Fred Fisher (born Alfred Breitenbach; September 30, 1875 – January 14, 1942) was a German-born American songwriter and Tin Pan Alley music publisher.
Biography Fisher was born in Cologne, Germany. His parents were Max and Theodora Breitenbach. After visiting the United States in 1892, he immigrated in 1900, where he adopted the name Fred Fischer. He founded the Fred Fischer Music Publishing Company in 1907. During World War I he changed his surname to Fisher to make it seem less German.Jack Gottlieb, Funny, It Doesn't Sound Jewish: How Yiddish Songs and Synagogue Melodies Influenced Tin Pan Alley, Broadway, and Hollywood, Volume 1, p. 25, SUNY Press (2004)
In 1914, Fred Fisher married Ana Fisher (née Davidovitch, later anglicized as Davis; born 1896). Their children – Daniel ("Danny"; 1920–2001), Marvin (1916–1993), and Doris (1915–2003) – also wrote songs professionally.Honor Roll of Popular Song Writers: No. 13 – Fred Fisher, by Jack Burton, Billboard (magazine), p. 48, March 19, 1949 Fisher died by suicide in Manhattan, New York,Songwriters Attend Fred Fisher's Rites: Buck Praises Him for Great Contribution to Music,The New York Times, January 17, 1942Hit Songs' Author Suicide by Hanging, The New York Times, January 15, 1942 and was interred at Maimonides Cemetery in Brooklyn.
In 1970, Fred Fisher was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The Ripley's "Believe It or Not" column credited him with writing more Irish songs than anyone else.Jack Gottlieb, Funny ... , pg 25
Selected compositions "If the Man in the Moon Were a Coon," by Fred Fischer, Will Rossiter (1867–1954) (pub) (1905) (this was his first hit; it combined two then-popular song themes, Moon songs and Coon songs) "Come Josephine In My Flying Machine," by Fred Fischer, Shapiro (pub) (1910) "Peg O' My Heart, words by Alfred Bryan, music by Fred Fisher, Leo Feist (pub) (1913) "Who paid the rent for Mrs. Rip Van Winkle?" words by Alfred Bryan, music by Fred Fischer, Leo Feist (pub) (1914) "Lorraine (My Beautiful Alsace Lorraine)" lyrics by Alfred Bryan, music by Fred Fisher, McCarthy & Fisher (pub) (1917) "They Go Wild, Simply Wild, Over Me," words by Joseph McCarthy (1885–1943), music by Fred Fisher, McCarthy & Fisher (pub) (1917) "The Popular Wobbly," parody of "They Go Wild, Simply Wild, Over Me," words by T-Bone Slim (1880–1942), Industrial Workers of the World (pub) (1920) "Dardanella," words by Fred Fisher, music by Felix Bernard (1897–1944) & Johnny S. Black (1895–1936), McCarthy & Fisher Inc. (1919) "Chicago," by Fred Fisher, Fred Fisher (pub) (1922) "That's When Your Heartaches Begin," by William Raskin, George Brown (Billy Hill), and Fred Fisher, Fred Fisher Music Co. (1940) (an Ink Spots tune recorded in 1957 by Elvis) "Your Feet's Too Big," by Ada Benson, Fred Fisher, The Four Ink Spots (1936) "I'd Rather Be Blue," words by Billy Rose, music by Fred Fisher, Irving Berlin (pub) (1928) "Whispering Grass," words by Fred Fisher, music by Doris Fisher, Mills Music Inc. (pub) (1940) Some of his other songs are; 1917 "Pull the Cork Out of Erin Let the River Shannon Flow". L: Addison Burkhardt 1918 "Come Across, Yankee Boy, Come Across". L: Alfred Bryan 1918 "In the Harbor of My Mother's Arms". L: Monty Brice 1918 "Little Blue Bonnet Girl" 1918 "Mister McAdoo". L:Joseph McCarthy & Alfred Bryan 1918 "Oui, Oui, Marie". L: Alfred Bryan 1918 "Sink All Your Ships in the Ocean Blue". L: Jack Glogau 1918 "Wee, Wee, Marie (Will You Do Zis for Me)". L: Joseph McCarthy & Alfred Bryan 1918 "We're All Comrades Now". L: Joseph McCarthy 1918 "When Yankee Doodle Sails Upon the Good Ship Home Sweet Home". L: Addison Burkhardt
Filmography My Man (1928) Fanny Brice sings "I'd Rather Be Blue", a Fisher-Billy Rose collaboration that was later covered by Barbra Streisand. Oh, You Beautiful Doll (1949) This film is a fictionalized Hollywood biography featuring many of Fisher's songs. A Tin Pan Alley promoter (Mark Stevens) turns serious composer Fred Breitenbach (S.Z. Sakall) into songwriter Fred Fisher.
Gallery
References General references Source Citation:
American National Biography. 24 volumes. Edited by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999 American Popular Songs. From the Revolutionary War to the present. Edited by David Ewen. New York: Random House, 1966 American Songwriters. By David Ewen. New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1987 The ASCAP Biographical Dictionary. Third edition. New York: American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, 1966 ASCAP Biographical Dictionary. Fourth edition. Compiled for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers by Jaques Cattell Press. New York: R.R. Bowker, 1980 Biographical Dictionary of American Music. By Charles Eugene Claghorn. West Nyack, NY: Parker Publishing Co., 1973 Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. Volume 1: January 1946 – July 1949. New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1949 Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. Volume 6: September 1961 – August 1964. New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1965 Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. Volume 15: September 1986 – August 1988. New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1988 Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. Volume 16: September 1988 – August 1990. New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1990 The Complete Encyclopedia of Popular Music and Jazz, 1900–1950. Three volumes. By Roger D. Kinkle. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House Publishers, 1974. Biographies are located in Volumes 2 and 3 Dictionary of Pseudonyms. Third edition. By Adrian Room. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1998 The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Third edition. Eight volumes. Edited by Colin Larkin. London: MUZE, 1998. Grove's Dictionaries, New York, 1998 The Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music. Composers and their music. Supplement. By William H. Rehrig. Westerville, OH: Integrity Press, 1996 The New American Dictionary of Music. By Philip D. Morehead with Anne MacNeil. New York: Dutton, 1991 The New Grove Dictionary of American Music. Four volumes. Edited by H. Wiley Hitchcock and Stanley Sadie. London: Macmillan Press, 1986 Notable Names in the American Theatre. Clifton, NJ: James T. White & Co., 1976. Earlier edition published as The Biographical Encyclopaedia and Who's Who of the American Theatre The Oxford Companion to Popular Music. By Peter Gammond. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1991 Popular American Composers. From Revolutionary times to the present. A biographical and critical guide. First edition. Compiled and edited by David Ewen. New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1962 Songwriters. A biographical dictionary with discographies. By Nigel Harrison. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1998 Sweet and Lowdown. America's popular song writers. By Warren Craig. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1978. Biographies appear in the 'After Tin Pan Alley' section, beginning on page 91 Tin Pan Alley. An encyclopedia of the golden age of American song. By David A. Jasen. New York: Routledge, 2003
Inline citations
External links
Fred Fisher recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings. Fred Fisher at the Sheet Music Consortium Articles Fred Fisher at AllMusic
Streaming audio Fred Fisher on Victor Records