Howard Dietz

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Howard Dietz
librettist

Howard Dietz (September 8, 1896 – July 30, 1983)

librettist, best remembered for his songwriting collaboration with Arthur Schwartz
.

Biography

Dietz was born in

Ars Gratia Artis. In 1942, he was made MGM's Vice President in Charge of Publicity.[1] He held that position until his retirement in 1957.[1]

He began a long association with

War Bonds, and created stage shows for the Coast Guard with composer Vernon Duke
.

Dietz saved copies of every document relating to his career, as well as relating to the publicity campaigns of every MGM film he publicized. After his death, this vast trove of artifacts was donated to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. The archive on Dietz constitutes its single largest archive on any person or subject.

In 1972, Howard Dietz was inducted into the

American Theatre Hall of Fame.[3]

Personal life

Dietz was married three times. He married Elizabeth Bigelow Hall in 1917. They divorced in 1936. In 1930, the couple had bought a townhouse on 18 West 11th Street in

Merrill Lynch. The townhouse was later bought by advertising executive James Platt Wilkerson, whose daughter Cathlyn Platt Wilkerson was a member of the far-left terrorist organization Weather Underground; Wilkerson's associates were assembling a bomb in the basement in 1970 when it exploded and destroyed the townhouse
.

Dietz married Tanis Guinness Montagu on January 25, 1937,[4] and had a daughter; they divorced 14 years later, in 1951. Later that year, he married the costume designer Lucinda Ballard. He died in July 1983, in New York City of Parkinson's disease, from which he had suffered from 1954.[5]

Broadway credits

London credits

  • Here Comes the Bride1930 (music by Schwartz)

Radio credit

Songs

References

External links