Hart Lorenz Milton, *2 May 1895 New York, †22 November 1943 New York, American librettist and songwriter. In 1917, he graduated from Columbia University in New York with a degree in journalism and made his debut as a writer of sketches and song lyrics; he also translated German operetta librettos. In 1918, he met R. Rodgers, with whom he collaborated until the end of his career. The Rodgers-Hart partnership made their debut in 1919 with the song Any Old Place with You, included in the revue A Lonely Romeo; soon after, they presented their songs in the revue Fly with Me staged at Columbia University and, together with composer S. Romberg, presented the musical comedy Poor Little Ritz Girl. However, the beginning of their career can only be considered to be the 1925 staging of the revue The Garrick Gaieties with the hits Manhattan and Sentimental Me. Later, in collaboration with various authors, Rodgers and Hart staged musical comedies, such as Dearest Enemy (1925, featuring the ballad Here in My Arms), The Girl Friend, Peggy-Ann (1926), One Dam’ Thing after Another, Betsy, A Connecticut Yankee (1927, featuring songs My Heart Stood Still and Thou Swell), Present Arms, Chee-Chee (1928), Spring Is Here, Heads Up (1929), Simple Simon, Evergreen (1930), America’s Sweetheart (1931), Jumbo (1932, with the hit song The Most Beautiful Girl in the World), On Your Toes (1936), Babes in Arms (hit songs Where or When, My Funny Valentine, The Lady Is a Tramp), I’d Rather Be Right (1937), I Married an Angel, The Boys from Syracuse (1938), Too Many Girls (1939), Pal Joey (1940, which featured the hits I Could Write a Book and Bewitcheds, Bothered and Bewildered), By Jupiter (1942). Hart willingly adapted well-known plays and novels, enriching them with additional plot lines, introducing new characters, shifting the action in time and space, and changing the style and character, usually to the advantage of the stage work. His inventiveness was boundless: he made President F.D. Roosevelt the protagonist of I’d Rather Be Right, used the fashionable topic of psychoanalysis in Peggy-Ann, explored the conflict between generations in Babes in Arms, presented war with a grain of salt in Dearest Enemy, poked fun at female emancipation in I Married an Angel and Pal Joey, and mixed Old English poetry with American slang in Connecticut Yankee. Rodgers and Hart’s musical films from the 1930s did not go down in cinema history, except for Love Me Tonight (1932, hits Mimi, Isn’t It Romantic? and Lover) and Manhattan Melodrama (1934, ballad Blue Moon). Much more interesting are the film adaptations of their 12 musical comedies, especially A Connecticut Yankee (1931), On Your Toes (1939), Pal Joey (1957) and Jumbo (1962). The collaboration between the two artists resulted in 29 works; their work is the subject of the film Words and Music (1948).
Literature: S. Marx and J. Clayton Rodgers and Hart, New York 1976; D. Hart Thou Swell, Thou Witty. Life and Lyrics of Lorenz Hart, New York 1976.
