Kay Swift
Kay Swift (
19 April 1897 –
28 January 1993) was an
American composer of popular and classical music, the first woman to score a complete
musical. Written in 1930,
Fine and Dandy includes some of her best known songs; the title work has become a jazz standard. "Can't We be Friends" (1929) was another important hit. Swift also arranged some of the music of
George Gershwin posthumously, such as the
Prelude and "Sleepless Night" (1946).
Swift was educated as a classical musician and composer at the Institute of Musical Art (now known as The
Juilliard School). Her teacher of composition was
Charles Loeffler, while harmony and composition was taught to her by Percy Goetschius. Her father, a music critic, died when she was young. She had played professionally with the Edith Rubel Trio. While performing at a social event, she met the sister of her future husband, who arranged their meeting.
James Paul "Jimmy" Warburg was a member of a distinguished Jewish family that had made a fortune in banking. Swift was not Jewish, and Jimmy's prestigious uncle objected to the marriage. But his parents accepted the marriage. Swift had three children by Warburg between 1919 and 1924. (Hyland 89)
Before meeting George Gershwin in
1925, she was said to have been elitist about classical music. Gershwin encouraged her to write popular pieces. Kay and George were more and more frequently seen together. Frequently out of town on business, her husband Jimmy was tolerant, later saying that he liked Gershwin although he had some resentment toward the "self-centered genius" who had interfered with his life. Jimmy—under the pen name of Paul James— wrote Kay's lyrics, an attempt to compete with her interest in Gershwin. But Swift's marriage dissolved. Gershwin and Swift, with similar personalities and musical interests, lasted perhaps ten years. Gershwin frequently consulted Swift about his musicals and other works. After Gershwin's
1937 death, brother
Ira Gershwin collaborated with Swift to complete and arrange some of his unpublished works. (Hyland 90)
The Gershwin musical
Oh, Kay! is said to be named for Kay Swift and the leading male character is named Jimmy after her husband, Jimmy Warburg. Although her birth name was
Katharine Swift,
George Gershwin coined the nickname "Kay". The authors of
Oh, Kay! worked with the Gershwins for the musical which was originally to be named
Mayfair. It was renamed as well after Swift. (Hyland 108)
*
KaySwift.com*
Gershwinfan.com - Kay Swift's granddaughter, Katharine Weber, has been known to answer questions about her grandmother on this site's forum.
Hyland, William G.
George Gershwin: A New Biography. Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0275981118
