Mack Gordon

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

Mack Gordon was an American lyricist for stage and screen. He was born in 1904 as Morris Gittler in Grodno, which then belonged to the Russian Empire and now lies in Belarus. In 1907 he emigrated with his mother and brother to the United States, where his father lived in New Jersey. In the late 1920s and early 1930s he performed in vaudeville as an actor and singer, but his talent lay in writing song lyrics. For Broadway he made, among other things, the revue Fast and Furious in 1931.

Music and breakthrough

In the 1930s he worked with the English pianist Harry Revel. In the 1940s he wrote with other composers, including Harry Warren. His name appears on the music of more than a hundred films, for at least fifty of which he wrote specially. He was nominated nine times for an Oscar for Best Song, five years in a row from 1940 to 1944, and won with You'll Never Know. At Last and The More I See You also belong to his lasting work. They were sung by, among others, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Etta James and Barbra Streisand and are still heard in films and commercials.

Influence

Gordon was active in the Hollywood branch of the copyright organisation ASCAP. He died in 1959. His songs show how the lyrics of the film musical filled the repertoire of pop singers for decades.

Listening

In School of Rock

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