American Decades
"Lydia, the Tattooed Lady"
Song
By: E.Y. Harburg
Date: 1939
Source: Harburg, E.Y. "Lydia the Tatooed Lady," in At the Circus. Original release, 1939, MGM. Directed by Edward Buzzell. VHS.
About the Artist: Edgar Y. ("Yip") Harburg (1896–1981) wrote the lyrics to "Lydia" and all of the other songs in the Marx Brothers film At the Circus. After he lost his electrical appliance company in New York in the stock market crash of 1929, he began writing song lyrics. He wrote the lyrics for "Brother Can You Spare a Dime," an anthem for the Great Depression, The Wizard of Oz's "Over the Rainbow," and "April in Paris."
Introduction
Born and raised in New York, the Marx brothers were noted for their zany slapstick comedy. Although Zeppo and Gummo, the two youngest brothers, left the act in 1935 to pursue other behind-the-scenes show business careers, Chico, Groucho, and Harpo...
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1930's The Arts Primary Sources
- "The Production Code of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Inc.—1930–1934"
- All Quiet on the Western Front
- Early Sunday Morning
- Poetry of Langston Hughes
- "Art: U.S. Scene"
- Composition
- It Can't Happen Here
- "Mouse & Man"
- Songs of Woody Guthrie
- "The Killer-Diller: The Life and Four-Four Time of Benny Goodman"
- "Notes on a Cowboy Ballet"
- One-Third of a Nation
- The Grapes of Wrath
- "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady"
- Arena: The History of the Federal Theatre
- Marian Anderson
- Copyright Page
- Acknowledgments
