Ralph Blane
Biography
Ralph Blane (born Ralph Uriah Hunsecker, 26 July 1914, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma - 13 November 1995, Broken Arrow) was an American composer and singer.
Blane was the son of Florence Hazel (Wilborn) and Tracey Mark Hunsecker, grocery store owners. He attended Tulsa Central High School, and began his career as a radio singer for NBC in the 1930s before turning to Broadway, where he was featured in New Faces of 1936, Hooray for What!,' and Louisiana Purchase. He contributed the lyrics and music to Best Foot Forward (1941) and Three Wishes for Jamie (1952).
With partner Hugh Martin, Blane penned many American standards for the stage and MGM musicals. The team's best-known songs include The Boy Next Door, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and The Trolley Song, all written for the 1944 film musical Meet Me in St. Louis. Facing the challenge of writing a song about a trolley, the duo visited a public library, and in a book they found the caption "Clang, clang, clang went the trolley", which formed the nucleus for the lyric of their song, which earned them their first Oscar nomination (their second was for Pass That Peace Pipe, written in collaboration with Roger Edens for the 1947 film adaptation of Good News).
Blane also collaborated with Harry Warren, Harold Arlen, and Kay Thompson, among others. In 1983, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Works for Winds
- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (arr. Nowlin) (1944/2023)
- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (arr. Stone) (1944)
- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (arr. Wagner) (1944/2006)
- Pass That Peace Pipe (arr. Paul Yoder) (1954)
Resources
- Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music. "Ralph Blane Hunsecker." Accessed 5 December 2014.
- Ralph Blane, Wikipedia