Birth name George Gard DeSylva Name Buddy DeSylva | Role Songwriter Parents Hal De Forrest | |
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Also known as Buddy De Sylva, Buddy DeSylva, Bud De Sylva, Buddy G. DeSylva, B.G. DeSylva Born January 27, 1895
New York City, New York ( 1895-01-27 ) Occupation(s) Songwriter, film producer, record executive Associated acts Lew Brown, Ray Henderson Died July 11, 1950, Los Angeles, California, United States Education University of Southern California Plays Good News, Follow Thru (musical), Hold Everything! Movies Just Imagine, Indiscreet, The Palm Beach Story, Du Barry Was a Lady, The Lady Eve Similar People Lew Brown, Ray Henderson, George Gershwin, Al Jolson, Vincent Rose | ||
Avalon jolson buddy desylva rose havana swing
George Gard "Buddy" DeSylva (January 27, 1895 – July 11, 1950) was an American songwriter, film producer and record executive. He wrote or co-wrote many popular songs and along with Johnny Mercer and Glenn Wallichs, he founded Capitol Records.
Contents
- Avalon jolson buddy desylva rose havana swing
- Biography
- Individual songs
- Broadway credits
- Selected filmography
- In popular culture
- References
Biography
DeSylva was born in New York City, but grew up in California and attended the University of Southern California, where he joined the Theta Xi Fraternity. His father, Aloysius J. De Sylva, was better known to American audiences as the Portuguese-born actor, Hal De Forrest. His mother, Georgetta Miles Gard, was the daughter of Los Angeles police chief, George E. Gard.
DeSylva's first successful songs were those used by Al Jolson on Broadway in the 1918 Sinbad production, which included "I'll Say She Does". Soon thereafter he met Jolson and in 1918 the pair went to New York and DeSylva began working as a songwriter in Tin Pan Alley.
In the early 1920s, DeSylva frequently worked with composer George Gershwin. Together they created the experimental one-act jazz opera Blue Monday set in Harlem, which is widely regarded as a forerunner to Porgy and Bess ten years later.
In April 1924, DeSylva married Marie Wallace, a Ziegfeld Follies dancer.
In 1925, DeSylva became one third of the songwriting team with lyricist Lew Brown and composer Ray Henderson, one of the top Tin Pan Alley songwriters of the era. The team was responsible for the song Magnolia (1927) which was popularized by Lou Gold's orchestra. The writing and publishing partnership continued until 1930, producing a string of feel-good hits and the perennial Broadway favorite Good News. The popularity of this team was so great that Gershwin's mother supposedly chided her sons for not being able to write the sort of hits turned out by the trio.
DeSylva joined ASCAP in 1920 and served on the ASCAP board of directors between 1922 and 1930. He became a producer of stage and screen musicals. DeSylva relocated to Hollywood and went under contract to Fox Studios. During this tenure, he produced movies such as The Little Colonel, The Littlest Rebel, Captain January, Poor Little Rich Girl and Stowaway. In 1941, he became the Executive Producer at Paramount Pictures, a position he would hold until 1944. At Paramount, he was also an uncredited executive producer for Double Indemnity, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Story of Dr. Wassell and The Glass Key.
The Paramount all-star extravaganza Star Spangled Rhythm, which takes place at the Paramount film studio in Hollywood, features a fictional movie executive named "B.G. DeSoto" (played by Walter Abel) who is a parody of DeSylva.
In 1942, Johnny Mercer, Glenn Wallichs and DeSylva together founded Capitol Records, which continues to this day. He also founded the Cowboy label.
He is sometimes credited as: Buddy De Sylva, Buddy DeSylva, Bud De Sylva, Buddy G. DeSylva and B.G. DeSylva.
Buddy DeSylva died in Hollywood, aged 55, and is buried at Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.
Individual songs
Broadway credits
Selected filmography
In popular culture
The 1956 Hollywood film The Best Things in Life Are Free, starring Gordon MacRae, Dan Dailey, and Ernest Borgnine, depicted the De Sylva, Brown and Henderson collaboration.