Biography

(är´l n) (KEY) , 1905–86, American jazz and popular composer, b. Buffalo, N.Y., as Hyman Arluck. Arlen sang from the age of 7 in the synagogue where his father was cantor, and at 15 he left school to play jazz piano. After coming to New York City in 1925, Arlen achieved fame by writing songs for various reviews and for the Harlem Cotton Club shows (1930–34). Many of his songs became jazz standards because of their genuine blues feeling and haunting melodies (e.g., “Ill Wind,” “Stormy Weather,” “Blues in the Night”). In 1939, Arlen won an Academy Award for the song “Over the Rainbow” in the film The Wizard of Oz. Among the other films for which he wrote scores are Cabin in the Sky (1943) and A Star Is Born (1954). He also wrote the music for several Broadway shows, notably House of Flowers (1954).
See biography by E. Jablonski (1962).

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