Eddie Dowling

Eddie Dowling was an enormously influential composer, songwriter ("Do You Remember?"), author, actor, producer and director, founder and president of the USO Camp Shows and a holder of honorary degrees from Boston College, Providence College, Mount Mary College, and Catholic University. He made a world tour as a choir boy with the St. Paul's Cathedral Choir in Providence. Dowling's theatrical career was extremely varied (see "Other Works"); he appeared in vaudeville and in the Broadway productions of "She Took a Chance," "Velvet Lady," "Ziegfeld Follies" (1918 and 1920), "The Girl In the Spotlight," "Blaze of Glory," "Love's Old Song," "Purple Dust," and "Our Town." He wrote the plays "The Greater Love," and "Heart of the North" and produced the plays "His Double Life," "Big Hearted Herbert," "Richard II," "Shadow and Substance," and "Madame Capet." He wrote the librettos for and appeared in "Sally, Irene and Mary," and produced, appeared in and wrote songs for "Thumbs Up!" and produced and appeared in "Here Come the Clowns," produced, directed and appeared in "The Time of Your Life" (Pulitzer Prize, 1940), and "The Glass Menagerie." He produced and directed "The White Steed," "The Iceman Cometh," "Hello Out There," and "Hope Is the Thing With Feathers." His stage scores and librettos include "Honeymoon Lane" and "The Sidewalks of New York". He was the national chairman of the stage, screen and radio division of the Democratic National Committee from 1932 to 1936 and again in 1940. Joining ASCAP in 1927, his chief musical collaborators include James F. Hanley, J. Fred Coots, Victor Herbert and Bernie Wayne. His other popular-song compositions include "The Little White House (at the End of Honeymoon Lane)", "Dreams of You," "Half a Moon," "Jersey Walk," "Headin' for Harlem," "Mary Dear," "Wherever You Are," "Little Log Cabin of Dreams," "Row Row With Roosevelt," "Did God Die in Dixie," "May God Keep You In the Palm of His Hand," "Logic," "Velvet Lady," "Suzie from Sioux City" and "High Up On a Housetop."