was given his own unit within MGM and turned the studio into the biggest maker of film musicals. His first film as a producer was Babes in Arms, with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. Freed brought people from Broadway to Hollywood, among them Vincente Minnelli, Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Roger Edens. He advanced the careers of Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Lena Horne and brought Fred Astaire back for Easter Parade. Singin' in the Rain also came from his production, with songs that he himself had written earlier.

Influence

Freed gave his directors and choreographers a great deal of freedom, which was unusual at the time. Thus An American in Paris of 1951 got a fifteen-minute ballet as its finale, and Lerner and Loewe were given complete control over Gigi of 1958. Both films won the Oscar for Best Picture. Freed left MGM in 1961. Without his work the film musical of the 1940s and 1950s would have looked different, and many songs from those films live on in jazz and popular music.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1995Ziegfeld Follies

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• The Dream Factory: Film Reel 1^NL Reader
• The Dream Factory: Film Reel 4^NL Reader

Mentioned in other articles

• Filmmusical GenreAt MGM, the producer Arthur Freed built up a musical department of his own.

See also

• Filmmusical