Editing Otto Harbach

{{Short description|American lyricist and librettist (1873–1963)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name                = Otto Harbach
| image               = Otto Harbach.jpg
| image_size          =
| caption             = Harbach
| background          = non_performing_personnel
| birth_name          = Otto Abels Hauerbach
| alias               =
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1873|8|18|mf=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Salt Lake City, Utah]], U.S.
| origin              = 
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|1963|1|24|1873|8|18}}
| death_place         = [[New York City]], [[New York State|New York]], U.S.
| instrument          =
| genre               =
| occupation          = [[Lyricist]], [[Libretto|librettist]]
| years_active        = 1902-1936
| label               =
| associated_acts     =
| website             = 
}}

'''Otto Abels Harbach''', born '''Otto Abels Hauerbach''' (August 18, 1873 – January 24, 1963) was an American lyricist and librettist of nearly 50 [[Musical theater|musical comedies]] and [[operetta]]s. Harbach collaborated as lyricist or librettist with many of the leading [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] composers of the early 20th century, including [[Jerome Kern]], [[Louis Hirsch]], [[Herbert Stothart]], [[Vincent Youmans]], [[George Gershwin]], and [[Sigmund Romberg]]. Harbach believed that music, lyrics, and story should be closely connected, and, as [[Oscar Hammerstein II]]'s mentor, he encouraged Hammerstein to write musicals in this manner. Harbach is considered one of the first great Broadway lyricists,<ref name="hischak"/> and he helped raise the status of the lyricist in an age more concerned with music, spectacle, and stars. Some of his more famous lyrics are "[[Smoke Gets in Your Eyes]]", "[[Indian Love Call]]" and "[[Cuddle up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine]]".

==Biography==
===Early life and education===
Otto Abels Hauerbach was born on August 18, 1873, in [[Salt Lake City, Utah]] to [[Denmark|Danish]] immigrant parents. His family's original surname was Christiansen, but shortly after settling in the United States near Salt Lake City in the 1830s, they took the name of the farm on which they worked, Hauerbach, as their new surname.<ref name="hischak-word-crazy">{{cite book |pages= 19–24 |title= Word Crazy: Broadway Lyricists from Cohan to Sondheim |author= Hischak, Thomas S. |year=1991 |publisher= Praeger}}</ref>

He attended the [[Westminster College, Salt Lake City|Salt Lake Collegiate Institute]], transferring to [[Knox College (Illinois)|Knox College]], in [[Galesburg, Illinois]], where he was a friend of [[Carl Sandburg]], joined [[Phi Gamma Delta]] fraternity, and graduated in 1895. Knox has since named its 599-seat Harbach Theatre in his honor. He then taught English and public speaking at [[Whitman College]] in [[Walla Walla, Washington|Walla Walla]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]],<ref name="hischak-word-crazy"/> with the goal of becoming an English professor. In the early 1900s, complaining of eye difficulties making prolonged reading uncomfortable, he became a newspaper reporter. He also worked at various advertising agencies, at an insurance firm, as a copywriter in advertising, and later as a journalist. He would have to pull out of Columbia when he could not financially support himself.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}

===Early career (1902–1911)===
In 1902, he spotted an advertisement for a new [[Joe Weber (vaudevillian)|Joe Weber]] and [[Lew Fields]] musical with a picture of star [[Fay Templeton]].<ref name="hischak-word-crazy" /> He had not been interested in theatre but more in literary classics, but after seeing the show, realized he liked the lighthearted genre.{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}}

That same year, he met composer [[Karl Hoschna]].<ref name="bordman-chronicle">{{cite book |page= 283 |title= American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle |author= Bordman, Gerald |year=2001 |edition=3rd |publisher= Oxford University Press}}</ref> They wrote a comic opera together, ''The Daughter of the Desert'', but no producer was interested in producing the work.<ref name="bordman-chronicle"/> Harbach and Hoschna continued to collaborate, writing songs to be interpolated into other Broadway shows. They received their first chance to have a complete show produced on Broadway when [[M. Witmark & Sons|Isidore Witmark]] asked Hoschna, his employee, to serve as composer for a musical version of [[Mary McIntire Pacheco]]'s play ''Incog''. Hoschna asked Harbach to write the lyrics. With Witmark and Charles Dickson writing the libretto, the resulting show was ''Three Twins'', which opened in 1908 and ran for 288 performances (Harbach was paid a hundred dollars for his work). The show starred Clifton Crawford. One of Hoschna and Harbach's songs for ''Three Twins'', "[[Cuddle Up A Little Closer, Lovey Mine]]," became a popular hit.<ref name="bordman-chronicle"/>

Their next collaboration was ''Madame Sherry'' in 1910, an adaptation of a 1902 German operetta, which featured Jack Gardner in the lead role. Their score included the standard "[[Every Little Movement (Has a Meaning All Its Own)]]".<ref name="hischak">{{cite book |page= 324 |title= The Oxford Companion to the American Musical: Theatre, Film, and Television |author= Hischak, Thomas |year=2008 |publisher= Oxford University Press}}</ref> Harbach and Hoschna's score was augmented with interpolations, including the popular hit "Put Your Arms Around Me, Honey" by [[Albert von Tilzer]] and Junie McCree. They would collaborate for four more shows until Hoschna died in 1911, aged 35.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}

===Career (1912–1936)===
Harbach's work with Hoschna had established his reputation as a competent Broadway lyricist and librettist. Producer [[Arthur Hammerstein]] asked Harbach in 1912 to serve as librettist for a new operetta called ''[[The Firefly (operetta)|The Firefly]]'', to be composed by [[Rudolf Friml]]. Harbach set his libretto in contemporary Manhattan and Bermuda, which differed from the typical European setting for operettas.<ref name="Bordman-Am-Operetta">{{cite book |page= 94 |title=American Operetta: From H.M.S Pinafore to Sweeney Todd |author= Bordman, Gerald|year=1981 |publisher= Oxford University Press |location=New York}}</ref> The result was a huge success, with hits such as "Sympathy", "Giannina Mia", and "Love is Like a Firefly".<ref name="hischak-word-crazy"/>

The success of ''The Firefly'' led to ten more musical collaborations for librettist Harbach, composer Friml, and producer Arthur Hammerstein, including ''[[High Jinks (musical)|High Jinks]]'' (1913) and ''[[Katinka (operetta)|Katinka]]'' (1915).<ref name="everett-friml">{{cite book |page= 18 |title= Rudolph Friml |author= Everett, William. |year=2008 |publisher= University of Illinois Press |location= Urbana and Chicago}}</ref> Most of the shows Harbach and Friml wrote ran for over 200 performances each, which was a successful run for the time period.

Harbach also worked on projects with other collaborators during this time. In 1914, he contributed the libretto only to the [[Percy Wenrich]] musical ''[[The Crinoline Girl]]''. He collaborated with composer [[Louis Hirsch]] and scored his biggest success thus far in his career in 1917 with ''[[Going Up (musical)|Going Up]]''.<ref name=":0" /> This was his first attempt at a musical comedy, as opposed to an American operetta.<ref name="google.com" /> The show was based on the 1910 comedy ''The Aviator'' by James Montgomery, who co-wrote the libretto with Harbach. The show ran for 351 performances, toured nationally, and was an even larger hit in London. Also in 1917, he shortened his name from Hauerbach to Harbach to avoid anti-German sentiment caused by [[World War I]].<ref name="google.com">{{cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/broadway00unkngoog |page= [https://archive.org/details/broadway00unkngoog/page/n351 217] |quote= All Aboard for Dixie otto harbach. |title=Broadway: An Encyclopedia |author= Bloom, Ken |year=2003 |publisher= Routledge |location=New York |access-date=August 24, 2015}}</ref> Harbach and Hirsch collaborated on another notable Broadway production in 1920, ''[[Mary (musical)|Mary]]''.<ref name="hischak"/>

Also around 1920, producer Arthur Hammerstein introduced his nephew Oscar Hammerstein II to Harbach.<ref name="nolan">{{cite book |page= 36 |title=The Sound of Their Music: The Story of Rodgers and Hammerstein |author= Nolan, Frederick |year=2002 |publisher= Applause Theatre and Cinema Books |location=New York}}</ref> Oscar was an aspiring lyricist and book writer, and Harbach became his mentor. Harbach encouraged Oscar to treat writing for the musical theatre as a "serious art form." Together, they wrote book and lyrics for ''[[Tickle Me (play)|Tickle Me]]'' (1920), ''Jimmie'' (1920), ''[[Wildflower (musical)|Wildflower]]'' (1923), ''[[Rose-Marie]]'' (1924), ''[[Sunny (musical)|Sunny]]'' (1925), ''[[Song of the Flame]]'' (1925), ''The Wild Rose'' (1926), ''[[The Desert Song]]'' (1926), ''Golden Dawn'' (1927), and ''Good Boy'' (1928).<ref name="hischak"/>

Harbach and Hammerstein's operetta collaboration, ''[[Wildflower (musical)|Wildflower]]'' (1923), was Harbach's first work with composer [[Vincent Youmans]]. Harbach would then collaborate with composer Youmans, co-lyricist [[Irving Caesar]], and co-librettist [[Frank Mandel]] on the 1925 hit musical comedy ''[[No, No, Nanette]]''.

Harbach first collaborated with Broadway composer [[Jerome Kern]] on ''[[Sunny (musical)|Sunny]]'' (1925), and they would continue to work together on subsequent musicals, including ''[[Criss Cross (musical)|Criss Cross]]'' (1926), ''[[The Cat and the Fiddle (musical)|The Cat and the Fiddle]] (1931)'', and ''[[Roberta (musical)|Roberta]]'' (1933). Broadway historian Thomas S. Hischak states that Harbach's lyrics for Kern were the finest of his career. ''The Cat and the Fiddle'' was especially notable, as Harbach (writing both book and lyrics) and Kern aimed to create a modern operetta set in contemporary Brussels "in which music and story were indispensable to each other."<ref name="hischak-word-crazy"/> Hits from ''The Cat and the Fiddle'' included "Try to Forget," "[[She Didn't Say Yes]]", "The Breeze Kissed Your Hair", and "The Night Was Made for Love". ''Roberta'' included the hits "[[Smoke Gets in Your Eyes]]", "[[Yesterdays (1933 song)|Yesterdays]]", "You're Devastating", and "The Touch of Your Hand".<ref name="hischak-word-crazy"/>
 
By the mid-1930s, Harbach's operetta-influenced style was no longer current on Broadway. His final major production was a collaboration with operetta composer [[Sigmund Romberg]], ''Forbidden Melody'' (1936).<ref name="hischak-word-crazy"/>

In addition to his musical collaborations, Harbach also wrote non-musical farce plays for the Broadway stage, including ''[[Up in Mabel's Room (play)|Up in Mabel's Room]]''.<ref name="oharbach-nytimes-obit"/>

==Impact and legacy==
Harbach was one of the most prolific Broadway lyricist/librettists of the early 20th century.<ref name="ewen-story">{{cite book |page= 29 |title= The Story of America's Musical Theater |author= Ewen, David |year=1961 |publisher= Chilton Company |location= Philadelphia}}</ref>  He collaborated as lyricist or librettist with many of the leading Broadway writers and composers of that era, including [[Oscar Hammerstein II]], [[Jerome Kern]], [[Louis Hirsch]], [[Herbert Stothart]], [[Vincent Youmans]], [[George Gershwin]], and [[Sigmund Romberg]].<ref name="hischak"/> He became a charter member of [[ASCAP]] in 1914, and he served as a director (1920–1963), vice president (1936–1940), and president (1950–1953).<ref name="songwriters-hall">{{cite web
 |url= https://www.songhall.org/profile/Otto_Harbach
 |title= Otto Harbach
 |website= Songwriters Hall of Fame
 |access-date=September 2, 2021}}</ref>
Harbach was also an inductee of the [[Songwriters Hall of Fame]].<ref name="songwriters-hall"/>

Harbach died at his home in [[New York City]] on January 24, 1963, aged 89.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://snaccooperative.org/ark:/99166/w6pr818n|title=Harbach, Otto, 1873–1963 @ SNAC|website=snaccooperative.org|access-date=September 13, 2018}}</ref><ref name="oharbach-nytimes-obit">{{cite news |date=January 24, 1963 |title=OTTO HARBACH, 89, LIBRETTIST, DEAD |url= https://nyti.ms/3hPDetF |work=The New York Times |access-date=September 14, 2021}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1918, Harbach married Eloise Smith Dougall of [[Salt Lake City, Utah]]. The Harbachs had two sons, [[William O. Harbach]] (a television producer) and Robert Harbach (a writer).<ref name="Utah-St-History">{{cite web |url=https://historytogo.utah.gov/harbach-otto/ |title=Otto Abels Harbach |website=Utah.gov: History to Go |date=March 31, 1995 |publisher=Utah Division of State History |access-date=September 9, 2021}}</ref><ref name="eharbach-nytimes-obit">{{cite news |date=September 8, 1967 |title=MRS. OTTO HARBACH |url=https://nyti.ms/3AdruYK |work=The New York Times |access-date=September 14, 2021}}</ref>

==Notable songs==
He was lyricist for many songs including:

* "Allah's Holiday"
* "[[Cuddle up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine]]"
* "[[Every Little Movement (Has a Meaning All Its Own)]]"
* "Giannina Mia"
* "Going Up"
* "[[I Won't Dance]]"
* "If You Look in Her Eyes"
* "[[Indian Love Call]]"
* "Love Is Like a Firefly"
* "[[One Alone]]"
* "Rackety Coo"
* "[[She Didn't Say Yes]]"
* "[[Smoke Gets in Your Eyes]]" (from 1933 musical ''[[Roberta (musical)|Roberta]]'') 
* "Something Seems Tingle-Ingling"
* "Sympathy"
* "The Night Was Made For Love"
* "The Tickle Toe"
* "[[Yesterdays (1933 song)|Yesterdays]]"
* "[[Who? (song)|Who?]]" (from 1925 Broadway Musical ''[[Sunny (musical)|Sunny]]'')

==Works==
* Early works
** 1907 ''Three Twins'' (music [[Karl Hoschna]])
** 1909 ''Bright Eyes'' (music Hoschna)
** 1910 ''Madame Sherry'' (music Hoschna)
** 1911 ''Dr. De Luxe'' (music Hoschna)
** 1911 ''[[The Girl of My Dreams]]'' (music Hoschna)
** 1911 ''[[The Fascinating Widow]]'' (music Hoschna)
** 1912 ''[[The Firefly (operetta)|The Firefly]]'' (music [[Rudolf Friml]])
** 1913 ''[[High Jinks (musical)|High Jinks]]'' (music Friml)
** 1914 ''[[The Crinoline Girl]]'' (music [[Percy Wenrich]]), lyrics [[Julian Eltinge]]) – book only
** 1914 ''Suzi'' (music Aladar Renyi)
** 1915 ''[[Katinka (operetta)|Katinka]]'' (music Friml)
** 1916 ''The Silent Witness'' (play by Harbach)
** 1916 ''A Pair of Queens'' (play by Harbach, A. Seymour Brown, and Harry Lewis)
** 1917 ''You're in Love'' (music Friml)
** 1917 ''Miss 1917'' (revue)
** 1917 ''Kitty Darlin''' (music Friml)
** 1917 ''Here's to the Two of You'' (music [[Louis Hirsch]])<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=World War I Sheet Music – Volume 1|last=Parker|first=Bernard S.|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc|year=2007|isbn=978-0-7864-2798-7|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|pages=191, 230}}</ref>
* Later works
** 1918 ''[[Going Up (musical)|Going Up]]'' (music [[Louis Hirsch]])
** 1919 ''[[Up in Mabel's Room (play)|Up in Mabel's Room]]'', play, written with [[Wilson Collison]]
** 1919 ''Tumble In'' (music Friml)
** 1919 ''The Little Whopper'' (music Friml, lyrics with Bide Dudley)
** 1920 ''No More Blondes'', play by Harbach
** 1920 ''[[Mary (musical)|Mary]]'' (music Hirsch)
** 1920 ''Jimmie'' (music [[Herbert Stothart]], lyrics Hammerstein II)
** 1920 ''[[Tickle Me (play)|Tickle Me]]'' (music Stothart, lyrics Hammerstein II)
** 1921 ''June Love'' (music Friml, lyrics [[Brian Hooker (poet)|Brian Hooker]], book Harbach and William H. Post)
** 1921 ''The O'Brien Girl'' (music Friml, lyrics Frank Mandel, and book Harbach and Mandel)
** 1922 ''The Blue Kitten'' (music Friml, lyrics and book by Harbach and William Carey Duncan)
** 1922 ''Molly Darling'' (music Tom Johnstone, lyrics Phil Cook, book by Harbach and Williams)
** 1923 ''[[Wildflower (musical)|Wildflower]]'' (music Youmans and Stothart, lyrics Hammerstein II)
** 1923 ''Jack and Jill'' (music Stothart)
** 1923 ''[[Kid Boots]]'' (music [[Harry Tierney]] and lyrics [[Joseph McCarthy (lyricist)|Joseph McCarthy]])
** 1923 ''[[No, No, Nanette]]'' (music [[Vincent Youmans]], lyrics with [[Irving Caesar]])
** 1924 ''[[Rose-Marie]]'' (music Friml, lyrics Hammerstein II)
** 1925 ''[[Song of the Flame]]'' (music by [[George Gershwin]] and Stothart, lyrics Hammerstein II)
** 1925 ''[[Sunny (musical)|Sunny]]'' (music [[Jerome Kern]], lyrics Hammerstein II)
** 1926 ''[[Criss Cross (musical)|Criss Cross]]'' (music Kern)
** 1926 ''[[The Wild Rose (1926 musical)|The Wild Rose]]'' (music Friml)
** 1926 ''[[The Desert Song]]'' (music Romberg)
** 1927 ''Golden Dawn'' (music [[Emmerich Kalman]] and Stothart)
** 1927 ''Lucky'' (music Kern)
** 1928 ''Good Boy'' (music Stothart, lyrics [[Bert Kalmar]] and [[Harry Ruby]])
** 1930 ''Nina Rosa'' (music Romberg, lyrics Irving Caesar)
** 1930 ''Ballyhoo of 1930'' (featured lyricist)
** 1931 ''[[The Cat and the Fiddle (musical)|The Cat and the Fiddle]]'' (music Kern)
** 1933 ''[[Roberta (musical)|Roberta]]'' (music Kern)
** 1936 ''Forbidden Melody'' (music [[Sigmund Romberg]])
** 1938 ''Gentlemen Unafraid'' (music Kern, lyrics Hammerstein II)

==References==
{{reflist}}
* Hischak, Thomas, S. ''American Song Lyricists, 1920–1960'' (1002), Detroit: [[Gale (publisher)|Gale]], {{ISBN|978-0-7876-6009-3}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{IBDB name}}
* {{IMDb name|0361877}}
* [http://archives.nypl.org/the/21318 Otto Harbach papers, 1870–1990 (bulk 1895–1963)], held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, [[New York Public Library for the Performing Arts]]
*[http://archives.nypl.org/the/21318 Otto Harbach papers, Additions 1923–1979] Billy Rose Theatre Division, [[New York Public Library for the Performing Arts]]
*[https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-rb/ldpd_5419977 Finding aid to Otto Harbach papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.]
* [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/108695 Otto Harbach recordings] at the [[Discography of American Historical Recordings]].
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harbach, Otto}}
[[Category:1873 births]]
[[Category:1963 deaths]]
[[Category:American musical theatre librettists]]
[[Category:American musical theatre lyricists]]
[[Category:American people of Danish descent]]
[[Category:Broadway composers and lyricists]]
[[Category:Knox College (Illinois) alumni]]
[[Category:People from Salt Lake City]]
[[Category:Whitman College alumni]]
[[Category:ASCAP composers and authors]]