Sammy Cahn

Sammy Cahn, the burlesque violinist who grew up to write some of America's favorite songs and win four Academy Awards for such tunes as "Three Coins in the Fountain" and "All the Way," died Friday. He was 79. Cahn died at 1 p.m. in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he had been under treatment since Dec. 30 for congestive heart failure, hospital spokesman Ron Wise said.

Casey Nicholaw is a busy man. And now he's going to be even busier. The director-choreographer of "The Drowsy Chaperone" will be occupied during the 2009-10 Broadway season with "Robin and the 7 Hoods," a new musical inspired by the swingin' '60s Rat Pack movie starring Frank Sinatra. There is no opening date or cast yet, but the stage show will showcase songs by Sammy Cahn and James Van Heusen, including "My Kind of Town," "Come Fly With Me," "Call Me Irresponsible" and "All the Way."

His voice is thin, his looks are unexceptional and he only plays piano in the key of F. So why do people flock to see this 75-year-old songwriter sing and strut his way through a 2-hour revue? Because Sammy Cahn has style. His untrained, whispery singing voice has a range of A to B, but he sells a song so completely, even before he jumps off stage to shake hands, that the audience is humming along and quipping, "Play it again, Sam."

He was writing songs of love, but not for Tita. "I asked him once why he never wrote a song for me," the vivacious Tita Cahn said Monday at the Center Theatre Group's benefit tribute to her late husband, lyricist Sammy Cahn. "He said, 'I couldn't do that! We're personal. This is what I do for a living!'

Backed by the National Music Publishers' Assn., a California songwriter on Monday filed a class-action lawsuit seeking to block Sony Corp. from selling its digital audiotape recorders in the United States. In a 24-page lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, songwriter Sammy Cahn and four other plaintiffs accuse Sony of "actively promoting the ability of DAT recorders to make perfect digital copies of compact discs" and thereby infringing the plaintiffs' copyrights.

Paying Tribute: Memorial services have been announced for lyricist Sammy Cahn, acting coach Stella Adler and EZTV video gallery founder John Dorr. Cahn's memorial will be at 11 a.m. today at Pierce Bros. in Westwood. The honor for Dorr is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday at EZTV in West Hollywood. Adler's service is Feb. 1 at 7 p.m. at the Mark Taper Forum.

Your always marvelous magazine was especially most marvelous because of its tribute to Irving Berlin. As a member of the board of ASCAP and as president of the Songwriters' Hall of Fame, I speak for all of us who write words and music, and who share the pride that is the one and only Irving Berlin--I am saving my issue. SAMMY CAHN Beverly Hills

In an industry in which honors and awards are handed out like business cards, it was gratifying to see the first Singers' Salute to the Songwriter at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Monday night. The heartfelt salute to six of this country's most-sung songwriters by a parade of America's foremost pop singers was hosted by Rosemary Clooney for the benefit of the Betty Clooney Foundation for the brain injured.

Guess where they put the Hollywood Walk of Fame star for tunesmith Sammy Cahn, who wrote Frank Sinatra's hits "Three Coins in the Fountain," "Call Me Irresponsible," "Fly Me to the Moon" and "Love and Marriage?" In front of Greg Ward's Men's Clothing Shop is where--right next to where Ol' Blue Eyes is enshrined in the pavement. "His wife requested that," Ana Holler, a spokeswoman for the Hollywood Walk of Fame, explained before Cahn was honored with the star today.

Who says you need a huge amphitheater, flashy lighting and a big orchestra to produce a musical tribute? Monday's homage to songwriter Sammy Cahn at the Directors Guild Theatre had little more than a stage, a piano and a projection screen. But it was more than enough--in part because of the array of talent assembled to sample the extensive Cahn catalogue, in part because of the genuine affection that underscored the entire evening.

Tita is in. The widow of the famed lyricist Sammy Cahn is at the door of her Beverly Hills mini-manse. On the phone as she greets a guest while directing an offstage servant: "Mahogany," she bellows, arms waving, "some water for our visitor." The Cahn house is behind electric gates just steps from Rodeo Drive, and from the homes of other famous-name wives and widows who've matured along with the city, which is still Old Hollywood's boudoir belt. Today Tita is--for lack of a better word--working.

Who says you need a huge amphitheater, flashy lighting and a big orchestra to produce a musical tribute? Monday's homage to songwriter Sammy Cahn at the Directors Guild Theatre had little more than a stage, a piano and a projection screen. But it was more than enough--in part because of the array of talent assembled to sample the extensive Cahn catalogue, in part because of the genuine affection that underscored the entire evening.

Paying Tribute: Memorial services have been announced for lyricist Sammy Cahn, acting coach Stella Adler and EZTV video gallery founder John Dorr. Cahn's memorial will be at 11 a.m. today at Pierce Bros. in Westwood. The honor for Dorr is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday at EZTV in West Hollywood. Adler's service is Feb. 1 at 7 p.m. at the Mark Taper Forum.

Sammy Cahn, the burlesque violinist who grew up to write some of America's favorite songs and win four Academy Awards for such tunes as "Three Coins in the Fountain" and "All the Way," died Friday. He was 79. Cahn died at 1 p.m. in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he had been under treatment since Dec. 30 for congestive heart failure, hospital spokesman Ron Wise said.

Backed by the National Music Publishers' Assn., a California songwriter on Monday filed a class-action lawsuit seeking to block Sony Corp. from selling its digital audiotape recorders in the United States. In a 24-page lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, songwriter Sammy Cahn and four other plaintiffs accuse Sony of "actively promoting the ability of DAT recorders to make perfect digital copies of compact discs" and thereby infringing the plaintiffs' copyrights.

Guess where they put the Hollywood Walk of Fame star for tunesmith Sammy Cahn, who wrote Frank Sinatra's hits "Three Coins in the Fountain," "Call Me Irresponsible," "Fly Me to the Moon" and "Love and Marriage?" In front of Greg Ward's Men's Clothing Shop is where--right next to where Ol' Blue Eyes is enshrined in the pavement. "His wife requested that," Ana Holler, a spokeswoman for the Hollywood Walk of Fame, explained before Cahn was honored with the star today.

Casey Nicholaw is a busy man. And now he's going to be even busier. The director-choreographer of "The Drowsy Chaperone" will be occupied during the 2009-10 Broadway season with "Robin and the 7 Hoods," a new musical inspired by the swingin' '60s Rat Pack movie starring Frank Sinatra. There is no opening date or cast yet, but the stage show will showcase songs by Sammy Cahn and James Van Heusen, including "My Kind of Town," "Come Fly With Me," "Call Me Irresponsible" and "All the Way."

He was writing songs of love, but not for Tita. "I asked him once why he never wrote a song for me," the vivacious Tita Cahn said Monday at the Center Theatre Group's benefit tribute to her late husband, lyricist Sammy Cahn. "He said, 'I couldn't do that! We're personal. This is what I do for a living!'

Sammy Fain, among the last of that select breed of tunesmiths who peddled their songs from the backs of trucks and in the dingy hallways of New York City's legendary Tin Pan Alley, died Wednesday. The two-time Academy Award-winning songwriter (for "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing" and "Secret Love") was 87 when he died of a heart attack at UCLA Medical Center.

His voice is thin, his looks are unexceptional and he only plays piano in the key of F. So why do people flock to see this 75-year-old songwriter sing and strut his way through a 2-hour revue? Because Sammy Cahn has style. His untrained, whispery singing voice has a range of A to B, but he sells a song so completely, even before he jumps off stage to shake hands, that the audience is humming along and quipping, "Play it again, Sam."