Wiener, Bruce F.

Composer-lyricist Harold Rome (1908-1993) contributed both words and music to a number of Broadway revues and book musicals.

Born in Hartford, Conn., on May 27, 1908, Harold Rome gained early experience as a songwriter at Green Mansions, a summer camp for adults in the Adirondacks in upstate New York. His first major success in musical theater came in 1937 with PINS AND NEEDLES, a revue satirizing labor issues that featured non-professional performers, all of whom were members of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU). Rome had one of his biggest hit songs during World War II with "F.D.R. Jones," sung by Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney in the MGM musical BABES ON BROADWAY. CALL ME MISTER (1946) was another topical revue in which Rome's lyrics examined post-war readjustment problems. After several more revues, Rome's first Broadway book musical was WISH YOU WERE HERE (1952), set in a camp resembling Green Mansions. FANNY in 1954 was Rome's biggest Broadway success, but he was displeased when his songs were dropped from the 1961 film version. Rome's last stage success, I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE (1962), gave a teenage Barbra Streisand her first Broadway role, and also introduced her to her first husband, co-star Elliott Gould. In his later years Rome worked on a musicalized GONE WITH THE WIND entitled SCARLETT, which was staged in Los Angeles, Tokyo, and elsewhere, but never made it to Broadway.

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