Warren, Harry

orig. Salvatore Guaragna

(born Dec. 24, 1893, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.—died Sept. 22, 1981, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. songwriter. The youngest of 12 children, Warren was self-taught musically. He toured with brass bands and carnivals from age 15. After a few years as a song plugger in Tin Pan Alley, he began contributing tunes to Broadway musicals, including “You're My Everything” and “I Found a Million Dollar Baby in a Five-and-Ten-Cent Store.” In 1932 he moved to Hollywood, where he collaborated on films such as Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), 42nd Street (1933), Down Argentine Way (1940), and Sun Valley Serenade (1941; with “Chattanooga Choo-Choo”), and he received Academy Awards for the songs “Lullaby of Broadway,” “You'll Never Know,” and “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe.” Between 1935 and 1950 he wrote more top-10 hit songs than any other songwriter.

Warren, Harry (Salvatore) (1893–1981) composer; born in Brooklyn, N.Y. Of Italian-American descent, he was completely self-taught as a musician and as a young man supported himself playing the piano in dance halls and movie houses. After writing songs in the 1920s for Broadway revues, he moved to Hollywood where from 1932 to 1957 he worked with such lyricists as Al Dubin and Mack Gordon on over 75 films including Forty-Second Street (1933) and Just for You (1952); his songs won three Oscars and more than 100 achieved national popularity, among them "We're in the Money" (1933), "Lullaby of Broadway" (1935), and "Jeepers, Creepers" (1938). Demand for his work declined during the 1960s rock era, but the Broadway musical hit of 1980, Forty-Second Street, used 17 of Warren's songs.