Gus Kahn (November 6, 1886 – October 8, 1941) was a prolific, consistently successful lyric writer in Tin Pan Alley, on Broadway, and in Hollywood for more than 30 years.
Kahn was born Gustav Gerson Kahn in Coblenz, Germany, the son of Isaac Kahn, a cattle rancher, and Theresa Mayer. He immigrated to the United States with his family in 1890. The family finally settled in Chicago, Illinois, where Kahn began writing songs while in high school. After graduating he worked as a clerk in a mail order business before launching one of the most successful and prolific careers from Tin Pan Alley.
His first song, “My Dreamy China Lady” (music by Egbert Van Alstyne), was published when he was twenty-one. For a time Kahn contributed specialty lyrics to the material of several vaudevillians and worked at a hotel supply firm. He collaborated with Grace LeBoy on some songs that brought his first success. Their first major hit, “I Wish I Had a Girl,” written in 1908, led to eventual collaborations with virtually every composer of popular music of the day. Kahn and LeBoy were married in August 1915, settled in New York City, and subsequently had a son and a daughter, Donald and Irene.
In 1913 he began a productive partnership with the well-established composer Egbert Van Alstyne, with whom he created several notable hits of the era, including "Memories" and, along with Tony Jackson, "Pretty Baby." Later, he began writing lyrics for composer and bandleader Isham Jones. This partnership led to one of Kahn's best-known works, "I'll See You in My Dreams," which became the title of a 1951 movie based on his life, starring Danny Thomas as Kahn and Doris Day as his wife, Grace LeBoy Kahn.
Throughout the 1920s, Kahn continued to contribute to Broadway scores such as Holka Polka (1925), Kitty's Kisses (1926), Artists and Models (1927), Whoopee! (1928) and Show Girl (1929). He went on to write song lyrics for several movies, primarily for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. By 1933, Kahn had become a full-time motion picture songwriter, contributing to movies such as Flying Down to Rio, Thanks a Million, Kid Millions, A Day at the Races, Everybody Sing, One Night of Love, Three Smart Girls, Let's Sing Again, San Francisco, Naughty Marietta, and Ziegfeld Girl.
Gus and Donald out for a spin.
He also collaborated with co-lyricist Ira Gershwin and with some of the finest composers, including Grace LeBoy Kahn (his wife), Richard A. Whiting, Buddy DeSylva, Al Jolson, Raymond Egan, Ted Fio Rito, Ernie Erdman, Neil Moret, Vincent Youmans, George Gershwin, Harry Akst, Harry M. Woods, Edward Eliscu, Victor Schertzinger, Arthur Johnston, Bronisław Kaper, Walter Jurmann, Sigmund Romberg, and Harry Warren, though his primary collaborator was Walter Donaldson. He had a long friendship with Walter Donaldson. Their first collaboration was the song My Buddy in 1922. They went on to compose over one hundred songs together.
Gus Kahn had been writing hit songs since 1914, with dozens in his portfolio. One thing Kahn hadn’t done was collaborate with Jerome Kern, the greatest composer of the era. He finally got his chance with Day Dreaming, published as an independent song. Ironically, it turned out to be Kahn’s last, as he less than a month before it was recorded.
He died in Beverly Hills, California, on October 8, 1941, of a heart attack at age 54. He was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. He was survived by his son, songwriter and musician Donald Kahn, who died at the age of 89 on April 11, 2008, in Beverly Hills, California. His papers are housed at the Great American Songbook Foundation.
Gus Kahn’s catalogue contained some of the greatest collections of songs from the first half of the 20th century, and it is for this reason that he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970, nearly 30 years after his death.
Gus Kahn's most famous songs include: "My Buddy" (1922) with music by Walter Donaldson, "It Had To Be You" (1924) with music by Isham Jones, and "Makin' Whoopee" (1928) with music by Walter Donaldson. Kahn was also the lyricist for the Ted Healy/Three Stooges short film Beer and Pretzels (1933), with music by Al Goodhart. Kahn has been incorrectly associated with the song "Side by Side" which has words and music by Harry Woods.
While some of his songs may seem dated, Kahn’s work still crosses musical boundaries. “Dream a Little Dream of Me” (1931), for instance, was introduced by the Wayne King orchestra, popularized by Kate Smith, picked up by Frankie Laine in 1950, recorded by both Louis Armstrong and the Mamas and Papas in 1968, and appeared on the soundtrack of Beautiful Thing (1996).
(Edited from Wikipedia & American National Biography.)