Mack Gordon Papers
name: label: Composer
content: Myrow, Josef
label: Creator
content: Gordon, Mack, 1904-1959
label: Actor
content: Berle, Milton
label: Singer
content: Cantor, Eddie, 1892-1964
label: Dancer
content: Castle, Nick -- 20th century
label: Singer
content: Crosby, Bing, 1904-1977
label: Actor
content: Dailey, Dan
label: Actor
content: Dunne, Irene -- 20th century
label: Actor
content: Faye, Alice -- 20th century
label: Singer
content: Fisher, Eddie -- 20th century
label: Actor
content: Gable, Clark, 1901-1960 -- 20th century
label: Producer
content: Grainger, Edmund -- 20th century
label: Actor
content: Henie, Sonja, 1912-1969 -- 20th century
label: Singer
content: Jolson, Al, d. 1950 -- 20th century
label: Singer
content: Langford, Frances -- 20th century
label: Actor
content: Lombard, Carole -- 20th century
label: Singer
content: Merman, Ethel -- 20th century
label: Actor
content: O'Hara, Maureen, 1920- -- 20th century
label: Actor
content: Oakie, Jack, 1903-1978 -- 20th century
label: Actor
content: Payne, John -- 20th century
label: Actor
content: Power, Tyrone, 1914-1958 -- 20th century
label: Composer
content: Revel, Harry -- 20th century
label: Director
content: Taurog, Norman -- 20th century
label: Actor
content: Taylor, Robert -- 20th century
label: Composer
content: Warren, Harry, 1893-1981 -- 20th century
topic: label: Occupation
content: Motion picture actors and actresses
label: Occupation
content: Composers
label: Topic
content: Motion pictures -- 1930-1940
label: Topic
content: Motion pictures, American
label: Topic
content: Motion pictures and music -- 1930-1970
label: Topic
content: Theater
label: Topic
content: Musicals
label: Topic
content: Music -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Motion pictures
label: Topic
content: Musical theater
label: Topic
content: Music -- United States
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated to the Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution by Jack Gordon, son of Mack Gordon, in 2015.
creator: label: Composer
content: Myrow, Josef
label: Creator
content: Gordon, Mack, 1904-1959
setName: label: See more items in
content: Mack Gordon Papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: Mack Gordon (1904-1959) was a prolific and successful songwriter, lyricist, and composer.  He composed songs for stage and screen. He and Harry Warren won the Academy Award for Best Song in 1943.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Mack Gordon was a prolific and successful songwriter, lyricist, and composer who composed songs for stage and screen.  Born Morris Gitler (he legally changed his name to Mack Gordon in later life) in Poland on June 21, 1904, his family immigrated to the United States in 1908 and settled in New York.  His early career was as a performer in vaudeville and minstrel shows, but by the early 1930s he had formed a songwriting partnership with pianist Harry Revel. Gordon wrote for the Broadway stage and eventually made his way to Hollywood where he worked at a number of different motion picture studios.

In addition to Revel, Gordon worked with such well-known composers as Harry Warren, with whom he won his only Academy Award for Best Song for "You'll Never Know" from Hello Frisco Hello, and Josef Myrow, to name just three. Some of his more famous songs are "Chattanooga Choo Choo," "At Last," and "Did You Ever See a Dream Walking?".  He was nominated for the Academy Award nine times and became a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He died on February 28, 1959 in New York City (some biographies have his date of death as March 1), and is entombed at the Corridor of Immortality at the Home of Peace Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Motion picture film
label: Extent
content: 3 Cubic feet (9 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1926-1977, undated
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1363
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Motion picture films
label: Type
content: Motion pictures (visual works)
label: Type
content: Motion picture stills
label: Type
content: Passports
label: Type
content: Contracts
label: Type
content: Correspondence
label: Type
content: Clippings
label: Type
content: Business records
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Photograph albums
label: Type
content: Songs
label: Type
content: Writings
label: Type
content: Scripts (documents)
label: Type
content: Sheet music
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is organized in seven series.

Series 1: Production and Creative Files, 1931-1950, undated

Series 2: Business Records, 1931-1975, undated

Series 3: Original Music Manuscripts, 1940-1952, undated

Series 4: Commercial Sheet Music, 1928-1959, undated

Series 5: Personal and Family, 1935-1977, undated

Series 6: Photographs, 1933-1956, undated

Series 7: Audio-Visual, 1926
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by Franklin A. Robinson, Jr., archivist; supervised by Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, archivist, 2016.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Motion pictures (visual works) -- 1930-1950
label: Genre/Form
content: Motion picture stills
label: Genre/Form
content: Passports
label: Genre/Form
content: Contracts -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Clippings -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Business records -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks -- 1930-1940
label: Genre/Form
content: Photograph albums -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Songs
label: Genre/Form
content: Writings
label: Genre/Form
content: Scripts (documents)
label: Genre/Form
content: Sheet music -- 20th century
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers document the life and career of songwriter Mack Gordon. They include business records, both personal and business correspondence, contracts, royalty statements, commercially published sheet music, a script for the motion picture Three Little Girls in Blue, photograph albums, a scrapbook of clippings, original music manuscripts, notes and writings that may have served as mnemonic devices for song ideas, an excerpt from the Paramount short film, The Collegians, funeral materials, name change documents, and a passport.  The production and creative files give insight into Gordon's creative process, and ideas for lyrics, song titles, and word play are found throughout these files.

The collection is organized in seven series.

Series 1: Production and Creative Files, 1931-1950, undated. This series contains files relating to motion picture and theatrical productions, both produced and unproduced. This series also contains unidentified lyric notes, instrumental sketches, and themes.

Series 2: Business Records, 1931-1975, undated. This series contains business records, royalty contracts, telegrams, correspondence and other business records pertaining to Gordon and his work for theatrical and motion picture companies.

Series 3: Original Music Manuscripts, 1940-1952, undated.  This series contains original music manuscripts written by Gordon.

Series 4: Commercial Sheet Music, 1928-1959, undated.  This series contains commercially published sheet music. The sheet music was bound by Gordon into volumes he titled, Majors & Minors, there is also a folder of unbound sheet music.

Series 5: Personal and Family, 1935-1977, undated.  This series contains personal documents such as passports, life insurance documents, name change documents, the auction catalogue from the sale of furnishings at Gordon's Pacific Palisades home. This series also contains personal correspondence from singer Sandra Werner to Gordon.

Series 6: Photographs, 1933-1956, undated

Series 7: Audio-Visual, 1926