Over her long career Dorothy Fields was the master lyrics writer of some of the most memorable songs from Broadway’s past that include such classics as:
The Way You Look Tonight
Sunny Side of the Street
She originated the idea and contributed to the Irving Berlin show, Annie Get Your Gun. Her musical score for Sweet Charity has been revived time and again and her Hollywood successes are almost too many to list.
Dorothy Fields partnered with many of the top Broadway song writers. And to each collaboration, she was able adapt her lyrics and sense of style, to fit seamlessly in with each composer.
But she was particularly fond of Jerome Kern who became a life-long friend. Together they wrote such songs as I Won’t Dance, for a film version of the musical Roberta and went on to create an amazing score for Fred Astaire’s film Swingtime. It was packed with enduring hits such as A Fine Romance, Pick Yourself Up, Waltz in Swingtime and the Way You Look Tonight. For this one she received the coveted Academy Award and accolades from top musicians of the day. Johnny Mercer was so impressed by Field’s work with Jerome Kern that he later wrote, “When she wrote with Kern…she wrote right up to his melodies. Her lyrics enhanced his tunes.”
The tributes that have been written to Dorothy Fields would fill volumes. But the following quote, from the writer, Steven Holden, more than hints as to why so few talented women were able to break through the gender barrier.
He said: “No lyricist had a more fluent gift of the gab than Fields, the only woman to achieve full acceptance into the boy’s club of great American songwriters. You have only to listen to the words of I Won’t Dance, A Fine Romance and On the Sunny Side of the Street, to feel invigorated by their wit and vivacity.”
In keeping with this, she became the first woman inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, followed by the honor of being included in the highly selective New York’s Lyric and Lyricists concert series.
It was a tight and exclusive world that Dorothy Field had penetrated.
But she was no stranger to show business. It was her birthright. He father was part of the Weber and Fields touring vaudeville act, one of the most successful in the early 1900’s. And after he parted ways with his partner Weber, Lew Fields went on to become a very successful producer and impresario.
But he knew too well how difficult it was to be in show business and he was determined to keep Dorothy out of it- but to no avail. She was surrounded and inspired by people like Rogers and Hart. As a matter of fact, she admired Larry Hart’s lyrics so much, she tried to emulate him; but she soon discovered it didn’t work. She had to find her own unique style. And when she did there was no stopping her.
According to a story related by her biographer, Deborah Grace Winer, Dorothy’s parents were trying harder than ever to turn her away from her chosen career when they heard that she was writing material for a revue in Harlem’s famous Cotton Club featuring the up and coming band leader, Duke Ellington. They told her that ladies did not write song lyrics. To which she replied, "I’m not a lady, I’m your daughter... I’d write lyrics for the Westminster Kennel Club if they asked me”. Dorothy had the last word.
Perhaps her most astounding quality was her ability to stay fresh and creative.
The writer Ethan Mordden said of her: Having started in Blackbirds of 1928, she was still at it
forty-five years later in ‘Seesaw’. Yet hers was an ever-youthful talent, smartass but sensitive and wondering.
….this wonderful talent may be the only lyricist in musical theatre history who sounded more youthful as time ran on. Her first show had come along in 1928…Yet, in Sweet Charity, Fields has the ear of a teen-age prodigy.
Seesaw was Dorothy Fields’ last hoorah. In 1974 she died of a stroke she had suffered during a rehearsal of the show.
Her awards include among others, three Tony nominations, an Oscar nomination, two Tony Awards and an Academy Award for Best Song: The Way You Look Tonight from the movie Swing Time.
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