MARTIN

Hugh Martin, American musical theater and film composer, arranger and vocal coach, began his musical studies at the age of five in his home town of Birmingham, Alabama and originally intended to be a classical musician but he was tremendously influenced by Gershwin and Kern and decided to seek his fortune in New York.

His big break came in 1938 when his letter to Richard Rodgers about vocal arrangements in Broadway musicals, earned him an invitation to arrange “Sing for Your Supper” for the Rodgers and Hart show The Boys from Syracuse . By 1941 Martin had written with Ralph Blane a hit Broadway show Best Foot Forward, the result of entering a contest, the sole judge of which was Rodgers. Their good fortune continued with an MGM seven-year film contract. Their three most famous songs sung by Judy Garland in the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis are “The Trolley Song”. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, “The Boy Next Door”. The latter song was interpolated in the 1989 Broadway show version with “I Happen to Love You” originally written by Martin for the 1958 Hallmark Hall of Fame television musical Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates starring skater Dick Button and actors Tab Hunter, Peggy King and Basil Rathbone.

During the golden years of Broadway and Hollywood musicals, Hugh Martin wrote music and lyrics for five stage shows and contributed songs to five films as well as vocal arrangements for many others. Details may be found in the song compilation The Songs of Hugh Martin from Broadway to Hollywood and the West End. The Broadway 1964 hit High Spirits written with Timothy Gray and starring Tammy Grimes and Bea Lillie was adapted from Noel Coward’s comedy Blithe Spirit and included “You’d Better Love Me” and “Home Sweet Heaven”.

Hugh Martin also wrote the music for the independent film maker Jerome Hill’s Academy Award nominated documentary Grandma Moses about the primitive-style artist at home with her paintings. He was inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame in 1983. His memoir published in 2010