Richard Whiting

Composer Richard A. Whiting was born in Peoria, Illinois on November 12, 1891. After graduating from Los Angeles’ Harvard Military School, Whiting began his career as a staff writer for various music publishers and in 1912 became a personal manager.

He moved Hollywood in 1919 and wrote the film scores for Innocents of Paris, Dance of Life, Monte Carlo, Safety in Numbers, The Playboy of Paris, Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round, One Hour With You, Adorable, Big Broadcast of 1936, Varsity Show, Ready, Willing and Able, Hollywood Hotel and Cowboy from Brooklyn.

Collaborating with lyricists like BG De Sylva, Ray Egan, Johnny Mercer, Neil Moret, Leo Robin, Gus Kahn and Sidney Clare, Whiting produced hits like “(They Made it Twice as Nice as Paradise) and They Called it Dixieland”, “Till We Meet Again”, “Some Sunday Morning”, “It’s Tulip Time in Holland”, “Where the Morning Glories Grow”, “Where the Black-Eyed Susans Grow”, “Japanese Sandman”, “Sleepy-time Gal”, “Ain’t We Got Fun”, “Honey”, “Breezin’ Along With the Breeze”, “Horses”, “It’s a Habit of Mine”, “Beyond the Blue Horizon”, “Eadie Was a Lady”, “On the Good Ship Lollipop”, “Sentimental and Melancholy”, “Too Marvelous for Words”, “Love is on the Air Tonight”, “Silhouetted in the Moonlight”, “You’ve Got Something There” and “Ride, Tenderfoot, Ride”.

Whiting also wrote scores for Broadway including Toot Sweet, George White’s Scandals of 1919 and Take a Chance.

Richard Whiting died in Beverly Hills, California on February 10, 1938.