Rudolf Friml

Charles Rudolf Friml was born Rudolf Antonín Frymel on December 2, 1879, in the Old Town district of Prague, Bohemia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and was baptized Roman Catholic at the Church of Saint Giles. A composer of operettas, musicals, songs, and piano pieces, as well as a trained pianist, Friml became one of Broadway's most prominent theatrical composers of the early twentieth century. He died in Los Angeles on November 12, 1972, and was interred in the Court of Honor at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Friml demonstrated musical aptitude from an early age and enrolled at the Prague Conservatory in 1895, where he studied piano and composition under Antonín Dvořák. He was expelled in 1901 for performing without permission. During his time in Prague and shortly thereafter in America, he composed and published songs and piano pieces, among them the prize-winning song cycle Písně Závišovy. Following his conservatory years, Friml served as accompanist to violinist Jan Kubelík, touring the United States with him in 1901–02 and again in 1904. He settled permanently in the United States in 1906, reportedly with the support of Czech singer Emmy Destinn. His first regular New York post was as a repetiteur at the Metropolitan Opera, though he had already made his American piano debut at Carnegie Hall, where on November 17, 1904, he gave the premiere of his Piano Concerto with the New York Symphony under Walter Damrosch.

Friml's entry into Broadway composition came about through circumstance. In 1912, operetta diva Emma Trentini was set to star in a new work by Victor Herbert and lyricist Otto Harbach titled The Firefly. After Herbert withdrew from the project following a dispute with Trentini, producer Arthur Hammerstein turned to the largely unknown Friml on the strength of his classical training. Within a month, Friml completed the score. The Firefly opened at the Lyric Theatre on December 2, 1912, moved to the Casino Theatre after Christmas, and ran for a total of 120 performances through March 15, 1913. The production marked Friml's first theatrical success and launched his career as a Broadway composer.

Three more operettas followed in quick succession, each surpassing The Firefly in run length: High Jinks in 1913, Katinka in 1915, and You're in Love in 1917. Friml also contributed songs to The Peasant Girl in 1915. Another production, Sometime, written with Rida Johnson Young and starring Ed Wynn and Mae West, ran successfully on Broadway in 1918–19. Additional Broadway credits include the play Glorianna, the musicals Cinders, The Little Whopper, and contributions to the Ziegfeld Follies of 1921 and 1923.

Friml's most celebrated work came in the 1920s. In 1924, he co-wrote Rose-Marie with lyricists Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach and co-composer Herbert Stothart, a production notable at the time for incorporating murder into its plot. Songs from the show, including The Mounties and Indian Love Call, became widely known. The Vagabond King followed in 1925, with lyrics by Brian Hooker and William H. Post, and The Three Musketeers arrived in 1928, with lyrics by P. G. Wodehouse and Clifford Grey, based on Alexandre Dumas's novel. Both Rose-Marie and The Vagabond King achieved success in London as well as New York and were later adapted for film. The Vagabond King received a Broadway revival in 1943, and The Three Musketeers was revived on Broadway in 1984.

During the 1930s, Friml composed music for films, frequently adapting material from earlier stage works. The Vagabond King, Rose-Marie, and The Firefly were all produced as films incorporating his music. In 1930, he wrote an original operetta score for the film The Lottery Bride. His last stage musical was Music Hath Charms in 1934, after which his work fell out of fashion on Broadway and in Hollywood. He later composed the score for the 1947 film Northwest Outpost.

In his personal life, Friml married four times. His first marriage, to Mathilde Baruch in 1909 in Los Angeles, produced two children: Charles Rudolf Jr., born 1910, and Marie Lucille, born 1911. Trentini was named as a co-respondent in his divorce from Baruch in 1915. His second wife was Blanche Betters, an actress who had appeared in the chorus of his musical Katinka. His third wife was actress Elsie Lawson, who played the maid in Glorianna; they had a son, William. His fourth and final wife was Kay Wong Ling, who died on August 9, 2007, and was buried with Friml at Forest Lawn. The first three marriages ended in divorce. Both of Friml's sons pursued careers in music: Rudolf Jr. led a big band in the 1930s and 1940s, while William worked as a composer and arranger in Hollywood.

In his later years, Friml continued to perform and compose into his nineties. At a 1967 concert at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, he performed Dvořák's Humoresque as a tribute to his former teacher. He appeared on Lawrence Welk's television program in 1971. Friml was among the original inductees into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. His songs The Donkey Serenade, from the film version of The Firefly, along with The Mounties and Indian Love Call, have continued to be performed regularly. In Japan, Song of the Vagabonds from The Vagabond King was adapted by Keizō Horiuchi for Shochiku and was later used in the 1982 film Fall Guy.