Richard A. Whiting

Richard Armstrong Whiting (November 12, 1891 – February 10, 1938) was a composer of popular songs including the standards, "Hooray for Hollywood", "Ain't We Got Fun?" & "On the Good Ship Lollipop".

He was born in Peoria, Illinois, and grew up in Detroit, Michigan. He attended the Harvard Military School in Los Angeles, California. Upon his graduation, Whiting began his career as a staff writer for various music publishers. In 1912, he became a personal manager.

In 1919, he moved to Hollywood and wrote a number of film scores. He collaborated with BG DeSylva, Ray Egan, Johnny Mercer, Neil Moret, Leo Robin, Gus Kahn, and Sidney Clare, to produce a number of hits (listed below). He also wrote a number of scores for Broadway plays.

A tribute to Whiting's music along with a medley of his best-known songs formed part of the 1980 Broadway musical A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine.

He was the father of singer/actress Margaret Whiting and actress Barbara Whiting Smith, and the grandson of Rep. Richard H. Whiting.

In 1938, he died from a heart attack in Beverly Hills, California, aged 46, at the height of his career. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.

Film scores

• Our Dancing Daughters (1928)
• Innocents of Paris (1929)
• The Dance of Life (1929)
• Monte Carlo (1930)
• Safety in Numbers (1930)
• Paramount on Parade (1930)
• The Playboy of Paris (1930)
• Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round (1932)
• One Hour With You (1932)
• Adorable (1933)
• Cowboy From Brooklyn (1933)
• The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1936)
• Varsity Show (1937)
• Ready, Willing, and Able (1937)
• Hollywood Hotel (1937)

Broadway show scores

• Toot Sweet
• George White's Scandals of 1919
• Take a Chance

1980s Broadway Reference

Richard Whiting was also referenced in the 1980 Broadway show a Day in Hollywood/ a Night in the Ukraine where a medley of his songs are performed in the first act. One of the actors comically portrays him during the song It All Comes Out of the Piano.

Hit songs

• "(They Made it Twice as Nice as Paradise) and They Called it Dixieland"
• "Till We Meet Again"
• "Some Sunday Morning"^{[citation needed]}
• "It's Tulip Time in Holland"
• "Where the Morning Glories Grow"
• "Where the Black-Eyed Susans Grow"
• "The Japanese Sandman"
• "Sleepy Time Gal"
• "Ain't We Got Fun?"
• "Hooray for Hollywood"
• "Honey"
• "Breezin' Along with the Breeze"
• "Horses"
• "It's a Habit of Mine"
• "Beyond the Blue Horizon" (music by Whiting and W. Franke Harling, words by Leo Robin).
• "Eadie Was a Lady" (music by Whiting and Nacio Herb Brown)
• "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
• "Sentimental and Melancholy" (words by Johnny Mercer)
• "Too Marvelous for Words" (words by Johnny Mercer)
• "Love Is on the Air Tonight"
• "Silhouetted in the Moonlight"
• "You've Got Something There"
• "Ride, Tenderfoot, Ride"
• "She's Funny That Way" (words only; music by Neil Moret)
• "Ukulele Lady" 1925
• "Guilty" (music by Whiting and Harry Akst, words by Gus Kahn).
• "My Ideal" (music by Whiting and Newell Chase, words by Leo Robin)

External links

• Richard A. Whiting at the Songwriters Hall of Fame
• Big Bands Database page on Whiting
• Richard A. Whiting at the Internet Movie Database
• Sheet music for "Till We Meet Again", Jerome H. Remick & Co., 1918.