Biography
Composer Herb Magidson ranked among the leading tunesmiths supplying material to Broadway and Hollywood throughout the 1930s and 1940s, earning the very first Oscar presented for a song. Born in Braddock, PA, in 1906, he attended the University of Pittsburgh. Upon completing his studies he joined a New York publishing firm, yet within twelve months he relocated to Hollywood to score motion pictures. That same year he placed a number in Show of Shows (1929); subsequent placements followed in Gift of Gab, The Gay Divorcee, Hats Off (1936), Radio City Revels (1938), and Sing Your Way Home (1945), among numerous others. His most celebrated compositions encompass the Academy Award-winning “The Continental” (1934), “Midnight in Paris” (1935), “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” (1936), “Gone With the Wind” (1937), “Music, Maestro, Please” (1938), “How Long Has This Been Going On?” (1939), “I’ll Buy That Dream” (1945), and “I’ll Dance at Your Wedding” (1947). The final chart successes, among them “Happiness,” arrived in 1951. Across his career Magidson worked with lyricists that included Con Conrad, Allie Wrubel, Carl Sigman, Sam H. Stept, and Sammy Fain.