Fran Landesman, songwriter: reference sources (web and print); selected songs; recordings, videos; miscellany
In their overview of the career of Fran Landesman (written in 2000, eleven years before she died), Robert Gottlieb and Robert Kimball trace her beginnings from New York City where she was born and attended Columbia University to St. Louis where she and her husband Jay Landesman and his family opened the Crystal Palace. The Crystal Palace in the early 1950's became St. Louis' performance venue of choice for the hip performers of the era from Lenny Bruce to Woody Allen to Barbra Streisand as well as many jazz musicians. It was during this time that Landesman began her "brilliant collaboration with composer Tommy Wolf producing a series of songs Wolf was later to refer to as 'American Leider'" (Gottlieb, p. 581).
Among these "leider" were the two songs included in the Cafe Songbook catalog, "Ballad of the Sad Young Men" and "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most, which together with others wound up constituting a show called The Nervous Set, which had a short and not very successful run in New York in May, 1959, but for which an admired cast album was made.
Shortly after this in the early 1960's, Landesman moved to London where she continued her writing as both poet and lyricist as well as performer, until her death in 2011.
Research Resources: Fran Landesman
- Amazon (publications by and about, recordings, videos, sheet music, etc.)
- DBOPM (Database Of Popular Music: song list; awards; hit songs; co-writers)
- Internet Broadway Database (IBDB) (Broadway productions and song credits)
- Internet Movie Database (brief biography, filmography, movie song credits)
- iTunes (albums, singles by this artist)
- FranLandesman.com. (The Fran Landesman website including biography, poetry, lyrics, collaborators-singers and songwriters, important dates, etc.)
- ShepleyMetcalf.com ("Discovering Fran Landesman")
- New York Public Library (catalog entries for books, personal papers, recordings, scores, etc.)
- The New York Times (articles about or related to the songwriter including obituary)
- NPR Music (Remembering Jazz Lyricist And Poet Fran Landesman)
- Wikipedia (Fran Landesman article)
- Robert Gottlieb and Robert Kimball (Eds.), Reading Lyrics, New York: Pantheon Books, 2000 (581-583, overview plus lyrics to four songs.
- Fran Landesman performs at Gaslight Square: eddierothnow
- KETC history of Gaslight Square and Fran Landesman: ketc9
Notes
- The Nervous Set (1959 Original Broadway Cast)
- Something Irresistible: Songs of Fran Landesman + Simon Wallace
Questions
What is Fran Landesman, songwriter?
In their overview of the career of Fran Landesman (written in 2000, eleven years before she died), Robert Gottlieb and Robert Kimball trace her beginnings from New York City where she was born and attended Columbia University to St. Louis where she and her husband Jay Landesman a
How should Fran Landesman, songwriter be cited?
Cite this page as "Fran Landesman, songwriter: reference sources (web and print); selected songs; recordings, videos; miscellany," Cafe Songbook, https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songwriters/l_sws/landesman_fran.html
Which Cafe Songbook pages are related?
Also read "The Ballad Of The Sad Young Men" (https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songs/b/ballad_of_the_sad_young_men.html); "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" (https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songs/s/spring_can_really_hang_you_up.html); Burton Lane, songwriter (https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songwriters/l_sws/lane_burton.html); Ted Koehler, songwriter (https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songwriters/k_sws/koehler_ted.html).
Cite this page: Fran Landesman, songwriter: reference sources (web and print); selected songs; recordings, videos; miscellany, Cafe Songbook, https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songwriters/l_sws/landesman_fran.html