Manning Sherwin

b. 4 January 1902, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (1898 is sometimes cited), d. 26 July 1974, Los Angeles, California, USA. After studying at Columbia University, he became a songwriter and composer, working in theatre and films. Among films in which his songs appeared are Blossoms On Broadway (1937), College Swing (1938) and A Girl Must Live (1939). He also wrote the scores for Stolen Heaven (1938), King Arthur Was A Gentleman (1942) and Once Upon A Dream (1947). Individual songs, sometimes with various collaborators, included ‘Don’t Ever Leave Me’ (with Val Guest), ‘Got A Bee In My Bonnet’ (Guest), ‘I Get A Kick From A Circus Parade’ and ‘If You Will Dream Of Me’ (Paul Herrick), ‘It Happened Just Like That’ and ‘It’ll Take A Little Time’ (Douglas Furber and Marty Symes), ‘It Must Be You’, ‘Man About The House’, ‘Midnight In Santiago’, ‘The Moment I Saw You’, ‘Moon For Sale’, ‘Music For Romance’, ‘No Ring On Her Finger’, ‘Painting Rainbows’, ‘Shake It Up Shake It Well’, ‘Time And Time Again’, ‘Under Your Window’, ‘Waiting’, ‘What Rumba Does To Romance’, ‘When Eagles Fly’, ‘Who’s Your Love’, ‘Why Can’t It Happen To Me’, ‘Wrap Yourself In Cotton Wool’, ‘You’ll Love The Army’ and ‘You’re A Natural’. Although all of these songs were quite good of their kind, they quickly dated and few went into the repertoire of singers and were thus rarely, if ever, recorded outside of their original settings. A notable exception was ‘A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square’, written in 1940 with Eric Maschwitz. Although the song was redolent of wartime London, its performance and recording by scores of singers and as an instrumental found lasting interest and appreciation far beyond mere nostalgic reminiscences.