33 Facts About Frank Loesser

Frank Henry Loesser was an American songwriter who wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, among others.

Frank Loesser won a Tony Award for Guys and Dolls and shared the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for How to Succeed.

Frank Loesser wrote songs for over 60 Hollywood films and Tin Pan Alley, many of which have become standards, and was nominated for five Academy Awards for best song, winning once for "Baby, It's Cold Outside".

Frank Henry Loesser was born to a Jewish family in New York City, the son of Henry Loesser, a pianist, and Julia Ehrlich.

Frank Loesser grew up in a house on West 107th Street in Manhattan.

Frank Loesser's father had moved to America to avoid German military service and work in his family's banking business.

Frank Loesser married Bertha Ehrlich; their son, Arthur Loesser, was born on August 26,1894.

Frank Loesser disliked his father's refined taste in music and resisted by writing his own music and taking up the harmonica.

Frank Loesser was expelled from Townsend Harris High School, and from there went to City College of New York.

Frank Loesser was expelled from the CCNY in 1925 after one year for failing every subject except English and gym.

Frank Loesser's jobs included restaurant reviewer, process server, classified ad salesman for the New York Herald Tribune, political cartoonist for The Tuckahoe Record, sketch writer for Keith Vaudeville Circuit, knit-goods editor for Women's Wear Daily, press representative for a small movie company, and city editor for a short-lived newspaper in New Rochelle, New York, titled New Rochelle News.

Frank Loesser fared only slightly better collaborating with the future classical composer Schuman, selling their 1931 song to Feist that would flop.

Frank Loesser proposed in a September 1936 letter that included funds for a railroad ticket to Los Angeles where Loesser's contract to Universal Pictures had just ended.

Frank Loesser collaborated with composers Arthur Schwartz and Joseph J Lilley.

In 1941, Frank Loesser wrote "I Don't Want to Walk Without You" with Jule Styne, included in the 1942 film Sweater Girl and sung by Betty Jane Rhodes.

Frank Loesser stayed in Hollywood until World War II, when he joined the Army Air Force.

Frank Loesser wrote "They're Either Too Young or Too Old" for the 1943 film Thank Your Lucky Stars.

In 1948, Broadway producers Cy Feuer and Ernest H Martin asked Loesser to write music and lyrics to George Abbott's book for an adaptation of the Brandon Thomas play Charley's Aunt.

Also in 1948, Frank Loesser sold to MGM the rights to "Baby, It's Cold Outside", a song he wrote in 1944 and performed informally at parties with his then wife Lynn Garland.

Frank Loesser started the theatrical licensing company Music Theatre International in 1952.

Also in 1952, Frank Loesser wrote the score for the film Hans Christian Andersen.

Frank Loesser wrote the book, music, and lyrics for his next two musicals, The Most Happy Fella and Greenwillow.

Around the beginning of 1957, Garland and Frank Loesser divorced, and Frank Loesser began a relationship with Jo Sullivan, who had played the character of Rosabella in Fella.

Frank Loesser wrote the music and lyrics for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, which ran for 1,417 performances, won the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and received another Tony and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.

Pleasures and Palaces, the last Frank Loesser musical produced during his lifetime, closed during out-of-town tryouts.

From 1965 until 1968, Frank Loesser was composing the book, music and lyrics for Senor Discretion Himself, a musical version of a Budd Schulberg short story.

Lynn Garland and Frank Loesser divorced around the beginning of 1957 after 21 years of marriage.

Frank Loesser received the 1951 Tony Award for Best Musical for his Guys and Dolls music and lyrics.

Frank Loesser was nominated for the Tony Award for book, music and lyrics for The Most Happy Fella and as Best Composer for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

Frank Loesser was awarded a Grammy Award in 1962 for Best Original Cast Show Album for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

Frank Loesser is regarded as one of the more talented writers of his era, noted for writing witty lyrics and clever musical devices.

Frank Loesser introduced a complex artistic style that challenged shaped the compositional approach of Broadway musicals.

Frank Loesser was noted for using classical forms, such as imitative counterpoint.