Irving Taylor (songwriter)

Irving Taylor (April 8, 1914, Brooklyn, New York – December 3, 1983, Westlake Village, Los Angeles, California), was a Jewish-American composer, lyricist, and screenwriter. He enlisted in the US Navy the day after Pearl Harbor. While in uniform, he and Vic Mizzy wrote entertainments for personnel stationed at the Staten Island Navy Yard, and he later served as a quartermaster on an LST involved in African and European invasions during World War II. He married Katharine Snell, an American dancer, model and actress, on 20 September 1942 and they had two children. He had changed his last name by 1936 from Goldberg to Taylor.

He lived and worked in New York City until enlisting in the Navy. After the war ended, he began writing and producing for television (The Carmen Cavallero Show, The Freddy Martin Show, and several situation comedies), and maintained homes in both New York City and Los Angeles until finally settling in Los Angeles around 1956.

Irving formed Kiss Music Co. in the late 1950s. "Kiss" is an anagram made from the first letters of Taylor's wife and children's first names. Kiss Music Co. now does business in Philadelphia, where Taylor's son Stephen resides. His daughter Suzanna died on January 5, 1995, in Wilmington, NC, where her children continue to reside.

His wife Katharine died 21 August 2001, in Wilmington, NC.

Irving is buried at Mt. Sinai Memorial Park, in Los Angeles.

Partial List of Songs (lyrics unless otherwise noted)

• Swing, Mr. Charlie (1936) with Harry Brooks and J. Russel Robinson;
• "My Heart Is A Violin" with Emery Deutsch and J. Russel Robinson;
• "Three Little Sisters" (1942) with Vic Mizzy;
• "Take It Easy" (1943) with Albert De Bru and Vic Mizzy;
• "One-zy Two-zy" (1946) with Dave Franklin;
• "Everybody Loves Somebody" (1947) with music by Ken Lane;
• "Caramba! It's The Samba " (1947) with Edward Pola and George Wyle;
• "So Dear To My Heart" (1947) with music by Ticker Freeman;
• "Quicksilver" (1949) with George Wyle and Eddie Pola;
• "Wandering Swallow" (1951) with Harold Stevens;
• "Am I A Toy Or A Treasure?" (1954) with Arthur Altman and Louis C. Singer;
• "(Everybody's Waitin' For) The Man With the Bag" (1950) with Dudley Brooks and Hal Stanley;
• "Give Me Your Word" (1955) with George Wyle;
• "Pachalafaka" (1958), words and music;
• "Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb" (1959) words and music;
• "A Christmas Toast" with Ken Lane;

Movies

• "Three Little Sisters" (1944) lyricist; eponymous song also appeared in "Memoirs of a Geisha (2005);
• "So Dear to My Heart" (1948) lyricist;
• "Sudden Fear " (1952) lyricist;
• "Walk the Dark Street " (1956) writer;
• "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" (1957) writer;
• "The Lord Don't Play Favorites" (TV) (1956) writer

Television

• "Bob Newhart Show" (1961-1962) writer;
• "The Dean Martin Show" (1965) composer;
• "F Troop" (1965) composer;
• "Jonathan Winters Show" (1967-1969) writer;
• "The Muppet Show" (1976) composer;

External links

• Irving Taylor's biography at Find-a-Grave

Notes

1. ^ Some sources, such as The Big Bands Database, record his birth as August 4, 1914, but census, passport and family records all confirm April 8 as the correct date.