Lee Julian Pockriss was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

 who wrote many well-known popular songs and several scores for films and Broadway shows.

Early life and career

Born in Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

 and graduating from Erasmus Hall High School

Erasmus Hall High School

Erasmus Hall Campus High School is a four-year public high school in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, United States operated by the New York City Department of Education....

, Pockriss's education at Brooklyn College

Brooklyn College

Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...

 was interrupted by World War II, where he served as a cryptographer for the US Air Force. Upon his return he studied English and music at Brooklyn College, and later attended graduate school in musicology at New York University

New York University

New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

.

With Paul Vance

Paul Vance

Paul Vance is an American songwriter and record producer.With over 300 recorded songs, Vance co-wrote such hits as "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini," recorded in 1960 by Brian Hyland, which rose to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and "Catch a Falling Star," recorded in 1957 by...

 he co-wrote Perry Como

Perry Como

Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with them in 1943. "Mr...

's Grammy-nominated "Catch a Falling Star

Catch a Falling Star

Catch a Falling Star, written by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss, is a song made famous by Perry Como's hit version, released in 1957. It was Como's last #1 hit, reaching #1 in the Billboard "Most Played By Jockeys" chart but not in the overall top-100, where it reached #2. It was the first single to...

", recorded in 1957; Brian Hyland

Brian Hyland

Brian Hyland is an American pop recording artist who was particularly successful during the early 1960s. He continued recording into the 1970s...

's "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

"Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" is a novelty song telling the story of a shy girl wearing a revealing polka dot bikini at the beach, who in the first verse is too afraid to leave the locker where she has changed into her bikini; in the second, she has made it to the beach but sits...

", recorded in 1960; and The Cuff Links

The Cuff Links

The Cuff Links were an American rock/pop studio group from Staten Island, New York. The band had a U.S. No. 9 hit in 1969 with "Tracy", with rich harmonised vocals provided entirely by Ron Dante...

' "Tracy", recorded in 1969.

He also wrote Anita Bryant

Anita Bryant

Anita Jane Bryant is an American singer, former Miss Oklahoma beauty pageant winner, and gay rights opponent. She scored four Top 40 hits in the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including "Paper Roses", which reached #5...

's "My Little Corner of the World

My Little Corner of the World

"My Little Corner of the World" is a 1960 love song with music written by Lee Pockriss and lyrics by Bob Hilliard. It was first recorded by singer Anita Bryant in 1960, as "In My Little Corner of the World", and released on the album Hear Anita Bryant in Your Home Tonight!...

", recorded in 1960; Shelley Fabares

Shelley Fabares

Michele Ann Marie "Shelley" Fabares is an American actress and singer. Fabares is known for her roles as Donna Reed's oldest child, Mary Stone, on The Donna Reed Show , and as Craig T. Nelson's love interest and eventual wife, Christine Armstrong Fox, on the sitcom Coach. She also was Elvis...

' "Johnny Angel

Johnny Angel (song)

"Johnny Angel" is the debut pop single by Shelley Fabares released in 1962 on the Colpix label.It was the first single taken from her debut solo album Shelley! which was produced and arranged by Stu Phillips. "Johnny Angel" was written by Lyn Duddy and Lee Pockriss. The single premiered on an...

", recorded in 1962; and Clint Holmes

Clint Holmes

Clint Holmes , is a singer-songwriter and Las Vegas entertainer. He was born in Bournemouth, Hampshire , England, the son of an African-American jazz musician and a white English opera singer...

' "Playground In My Mind", recorded in 1972.

With lyricist Anne Croswell he wrote the songs for the Broadway musical Tovarich

Tovarich (musical)

Tovarich is a 1963 musical play in two acts with book by David Shaw; music by Lee Pockriss and lyrics by Anne Croswell; based on the comedy by Jacques Deval and Robert E...

 starring Vivien Leigh

Vivien Leigh

Vivien Leigh, Lady Olivier was an English actress. She won the Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire , a role she also played on stage in London's West End, as well as for her portrayal of the southern belle Scarlett O'Hara, alongside Clark...

, which received a Grammy nomination for Original Cast Album. Pockriss and Croswell have also collaborated on the frequently produced Ernest in Love

Ernest in Love

Ernest in Love is a musical with a book and lyrics by Anne Croswell and music by Lee Pockriss. It is based on The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde's classic comedy of manners.-Background:...

(based on The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...

) and Bodo. Pockriss also wrote the music for the musicals Wonderful Olly, Dolley Madison, and Divorce Of Course.

Pockriss wrote seven original songs for MGM's full length animated film The Phantom Tollbooth

The Phantom Tollbooth (film)

The Phantom Tollbooth is a 1970 American live-action/animated film based on Norton Juster's 1961 children's book The Phantom Tollbooth. This film was produced by Chuck Jones at MGM Animation/Visual Arts. Jones also directed the film, save for the live action bookends directed by fellow Warner Bros....

, scored the film The Subject Was Roses

The Subject Was Roses

The Subject Was Roses is a Pulitzer Prize-winning 1964 play written by Frank D. Gilroy, who also adapted the work in 1968 for film with the same title.- Background :...

and wrote the title songs for One, Two, Three

One, Two, Three

One, Two, Three is a 1961 American comedy film directed by Billy Wilder and written by him and I.A.L. Diamond. It is based on the 1929 Hungarian one-act play Egy, kettö, három by Ferenc Molnár, with a "plot borrowed partly from" Ninotchka, a 1939 film co-written by Wilder...

and the Western classic, Stagecoach

Stagecoach (1966 film)

Stagecoach is a 1966 American film, a remake of the 1939 John Ford western Stagecoach. Slim Pickens replaced Andy Devine as the driver, Alex Cord played the Ringo Kid , Ann-Margret succeeded Claire Trevor as the prostitute Dallas, and Bing Crosby played Thomas Mitchell's Oscar-winning part as the...

.

In 1969, Pockriss wrote the unproduced musical "Gatsby" based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City from spring to autumn of 1922....

. UnsungMusicalsCo. Inc. presented its world premiere in concert form as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival

New York Musical Theatre Festival

The New York Musical Theatre Festival is an annual three-week fall Festival which presents more than thirty new musicals at venues in New York City's midtown theater district...

 in September 2011.

In the 1980s, Pockriss wrote several songs for the children's educational series Sesame Street

Sesame Street

Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...

, including "My Polliwog Ways" (sung by Kermit the Frog

Kermit the Frog

Kermit the Frog is puppeteer Jim Henson's most famous Muppet creation, first introduced in 1955. He is the protagonist of many Muppet projects, most notably as the host of The Muppet Show, and has appeared in various sketches on Sesame Street, in commercials and in public service announcements over...

), "Transylvania Love Call" (Count von Count

Count von Count

Count von Count, often known simply as "The Count", is one of the Muppet characters on Sesame Street, performed by Jerry Nelson. The Count is a vampire modeled after Bela Lugosi's interpretation of Count Dracula.-Description:...

), and "My Rock" (Bert).

External links

• [ Allmusic] biography of Lee Pockriss
• Michael Rose Limited list of Pockriss songs
• IMDB entry for Lee Pockriss