Dorcas Cochran

Dorcas Cochran (c. 1903 – July 6, 1991), also known by her married name Dorcas Cochran Jewell, was an American lyricist, screenwriter, and Broadway performer. Born in the early twentieth century, she built a career that spanned stage, film, and popular music over several decades.

Cochran's Broadway work included appearances in the revue Earl Carroll's Vanities in 1925 and the musical You Said It in 1931, the latter also marking her presence as a composer on the Broadway stage. These credits placed her among the working performers and creators of the era's theatrical scene.

Her most enduring contribution to popular music was the song "Again," which generated multiple charted recordings in the United States. She also supplied lyrics to two songs that became significant hits for Tony Martin: "I Get Ideas" and "Here." Her English-language adaptation of "Under the Bridges of Paris" reached the charts in the United Kingdom in 1955 through separate recordings by Eartha Kitt and Dean Martin, though neither version charted domestically. That same year, Frankie Laine recorded her song "In the Beginning," which likewise charted in the UK without crossing over to the American charts. Also in 1955, The Crew-Cuts charted with "Mostly Martha," another song for which Cochran wrote the lyrics.

Her film work extended from the early 1940s through the mid-1960s and included contributions to Swing It Soldier (1941), Frisco Lil (1942), Juke Box Jenny (1942), Girl in the Case (1944), Swing Out the Blues (1944), Girl on the Spot (1946), The Wife of Monte Cristo (1946), Wild West (1946), and The Cincinnati Kid (1965). In 1959, she wrote the lyrics to Lionel Newman's theme for the television series Adventures in Paradise. Cochran died in Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 6, 1991.