DeSylva / Schwab / McGowan

Ray Henderson wrote a number of shows with his friends and collaborators, B.G. (“Buddy”) DeSylva (1895-1950) and Lew Brown.   DeSylva and Laurence Schwab wrote the book for Good News (1927.41) and Follow Thru (1929.03); DeSylva and John McGowan wrote the book for Hold Everything (1928.36); DeSylva, Brown and McGowan wrote the book for Flying High (1930.11).  The popularity of Henderson’s music is demonstrated by the aggregate number of performances of these four shows: 1722.

McGowan wrote the book alone for Henderson’s show Say When (1934.35).  Previously, McGowan had worked with Paul Gerard Smith to write the book for the Rodgers and Hart show, Heads Up! (1929.42) and had written the book for Jimmy McHugh’s show Singin’ the Blues (1931.32).