1914-2011
Hugh Martin
1914-2011
Hugh Martin
Hugh Martin was an American musical theater and film composer, arranger, and vocal coach. He is best known for his score for the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me in St. Louis, which included three Martin songs, "The Boy Next Door," "The Trolley Song," and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." The last has become a Christmas standard in the United States. Hugh Martin was born on August 11, 1914, in Birmingham, Alabama, to Hugh and Ellie Gordon Robinson Martin. Martin Sr. was a well-known architect and Ellie Martin wasan accomplished musician who visited New York City frequently. It was she who encouraged Martin’s musical ability by enrolling him in the Birmingham Conservatory of Music at the age of five. Martin spent much of his time in movie theaters, where he was captivated by Hollywood musicals of the era. After graduating from Birmingham's Phillips High School, Martin entered Birmingham-Southern College. While there, he discovered the music of composer George Gershwin and was inspired to turn his attention to popular music. Martin left college after a year and a half and moved to New York City, where he found work as a vocal arranger and performer.
In 1937, he sang in and arranged music for the Broadway revue Hooray for What! While working on the revue, Martin met fellow performer Ralph Blane and they began a long-lasting songwriting collaboration. His big break came in 1938 when his letter to Richard Rodgers about vocal arrangements in Broadway musicals, earned him an invitation to arrange “Sing for Your Supper” for the Rodgers and Hart show The Boys from Syracuse. Martin and Bane’s good fortune continued with an MGM seven-year film contract. Martin arranged the vocal parts for four more Broadway shows, including Rodgers and Hart's Too Many Girls (1939) and Cole Porter's Du Barry Was a Lady (1939). He then appeared with his vocal quartet, The Martins, which included Blane, in Irving Berlin's Louisiana Purchase (1940) with Vera Zorina and Victor Moore. The following year, Blane and Martin collaborated on what would be the first show entirely written by them: Best Foot Forward, and included the standards "Buckle Down Winsocki", "Wish I May", "What Do You Think I Am", "That's How I Love The Blues", and "Ev'ry Time". The show enjoyed a respectable 326 performances and was made into a movie starring Lucille Ball in 1943.
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HughMartin
In 1944, Martin co-wrote the original songs for the classic Hollywood musical Meet Me In St. Louis, containing his best-known songs, like "'The Boy Next Door", "The Trolley Song" and "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas." Martin became a close friend of the star of the show Judy Garland and was her accompanist at many of her concert performances in the 1950s, including her appearances at the Palace Theater. He also served as actor and singer Eddie Fisher's accompanist at the London Palladium in the United Kingdom. Toward the end of World War II, Martin enlisted in the U.S. Army. He was assigned to the European theater but served mostly as an entertainer. In 1948, while working alone, Martin wrote the music for the Broadway show Look Ma, I'm Dancin', starring Nancy Walker, and included the songs "Tiny Room" and "If You'll Be Mine". In 1951 he wrote the lyrics and music for another Broadway show Make a Wish, which included "What I Was Warned About". In the late 1950s, Martin reunited with Ralph Blane, and they continued writing songs for theatre and film. During this period, they also recorded an album of their best songs, titled Martin and Blane Sing Martin and Blane. The two wrote the song “An Occasional Man” for the film The Girl Rush. In 1961, there was a revival of Best Foot Forward, which included a new song “You Are For Loving”, written by Martin and Blane.
In 1964, Martin began collaborating with songwriter Timothy Gray. The two produced a new Broadway musical High Spirits, based on a Noel Coward play Blithe Spirits. The musical was a hit and included several brilliant songs, most notably “I Know Your Heart", "If I Gave You", and "You'd Better Love Me". Martin spent much of the 1980s as an accompanist for gospel female vocalist Del Delker on her revival tours. Martin collaborated with vocalist Michael Feinstein for a 1995 CD Michael Feinstein Sings The Hugh Martin Songbook, an album on which the then 80-year-old songwriter accompanied Feinstein on piano and sang a duet. In 2001 rewrote his most famous song “Have Yourself a Merry Christmas” as a more specifically religious number, "Have Yourself A Blessed Little Christmas". In 2006, Martin released an album of his music called Hugh Sings Martin, which drew from his catalog as a composer, lyricist, arranger, and singer. His autobiography Hugh Martin - The Boy Next Door was published in October 2010, Martin died on March 11, 2011, in Encinitas, California at age ninety-six.
Throughout his career Hugh Martin earned a variety of accomplishments, Martin's work received two Academy Award nominations, “The Trolley Song" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1945, and he received his second Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song in 1948 for the song "Pass That Peace Pipe," which was written for the MGM film Good News. Martin also received four Tony Award nominations, three for High Spirits (Best Musical, Best Book Author of a Musical, Best Composer and Lyricist) and one for 1990 Meet Me in St. Louis (Best Original Score). Martin was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 2001.
