Vee Lawnhurst (1905-1992) - pianist, songwriter, library benefactor

Vee Lawnhurst (source: American Magazine March 1937)

On September 18, 1998, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted and Mayor Brown signed Resolution 734-98. This Resolution authorized the:

City Librarian to accept and expend a gift of royalties (approximately $1,000 per year), for San Francisco Public Library from the estate of Vee Lawnhurst and to enter into a membership agreement and to execute a Digital Home Recording ("DART") Royalties authorization with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers ("ASCAP").

It's time to past pay tribute to the late Vee Lawnhurst, the Library's benefactor. Come to the see the display of Vee Lawnhurst sheet music in the Steve Silver Beach Blanket Babylon Music Center on the 4th Floor of the Main Library.

Born Laura Loewenherz on November 24, 1905, Vee Lawnhurst was a successful woman Tin Pan Alley era songwriter – a rare achievement. An accomplished pianist, she began her musical career as a teenager recording piano rolls. 

A pioneer of early radio, by 1923, she became a regular performer on WEAF in New York City. She was later part of a popular piano duo with Muriel Pollock. Sometimes call the "Lady bugs" who also performed on the Broadway vaudeville stage. She later formed a duet with vocalist John Seagle. Sponsored by a cosmetics company, "Wildroot Vee and Johnny" were broadcast nationwide on NBC's Red Network.

As a teenager she was already writing songs. She achieved her greatest songwriting success in the 1930s while collaborating with lyricist Tot Seymour. The pair was under contract to Famous Music Corporation from 1935 to 1937. Here is a list of Lawnhurst's greatest song hits as recorded in Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories.

“And Then Some” recorded by Ozzie Nelson & His Orchestra was a #1 song (1935)

“Accent on Youth” went to #6 for Duke Ellington and #15 for Paul Pendarvis and his Orchestra (1935)

“No Other One” went to #5 for Benny Goodman and #7 for Little Jack Little (1935)

“When The Leaves Bid The Trees Goodbye” went to #19 for Enric Madriguera & His Orchestra (1935)

“Please Keep Me In Your Dreams” went to #6 for Fats Waller and #13 for Billie Holiday (1937)

“Cross Patch” went to #7 for Fats Waller (1936) - an article in Variety magazine noted that this song was broadcast 22,963 times in 1936.

“What’s The Name of That Song” went to #7 for Paul Whiteman’s Orchestra (1936)

“Alibi Baby” went to #4 for Tommy Dorsey (1937).

“Johnny Zero” went to #4 for the Song Spinners (1943).

Tot Seymour (lyrics), Vee Lawnhurst (music) [from the collection of Peter Mintun]

Famous Music Corporation was the music publishing arm for Paramount Pictures. In 1936, Lawnhurst and Seymour contributed the title song to the Hopalong Cassidy western Call of the Prairie. A year later the pair wrote the title song for Give Us This Night featuring opera singers Jan Kiepura and Gladys Swarthout. More delightfully, the songwriting duo wrote songs for a number of animated shorts. They contributed to a number of Max Fleischer short films for Paramount including the Betty Boop cartoons Be Up To Date and Happy You and Merry Me. Several silly ditties by Seymour and Lawnhurst can also be found in the Popeye Song Folio.

Betty Boop (Mae Questel) singing "Happy You and Merry Me (1936)

Vee Lawnhurst nearly disappeared from public life from the 1940s onward and became known as a recluse. By 1992, the year she died, she had faded so far into obscurity that there were no obituaries written at her passing.

A chorus of cats singing "Hold It" (1938)

Bibliography

The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Feature Films, 1931-1940 (R.R. Bowker Co., 1993).

ASCAP Biographical Dictionary, Fourth edition, compiled for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers by Jaques Cattell Press (New York : R.R. Bowker, 1980).

"Broadway Lights," What's on the Air October 1930.

"Cosmetic Renewal," Variety February 7, 1923.

Edwards, Bill, "Laura 'Vee' Loewenherz 'Lawnhurst" Morris," Ragpiano.com.

"Hummer," American Magazine March 1937

Joel Whitburn's Pop memories, 1890-1954: The history of American popular music, compiled from America's popular music charts 1890-1954 (Record Research, 1986).

Kinkle, Roger D., The Complete Encyclopedia of Popular Music and Jazz, 1900-1950 (Arlington House, 1974).

Mintun, Peter, "Lawnhurst Story Revised" (unpublished manuscript, 2022).

"NBC New and Renewal Accounts," Heinl Radio Business Letter February 6, 1933.

“Played Over 10,000 Times in 1936,” Variety January 26, 1938.

Pointer, Ray, The Art and Inventions of Max Fleischer: American Animation Pioneer (McFarland & Company, Inc., 2017).

Popeye Song Folio (Famous Music Corp., 1936).

Vaché, Warren W., The Unsung Songwriters: America's Masters of Melodies (Scarecrow Press, 2000).