Guy Bolton (1884-1979) was born in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, England, on November 23, 1884. Bolton famously collaborated with Jerome Kern and P.G. Wodehouse on a series of buoyant musicals for the 299-seat Princess Theatre, including Have A Heart; Oh, Boy!; Leave It To Jane; ...

PHILIP BARTHOLOMAE was a writer, lyricist, producer and director. Between 1911 and 1926, Bartholomae contributed to fifteen productions that reached Broadway, including his play Over Night, which ran for 160 performances and served as the basis for the wildly successful Very ...

Jerome Kern (1885-1945) composed his first complete show, The Red Petticoat, in 1912. Between 1915 and 1919, he composed a series of intimate chamber musicals, mostly in collaboration with Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, known as the Princess Theatre shows. These works — Very ...

HERBERT REYNOLDS was the pen name of Irish-American lyricist Michael Elder Rourke (1867-1933). Reynolds began his career as a press agent before moving on to lyric writing. Reynolds’ first successful collaboration with Jerome Kern was the song “They Didn’t Believe Me,” which ...

ELSIE JANIS was born in Marion County, Ohio and first appeared on stage at the age of two. By 11, she was an established headliner on the vaudeville circuit. Janis appeared in several Broadway and West End productions, including The Vanderbilt Cup (1906), The Hoyden (1907), T ...

HARRY B. SMITH was a prolific stage writer, having contributed to more than 300 librettos and lyrics for more than 6,000 tunes. His early career was as a music and drama critic for Chicago newspapers. Some of his best known works were created with Victor Herbert, Reginald deK ...