Herman Hupfeld

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

Herman Hupfeld was an American songwriter, born on 18 February 1894 in Montclair, New Jersey, and died on 8 June 1951. His mother was a church organist. At the age of nine he went to study violin in Germany. He graduated from high school in Montclair in 1915, joined the Navy in the First World War and then began as a songwriter. During the Second World War he performed in camps and hospitals.

Music and breakthrough

Hupfeld never wrote a complete Broadway score, but was known as someone who could write a song for a particular scene in a show. His best-known song is As Time Goes By, for which he wrote both lyrics and music. The song was intended for the 1931 show Everybody's Welcome, which ran for 139 performances, and then became a modest hit. Max Steiner did not want it in Casablanca, the 1942 film, but it was used in it anyway and became world-famous through it. Bing Crosby recorded it in 1943. Other songs of his are Sing Something Simple and When Yuba Plays the Rumba on the Tuba. Goopy Geer became the basis for a Merrie Melodies cartoon.

Influence

Hupfeld rarely performed, never married and lived with his mother until his death. That a single song from the American theatre song tradition has become so strongly tied to one film is part of his legacy.

Listening

In School of Rock

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