JEROME KERN (1939-45) Photo archive

Jerome Kern. 1939-45. New York, Los Angeles: [Various], 1939-1945. Group of 8 vintage original variously sized single and double weight black-and-white photos, including 8 x 10″ (20 x 25 cm) and 7 x 9″ (17 x 22 cm). Most have date/photographer stamps on verso as well as original paper publicity blurbs and newspaper clippings. Overall near fine.

Jerome Kern (1885-1945) is best known as a pioneering American composer who transformed musical theatre by integrating songs into coherent plots. He famously composed the 1927 masterpiece Show Boat and its enduring standards like “Ol’ Man River” and wrote hundreds of pop and jazz hits for the Great American Songbook.

Kern’s contributions span both Broadway and Hollywood, shaping the structure of the modern musical. Throughout his career, Kern composed over 700 songs used in more than 100 stage and film works. Many of his compositions transcend their original contexts and are celebrated jazz and pop standards.

During the teens and 1920s, Kern composed for countless stage shows. Once Hollywood found its voice, during the 1930s and 1940s, Kern shifted to Hollywood, composing iconic soundtracks for movie musicals. He won an Academy Award for Best Original Song (and was nominated for others) and is considered one of the most celebrated figures in the history of American popular music. In 1945, MGM began filming a musical biography of his career. He died in New York City soon after visiting the set of the film. (Wikipedia)

Included are: a double weight portrait from the 1930s; Kern working on manuscripts at home in 1943; with Arthur Freed, Lucille Bremer, Kay Thompson, Lenny Hayton and Robert Alton visiting MGM during pre-production of Till the Clouds Roll By; and at home alone and with his daughter in 1939.