Alan Jay Lerner

Alan Jay Lerner, an American lyricist and librettist, was born into a wealthy family, the owners of Lerner Stores. He attended Choate, attended the Julliard School of Music during the summers of 1936 and ’37, and graduated from Harvard in 1940. He is best remembered for a series of Broadway musicals he wrote in collaboration with the Austrian composer Frederick Loewe: Brigadoon (1947), Paint Your Wagon (1951), Gigi (1951) and My Fair Lady (1956). The latter was especially memorable. Lerner and Loewe used the plot of George Bernard Shaw’s 1912 play Pygmalion, to give the world such classic songs as “Wouldn’t it be Loverly,” “With a Little Bit of Luck,” “The Rain in Spain,” “I Could Have Danced All Night,” and “On the Street where You Live.” My Fair Lady broke box office records during a run of 2,717 performances. Lerner also wrote the screenplay for the 1964 film version, which won seven Oscars.