February 19, 1938: Richard Whiting Dies

February 19, 1938: Richard Whiting dies of a heart attack in Beverly Hills, California. He was only 46 years old. This was mere months after George Gershwin died at 38, so that's 2 big blows to American songwriting in quick succession.

Like Gershwin, and another contemporary, Richard Rodgers, he composed the music for his songs, never the lyrics. (In Gershwin's case, his brother Ira wrote the lyrics to many of his songs.) In 1918, with Raymond B. Egan, he wrote the World War I song "Till We Meet Again." In 1921, with Egan and Gus Kahn, he wrote "Ain't We Got Fun?" In 1925, with Kahn, he wrote "Ukelele Lady." In 1930, with Leo Robin and W. Franke Harling, he wrote "Beyond the Blue Horizon."

In 1932, with Sidney Clare, he wrote a song for the film "Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round." It was titled "Rock and Roll," and although it sounds nothing like the form of music that would come to bear the name, it is believed to be the 1st song to have those exact words. Also in 1932, with B.G. De Sylva and Nacio Herb Brown, he wrote "You're an Old Smoothie." In 1934, also with Clare, he wrote "On the Good Ship Lollipop."

In 1937, with Johnny Mercer, he wrote "Too Marvelous for Words" and "Hooray for Hollywood," which did for the American film industry what "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" did for baseball.

His death was unexpected, as he had not been known to be ill. He was married to Eleanor Youngblood, an early female talent agent, whose clients included singer Sophie Tucker. Their daughters were singer Margaret Whiting and actress Barbara Whiting Smith.

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February 19, 1938 was a Saturday. Baseball and football were out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet.

There were 2 games in the NHL. The New York Americans beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-0 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. And the Montreal Canadiens beat the Montreal Maroons, 4-3 at the Montreal Forum. Johnny Gagnon scored the winning goal, 4:17 into overtime. (From 1917 until 1942, the NHL used a 10-minute overtime period before letting a regular-season game end in a tie. There was no overtime from 1942 until 1983, when a 5-minute overtime was introduced. The Stanley Cup Playoffs have always used sudden-death, otherwise 20-minute, overtime periods.)

And in English soccer, Arsenal defeated West London team Chelsea, 2-0 at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London.