Vincent Youmans - Definition and Overview

Vincent Youmans ( September 27, 1898 - April 5, 1946) was an American popular composer and Broadway producer.

He was born in New York, New York and was a runner for a Wall Street brokerage firm. He was drafted to fight in World War I. He took an interest in the theatre when he produced troop shows for the Navy. After the war he was a Tin Pan Alley song plugger and a rehearsal pianist, and collaborated with lyricist Ira Gershwin on the score for Two Little Girls in Blue, which won wide acclaim. His next show, with lyrics by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II, was Wildflower. His most enduring success, was No, No, Nanette, with lyrics by Irving Caesar.

After Hit the Deck, Rainbow and Take a Chance, his career faded, in part due to heavy drinking. An attempted comeback with a ballet revue in 1943 was a commercial and artistic failure.

The two hit songs from No, No, Nanette, "Tea for Two" and "I Want to Be Happy" are considered standards.

He died of tuberculosis in Denver, Colorado

Broadway musicals with music by Vincent Youmans

• Two Little Girls in Blue - 1921
• Wildflower - 1923
• Mary Jane McKane - 1923
• Lollipop - 1924
• No, No, Nanette - 1925, revived 1971
• Hit the Deck - 1927
• Great Day - 1929
• Smiles - 1930
• Through the Years - 1932
• Take a Chance - 1932 (additional songs only)

Movies with music by Vincent Youmans

• No, No, Nanette - 1930
• Hit the Deck - 1930
• Song of the West - 1930
• What a Widow! - 1930
• No, No, Nanette - 1940
• So You Want to Be in Pictures - 1947
• Tea for Two - 1950
• Hit the Deck - 1955