Louis Achille Hirsch, also known as Louis A. Hirsch and Lou Hirsch (November 28, 1887 – May 13, 1924), was an American composer of songs and

musicals Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

in the early 20th century.

Life and career

Hirsch was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In his senior year at the

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 ...

, Hirsch traveled to Europe to study piano at Berlin's Stern Conservatory, with pianist

Rafael Joseffy Rafael Joseffy (July 3, 1852 – June 25, 1915) was a Hungarian Jewish pianist, teacher and composer. Life Rafael Joseffy was born in Hunfalu, Szepes County (now Huncovce, Slovakia) in 1852. His youth was spent in Miskolc, and he began hi ...

. He returned to the U.S. in 1906 and began working as a staff pianist in the

Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley was a collection of History of music publishing, music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the American popular music, popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It origin ...

publishing houses of Gus Edwards, and Shapiro-Bernstein. He also began to write some of his own music. Hirsch's first assignment was writing music for the Lew Dockstader's Minstrels. Soon, some of his melodies were interpolated into

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

shows, including ''The Gay White Way'', ''Miss Innocence'' (starring Anna Held), and ''The Girl and the Wizard''. In 1910, ''He Came From Milwaukee'' was Hirsch's first full score. His ''Revue of Revues'' (1911) introduced French star

Gaby Deslys Gaby Deslys (born Marie-Elise-Gabrielle Caire, 4 November 1881 – 11 February 1920) was a singer and actress during the early 20th century. She selected her name for her stage career, and it is a contraction of ''Gabrielle of the Lillies'' ...

to America. He subsequently wrote the music to many songs that Deslys made popular, including "The Gaby Glide", " Come Dance with Me", and "When You Hear Love's Hello". One of his best jazz tunes is "It's Getting Very Dark on Old Broadway". His first major success was '' Vera Violetta'' (1911), which made

Al Jolson Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-billed ...

a star. For the Schuberts in 1912 and 1913, he contributed music to ''

The Whirl of Society ''The Whirl of Society'' was a satirical Broadway musical that played at the Winter Garden Theatre from March 5 to June 29, 1912. Louis Hirsch composed the music with lyrics by Harold Atteridge, to a book by Harrison Rhodes. The production also f ...

'' and ''The Passing Show'' (both starring

Jose Collins Charlotte Josephine Collins (23 May 1887 – 6 December 1958) was an English actress and singer known by her stage name, José Collins, who was celebrated for her performances in musical comedies, such as the long-running ''The Maid of the Mo ...

). Hirsch was one of the nine founders of

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

in 1914 and an ASCAP director between 1917 and 1924. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, he contributed songs to four editions of The

Ziegfeld Follies The ''Ziegfeld Follies'' was a series of elaborate theatrical revue productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 to 1931, with renewals in 1934 and 1936. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as ''The Ziegfeld Follies of the Ai ...

, including "Sweet Kentucky Lady" and "Hello Frisco!". He wrote music for the 1918 musical ''

Oh, My Dear! ''Oh, My Dear!'' was a Broadway musical comedy in two acts with book and lyrics by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, and music by Louis A. Hirsch. The play was produced by William Elliott and F. Ray Comstock and opened under the direction of Robert ...

'' and collaborated with

Otto Harbach Otto Abels Harbach, born Otto Abels Hauerbach (August 18, 1873 – January 24, 1963) was an American lyricist and librettist of nearly 50 musical comedies and operettas. Harbach collaborated as lyricist or librettist with many of the leading B ...

as lyricist on the musical '' Going Up'' (1917), ''

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

'' (1920), including "Love Nest", his most successful song, which later became the

Burns and Allen Burns and Allen was an American comedy duo consisting of George Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen. They worked together as a successful comedy team that entertained vaudeville, film, radio, and television audiences for over forty years. The duo ...

radio show theme. He also wrote music for ''The Rainbow Girl'' and ''See Saw'', among others. Hirsch also conceived many of the storylines and concepts in his musicals. In 1921, he contributed to the Broadway show ''The O'Brien Girl'' and then the 1922 and 1923 editions of ''The Greenwich Village Follies''. Other popular Hirsch songs include "Neath the Southern Moon" (also titled "'Neath the South Sea Moon"), "The Tickle Toe", "Always Together", "Garden of Your Dreams", "Hold Me in Your Loving Arms", "Going Up", "My Sumurum Girl", "Mary", "Love Is Like a Red Red Rose", "When I Found You", "Beautiful Island of Girls", "My Rambler Rose", "The Love Nest", "I Am Thinking of You", and "Annabel Lee". On May 27, 1920, Hirsch sued the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...

for $100‚000 because of an incident at the Yankee game at the Polo Grounds on the 24th. To avoid sitting next to a cigar smoker‚ Hirsch switched seats with his brother. An usher informed him it was against the rules to shift seats and ordered the two brothers to switch back. Hirsch refused and was forcibly ejected from the stands.Information about lawsuit against the New York Yankees
Hirsch died in New York City of pneumonia, aged 36.

Musicals

* ''He Came from Milwaukee'' (1910); music also by Ben Jerome * ''He Came from New York'' (1911) * ''The Revue of Revues'' (1911) * '' Vera Violetta'' (1911); music also by

Edmund Eysler Edmund Samuel Eysler (12 March 1874 – 4 October 1949), was an Austrian composer. Biography Edmund Eysler was born in Vienna to a merchant family. He was supposed to enter the engineering profession, but his acquaintance with Leo Fall led ...

, George M. Cohan,

Jean Schwartz Jean Schwartz (November 4, 1878 – November 30, 1956) was a Hungarian-born American songwriter. Schwartz was born in Budapest, Hungary. His family moved to New York City when he was 13 years old. He took various music-related jobs including dem ...

* ''

'' (1912) * ''The Passing Show of 1912'' (1912) * ''Hullo, Ragtime!'' (1912) * ''Hullo, Tango!'' (1913) * ''Honeymoon Express'' (1914) * ''Dora's Doze'' (1914) * ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1915'' (1915) * ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1916'' (1916); music also by

Jerome Kern Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in ove ...

Dave Stamper David Stamper (November 10, 1883September 18, 1963) was an American songwriter of the Tin Pan Alley and vaudeville eras, a contributor to twenty-one editions of the Ziegfeld Follies, writer for the Fox Film Corporation, and composer of more th ...

* ''The Grass Widow'' (1917) * '' Going Up'' (1917) * ''The Rainbow Girl'' (1918) * ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1918'' (1918) * ''

'' (1918) * ''See-Saw'' (1919) * ''Mary'' (1920) * ''The O'Brian Girl'' (1921) * ''The Greenwich Village Follies'' (1922) * ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1922'' (1922); music also by

* ''The Greenwich Village Follies'' (1923) * ''Betty Lee'' (1924); music also by

Con Conrad Con Conrad (born Conrad K. Dober, June 18, 1891 – September 28, 1938) was an American songwriter and producer. Biography Conrad was born in Manhattan, New York, and published his first song, "Down in Dear Old New Orleans", in 1912. Conrad p ...

References

External links

* * *
Includes a profile of Hirsch

Louis A. Hirsch recordings
at the

Discography of American Historical Recordings The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The DAHR provides some of these original recordings, free of charge, via audio streaming, along with ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hirsch, Louis American musical theatre composers 1887 births 1924 deaths 19th-century American pianists American male pianists 20th-century American male musicians 19th-century American male musicians 20th-century American pianists