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Harold Arlen

Harold Arlen, American composer (died 1986)

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Born
February 15, 1905
Died
April 23, 1986
Zodiac sign
Aquarius
Birth year
1905

About Harold Arlen

Harold Arlen was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, including "Over the Rainbow", which won him the Oscar for Best Original Song, he was nominated as composer for 8 other Oscar awards. Arlen is a contributor to the Great American Songbook. "Over the Rainbow" was voted the 20th century's No. 1 song by the RIAA and the NEA. They copyrighted it as "My Gal, Won't You Please Come Back to Me?" and attribute the lyrics to Cheiffetz and music to Harold Arluck. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz (lyrics by Yip Harburg), including "Over the Rainbow", which won him the Oscar for Best Original Song, he was nominated as composer for 8 other Oscar awards. In 1926, he and Dick George wrote "Minor Gaff (Blues Fantasy)", which became his first published song.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Harold Arlen timeline

  1. In 1926, he and Dick George wrote "Minor Gaff (Blues Fantasy)", which became his first published song.
  2. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz (lyrics by Yip Harburg), including "Over the Rainbow", which won him the Oscar for Best Original Song, he was nominated as composer for 8 other Oscar awards.
  3. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, including "Over the Rainbow", which won him the Oscar for Best Original Song, he was nominated as composer for 8 other Oscar awards.

The world when Harold Arlen was born

Harold Arlen was born in 1905. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1905

  • Best-selling book"The Marriage of William Ashe" – Mrs. Humphry Ward

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentChristy Mathewson pitches 3 shutouts in the World Series
  • Top headlineEinstein publishes theory of special relativity
  • Technology milestoneEinstein's "miracle year" — E=mc²
  • World population~1.65B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderTheodore Roosevelt
  • U.S. population83.2M

1905 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Harold Arlen's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19052026
Population83.2M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, MusicBrainz, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.