Jule Styne

Songwriter

  • Born: December 31, 1905
  • Birthplace: London, England
  • Died: September 20, 1994
  • Place of death: New York, New York

Styne’s songs from his early days in Hollywood to his successful run on Broadway are firmly established in the popular repertoire. Styne updated the book musical, adapting his style to meet the changing times and audiences.

The Life

Jule Styne (jewl stin) was born Julius Kerwin Stein, the son of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants who moved to Chicago from London when Styne was eight. He was a child prodigy on the piano, and during his teens he played in bands and clubs. Styne moved to Hollywood in the 1930’s, where he began his career as a coach and an arranger for actors Alice Faye and Shirley Temple, among others. His first songs at Paramount Pictures were written with Frank Loesser, but when Styne moved to Republic Studios, he began a long, although not exclusive, collaboration with Sammy Cahn that led to fifteen number-one songs, including “Three Coins in the Fountain,” “I’ll Walk Alone,” and “Time After Time.” Styne’s first Broadway show, High Button Shoes, written with choreographer Jerome Robbins, was a hit, and it ran for more than two years. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes made Carol Channing a star. Styne began a long and successful collaboration with Betty Comden and Adolph Green in 1951. Their 1956 hit Bells Are Ringing featured Judy Holliday, and it introduced the hit song “Just in Time,” the music for which Styne had been playing as a party song until Comden and Green came up with lyrics for it. Styne’s biggest hits were Gypsy (written with Stephen Sondheim) and Funny Girl (for which he teamed with Bob Merrill). His last songs were written for the short-lived Broadway adaptation of The Red Shoes. Styne died of heart failure in 1994 at the age of eighty-eight.

The Music

In contrast to other Broadway composers’ works, Styne’s music often had a big band sound, probably the result of his work in clubs and bands as a teenager and his extensive work in films. His scores in the late 1950’s begin to show a sensitivity (“The Party’s Over”) that led to the raw depth of emotion in Gypsy and Funny Girl.

Early Works. Styne’s film work is usually remembered for his more nostalgic songs, such as “Three Coins in the Fountain,” “I Fall in Love Too Easily,” and “The Things We Did Last Summer.” However, he also produced brassy showstoppers, such as “There’s Nothing Rougher than Love” and the delightful novelty song “10,432 Sheep.” Gypsy.Styne created a tour de force for singer Ethel Merman in Gypsy, based on the life of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee and her domineering stage mother. More than the songs in his earlier shows such as Bells Are Ringing, the songs in this show reflect Styne’s work in film: the dance swing of “All I Need Is the Girl,” the brass of “You Gotta Have a Gimmick,” the quiet moments of “Little Lamb” and “Small World,” and the song that became Merman’s trademark, “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.” Her turbulent showstopper “Rose’s Turn” was added late in development of the show. Styne composed the music first, and Sondheim had to fit his lyrics to the composer’s symphonic-like monologue. Styne tried this type of onstage confessional again in his next show, Do Re Mi, in Phil Silvers’s “All of My Life.” Funny Girl.Two of Styne’s most famous songs were written for Barbra Streisand, who proved to be an ideal interpreter of his music in the Broadway hit Funny Girl. “People” is a soaring, heartfelt ballad that reveals a seldom-seen side of Styne. The fist-shaking brassiness of “Don’t Rain on My Parade” echoes Styne’s early film work for Doris Day and others. At the same time, Styne could return to themes in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Bells Are Ringing for the sexual tango of “You Are Woman.” The composer was not happy with the film version, which jettisoned two top-notch numbers, “Who Are You Now” and “The Music That Makes Me Dance,” so Streisand could sing songs made popular by Fanny Brice, the “funny girl” of the title.

Hallelujah, Baby!Styne received his only Tony Award for Hallelujah, Baby! This was likely a consolation prize, since his earlier hits had faced stiff competition in the years they were nominated: Gypsy went up against The Sound of Music (1959), and Funny Girl went up against Hello, Dolly! (1964). Arthur Laurents’s book, which deals with racial relations through the curious conceit of characters who do not age more than a half century, was too preachy for many audiences, and Comden and Green’s lyrics are little more than serviceable. “My Own Morning,” the protagonist Georgina’s opening number, echoes songs in Gypsy and Funny Girl as she daydreams about what the future holds. “Being Good,” which closes the act, tries to recapture the success of “People” without the earlier song’s emotional punch. The title song, in the second act, has a 1960’s swing, but it is symptomatic of the uninspired quality of Styne’s score.

Musical Legacy

Styne was one of the most prolific songwriters of his generation, with fifteen hundred published songs. Styne did not produce a distinctive sound; rather, he molded his music to the requirements of the words. Styne composed soaring ballads such as “People” as well as volcanic tour de forces such as “Rose’s Turn” and comedy numbers such as “What’s New at the Zoo.” He was known for his affinity for the female voice, and he usually crafted his shows around the female star. The composer won one Academy Award and one Tony Award, although he had multiple nominations in both areas. Nevertheless, his songs are still firmly entrenched in the popular repertoire, as evidenced by reworkings of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” by Madonna and by Nicole Kidman in the Baz Luhrmann film Moulin Rouge (2001). Styne received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1990.

Principal Works

musical theater (music): High Button Shoes, 1947 (libretto by Stephen Longstreet; music and lyrics by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn); Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 1949 (libretto by Joseph Fields and Anita Loos; lyrics by Leo Robin); Two on the Aisle, 1951 (libretto and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green); Hazel Flagg, 1953 (libretto by Ben Hecht; lyrics by Bob Hilliard); Bells Are Ringing, 1956 (libretto and lyrics by Comden and Green); Say, Darling, 1958 (libretto by Richard Bissell, Abe Burrows, and Marian Bissell; lyrics by Comden and Green); Gypsy, 1959 (libretto by Arthur Laurents; lyrics by Stephen Sondheim); Do Re Mi, 1960 (libretto by Garson Kanin; lyrics by Comden and Green); Subways Are for Sleeping, 1961 (libretto and lyrics by Comden and Green); Fade Out—Fade In, 1964 (libretto and lyrics by Comden and Green); Funny Girl, 1964 (libretto by Isobel Lennart; lyrics by Bob Merrill); Hallelujah, Baby!, 1967 (libretto by Laurents; lyrics by Comden and Green); Darling of the Day, 1968 (libretto by Nunally Johnson; lyrics by E. Y. Harburg); Look to the Lilies, 1970 (libretto by Leonard Spigelgass; lyrics by Cahn); Sugar, 1972 (libretto by Peter Stone; lyrics by Merrill); Lorelei, 1974 (libretto by Kenny Solms and Gail Parent; lyrics by Comden and Green); One Night Stand, 1980 (libretto and lyrics by Herb Gardner); The Red Shoes, 1993 (libretto by Marsha Norman; lyrics by Norman and Paul Stryker).

songs (music; lyrics by Sammy Cahn): “I’ll Walk Alone,” 1944; “I Fall in Love Too Easily,” 1945; “The Things We Did Last Summer,” 1946; “Time After Time,” 1947; “There’s Nothing Rougher than Love,” 1949; “10, 432 Sheep,” 1950; “Three Coins in the Fountain,” 1954.

Bibliography

Cahn, Sammy. I Should Care: The Sammy Cahn Story. New York: Arbor House, 1974. Styne’s longtime and arguably most important collaborator recalls their work together in motion pictures. Cahn’s book contains an important firsthand account of Styne’s pre-Broadway days.

Mordden, Ethan. Coming Up Roses: The Broadway Musical in the 1950’s. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Mordden is well known for his encyclopedic and catty surveys of Broadway musicals. This volume sheds light on the creation of and original performances of two of Styne’s most important shows, Bells Are Ringing and Gypsy.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Open a New Window: The Broadway Musical in the 1960’s. New York: Macmillan, 2002. Mordden’s survey of the decade is an important source for readers interested in the Broadway version of Funny Girl, but he gives Hallelujah, Baby! only a cursory nod.

Taylor, Theodore. Jule: The Story of Jule Styne. New York: Random House, 1979. This is a typical popular-style musical biography, but it is not the final word, since the composer lived for fifteen more years.

Wilk, Max. They’re Playing Our Song: Conversations with America’s Classic Songwriters. New York: Da Capo Press, 1997. Styne wrote the preface for this collection of conversations with many illustrious songwriters, and he takes center stage in the chapter “People Who Need People.” Wilk’s book is important for Styne’s extended account of his career as well as for the profiles of other composers.