b. Jan. 27, 1885, New York City
d. Nov. 11, 1945, New York City
Is one of the major U.S. composers of musical comedy, whose Show Boat (with libretto by Oscar Hammerstein II) inaugurated the serious musical play in U.S. theatre.
Kern studied music in New York City and in 1903 in Heidelberg, Ger., later gaining theatrical experience in London. After his return to New York in 1905, he worked as a pianist and salesman for various music publishers and wrote new numbers for revivals of European operettas.
In 1912 he produced The Red Petticoat, the first musical comedy containing only his own music; its success was surpassed by Very Good Eddie in 1915. Subsequent musicals included Oh, Boy! (1917), Sally (1920), Sunny (1925), Show Boat (1927), The Cat and the Fiddle (1931), Music in the Air (1932), and Roberta (1933). In 1933 he moved to Hollywood, where he was active as a composer of film music.
Kern's music is noted for its natural flow of rhythm and for the often folk-song-like quality of its melodies, which possess an indefinable but unmistakably American character. Show Boat, based on the novel by Edna Ferber, was the earliest U.S. musical play with a serious plot drawn from a literary source.
Kern's songs that have become classics include "The Song is You," "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," and "Ol' Man River." In 1946 a film biography of Kern, Till the Clouds Roll By, was released.