25 Facts About Philip Springer

Philip Springer was born on May 12,1926 and is an American composer, best known for co-writing the classic Christmas song "Santa Baby".

Philip Springer was born in New York City in 1926 to Jewish parents.

Philip Springer's mother, Sylvia, was a concert pianist and his father, Mordecai, a lawyer by profession, was a very musical person.

Philip Springer went to grade and high school in Cedarhurst, Long Island, then a rustic small town.

Philip Springer served as a truck driver in World War II; he was Mickey Rooney's Musical Director in 1945 when he did a show in Regensburg, Germany.

When Rooney was discharged, Philip Springer took over the job as composer.

Philip Springer studied composition under Otto Luening at Columbia College, his father's alma mater, graduating in 1950.

Philip Springer was a resident of John Jay Hall and was roommates with Punch Sulzberger, future publisher of The New York Times.

Philip Springer took his Master's degree at New York University, studying baroque counterpoint under Gustave Reese.

Philip Springer's dissertation was the first piece for small orchestra to include the ARP 2600 synthesizer.

Philip Springer is best known for writing "Santa Baby" with lyricist Joan Javits.

Tamir Music is Philip Springer's publishing entity, and he owns the publishing rights to most of his songs.

Philip Springer was Yip Harburg's last collaborator before Harburg's death in 1981.

Philip Springer is one of the last living composers from the "Brill Building" era, where composers, lyricists and publishers all created and collaborated at the famed building at 1619 Broadway in New York City.

Many of Philip Springer's songs appear on the "greatest hits" albums of the recording artists of this era.

Philip Springer composed and conducted six motion picture scores in Hollywood, including Kill a Dragon ; I Sailed to Tahiti with an All Girl Crew ; More Dead Than Alive ; Impasse ; Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon ; and Wicked, Wicked.

Philip Springer scored episodes of the television series Gunsmoke, Mannix, Then Came Bronson, and Medical Center, and composed the theme for Crosswits, a 1970s game show.

Philip Springer has composed music for more than 20 musical shows, three of which were produced in New York City.

Philip Springer composed the score for the off-Broadway musical The Chosen, based on the best-selling novel by Chaim Potok, in 1988.

Philip Springer has composed many serious works, including an hour-long requiem titled "Requiem for an Artist: An American Requiem".

Philip Springer wrote this hour-long work in 1995 to express his grief at the recent death of his brother, artist Anthony Springer.

Philip Springer has been quoted as saying this was his greatest work.

Philip Springer has taught and inspired a number of musicians over the years.

Philip Springer taught electronic music at the UCLA extension from 1974 to 1986; a number of his students went on to make careers in the music world, including Eric Drew Feldman and Bill Bell.

Philip Springer is the author of the 1977 book Switched on Synthesizer, a widely used manual for operating analog synthesizers.