Martin and Blane

They were very much the Lennon-McCartney of their day. Their songwriting process was very similar, and their first two shows were smash hits (Best Foot Forward and Meet Me In St. Louis). - Gene Kelly directed the original Broadway production of Best Foot Forward, which was his first director-choreographer gig. The movie is one of my favourite of the early 40s movie musicals, which are mostly meh. Yeah, Wizard of Oz is 1939, but the Freed unit features everyone remembers are from the 1950's. 😀 - They were both professional singers in Kay Thompson's choir before striking out as writers, and Hugh Martin was also the accompanist. He could read and notate fluently, but (surprisingly) wasn't much of an improviser, while Blane couldn't read sheet music but had an operatically trained voice. Buckle Down Winsocki was Blane's biggest hit for the duo, but Blane also wrote lyrics with Harry Warren and Harold Arlen -- My Dream Is Yours is lyrics by Blane. Hugh Martin was a vocal arranger as well as a composer, and worked with most of the other top songwriters as an arranger.