E. Ray Goetz

Edward Ray Goetz (June 12, 1886 – June 12, 1954) was an American composer, lyricist, playwright, theatre director, and theatrical producer. A Tin Pan Alley songwriter, he published more than 500 songs during his career, many of them originally written for the New York stage. His songs were recorded by several artists, including Judy Garland, Al Jolson, and Blossom Seeley. He was active as both a lyricist and composer for Broadway musicals from 1906 through to 1930, collaborating with artists like George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Sigmund Romberg, and A. Baldwin Sloane to create material for the theatre.

Beginning with the musical Hitchy-Koo of 1917, he produced several of the musicals and plays he was creatively involved in up until the 1930-1931 Broadway season, when he produced his final stage work, Porter's The New Yorkers, for which he created the story and served as director. He authored the play The Lady of the Orchids which he produced on Broadway in 1928. He produced and served as production supervisor of Herbert Fields and Porter's 1929 musical Fifty Million Frenchmen which was adapted by Warner Brothers into a 1930 film of the same name.^[1]

His work as a songwriter was featured in the films For Me and My Gal (1942), Somebody Loves Me (1952), and The Greatest Show On Earth (1952), the latter of which resulted from his work as the lyricist for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus during the final three years of his life. Having never stopped working, he died in 1954.^[2]