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Ann Ronell
Anna Rosenblatt
Composer, Lyricist, Pianist, Musical Director
(1908 - 1993)
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Ann Ronell was one of the first and few women to have a successful career as a composer and lyricist writing for film and Tin Pan Alley. She attended Radcliffe where she interviewed George Gershwin for the college paper. He hired her as his rehearsal pianist, brought her to Broadway, and became her mentor. She dedicated “Willow Weep for Me” to him. Paul Whiteman recorded it with Irene Taylor on vocals, but it was Muzzy Marcellino’s version with Ted Fio Rito’s Orchestra that first introduced it. Chad and Jeremy had a chart buster with it in 1964. There have been over 800 recordings of it, and it’s in the fake books of nearly every jazz artist.
In 1933 Ronell wrote “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf” with Frank Churchill which became Disney’s first hit song. She continued to score Disney shorts and contributed songs to Champagne Waltz (1937) and Blockade (1938). She received two Oscar nominations for The Story of GI Joe (1945)--Best Score with co-composer Louis Applebaum and Best Song, “Linda.” She adapted the Kurt Weill / Ogden Nash musical, One Touch of Venus (1948), for the screen and scored Love Happy for the Marx Brothers in 1949. For Main Street to Broadway (1953) she served as musical director.
“Willow Weep for Me” was her only major contribution to the jazz standards repertoire, although “Rain on the Roof” enjoyed a short period of popularity in (1932). Ronell is featured in the PBS documentary, Yours for a Song: The Women of Tin Pan Alley, with Dorothy Fields, Dana Suesse, and Kay Swift.
- Sandra Burlingame |
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