There Once Was A Man

Richard Adler has died.  In the mid-50s, there was no hotter Broadway composing team than Adler and partner Jerry Ross.  After writing most of the music for the revue John Murray Anderson's Almanac in 1953, they had two blockbusters in a row, The Pajama Game (1954) and Damn Yankees (1955), both winning the Tony for Best Musical. (Damn Yankees, by the way, was the first show I ever performed in high school.  I was one of the ballplayers.)

However, Ross died of a lung disease in 1955, only 29 years old, and Adler never had another Broadway hit.  But when you write two classics like that, which include songs such as ""Hey There," "Steam Heat," "Heart" and "Whatever Lola Wants," you don't need to do anything else.