Jimmy McHugh

Composer Jimmy McHugh got his start in his hometown of Boston, where he was rehearsal pianist for the Boston Opera House. His musical tastes veered from the classics to the popular when he began work as a song plugger for Irving Berlin's publishing house. In 1921, McHugh collaborated with Irving Mills and Gene Austin for his first hit song, "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street." While an executive with Mills Music in the early '20s, McHugh teamed with lyricist Dorothy Fields; their first Broadway hit was The Blackbirds of 1928, whence came the immortal "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby." In 1929, McHugh and Fields began dividing their time between the theatre and the movies. Their film compositions would be performed by artists ranging from Deanna Durbin ("I Love to Whistle") to Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer ("I'm in the Mood for Love"). In the '40s, McHugh's most frequent collaborator was Harold Adamson, with which he wrote the Frank Sinatra standards "This is a Lovely Way to Spend an Evening" and "I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night" for the 1943 RKO musical Higher and Higher. McHugh and Adamson also wrote "It's a Most Unusual Day" for MGM's 1948 A Date with Judy, and in-between film assignments composed the popular patriotic song "Coming In on a Wing and a Prayer." In 1956, McHugh paired with Victor Young for his last major screen song, "Around the World in 80 Days." Strangely enough, Jimmy McHugh never won an Oscar for any of the now-standards he penned during his three-decade Hollywood career.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide