Ray Henderson

Buddy DeSylva, Lew Brown and Ray Henderson were one of the most successful songwriting teams of the twenties. Some of their standards include “Birth of the Blues,” “Black Bottom,” “Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries,” “My Song” and “Sonny Boy.” The original 1927 production of their musical Good News ran for 551 performances – a record for that time – and the 1947 movie version is considered a classic by film buffs. Other Broadway shows with scores by DeSylva, Brown & Henderson included George White’s Scandals, Manhattan Mary, Hold Everything, Follow Through and Flying High. They also wrote the scores for the films The Singing Fool and Sunny Side Up. In 1944, sixteen years after it was introduced in 1928, their song “Together” became one of the ten biggest hits of the year. In 1956, 20th Century Fox released a film biography of DeSylva, Brown & Henderson entitled The Best Things In Life Are Free.