Dorothy Fields
| Dorothy Fields | |
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Dorothy Fields working with Arthur Schwartz on A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1951)
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Dorothy Fields |
| Born | July 15, 1905 |
| Origin | Allenhurst, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | March 28, 1974 (aged 68) New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Lyricist |
Dorothy Fields (July 15, 1905 – March 28, 1974) was an American librettist and lyricist. She wrote over 400 songs for Broadway musicals and films. Her best-known pieces include "The Way You Look Tonight", "A Fine Romance", "On the Sunny Side of the Street", "Don't Blame Me", "Pick Yourself Up", "I'm in the Mood for Love" and "You Couldn't Be Cuter" Throughout her career, she collaborated with various influential figures in the American musical theater, including Jerome Kern, Cy Coleman, Irving Berlin, and Jimmy McHugh. Along with Ann Ronell, Dana Suesse, Bernice Petkere, and Kay Swift, she was one of the first successful Tin Pan Alley and Hollywood female songwriters.
Fields was born in Allenhurst, New Jersey, and grew up in New York City. Fields went to and graduated in 1923 from the Benjamin Franklin School for Girls in New York City. At school, she was outstanding in the subjects of English, drama, and basketball. Her poems were even published in the school’s literary magazine.
Her family, was deeply involved in show business. Her father, Lew Fields, was a Jewish immigrant from Poland, who partnered with Joe Weber became one of the most popular comedy duos near the end of the nineteenth century. They were known as the Weber and Fields vaudeville act. When the duo separated in 1904, Lew Fields went on to further his career in another direction, by becoming one of the most influential theater producers of his time. From 1904 till 1916, he produced about 40 Broadway shows, and was even nicknamed “The King of Musical Comedy” because of his achievements. Her mother was Rose Harris. She had two older brothers, Joseph and Herbert, who also became successful on Broadway, Joseph as a writer and producer, and Herbert as a writer who later became Dorothy’s collaborator.
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