Dorothy Fields
Dorothy Fields (July 15, 1904[1] – March 28, 1974) was an American librettist and lyricist. She wrote over 400 songs for Broadway musicals and films. Her best-known pieces include "The Way You Look Tonight" (1936), "A Fine Romance" (1936), "On the Sunny Side of the Street" (1930), "Don't Blame Me" (1948), "Pick Yourself Up" (1936), "I'm in the Mood for Love" (1935), "You Couldn't Be Cuter" (1938) and "Big Spender" (1966). Throughout her career, she collaborated with various influential figures in the American musical theater, including Jerome Kern, Cy Coleman, Irving Berlin, and Jimmy McHugh. Along with Ann Ronell, Dana Suesse, Bernice Petkere, and Kay Swift, she was one of the first successful Tin Pan Alley and Hollywood female songwriters.
Dorothy Fields
July 15, 1904
March 28, 1974 (aged 69)
Eli Lahm (married 1939)
Joseph Fields (brother)
Herbert Fields (brother)
Early life[edit]
Fields was born in Allenhurst, New Jersey, and grew up in New York City.[2] In 1923, Fields graduated from the Benjamin School for Girls in New York City. At school, she was outstanding in the subjects of English, drama, and basketball. Her poems were published in the school's literary magazine.
Her family was deeply involved in show business. Her father, Lew Fields, was a Jewish immigrant from Poland who partnered with Joe Weber as one of the most popular comedy vaudeville duos near the end of the nineteenth century. When the duo separated in 1904, Lew Fields became one of the most influential theater producers of his time. From 1904 until 1916, he produced about 40 Broadway shows, and was nicknamed "The King of Musical Comedy" because of his achievements. Her mother was Rose Harris. She had two older brothers, Joseph and Herbert, who also became successful on Broadway: Joseph as a writer and producer and Herbert as a writer who later became Dorothy's collaborator.
Despite her natural familial connections to the theatre via her father, he disapproved of her choice to pursue acting and did everything he could to prevent her from becoming a serious actress. This began when he refused to let her take a job with a stock company in Yonkers. Hence, Dorothy began working as a teacher and a laboratory assistant while secretly submitting work to magazines.
Personal life[edit]
Fields had highly disciplined work habits. She was known to spend about eight weeks researching, discussing, and making notes on a project before finally returning to her regular 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily work routine.[3]
Fields died of a heart attack on March 28, 1974, at the age of 69. The New York Times reported "Dorothy Fields, the versatile songwriter whose career spanned nearly 50 years, died of a heart attack last night at her home here."[8] She was the sister of writers Herbert and Joseph Fields. She was introduced to Eli Lahm by his close friend Herbert Sondheim, the father of Stephen Sondheim, who affectionately referred to her as Aunt Dorothy growing up.[9] Fields married Lahm in 1939, and they had two children, David and Eliza. Lahm died in 1958.[3]
Cultural references[edit]
Thirty-five years after her death, President Barack Obama, in his inauguration speech as 44th president of the United States on January 20, 2009, echoed lyrics by Fields when he said, "Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America".[10] This alludes to the song "Pick Yourself Up" from the 1936 film Swing Time, for which Jerome Kern had written the music, in which Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire sang Fields's words, "Pick yourself up; dust yourself off; start all over again".[11]