Jay Gorney

Jay Gorney, born Abraham Jacob Gornetzsky on December 12, 1896, in Białystok, Russia (now part of Poland), was an American composer and book writer whose work spanned Broadway, Tin Pan Alley, and Hollywood. He died on June 14, 1990. The son of Frieda (Perlstein) and Jacob Gornetzsky, he came from a Jewish family that was directly affected by the Bialystok pogrom of 1906, an event that forced them into hiding for nearly two weeks before they fled to the United States. The family arrived on September 14, 1906, and settled in Detroit, Michigan, where his father took a position as an engineer at the newly established Ford Motor Company. His mother purchased a piano for her children, and by age fourteen, after two years of lessons, Gorney had secured work as a pianist at a local nickelodeon.

Gorney worked as a pianist to finance his studies at the University of Michigan, graduating with the class of 1917, and subsequently completed the University of Michigan Law School with the class of 1919. His education was interrupted by World War I, during which he enlisted in the Navy. Following graduation, he practiced law briefly before abandoning the profession to pursue music full time.

After relocating to New York City with his wife, Gorney began writing songs on Tin Pan Alley and contributed to numerous musicals produced by the Shubert brothers. His Broadway credits as a composer and book writer include Top-Hole, Earl Carroll's Vanities of 1925, Merry-Go-Round, Heaven on Earth, and Meet the People. Lyricist Ira Gershwin introduced Gorney to Yip Harburg, who became his most significant collaborator. Their partnership produced "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?", a song Gorney built from a lullaby he had learned during his childhood in Russia. The song debuted in the 1932 Shubert production New Americana and became widely recognized as the anthem of the Great Depression. The Gorney-Harburg collaboration eventually dissolved after Harburg had an affair with Gorney's wife, whom he later married.

Gorney also wrote "You're My Thrill" with lyricist Sidney Clare, a song introduced in the 1933 film Jimmy and Sally. His film work brought him into contact with Shirley Temple, whom he is credited with bringing to 20th Century-Fox, then operating as Fox Films. Departing a screening of her film Frolics of Youth, Gorney noticed Temple dancing in the theater lobby and, recognizing her from the screen, arranged for her to audition for Stand Up and Cheer!, a production on which he was working as a songwriter. Temple's role in that film included performing "Baby Take a Bow," co-written by Gorney, alongside James Dunn. The song subsequently provided the title for Baby Take a Bow, the first Fox film to feature Temple in a starring role.

Gorney married twice. His first wife was Edelaine Roden, with whom he had a son, Dr. Roderic Gorney. His second wife, Sondra Karyl (Kattlove), was a public relations consultant; together they had a son, Dan Gorney. Gorney's daughter from his second marriage, Karen Lynn Gorney, is an actress and dancer who appeared in the original cast of All My Children and starred opposite John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. Following Gorney's death, Sondra Gorney authored his biography, Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? The Life of Composer Jay Gorney, published in 2005. His papers, spanning 1896 to 1993, are held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and his scores are housed in the library's Music Division.