Edward Eliscu (April 2, 1902 – June 18, 1998) was an American lyricist, playwright, producer and actor, and a successful writer of songs for films.

Life

Eliscu was born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, New York City. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School in Manhattan as a classmate of director

George Cukor George Dewey Cukor (; July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director and film producer. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO when David O. Selznick, the studio's Head ...

. He then attended

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree. He then began acting in Broadway plays. Eliscu's first film score was with Vincent Youmans and

Billy Rose Billy Rose (born William Samuel Rosenberg; September 6, 1899 – February 10, 1966) was an American impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist. For years both before and after World War II, Billy Rose was a major force in entertainment, with s ...

for the film '' Great Day''. Two well-known songs from that show include "More Than You Know," and "Without a Song." He married the dancer and journalist

Stella Bloch Stella Bloch (December 18, 1897 – January 20, 1999) was an American artist, dancer and journalist. She headlined as a dancer in Rochester, New York. She also worked as an artist and her work is in several collections. Life Bloch was born ...

in 1931. They both worked in the film industry until the House Committee on Un-American Activities named her husband in the 1950s. This ended his career in the film and later in the television industry.Stella Bloch papers
New York Public Library. Retrieved October 19, 2015 Eliscu together with his wife's cousin Mortimer Offner moved away from Hollywood and returned to New York. Elscu was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1975.Songwriters Hall of Fame
. Retrieved October 19, 2015 He died on June 18, 1998, aged 96, in Newtown, Connecticut. Eliscu is the grandfather of music journalist and broadcaster Jenny Eliscu.

Works

Selected film and theatre scores

* ''Lady Fingers'' * '' The Street Singer'' * ''A Little Racketeer'' * ''Frederica'' (also librettist) * '' Meet the People'' (also producer) * ''

The Banker's Daughter This is a list of animated short films produced by Walt Disney and Walt Disney Animation Studios from 1921 to the present. This includes films produced at the Laugh-O-Gram Studio which Disney founded in 1921 as well as the animation studio now o ...

'' * ''9:15 Revue'' * '' The Garrick Gaieties'' (1930) * '' The Little Show'' * '' Flying Down to Rio'' (1933) * '' The Gay Senorita'' (1945)

Selected hits

*"Happy Because I'm in Love" *"Ankle Up the Altar" *"Music Makes Me" *"Orchids in the Moonlight" *"Meet the People" *"A Fellow and a Girl" *"You Forgot Your Gloves" *"Without a Song" *"More Than You Know"

Selected collaborators

* Vincent Youmans *

* Jay Gorney *Henry Myers (composer) * John Green * Gus Kahn * Vernon Duke * Manning Sherwin * Richard Myers *Ned Lehac * Billy Hill

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eliscu, Edward 1902 births 1998 deaths Songwriters from New York (state) American male stage actors 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American singers DeWitt Clinton High School alumni City College of New York alumni 20th-century American male writers American people of Romanian descent