Biography
James V. Monaco, a Tin Pan Alley songwriter occasionally called "Ragtime Jimmie," earned multiple Oscar nominations and remains chiefly associated with the enduring standard "You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It)," which Judy Garland and numerous other performers turned into a major success. Born in Genoa, Italy, on January 13, 1885, he arrived in Chicago at age six after his family relocated from Europe. Largely self-taught at the keyboard, he performed ragtime at the city's Savoy Club before relocating to New York, where he immersed himself in the nightlife of clubs and cafés. His debut published piece, "Oh, You Circus Day," received its first performance in 1911 inside the Broadway revue Hanky Panky. The following year brought two enormous successes: "You Made Me Love You," whose words came from Joseph McCarthy and which Al Jolson first made famous, and "Row, Row, Row," set to lyrics by William Jerome.
Over the ensuing decade and a half he collaborated with assorted lyricists and produced additional popular numbers, among them "Dirty Hands, Dirty Face," which Al Jolson soon added to his own song list. In 1927 Jolson featured the number once more in his landmark sound film The Jazz Singer, thereby linking it permanently to motion-picture history. That same year Monaco supplied several selections for the Broadway revue Harry Delmar's Revels. He continued to thrive as a composer in the early 1930s, frequently teaming with Edgar Leslie; their 1932 song "Crazy People" served as the signature theme for George Burns and Gracie Allen's radio program, while additional numbers he wrote reached the screen in 1930. For the next four years he led his own dance orchestra. In 1936 he settled in Hollywood to pursue film work more deliberately.
Paramount placed him under contract, and in 1937 he began a productive collaboration with lyricist Johnny Burke—the same year a teenage Judy Garland brought "You Made Me Love You" back to prominence as a tribute to Clark Gable. Together Monaco and Burke supplied material for several Bing Crosby pictures, among them 1938's Sing You Sinners, which included "I've Got a Pocketful of Dreams," and 1940's Rhythm on the River, whose hit "Only Forever" earned them an Academy Award nomination for Best Song. Later in 1940 the partnership ended when Burke began working with Jimmy Van Heusen. Monaco then took assignments at United Artists and 20th Century Fox, pairing with various writers. Three further Oscar nominations followed: for "We Mustn't Say Goodbye" (from the 1943 film Stage Door Canteen, written with Al Dubin), "I'm Making Believe" (from 1944's Sweet and Lowdown, written with Mack Gordon), and "I Can't Begin to Tell You" (from 1945's The Dolly Sisters, also with Gordon). At the peak of his Hollywood career he suffered a fatal heart attack on October 16, 1945.
Over the ensuing decade and a half he collaborated with assorted lyricists and produced additional popular numbers, among them "Dirty Hands, Dirty Face," which Al Jolson soon added to his own song list. In 1927 Jolson featured the number once more in his landmark sound film The Jazz Singer, thereby linking it permanently to motion-picture history. That same year Monaco supplied several selections for the Broadway revue Harry Delmar's Revels. He continued to thrive as a composer in the early 1930s, frequently teaming with Edgar Leslie; their 1932 song "Crazy People" served as the signature theme for George Burns and Gracie Allen's radio program, while additional numbers he wrote reached the screen in 1930. For the next four years he led his own dance orchestra. In 1936 he settled in Hollywood to pursue film work more deliberately.
Paramount placed him under contract, and in 1937 he began a productive collaboration with lyricist Johnny Burke—the same year a teenage Judy Garland brought "You Made Me Love You" back to prominence as a tribute to Clark Gable. Together Monaco and Burke supplied material for several Bing Crosby pictures, among them 1938's Sing You Sinners, which included "I've Got a Pocketful of Dreams," and 1940's Rhythm on the River, whose hit "Only Forever" earned them an Academy Award nomination for Best Song. Later in 1940 the partnership ended when Burke began working with Jimmy Van Heusen. Monaco then took assignments at United Artists and 20th Century Fox, pairing with various writers. Three further Oscar nominations followed: for "We Mustn't Say Goodbye" (from the 1943 film Stage Door Canteen, written with Al Dubin), "I'm Making Believe" (from 1944's Sweet and Lowdown, written with Mack Gordon), and "I Can't Begin to Tell You" (from 1945's The Dolly Sisters, also with Gordon). At the peak of his Hollywood career he suffered a fatal heart attack on October 16, 1945.