Grant Clarke (May 14, 1891, Akron, Ohio – May 16, 1931, California) was an American songwriter.
Clarke moved to New York City early in his career, where he worked as an actor and a staff writer for comedians. He began working on Tin Pan Alley, where he contributed music to films such as The Jazz Singer (1927), Weary River (1928), On with the Show (1929), and Is Everybody Happy? (1929).
He wrote the lyrics to the show Dixie to Broadway, and also contributed to the 1921 Ziegfeld Follies and Bombo. Later in his career he became a charter member of ASCAP and was successful in the music publishing business.
Clarke was the author of the lyrics to many popular songs of the 1910s and 1920s, working with composers such as George W. Meyer, Harry Akst, James V. Monaco, Al Piantadosi, Fred Fisher, Harry Warren, Arthur Johnston, James Hanley, Lewis F. Muir and Milton Ager.
Read more about Grant Clarke: Discography
Famous quotes containing the words grant and/or clarke:
“I know that I will always be expected to have extra insight into black texts—especially texts by black women. A working-class Jewish woman from Brooklyn could become an expert on Shakespeare or Baudelaire, my students seemed to believe, if she mastered the language, the texts, and the critical literature. But they would not grant that a middle-class white man could ever be a trusted authority on Toni Morrison.”
—Claire Oberon Garcia, African American scholar and educator. Chronicle of Higher Education, p. B2 (July 27, 1994)
“‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugarplums danced in their heads;”
—Clement Clarke Moore (1779–1863)