Burton Lane: 100 years

A hundred years ago today, on February 2, 1912, composer Burton Lane was born in New York. He died in the same city nearly 85 years later, on Jan 5, 1997.

He created lots of songs for Broadway musicals and Hollywood movies. A personal favorite of mine is How About You. The song was specifically composed for the Garland-Rooney movie Babes in Broadway (1941), one of the so called backyard musicals of MGM

(Burton Lane is precisely credited with having discovered in 1935 a tiny 13-year old singer, with a voice of unheard-of quality and power. Her name was Frances Ethel Gumm, who in due time would become, yes, Judy Garland).

The How About You lyrics are uncomplicated yet irresistibly cute, beginning:

I like New York in June, how about you?
I like a Gershwin tune, how about you?
I love a fireside when a storm is due

A little later into the song, the ear is caught by this funny patriotic line added by lyricist Ralph Freed, referring to the then US president and Commander in Chief.

I'm mad about good books, can't get my fill 
And Franklin Roosevelt´s looks give me a thrill

It was 1941, and WWII was beginning for the US. Roosevelt was the true star of the day.