26 Days Until Oscar. Sing-along with Sammy Cahn
Tuesday, January 31, 2017 at 2:34PM On this 26th day before Oscar, why not sing along to classic tunes co-written by Sam Cahn who received an incredible 26 Oscar nominations. He was so popular in his time that he even posed for pictures like this! Hee.
Yes, dear reader, there are people with more Oscar nominations than Meryl Streep. Not many of them, mind you, and the bulk of them seem to be from the sound or music branches...
MOST NOMINATIONS
- Walt Disney (producer) 56
- John Williams (composer) 50
- Alfred Newman (composer) 45
- Cedric Gibbons (art director) 40
- Edith Head (costume designer) 35
- Edwin B Willis (set decorator) 32
- Lyle Wheeler (art director) 29
- [tie] Sammy Cahn (composer), Max Steiner (composer), Sam Comer 26
- [tie] Hans Dreier (art director), Gordon Hollingshead (producer), Nathan Levinson (sound), Hal Pereira (art director), Dimitri Tiomkin (composer) 23
- Victor Young (composer) 22
- [tie] Woody Allen (writer/director), Thomas Little (set decorator), Andy Nelson (sound), Kevin O'Connell (sound), Walter M Scott, Billy Wilder (writer/director)
- [tie] Meryl Streep (actor), Richard Day (art director), Randy Newman (composer), Douglas Shearer (sound)
Sammy Cahn's most famous song is undoubtedly "Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!" but he had many hits with people like Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, and so on. He won four Oscars for the following movie songs.
"Three Coins in the Fountain" from Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
"All the Way" from The Joker is Wild (1957)
"High Hopes" from A Hole in the Head (1959) - I didn't think I knew this song but I do. It definitely lasted well beyond the 50s.
"Call Me Irresponsible" from Papa's Delicate Condition (1963) - There are so many versions of this online so why not a little Dusty Springfield?
But he was also nominated for two of the all time best opening credit song sequences from Written on the Wind (1956) and Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)
And yes we will be celebrating Thoroughly Modern Millie's 50th anniversary next month.
Reader Comments (8)
Laverne and Shirley would sing "High Hopes" to each other all the time, whenever one wasn't sure about doing something.
The other would sing, and voila! Zaniness!
My wife and I took a film critic's class last year and Written on the Wind was one of the selected films to be seen... as a youngster I remember falling in love with Dorothy Malone in this film... I have seen it a few times in the last few decades... at the time it was VERY provocative..
Anyway, the point is ... when the film ended in this class . the whole audience booed it.. I stood up for it as the film does not hold up well, but at the time. it was groundbreaking.
Sammy Cahn is truly a genius.
Some songs work better in the movies, others outlive them.
Funny songs, dramatic songs.
They don't make them like they did one day (films, songs, stars, credits at the beginning ).
I wonder if Meryl will tie with Edith, the most nominated woman with 35 indications.
Nathaniel: Wody has 24 nominations overall.
Ingrid_Essex: I know, right? Opening credits, opening song. Let's have more of 'em! (Thank goodness James Bond films still do it!)
Woody, even... Typing too fast for my keyboard!
Ingrid -- i doubt that. if Meryl kept at the pace of the first 20 nominations, it wouldn't be until well into her 90s when she could reach 35 ;)
Max -- i would have hated that class. I LOVE Written on the Wind. Modern audiences are so damn unadventurous when it comes to tone and style.
I love this post.
'three coins in the fountain' beating 'the man that got away' still annoys me [yet, not the worst fiasco at that year's oscars]
yay for the upcoming '...millie' celebration. the late great mary tyler moore is so fantastic in it [as is julie, obviously...]