Sammy Cahn

Sammy Cahn

Born: June 18, 1913
Died: January 15, 1993
in Lower East Side, New York City, New York, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sammy Cahn (June 18, 1913 – January 15, 1993) was an American lyricist, songwriter and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premiered by recording companies in the Greater Los Angeles Area. He and his collaborators had a series of hit recordings with Frank Sinatra during the singer's tenure at Capitol Records, but also enjoyed hits with Dean Martin, Doris Day and many others. He played the piano and violin. He won the Academy Award four times for his songs, including the popular song "Three Coins in the Fountain".

Among his most enduring songs is "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", cowritten with Jule Styne in 1945.

Cahn was born Samuel Cohen in the Lower East Side of New York City, the only son (he had four sisters) of Abraham and Elka Reiss Cohen, who were Jewish immigrants from Galicia, then ruled by Austria-Hungary. His sisters, Sadye, Pearl, Florence, and Evelyn, all studied the piano. His mother did not approve of Sammy studying it though, feeling that the piano was a woman's instrument, so he took violin lessons. After three lessons, he joined a small dixieland band called Pals of Harmony, which toured the Catskill Mountains in the summer and also played at private parties. This new dream of Cahn's destroyed any hopes his parents had for him to be a professional man.

Some of the side jobs he had were playing violin in a theater-pit orchestra, working at a meat-packing plant, serving as a movie-house usher, tinsmith, freight-elevator operator, restaurant cashier, and porter at a bindery. At age 16, he was watching vaudeville, of which he had been a fan since the age of 10, and he witnessed Jack Osterman singing a ballad Osterman had written. Cahn was inspired and, on his way home from the theater, wrote his first lyric, which was titled "Like Niagara Falls, I'm Falling for You – Baby." Years later he would say "I think a sense of vaudeville is very strong in anything I do, anything I write. They even call it 'a vaudeville finish,' and it comes through in many of my songs. Just sing the end of 'All the Way' or 'Three Coins in the Fountain'—'Make it mine, make it mine, MAKE IT MINE!' If you let people know they should applaud, they will applaud."

Cahn became a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972. He later became president.

Cahn died on January 15, 1993, at the age of 79 in Los Angeles, California from heart failure. His remains were interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.

He was married twice: first to vocalist and former Goldwyn girl Gloria Delson in 1945, with whom he had two children, and later, in 1970, to Virginia Curtis.

Over the course of his career, he was nominated for 31 Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, and an Emmy Award. He also received a Grammy Award nomination, with Van Heusen. He won the Christopher Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, and the Theatre World Award.

In 1988, the Sammy Film Music Awards (the "Sammy"), an annual award for movie songs and scores, was started in his honor.

Movies for Sammy Cahn...

Frank Sinatra: The Voice of Our Time
Title: Frank Sinatra: The Voice of Our Time
Released: January 1, 1990
Type: Movie
Mel Tormé hosts this retrospective of the most prolific period of Frank Sinatra’s career from the beginning to mid-60s. Told through interviews with colleagues and entertainment experts along with clips from live performances, film and TV.
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Title: This Is Your Life
Character: Self
Released: September 24, 1983
Type: TV
This Is Your Life is the second revival of the reality series of the same name. The 1983 version is hosted by Joseph Campanella.
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Frank Sinatra: The First 40 Years
Title: Frank Sinatra: The First 40 Years
Character: Self
Released: December 13, 1979
Type: Movie
Gala tribute to the Chairman of the Board.
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That's Entertainment, Part II
Title: That's Entertainment, Part II
Character: Himself - Host
Released: May 16, 1976
Type: Movie
Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time including comedy and drama as well as classic musical numbers.
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Joys
Title: Joys
Character: Self
Released: March 5, 1976
Type: Movie
Over fifty of the greatest living comedians are called to a party at Bob Hope's house, where each of them is systematically killed (and their bodies thrown in Hope's pool!). Hope and the rapidly shrinking cast try to discover who is the mysterious killer known only as "Joys."
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Title: Great Performances
Character: Self
Released: January 28, 1971
Type: TV
The best in the performing arts from across America and around the world including a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.
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Title: The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Character: Self
Released: October 1, 1962
Type: TV
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
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Big Night Out: The Peggy Lee Show
Title: Big Night Out: The Peggy Lee Show
Released: August 26, 1961
Type: Movie
Peggy Lee hosts an all-star cast and sings a number of her signature songs.
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Title: The Oscars
Character: Self
Released: March 19, 1953
Type: TV
An annual American awards ceremony honoring cinematic achievements in the film industry. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette, officially the Academy Award of Merit, that is better known by its nickname Oscar.
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Title: The Ed Sullivan Show
Character: Self - Singer
Released: June 20, 1948
Type: TV
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie, which ran only one season and was eventually replaced by other shows. In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.