He was born into a Jewish family in Berlin but he was raised as a Lutheran to protect him from Nazi persecution. He fled Germany to Italy in 1937 as he was about to be inducted into the Hitler youth movement. After attending a music conservatory in Rome, he obtained a scholarship to the University of Cincinnati and immigrated to the United States in 1939 penniless to avoid being conscripted by Ger ...
show all He was born into a Jewish family in Berlin but he was raised as a Lutheran to protect him from Nazi persecution. He fled Germany to Italy in 1937 as he was about to be inducted into the Hitler youth movement. After attending a music conservatory in Rome, he obtained a scholarship to the University of Cincinnati and immigrated to the United States in 1939 penniless to avoid being conscripted by German military authorities. Arriving at age of 18 and unable to speak a word of English, he took the last name of his adopted father, Elliott B. Hague, an eye surgeon with close ties to the university. He graduated in 1942 and served in the U.S. military for more than two years before embarking on a career as a composer. (1955) He celebrated his first Broadway success with the opening of the hit 1955 musical 'Plain and Fancy,' an Amish-themed show that featured Barbara Cook (qv) and the popular song `Young and Foolish.' Songwriter ("Young and Foolish") and composer, educated at the Royal Conservatory of St. Cecilia in Rome (on scholarship) with Dante Alderighi and at the University of Cincinnati (on scholarship) with Sidney Durst. He served in the USAF during World War II. On Broadway, he wrote songs for the musical "Dance Me a Song", and incidental music to the plays "The Madwoman of Chaillot", "All Summer Long", and "Jennie". He composed the stage scores to "Plain and Fancy" and to "redhead" (Tony and Grammy awards, 1959). Joining ASCAP in 1952, his chief musical collaborators included Arnold Horwitt and Dorothy Fields. His popular-song compositions also include "Wait For Me Darling", "One Is a Lonely Number", "This Is All Very New to Me", "Follow Your Heart", "Plenty of Pennsylvania", "Merely Marvelous", "Look Who's in Love", "My Girl Is Just Enough Woman for Me", "Two Faces in the Dark", "Just for Once", "Telephone Book", and "Tell Irene Hello".
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