Mack Gordon

Of Jewish heritage, Gordon was born in Grodno (modern-day western Belarus), then part of the Russian Empire. He emigrated with his mother and older brother to New York City in May 1907;{{cite book|title=The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Guinness Publishing|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|page=1003}} the ship they sailed on was the S/S Bremen; their destination was to his father in Guttenberg, New Jersey. Gordon appeared in vaudeville as an actor and singer in the late 1920s and early 1930s, but his songwriting talents were always paramount.

He formed a partnership with English pianist Harry Revel that lasted throughout the 1930s. In the 1940s he worked with a string of other composers including Harry Warren. Gordon was active in the Hollywood chapter of ASCAP and according to fellow songwriter Frank Loesser, frequently the most passionate and voluble at their meetings.Loesser, Susan (1993).: A Most Remarkable Fella: Frank Loesser and the Guys and Dolls in His Life. New York: Donald I. Fine. {{ISBN|0-634-00927-3}}, quoting from a contemporary letter of his to Lynn Loesser, August 1937, p. 34, n.12.

The Internet Movie Database gives credit to Gordon for songs used in the soundtrack of over 100 films, with Gordon writing specifically for at least 50 of them. His catalogue includes more than 120 songs sung by some of the world's most famous and talented performers such as Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Etta James, Glenn Miller, Barbra Streisand, Mel Tormé, Christina Aguilera and many more. His close friendship with many of his artists (such as Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack) and his ability to write lyrics that were timeless, allowed him to become one of the most famous members of the world of music and a legendary lyricist.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}} His exhibit in the Songwriters Hall of Fame says he was "arguably one of the most successful lyricists to write for the screen".

Gordon died in 1959. He is entombed in the Corridor of Immortality at Home of Peace Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

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• "A Lady Loves"
• "A Star Fell Out of Heaven"
• "A Tree Was a Tree"
• "All About Love"
• "An Old Straw Hat"
• "An Orchid to You"
• "Ain'tcha"
• "At Last"
• "Baby, Won't You Say You Love Me"
• "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" – nominee for 1941 Academy Award for Best Original Song{{cite web|title=Mack Gordon|url=http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=1373909583585|work=Academy Awards Database|publisher=The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|access-date=July 16, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130717082810/http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=1373909583585|archive-date=July 17, 2013}}
• "Cigarettes, Cigars"
• "Danger, Love at Work"
• "Did You Ever See a Dream Walking?"
• "Doin' the Uptown Lowdown"
• "Down Argentine Way" – nominee for 1940 Academy Award for Best Original Song
• "From the Top of Your Head to the Tip of Your Toes"
• "Goodnight My Love"
• "Help Yourself to Happiness"
• "I Can't Begin to Tell You" – nominee for 1946 Academy Award for Best Original Song
• "I Feel Like a Feather in the Breeze"
• "I Had the Craziest Dream"
• "I Played Fiddle for the Czar"
• "I Wish I Knew"
• "I, Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi (I Like You Very Much)"
• "I'm Making Believe" – nominee for 1944 Academy Award for Best Original Song
• "I've Got a Date With a Dream"
• "I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo" – nominee for 1942 Academy Award for Best Original Song
• "If You Feel Like Singing, Sing"
• "In Old Chicago"
• "It Happened In Sun Valley"
• "It Happens Every Spring"
• "It Was a Night in June"
• "It's Swell of You"
• "Listen to the German Band"
• {{anchor|Lookie, Lookie, Lookie, Here Comes Cookie}}"Lookie, Lookie, Lookie, Here Comes Cookie"
• "Love Thy Neighbor"
• "Mam'selle"
• "May I?"
• "My Heart is an Open Book"
• "My Heart Tells Me"
• "Never in a Million Years"
• "On the Boardwalk at Atlantic City"
• "Once in a Blue Moon"
• "Once Too Often"
• "Paris in the Spring"
• "Serenade in Blue"
• "She Reminds Me of You"
• "Somebody Soon"
• "Somewhere in the Night"
• "Stay As Sweet As You Are"
• "Sunny Southern Smile"
• "Takes Two to Make a Bargain"
• "Thanks for Everything"
• "The More I See You"
• "There Will Never Be Another You"
• "There's a Lull in My Life"
• "Through a Long and Sleepless Night" – nominee for 1949 Academy Award for Best Original Song
• "Time on My Hands"
• "Underneath the Harlem Moon"
• "What Did I Do?"
• "When I'm With You"
• "Wilhelmina" – nominee for 1950 Academy Award for Best Original Song
• "Without a Word of Warning"
• "With My Eyes Wide Open, I'm Dreaming"
• "You Do" – nominee for 1947 Academy Award for Best Original Song
• "You Make Me Feel So Young"
• "You Say the Sweetest Things Baby"
• "You'll Never Know" – winner for 1943 Academy Award for Best Original Song, from Hello, Frisco, Hello

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• Fast and Furious (1931) – revue – primary lyricist
• Smiling Faces (1932) – musical – lyricist
• Strike Me Pink (1933) – revue – contributing dialogue-writer

{{Reflist}}

• {{Discogs artist}}
• {{IMDb name|0330418}}
• [http://songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/C220 Mack Gordon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131225054457/http://songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/C220 |date=2013-12-25 }} in the Songwriters Hall of Fame
• {{IBDB name|12906}}
• [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/105071 Mack Gordon recordings] at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.

{{AcademyAwardBestOriginalSong 1941–1950}}

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Category:1904 births

Category:1959 deaths

Category:Best Original Song Academy Award–winning songwriters

Category:Jewish American songwriters

Category:Vaudeville performers

Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States

Category:20th-century American musicians

Category:Jews from the Russian Empire

Category:Burials at Home of Peace Cemetery

Category:Glenn Miller Orchestra members

Category:20th-century American Jews