- Mitchell Parish
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Mitchell Parish Birth name Michael Hyman Pashelinsky Born July 10, 1900 Origin Lithuania Died March 31, 1993 (aged 92)
Manhattan, U.S.A.Occupations Lyricist Mitchell Parish (July 10, 1900 – March 31, 1993) was an American lyricist.
Contents
Early life
Parish was born Michael Hyman Pashelinsky to a Jewish family in Lithuania.[1] His family emigrated to the United States, arriving on February 3, 1901 on the SS Dresden when he was less than a year old. They settled first in Louisiana where his paternal grandmother had relatives, but later moved to New York City.
Career
By the late 1920s Parish was a well regarded Tin Pan Alley lyricist in New York City.
His best known works include the lyrics to songs such as "Star Dust", "Sweet Lorraine", "Deep Purple", "Stars Fell on Alabama", "Sophisticated Lady", "Volare" (English lyrics), "Moonlight Serenade", "Mr. Ghost Goes to Town", "Sleigh Ride", "One Morning in May", and "Louisiana Fairy Tale", which was the first theme song used in the PBS Production of This Old House.
Besides providing the lyrics to Hoagy Carmichael's "Star Dust", the two collaborated on standards such as "Riverboat Shuffle" and "One Morning in May".[2]
In 1949, Parish added lyrics to bandleader Al Goodman's tune, "The Allen Stroll", used as the theme song of The Fred Allen Show. The new song, "Carousel of Love", premiered on The Fred Allen Show on April 4, 1949. It was sung by the DeMarco Sisters and played by Al Goodman and his Orchestra.
In 1987 a revue titled Stardust was staged on Broadway featuring Parish's lyrics. It ran for 101 performances and was revived in 1999.
Parish's grandnephew was the Grateful Dead roadie Steve Parish, who described Parish's meeting with Jerry Garcia in his autobiography, "Home Before Day Light".
Death
Mitchell Parish died in 1993 in Manhattan at the age of 92. He was buried in Beth David Cemetery in Elmont, New York.
Work on Broadway
- Continental Varieties (1935) - revue - featured lyricist
- Lew Leslie's Blackbirds of 1939 (1939) - revue - performer
- Earl Carroll's Vanities of 1940 (1940) - revue - featured lyricist
- Bubbling Brown Sugar (1976) - revue - featured lyricist
- Sophisticated Ladies (1981) - featured lyricist for "Sophisticated Lady"
- Stardust (1987) - revue - lyricist
References
- Hill, Tony L. "Mitchell Parish, 1900-1993," in Dictionary of Literary Biography 265. Detroit: Gale Research, 2002.
Footnotes
- ^ Bloom, Nate (2006-12-19). "The Jews Who Wrote Christmas Songs". InterfaithFamily. http://www.interfaithfamily.com/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=ekLSK5MLIrG&b=297399&ct=3303147. Retrieved 2006-12-19.
- ^ He wrote the lyrics to the Glenn Miller ballad "Sometime" from 1939, co-written with Glenn Miller and John Chummy MacGregor. Holden, Stephen (1987-02-01). "Theater; Mitchell Parish: A Way With Words". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DEFD71E3DF932A35751C0A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print
External links
Categories:- 1900 births
- 1993 deaths
- American Jews
- American lyricists
- American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
- Imperial Russian emigrants to the United States
- Jewish American musicians
- Jewish composers and songwriters
- Lithuanian Jews
- People from Shreveport, Louisiana
- Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees
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