Day in History 6 February – Rubén Darío – Gustav Klimt – Marianne von Werefkin – Vince Guaraldi – Jimmy Van Heusen – Danny Thomas – Arthur Ashe – Frankie Laine

Judith II (1909) 

Oberösterreichisches Bauernhaus

Klimt – Sonja Knips 

Gustav Klimt – Beech Grove I 

#RIP #OTD in 1938 artist, whose work is celebrated as a central part of German Expressionism, Marianne von Werefkin died in Ascona, Switzerland aged 77. Cimitero di Ascona

On this day in 1976, United States Army Veteran, Grammy award winning jazz musician and songwriter, Vince Guaraldi died of a heart attack at the age of 47 at the Red Cottage Inn in Menlo Park, California.  Born Vincent Anthony Dellaglio on 17 July 1928 in San Francisco’s North Beach area.  Noted for his innovative compositions and arrangements and for composing music for animated adaptations of the Peanuts comic strip.  Guaraldi went on to compose scores for seventeen Peanuts television specials, including the Christmas special, plus the feature film A Boy Named Charlie Brown. 

The Final Footprint – Guaraldi is interred in Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Colma, California.  Another notable final footprint at Holy Cross; Joe DiMaggio.

On this day in 1990, composer Jimmy Van Heusen died in Rancho Mirage, California, from complications following a stroke, at the age of 77. Born Edward Chester Babcock on January 26, 1913 in Syracuse, New York. He wrote songs for films, television and theater, and won an Emmy and four Academy Awards for Best Original Song.

Studying at Cazenovia Seminary and Syracuse University, he became friends with Jerry Arlen, the younger brother of Harold Arlen. With the elder Arlen’s help, Van Heusen wrote songs for the Cotton Clubrevue, including “Harlem Hospitality”.

He then became a staff pianist for some of the Tin Pan Alley publishers, and wrote “It’s the Dreamer in Me” (1938) with lyrics by Jimmy Dorsey.

Collaborating with lyricist Eddie DeLange, on songs such as “Heaven Can Wait”, “So Help Me”, and “Darn That Dream”, his work became more prolific, writing over 60 songs in 1940 alone. It was in 1940 that he teamed up with the lyricist Johnny Burke.

Burke and Van Heusen moved to Hollywood and wrote for stage musicals and films throughout the 1940s and early 1950s, winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Swinging on a Star” (1944). Their songs were also featured in many Bing Crosby films including some of the Road films and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1949).

Van Heusen then teamed up with lyricist Sammy Cahn. Their three Academy Awards for Best Song were won for “All the Way” (1957) from The Joker Is Wild, “High Hopes” (1959) from A Hole in the Head, and “Call Me Irresponsible” (1963) from Papa’s Delicate Condition. Their songs were also featured in Ocean’s Eleven (1960), which included Dean Martin’s version of “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head,” and in Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964), in which Frank Sinatra sang the Oscar-nominated “My Kind of Town.”

Cahn and Van Heusen also wrote “Love and Marriage” (1955), “To Love and Be Loved”, “Come Fly with Me”, “Only the Lonely”, and “Come Dance with Me” with many of their compositions being the title songs for Frank Sinatra’s albums of the late 1950s.

Van Heusen wrote the music for five Broadway musicals: Swingin’ the Dream (1939); Nellie Bly (1946), Carnival in Flanders (1953), Skyscraper (1965), and Walking Happy (1966). While Van Heusen did not achieve nearly the success on Broadway that he did in Hollywood, at least two songs from Van Heusen musicals can legitimately be considered standards: “Darn That Dream” from Swingin’ the Dream; “Here’s That Rainy Day” from Carnival in Flanders. He became an inductee of the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971.

Van Heusen married for the first time in 1969, at age 56, to Bobbe Brock, originally one of the Brox Sisters and widow of the late producer Bill Perlberg

The Final Footprint

Van Heusen is buried near the Sinatra family in Desert Memorial Park, in Cathedral City, California. His grave marker reads Swinging on a Star.

On this day in 1991, nightclub comedian, singer, actor, producer, and philanthropist Danny Thomas died of heart failure at age 79, in Los Angeles, California. Born Amos Muzyad Yakhoob Kairouz on January 6, 1912 in Deerfield, Michigan. His career spanned five decades. He created and starred in one of the most successful and long-running situation comedies in the history of American network television. In addition to guest roles on many of the comedy, talk, and musical variety programs of his time, his legacy includes a lifelong dedication to fundraising for charity.

Thomas’s long career began in films in 1947, playing opposite child actress Margaret O’Brien in The Unfinished Dance (1947) and Big City (1948). He then starred in the long-running television sitcom Make Room for Daddy (also known as The Danny Thomas Show) (1953–1964), in which he played the lead role of Danny Williams. He was also the founder of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He is the father of Marlo Thomas, Terre Thomas, and Tony Thomas.

Thomas was a struggling young comic when he met Rose Marie Mantell (born Rose Marie Cassaniti), who had a singing career with her own radio show in Detroit, Michigan, and who was the daughter of Marie “Mary” Cassaniti (1896–1972), a drummer and percussionist for “Marie’s Merry Music Makers”. They were married on January 15, 1936.

Two days previously he had celebrated St. Jude Hospital’s 29th anniversary and filmed a commercial, which aired posthumously.

The Final Footprint

He is entombed in a mausoleum on the grounds of the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Rose Marie was entombed with him after her death in July 2000