Howard Dietz and Si Seadler

Silas Frank Seadler was the head of advertising for Metro-Goldwin-Mayer for fifty years. He was endlessly cheerful and had a great sense of humor. Si was well known for being a fabulous dancer and movie stars loved to dance with him. At Judy Garland's party at El Morocco after her opening at the Palace on Broadway, she danced with Si Seadler. I was there. In his old age, he became the head of Special Projects for M.G.M. and I helped him publicize movies and have a scrapbook filled with my ideas that came to fruition. He was more fun to be with than anyone else in my life.

Howard Dietz was born in New York City on September 6, 1896. He was educated in New York’s public schools and he enrolled in Columbia University’s School of Journalism, as a member of the class of 1917. He worked as a contributing journalist and writer for various publications while at Columbia and simultaneously was an assistant at Phillip Goodman’s advertising agency. During World War I, Dietz left Columbia to enlist in the United States Navy and edited the magazine Navy Life. After the war Dietz worked as a motion picture promoter and publicist, becoming Publicity Director for Goldwyn Pictures Corporation. When assigned to create a trademark for the company Dietz used the mascot of his alma mater, Columbia as the basis for the “Leo the Lion,” which became the famous trademark of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer when Goldwyn merged with Metro Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer Pictures. Howard Dietz also went to M-G-M in 1924, beginning his thirty year sojourn there as Director of Advertising and Publicity, eventually becoming a Vice-President and member of the Board of Directors. In addition to the Leo trademark, Dietz’s achievements at M-G-M include inventing Greta Garbo’s catch-phrase, “I want to be alone,” creating the advertising slogan “More stars than there are in the Heavens” and planning and orchestrating the 1939 premiere of Gone With the Wind in Atlanta, Georgia. Dietz’ second career as a lyricist was developing and thriving simultaneously with his publicity career. Dietz’s first lyric to be heard on Broadway was a collaboration with composer Arthur Samuels, “Alibi Baby” for the W.C. Fields vehicle, Poppy (1923). Though that lyric was un-credited it brought Dietz to the attention of one of Broadway’s most successful composers, Jerome Kern and the two collaborated on the score for Dear Sir (1924). Dietz next job was filling in some lyrics for the Gershwins’ Oh, Kay! (1926) when Ira Gershwin was ill. In 1927, Dietz and Morrie Ryskind provided the lyrics for Henry Souvaine and Jay Gorney’s music for Merry-Go-Round. Dietz’s first major hit came with the revue The Little Show (1929) which starred Clifton Webb, Libby Holman and Fred Allen and introduced such hits as “I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plan” and “Moanin’ Low.” The Little Show was also Dietz’s first collaboration with Arthur Schwartz, his most frequent composer. Dietz and Schwartz followed The Little Show with a less successful sequel, The Second Little Show and the very successful Three’s a Crowd, both in 1930. Three’s a Crowd featured the stars of The Little Show and introduced another Dietz and Schwartz standard, “Something to Remember You By.” Their next collaboration was The Band Wagon (1931) which starred Fred and Adele Astaire and introduced their most famous song “Dancing in the Dark,” as well “High and Low” and “New Sun in the Sky.” The Band Wagon was made into an M-G-M film directed by Vincente Minnelli in 1953, again starring Astaire, with a script by Betty Comden and Adolph Green built around songs from various Dietz and Swartz shows. Throughout the 1930s Dietz and Schwartz continued to write hit revues, including Flying Colors (1932), which featured “Alone Together” and “Louisiana Hayride” and At Home Abroad (1935) as well as musical comedies such as Revenge with Music (1934) with “If There is Someone Lovelier Than You” and “You and the Night and the Music” and Between the Devil (1937) which introduced “I See Your Face Before Me” and “By Myself.” In later years, Dietz devoted more of his time to his career as a publicist, taking occasional breaks to work on book shows, including Sadie Thompson (1944) with Vernon Duke and The Gay Life(1961) and Jennie (1963) with Schwartz. Dietz also wrote lyrics for English language productions of Die Fledermaus (1950) and La Bohème (1952) for the Metropolitan Opera Company. Dietz was involved with various other administrative positions throughout his career, including serving as director of the American Society of Composers and Publishers (ASCAP) from 1959-1961. He also ran the publicity and promotion of war bonds for the United States Treasury during World War II. Dietz was also a painter, whose works received various exhibitions. In 1974 he published his autobiography, Dancing in the Dark: Words by Howard Dietz. In 1917 Dietz married Elizabeth Bigelow Hall and they divorced in 1936. Shortly after his divorce, Dietz married Tanis Guiness and they had one daughter, Liza, born in 1938, but divorced after fourteen years. Dietz’s third marriage, to the Broadway costume designer, Lucinda Ballard, lasted until his death on July 30, 1983 from Parkinson’s Disease. SCOPE AND ARRANGEMENT This collection mainly consists of materials from Dietz’s autobiography, Dancing in the Dark: Words by Howard Dietz, (1974) including background materials, manuscripts, publicity materials and press coverage. The collection also contains items pertaining to parties and concerts organized by or dedicated to Dietz as well as materials from two exhibitions on Dietz’s career. Some of the background materials in the collection date as far back as 1915, to Dietz’s early career, but the bulk of the collection is material from the late sixties and the seventies. The highlights of this collection are the many drafts of the autobiography and the correspondence between Dietz and major figures in film and theater. The Howard Dietz papers are arranged in two series: Series I: Events and Exhibitions 1959-1976 1 box Arrangement: Alphabetical This series contains materials on events organized by or dedicated to Dietz, such as birthday celebrations given for him by ASCAP, a party he planned for Moss Hart in 1959 and the concert of Dietz songs from the Lyrics and Lyricists series in 1974. The series also includes materials from two exhibitions at the Port Washington Library, near his home on Long Island, dedicated to Dietz’s career. Series II: Dancing in the Dark: Words by Howard Dietz 1915-1976 8 boxes Arrangement: Alphabetical This series consists of materials from Dietz’s 1974 autobiography, Dancing in the Dark: Words by Howard Dietz. The series contains extensive background research materials, such as articles, biographies, correspondence, notes, scrapbooks, manuscripts and publicity materials. This series also includes materials on the paperback edition of the book, the launch party and the press coverage, as well as many drafts of manuscripts for the book, including galleys and photos used in the book ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION SOURCE OF ACQUISITION The Howard Dietz Papers were donated to the Music Division by Howard Dietz and Lucinda Ballard Dietz in installments between 1972 and 1976. PROCESSING INFORMATION Processed by Diana Bertolini; Machine-readable finding aid created by Diana Bertolini. KEY TERMS NAMES Dietz, Howard, 1896-1983 Ballard, Lucinda Gershwin, Ira, 1896-1983 Kaufman, George S. (George Simon), 1889-1961 Parker, Dorothy, 1893-1967 Porter, Cole, 1891-1964 Schwartz, Arthur, 1900-1984 Webb, Clifton, 1893-1966 Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville), 1881-1975 Woollcott, Alexander, 1887-1943 American Music Collection SUBJECTS Lyricists -- United States Press agents -- United States -- 20th century OCCUPATIONS Lyricists Press agents MATERIAL TYPES Correspondence Galley proofs Manuscripts for publication USING THE COLLECTION LOCATION Music Division New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498 Third Floor ACCESS TO MATERIALS Some collections held by the Dance, Music, Recorded Sound, and Theatre Divisions at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts are held off-site and must be requested in advance. Please check the collection records in the NYPL's online catalog for detailed location information. For general guidance about requesting offsite materials, please consult: CONDITIONS GOVERNING USE For permission to publish, contact the Chief, Music Division.