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The Past
With their international suc-
cess, the Whitings moved to
New York and Broadway in
the 1920s. Hit after hit, such as
“Sleepy Time Gal,” “Honey,” and
“Breezin Along with the Breeze”
were enjoyed in the Broadway
revues. His two biggest songs of
the era were “Japanese Sandman”
and “Ain’t We Got Fun” and they
defined the happy upbeat rhythm
of the roaring 20s decade.
When the silent films became
talkies in 1927, Hollywood
raided the best songwriters on
Broadway. The first composer
Paramount Pictures hired was
Richard Whiting. His first assign-
ment was to write songs for a
new singer from Paris who knew
little English, Maurice Chevalier.
Eating apples and Camembert
cheese, the two slaved for hours
trying to come up with English
words Chevalier could sing eas-
ily. Then Richard hit on a word
that Chevalier could sing very
well — “Louise.”
For Jeanette MacDonald, the
1930 film “Monte Carlo” had
her singing on a train. Whiting’s
classic song “Beyond the Blue
Horizon” captures the train’s
chug-chug wheels and piston
rhythms to become one of the
first movie songs to imitate the
camera’s action.
In 1934, Shirley Temple was six
years old and Fox Studios hired
Richard Whiting to write songs
for her first starring musical
“Bright Eyes.” Richard was hav-
ing trouble writing the little girl
songs even though his daughter
Margaret was the same age as
Shirley Temple. (Yes, this is the
same Margaret Whiting who
would become a famous jazz