John La Touche
Encyclopedia
John Treville Latouche (La Touche) (November 13, 1914, Baltimore, Maryland – August 7, 1956, Calais, Vermont
) was a musician and writer.
Born in Baltimore
, Maryland
, Latouche's family moved to Richmond
, Virginia
when he was four months old. Much of his work included Rabelaisian
humor and was therefore often censored or protested against. He attended Columbia University
but never graduated.
In 1937 he had two songs in the revue, Pins and Needles
. In 1939 for the show Sing For Your Supper he wrote the lyrics for "Ballad for Uncle Sam", later retitled "Ballad for Americans
", with music by Earl Robinson
. It was featured at both the 1939 Republican Convention and the convention of the American Communist Party
, and was extremely popular in 1940s America. This 13-minute cantata
to American democracy was written for a soloist and as well a full orchestra. When performed on the CBS Radio network by singer Paul Robeson
, it became a national success. Subsequently, both Robeson and Bing Crosby
regularly performed it. Actor and singer Brock Peters
also made a notable recording of the cantata.
He provided the lyrics for Vernon Duke
's songs (including, with Ted Fetter
, "Taking A Chance On Love
") for the musical Cabin in the Sky
(1940) and also for Duke's musical Banjo Eyes
which starred Eddie Cantor
(1941). He wrote the book and lyrics for The Golden Apple
in 1954 with music by Jerome Moross
, which won the New York Drama Critics' Circle
Award for Best Musical. In 1955 he provided additional lyrics for Leonard Bernstein
's Candide
. He also wrote the libretto to Douglas Moore's opera The Ballad of Baby Doe
, one of the few American operas to join the standard repertoire. He appeared as The Gangster in the experimental film
Dreams That Money Can Buy
(1947). In 1955, he collaborated with co-writer Sam Locke and composer James Mundy on the Carol Channing
vehicle The Vamp
, which closed after a run of only 60 performances. He had been working with David Merrick
on musicalizing the Eugene O'Neill
play Ah, Wilderness but died during the writing of it (It would later become Take Me Along
).
He was a protégé of James Branch Cabell
and friends with writers Gore Vidal
and Jack Woodford
. Latouche dated Louella Woodford
when they were both teenagers. He also was friends of the architect William Alexander Levy
, who designed and built Hangover House
for travel writer Richard Halliburton
, and writer Paul Mooney
, who assisted Halliburton in several of his classic travel works. See Gerry Max, Horizon Chasers - The Lives and Adventures of Richard Halliburton and Paul Mooney (McFarland, 2007) for references.
Latouche died of a sudden heart attack
at his Calais, Vermont
home at the age of 41.
The New York Theatre Company produced Taking a Chance on Love - The Lyrics and Life of John LaTouche, A New Musical Revue ("The Bad Boy of Broadway Is Back") in 2000, with notes by Ned Rorem
(OC-4444: Original Cast Records, Box 496, Georgetown, CT 06827). The John LaTouche Archive, containing journals, family letters, scrapbooks of photographs and newspaper articles, is housed at Columbia University. Out in the World - Selected Letters of Jane Bowles
1935-1970, edited by Millicent Dillon (Black Sparrow Press, Santa Barbara, 1985), contains a number of references to LaTouche, and his circle of friends and acquaintances. Also read Virginia Spencer Carr, Paul Bowles - A Life (Scribner: New York London Toronto and Sydney, c2004) for frequent snapshot references to LaTouche.
Calais, Vermont
Calais is a town in Washington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,529 at the 2000 census. Calais is pronounced similarly to palace, not chalet...
) was a musician and writer.
Born in Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, Latouche's family moved to Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
when he was four months old. Much of his work included Rabelaisian
François Rabelais
François Rabelais was a major French Renaissance writer, doctor, Renaissance humanist, monk and Greek scholar. He has historically been regarded as a writer of fantasy, satire, the grotesque, bawdy jokes and songs...
humor and was therefore often censored or protested against. He attended Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
but never graduated.
In 1937 he had two songs in the revue, Pins and Needles
Pins and Needles
Pins and Needles is a musical revue with a book by Arthur Arent, Marc Blitzstein, Emmanuel Eisenberg, Charles Friedman, David Gregory, Joseph Schrank, Arnold B. Horwitt, John Latouche, and Harold Rome and music and lyrics by Rome...
. In 1939 for the show Sing For Your Supper he wrote the lyrics for "Ballad for Uncle Sam", later retitled "Ballad for Americans
Ballad For Americans
"Ballad For Americans" is an American patriotic cantata with lyrics by John La Touche and music by Earl Robinson. Originally titled "The Ballad for Uncle Sam", it was originally written for a WPA theatre project called Sing for Your Supper. Sing For Your Supper opened on April 24, 1939. Congress...
", with music by Earl Robinson
Earl Robinson
Earl Hawley Robinson was a singer-songwriter and composer from Seattle, Washington. Robinson is probably as well remembered for his left-leaning political views as he is for his music, including the songs "Joe Hill", "Black and White", and the cantata "Ballad for Americans"...
. It was featured at both the 1939 Republican Convention and the convention of the American Communist Party
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
, and was extremely popular in 1940s America. This 13-minute cantata
Cantata
A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....
to American democracy was written for a soloist and as well a full orchestra. When performed on the CBS Radio network by singer Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
, it became a national success. Subsequently, both Robeson and Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
regularly performed it. Actor and singer Brock Peters
Brock Peters
Brock Peters was an American actor, best known for playing the role of Tom Robinson in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird...
also made a notable recording of the cantata.
He provided the lyrics for Vernon Duke
Vernon Duke
Vernon Duke was a Russian-American composer/songwriter, who also wrote under his original name Vladimir Dukelsky. He is best known for "Taking a Chance on Love" with lyrics by Ted Fetter and John Latouche, "I Can't Get Started" with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, "April in Paris" with lyrics by E. Y...
's songs (including, with Ted Fetter
Ted Fetter
Theodore "Ted" Fetter was a Broadway lyricist who contributed material to such revues as "The Show Is On" and "Billy Rose's Aquacade" , but is best remembered for co-writing the song "Taking a Chance on Love," introduced in the 1940 musical comedy Cabin in the Sky.Fetter started as an actor,...
, "Taking A Chance On Love
Taking a Chance on Love
"Taking a Chance on Love" is a popular song by Vernon Duke with lyrics by John Latouche and Ted Fetter, published in 1940 , which has become a standard recorded by many artists. It was introduced in the 1940 show Cabin in the Sky, a ground-breaking Broadway musical with an all black cast, where it...
") for the musical Cabin in the Sky
Cabin in the Sky
Cabin in the Sky is a 1943 American musical film with music by Vernon Duke, lyrics by John La Touche, and a musical book by Lynn Root. The musical premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on October 25, 1940. It closed on March 8, 1941 after a total of 156 performances...
(1940) and also for Duke's musical Banjo Eyes
Banjo Eyes
Banjo Eyes is a musical based on the play Three Men on a Horse by John Cecil Holm and George Abbott. It has a book by Joseph Quinlan and Izzy Ellinson, music by Vernon Duke, and lyrics by John La Touche and Harold Adamson....
which starred Eddie Cantor
Eddie Cantor
Eddie Cantor was an American "illustrated song" performer, comedian, dancer, singer, actor and songwriter...
(1941). He wrote the book and lyrics for The Golden Apple
The Golden Apple (musical)
The Golden Apple is a musical adaptation of parts of each of the Iliad and Odyssey epics of Homer, with music by Jerome Moross and lyrics by John Treville Latouche...
in 1954 with music by Jerome Moross
Jerome Moross
Jerome Moross was an American-born composer for the stage, and a composer, conductor and orchestrator for motion pictures.-Biography:...
, which won the New York Drama Critics' Circle
New York Drama Critics' Circle
The New York Drama Critics' Circle is made up of 24 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines and wire services based in the New York City metropolitan area. The organization was founded in 1935 at the Algonquin Hotel by a group that included Brooks Atkinson, Walter Winchell, and Robert Benchley...
Award for Best Musical. In 1955 he provided additional lyrics for Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
's Candide
Candide (operetta)
Candide is an operetta with music composed by Leonard Bernstein, based on the novella of the same name by Voltaire. The operetta was first performed in 1956 with a libretto by Lillian Hellman; but since 1974 it has been generally performed with a book by Hugh Wheeler which is more faithful to...
. He also wrote the libretto to Douglas Moore's opera The Ballad of Baby Doe
The Ballad of Baby Doe
The Ballad of Baby Doe is an opera by the American composer Douglas Moore that uses an English-language libretto by John Latouche. It is Moore's most famous opera and one of the few American operas to be in the standard repertory...
, one of the few American operas to join the standard repertoire. He appeared as The Gangster in the experimental film
Experimental film
Experimental film or experimental cinema is a type of cinema. Experimental film is an artistic practice relieving both of visual arts and cinema. Its origins can be found in European avant-garde movements of the twenties. Experimental cinema has built its history through the texts of theoreticians...
Dreams That Money Can Buy
Dreams That Money Can Buy
Dreams That Money Can Buy is a 1947 American experimental feature color film written, produced, and directed by surrealist artist and dada film-theorist Hans Richter.The film was produced by Kenneth Macpherson and Peggy Guggenheim....
(1947). In 1955, he collaborated with co-writer Sam Locke and composer James Mundy on the Carol Channing
Carol Channing
Carol Elaine Channing is an American singer, actress, and comedienne. She is the recipient of three Tony Awards , a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination...
vehicle The Vamp
The Vamp
The Vamp is a musical comedy with music by James Mundy; lyrics by John La Touche; and a musical book by La Touche and Sam Locke which is based on a story by La Touche. The musical opened on Broadway on November 10, 1955 at the Winter Garden Theatre where it ran for a total of 60 performances until...
, which closed after a run of only 60 performances. He had been working with David Merrick
David Merrick
David Merrick was a prolific Tony Award-winning American theatrical producer.-Life and career:Born David Lee Margulois to Jewish parents in St. Louis, Missouri, Merrick graduated from Washington University, then studied law at the Jesuit-run Saint Louis University School of Law...
on musicalizing the Eugene O'Neill
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
play Ah, Wilderness but died during the writing of it (It would later become Take Me Along
Take Me Along
Take Me Along is a musical based on the Eugene O'Neill play Ah, Wilderness, with music and lyrics by Bob Merrill and book by Joseph Stein and Robert Russell.-Background:...
).
He was a protégé of James Branch Cabell
James Branch Cabell
James Branch Cabell, ; April 14, 1879 – May 5, 1958) was an American author of fantasy fiction and belles lettres. Cabell was well regarded by his contemporaries, including H. L. Mencken and Sinclair Lewis. His works were considered escapist and fit well in the culture of the 1920s, when his...
and friends with writers Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. His third novel, The City and the Pillar , outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality...
and Jack Woodford
Jack Woodford
Jack Woodford was a successful pulp novelist and non-fiction author of the 1930s and 1940s. He wrote unique books on writing and getting published...
. Latouche dated Louella Woodford
Louella Woodford
Louella Annette Pitts Woolfolk , who wrote under the name of Louella Woodford, was an author and only daughter of writer Jack Woodford. At age 18, she wrote a 273 page novel titled Maid Unafraid, which was published in 1937 by Godwin....
when they were both teenagers. He also was friends of the architect William Alexander Levy
William Alexander Levy
William Alexander Levy , later William Alexander, was an American architect and interior designer.Early in his career, he was influenced by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier. At New York University's new School of Architecture, he studied under Raymond Bossange and Ely Jacques Kahn...
, who designed and built Hangover House
Hangover House
Hangover House was designed and built by William Alexander for his friend the travel writer Richard Halliburton...
for travel writer Richard Halliburton
Richard Halliburton
Richard Halliburton was an American traveler, adventurer, and author. Best known today for having swum the length of the Panama Canal and paying the lowest toll in its history—thirty-six cents—Halliburton was headline news for most of his brief career...
, and writer Paul Mooney
Paul Mooney
Paul Mooney is an American comedian, writer, social critic, television and film actor. He was also featured on one of truTV's reality shows, Ma's Roadhouse.-Early life:...
, who assisted Halliburton in several of his classic travel works. See Gerry Max, Horizon Chasers - The Lives and Adventures of Richard Halliburton and Paul Mooney (McFarland, 2007) for references.
Latouche died of a sudden heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
at his Calais, Vermont
Calais, Vermont
Calais is a town in Washington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,529 at the 2000 census. Calais is pronounced similarly to palace, not chalet...
home at the age of 41.
The New York Theatre Company produced Taking a Chance on Love - The Lyrics and Life of John LaTouche, A New Musical Revue ("The Bad Boy of Broadway Is Back") in 2000, with notes by Ned Rorem
Ned Rorem
Ned Rorem is a Pulitzer prize-winning American composer and diarist. He is best known and most praised for his song settings.-Life:...
(OC-4444: Original Cast Records, Box 496, Georgetown, CT 06827). The John LaTouche Archive, containing journals, family letters, scrapbooks of photographs and newspaper articles, is housed at Columbia University. Out in the World - Selected Letters of Jane Bowles
Jane Bowles
Jane Bowles, born Jane Sydney Auer , was an American writer and playwright.-Early life:Born into a Jewish family in New York, Jane Bowles spent her childhood in Woodmere, New York, on Long Island. She developed tuberculous arthritis of the knee as a teenager and her mother took her to Switzerland...
1935-1970, edited by Millicent Dillon (Black Sparrow Press, Santa Barbara, 1985), contains a number of references to LaTouche, and his circle of friends and acquaintances. Also read Virginia Spencer Carr, Paul Bowles - A Life (Scribner: New York London Toronto and Sydney, c2004) for frequent snapshot references to LaTouche.
Memorable Songs
- "Taking a Chance on LoveTaking a Chance on Love"Taking a Chance on Love" is a popular song by Vernon Duke with lyrics by John Latouche and Ted Fetter, published in 1940 , which has become a standard recorded by many artists. It was introduced in the 1940 show Cabin in the Sky, a ground-breaking Broadway musical with an all black cast, where it...
" with Vernon DukeVernon DukeVernon Duke was a Russian-American composer/songwriter, who also wrote under his original name Vladimir Dukelsky. He is best known for "Taking a Chance on Love" with lyrics by Ted Fetter and John Latouche, "I Can't Get Started" with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, "April in Paris" with lyrics by E. Y... - "Lazy Afternoon" with Jerome MorossJerome MorossJerome Moross was an American-born composer for the stage, and a composer, conductor and orchestrator for motion pictures.-Biography:...
- "Wind Flowers" with Jerome Moross
- "Day Dream" with Duke EllingtonDuke EllingtonEdward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
and Billy StrayhornBilly StrayhornWilliam Thomas "Billy" Strayhorn was an American composer, pianist and arranger, best known for his successful collaboration with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington lasting nearly three decades. His compositions include "Chelsea Bridge", "Take the "A" Train" and "Lush Life".-Early... - "On the Wrong Side of the Railroad Tracks" with Duke Ellington
- "Brown Penny" with Duke Ellington
- "I've Got Me" with Duke Ellington
- "Summer Is A-Comin' In" with Vernon Duke
- "Ragtime Romeo" with James Mundy
- "A Nail in the Horseshoe" with John Strauss
- "Not a Care in the World" with Vernon Duke
- "Backer's Audition" with John Strauss and Kenward ElmslieKenward ElmslieKenward Gray Elmslie is an American writer, performer, editor and publisher associated with the New York School of poetry.-Life and career:...
- "The Best of All Possible Worlds" with Leonard BernsteinLeonard BernsteinLeonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
- "You Were Dead, You Know" with Leonard Bernstein and Richard WilburRichard WilburRichard Purdy Wilbur is an American poet and literary translator. He was appointed the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1987, and twice received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, in 1957 and again in 1989....
- "My Love" with Leonard Bernstein and Richard Wilbur
Works
- Walpurgis Eve (1928 play)
- Flair-Flair, the Idol of Paree (1935 musical)
- Ballad for Americans (1939 cantata)
- Polonaise (1945 musical)
- Beggar's HolidayBeggar's HolidayBeggar's Holiday is a musical with a book and lyrics by John La Touche and music by Duke Ellington.An updated version of The Beggar's Opera by John Gay, it focuses on a corrupt world inhabited by rakish mobsters and their double crossing gangs, raffish madams and their dissolute whores, panhandlers...
(1946 musical) - The Ballad of Baby DoeThe Ballad of Baby DoeThe Ballad of Baby Doe is an opera by the American composer Douglas Moore that uses an English-language libretto by John Latouche. It is Moore's most famous opera and one of the few American operas to be in the standard repertory...
(1956 opera)