Sammy Cahn

The Sammy Cahn papers span the years 1933–1993 (bulk 1930s, 1950s–1980s) and encompass 24 linear feet. The collection consists of production files, television files, stage files, biography files, subject files, personal files, the Sammy Cahn-Saul Chaplin files, music manuscript files, sheet music, and disc recordings.

The production files contain scripts, music, and typed lyrics for films from 1945 to 1982, with the bulk of the material covering the mid-1950s to mid-1970s (the earliest typed lyric is from 1956). Various drafts of lyrics for "(Chicago Is) My Kind of Town" shed light on the writing process. The unrealized-production files likewise include scripts, music, and typed lyrics. Music in these files is piano-vocal Ozalid reproductions unless otherwise noted. Of special note is material for the unproduced Marilyn Monroe film Pink Tights with music and lyrics by Cahn and Styne.

The television files contain scripts and Cahn and Van Heusen's music and lyrics for shows from the late 1950s and early 1960s featuring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, and Vic Damone. Cahn's lyrics for the series Hazel, The Mothers-in-Law, The Odd Couple, and Sesame Street, as well as lyrics for television commercials, are also included. The stage files contain scripts, music, typed lyrics, and some correspondence for musicals ranging from High Button Shoes to Walking Happy.

The autobiographical musical revue Words and Music is represented by correspondence, contracts, programs, and clippings from its Broadway debut in 1974 to Cahn's tours across the United States from 1975–1990. Cahn's personal appearances during those same years are represented by correspondence, contracts, and special lyrics. The files covering unrealized stage productions from the late 1950s to the early 1970s contain predominantly story material. Music and lyrics by Cahn and Van Heusen for Once Around the Park document an early 1960s unproduced musical with songs later used in Walking Happy and Skyscraper.

In the mid-1930s Cahn began writing parody lyrics to then-popular songs. At the same time, he supplied special material—namely, arrangements, additional lyrics, and comedy material—to singers and performers (see the Sammy Cahn-Saul Chaplin files below). The biography files contain special lyrics and material written from the 1950s through the 1990s for a wide range of performers, personalities, and special events. The performers include Lucille Ball, Milton Berle, Cyd Charisse, Sammy Davis Jr., Bob Hope, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Jerry Lewis, and Frank Sinatra. The personalities include politicians Tom Bradley, George Bush, George Deukmejian, and Hubert Humphrey; sports figures Tommy Lasorda, Jim Murray, and Vin Scully; composers and songwriters Ira Gershwin, Johnny Green, Burton Lane, Lionel Newman, Jule Styne, and James Van Heusen; and many recognizable figures in finance and industry, among them Leona Helmsley, Lee Iacocca, Adnan Khashoggi, Ray Kroc, and Ross Perot.

The subject files contain similar special lyric material for organizations ranging from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) to the Friars to SHARE. There is correspondence regarding organizations in which Cahn held office and actively participated, particularly ASCAP and the Songwriters' Hall of Fame. Also included are music and lyrics for specialty numbers for various Academy Award shows, as well as a song written by Cahn and Van Heusen for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The personal files contain general files, special material written for his own birthdays, comic bits and routines from the 1930s, personal correspondence, political campaign songs and special lyrics, and biographies and songographies.

The Sammy Cahn-Saul Chaplin files contain nearly 500 songs written in the 1930s by the prolific pair. Cahn's first lyric, for "Like Niagara Falls I'm Falling for You," is represented, as is "Shake Your Head from Side to Side," the duo's first collaboration. Of special interest is the handwritten lead sheet for "Where the Mountains Touch the Sky," signed by Cahn and Saul Kaplan (Chaplin) and annotated "the beginning—Nov. 1933." The material is predominately special arrangements, additional lyrics, and comedy material written for vaudeville-type performers; however, nearly one of every four songs was written for Warner Bros. Vitaphone shorts. The songs include "Anytime's the Time to Fall in Love" from Double or Nothing (1936) to "You Don't Need a Fire to Keep Your Wig Warm" from Captain Blueblood (1937).

The music manuscript files contain lead sheet or piano-vocal arrangements of almost a hundred songs with lyrics by Cahn, including many that were never published. The sheet music files contain more than 400 songs: "Rhythm Is Our Business" (1935), "Swing for Sale" from the 1936 eponymous Vitaphone short, "I'll Walk Alone" (1944) from Follow the Boys, "The Man with the Golden Arm" (1955), "Straight Down the Middle" (theme for the Bing Crosby 1958 annual golf tournament), "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (1967), "All That Love Went to Waste" from A Touch of Class (1973), and "Thumbs Up, America!" (for Ronald Reagan's 1981 presidential inauguration), to name just a few. Several Cahn songbooks and a copy of Sammy Cahn's Rhyming Dictionary round out the collection.

Disc recordings for commercial soundtracks and original cast recordings for film and stage productions, as well as noncommercial transcription, reference, rehearsal, and demo recordings for film, television, and radio, document Cahn's entire career. The earliest is from a 1936 radio show and is titled "Cahn and Chaplin song composition review." There are numerous commercial and noncommercial recordings of songs with lyrics by Cahn, featuring performances by Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, and others. Mint-condition covers for 45-rpm recordings exist for Pardners (1956) featuring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957) starring Dean Martin, and Serenade (1956). Of special interest are music tracks for Finian's Rainbow (1954–1955, unrealized) featuring performances by Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Armstrong. A small amount of special material is represented by instantaneous disc recordings, such as "Frank Sinatra's Party" (1958) and "Moss Hart Party" (1959) with Howard Dietz, Arthur Schwartz, and Kitty Carlisle.

The collection contains more than 1,000 songs and is particularly strong on Cahn's collaborations with Van Heusen in the 1960s and 1970s and with Chaplin in the 1930s; there is considerably less material on his collaborations with Brodszky and Styne (although High Button Shoes is well represented). Cahn's working methodology is evident throughout the collection. He virtually always used a typewriter, resulting in very few handwritten lyrics. His custom of working the lyric inside his head before committing it to paper resulted in surprisingly few drafts before a final lyric was achieved. The collection's strength is in the thousands of published and unpublished lyrics and the fairly comprehensive coverage of those lyrics in the disc recordings.

Gift of Mrs. Tita Cahn, 1994–1998.