Earl Carroll

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the Broadway impresario. For the doo wop singer see Earl Carroll (vocalist).

Earl Carroll (September 16, 1893 – June 17, 1948) was an American theatrical producer, director, songwriter and composer born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

[edit] Career

Carroll produced and directed numerous Broadway musicals, including eleven editions of Earl Carroll Vanities, Earl Carroll Sketch Book, and Murder at the Vanities, which was also made into a film starring Jack Oakie. Known as "the troubadour of the nude", Carroll was famous for his productions featuring the most lightly clad showgirls on Broadway. In 1922 he built the first Earl Carroll Theatre in New York, which was demolished and rebuilt on a grander scale in 1931. He built a second theatre on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, California in 1938.

Carroll wrote the scores for Broadway shows including So Long, Letty, Canary Cottage, and The Love Mill for which he also wrote the libretto. As a writer of popular songs, his credits include Isle d'Amour, So Long, Letty, Dreams of Long Ago, Give Me All of You, Just The Way You Are, and Dreaming.