Editing Jerome Kern (section)

===Kern in Hollywood===
In 1935, when musical films had become popular once again, thanks to [[Busby Berkeley]],<ref>Kenrick, John. [http://www.musicals101.com/1930film2.htm "History of Musical Film, 1930s Part II"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407133945/http://www.musicals101.com/1930film2.htm |date=April 7, 2023 }}. Musicals101.com, 2004, accessed May 17, 2010</ref> Kern returned to Hollywood, where he composed the scores to a dozen more films, although he also continued working on Broadway productions. He settled permanently in Hollywood in 1937.<ref>Banfield, p. 55</ref> After suffering a heart attack in 1939, he was told by his doctors to concentrate on film scores, a less stressful task, as Hollywood songwriters were not as deeply involved with the production of their works as Broadway songwriters. This second phase of Kern's Hollywood career had considerably greater artistic and commercial success than the first.  With Hammerstein, he wrote songs for the film versions of his recent Broadway shows ''Music in the Air'' (1934), which starred [[Gloria Swanson]] in a rare singing role, and ''Sweet Adeline'' (1935).  With [[Dorothy Fields]], he composed the new music for ''[[I Dream Too Much (1935 film)|I Dream Too Much]]'' (1935), a musical melodrama about the opera world, starring the [[Metropolitan Opera]] diva [[Lily Pons]].  Kern and Fields interspersed the opera numbers with their songs, including "the swinging 'I Got Love,' the lullaby 'The Jockey on the Carousel,' and the entrancing title song."<ref>Hischak, Thomas. [http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t282.e891 "I Dream Too Much"]. ''The Oxford Companion to the American Musical'', Oxford University Press 2009. Oxford Reference Online, accessed  May 15, 2010 (requires subscription)</ref>  Also with Fields, he wrote two new songs, "[[I Won't Dance]]" and "Lovely to Look At", for the Fred Astaire and [[Ginger Rogers]] film version of ''[[Roberta (1935 film)|Roberta]]'' (1935), which was a hit.  The show also included the song "[[I'll Be Hard to Handle]]".  This was given a 1952 remake called ''[[Lovely to Look At]]''.<ref>Hischak, Thomas. [http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t282.e1539-s1 "Roberta"]. ''The Oxford Companion to the American Musical'', Oxford University Press 2009, Oxford Reference Online, accessed May 15, 2010 (requires subscription)</ref>

Their next film, ''[[Swing Time (film)|Swing Time]]'' (1936) included the song "[[The Way You Look Tonight]]", which won the [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] in 1936 for the best song. Other songs in ''Swing Time'' include "[[A Fine Romance (song)|A Fine Romance]]", "[[Pick Yourself Up]]" and "[[Never Gonna Dance (song)|Never Gonna Dance]]". ''The Oxford Companion to the American Musical'' calls ''Swing Time'' "a strong candidate for the best of the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals" and says that, although the screenplay is contrived, it "left plenty of room for dance and all of it was superb. ... Although the movie is remembered as one of the great dance musicals, it also boasts one of the best film scores of the 1930s."<ref>Hischak, Thomas. [http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t282.e1770 "Swing Time"]. ''The Oxford Companion to the American Musical'', Oxford University Press 2009. Oxford Reference Online, accessed May 15, 2010  (requires subscription)</ref>  For the 1936 film version of ''Show Boat'', Kern and Hammerstein wrote three new songs, including "I Have The Room Above Her" and  "Ah Still Suits Me".<ref name=baker/>  ''[[High, Wide, and Handsome]]'' (1937) was intentionally similar in plot and style to ''Show Boat'', but it was a box-office failure.  Kern songs were also used in the [[Cary Grant]] film, ''[[When You're in Love (film)|When You're in Love]]'' (1937), and the first [[Abbott and Costello]] feature, ''[[One Night in the Tropics]]'' (1940).  In 1940, Hammerstein wrote the lyric "[[The Last Time I Saw Paris (song)|The Last Time I Saw Paris]]", in homage to the French capital, recently occupied by the Germans.  Kern set it, the only time he set a pre-written lyric, and his only hit song not written as part of a musical.<ref name=nyt/> Originally a hit for [[Tony Martin (entertainer)|Tony Martin]] and later for [[Noël Coward]], the song was used in the film ''[[Lady Be Good (1941 film)|Lady Be Good]]'' (1941) and won Kern another Oscar for best song.  Kern's second and last symphonic work was his '[[Mark Twain]] Suite'' (1942).<ref name=grove/>

In his last [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] musicals, Kern worked with several new and distinguished partners. With [[Johnny Mercer]] for ''[[You Were Never Lovelier]]'' (1942), he contributed "a set of memorable songs to entertain audiences until the plot came to its inevitable conclusion".<ref>Hischak, Thomas [http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t282.e1995 "You Were Never Lovelier"], ''The Oxford Companion to the American Musical'', Oxford University Press 2009, Oxford Reference Online, accessed May 15, 2010  (requires subscription)</ref> The film starred Astaire and [[Rita Hayworth]] and included the song "[[I'm Old Fashioned]]".  Kern's next collaboration was with [[Ira Gershwin]] on ''[[Cover Girl (film)|Cover Girl]]'' starring Hayworth and [[Gene Kelly]] (1944) for which Kern composed "Sure Thing","Put Me to the Test," "Make Way for Tomorrow" (lyric by [[E. Y. Harburg]]), and the hit ballad "[[Long Ago (and Far Away)]]".<ref name=HCover>Hischak, Thomas. [http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t282.e416 "Cover Girl"]. ''The Oxford Companion to the American Musical'', Oxford University Press 2009. Oxford Reference Online, accessed May 15, 2010 (requires subscription)</ref> For the [[Deanna Durbin]] Western musical, ''[[Can't Help Singing]]'' (1944), with lyrics by Harburg, Kern "provided the best original score of Durbin's career, mixing operetta and Broadway sounds in such songs as 'Any Moment Now,' 'Swing Your Partner,' 'More and More,' and the lilting title number."  "More and More" was nominated for an Oscar.<ref>Hischak, Thomas. [http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t282.e297 "Can't Help Singing"]. ''The Oxford Companion to the American Musical'', Oxford University Press 2009. Oxford Reference Online, accessed May 15, 2010  (requires subscription)</ref>

Kern composed his last film score, ''[[Centennial Summer]]'' (1946) in which "the songs were as resplendent as the story and characters were mediocre. ... Oscar Hammerstein, [[Leo Robin]], and E. Y. Harburg contributed lyrics for Kern's lovely music, resulting in the soulful ballad 'All Through the Day,' the rustic 'Cinderella Sue,' the cheerful 'Up With the Lark,' and the [[Torch song|torchy]] 'In Love in Vain.'"  "All Through the Day" was another Oscar nominee.<ref>Hischak, Thomas. [http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t282.e335 "Centennial Summer"]. ''The Oxford Companion to the American Musical'', Oxford University Press 2009, Oxford Reference Online, accessed May 15, 2010 (requires subscription)</ref>  The music of Kern's last two films is notable in the way it developed from his earlier work. Some of it was too advanced for the film companies; Kern's biographer, [[Stephen Banfield]], refers to "tonal experimentation ... outlandish enharmonics" that the studios insisted on cutting.<ref>Banfield, p. 302</ref>  At the same time, in some ways his music came full circle: having in his youth helped to end the reigns of the waltz and operetta, he now composed three of his finest waltzes ("Can't Help Singing", "Californ-i-ay" and "Up With the Lark"), the last having a distinctly operetta-like character.<ref>Banfield, pp. 292–93</ref>