E. Y. "YIP" HARBURG - INSCRIBED BOOK SIGNED 12/1969 - HFSID 273255

E.Y. "YIP" HARBURG. Book inscribed and signed: "For Sylvia -/The Enterper of ASCAP/The adored of Shakespeare/and/Yipper/Xmas 1969" on first blank flyleaf, 120p, 5½x7¾, hardcover. His book, Rhymes for the Irreverent, Grossman Publishers, New York: 1965. Signed with Harburg's nickname, "Yipper", which was bestowed upon him by Irving Berlin and used only by his closest friends. Sylvia was SYLVIA ROSENBERG of ASCAP. American lyricist Edgar Yispel "Yip" Harburg (1896-1981), born Isidore Hochberg, won an Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song for his lyrics for "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz, and he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Musical in 1958 for Jamaica. Harburg, who had written light verse for newspapers, was encouraged to write song lyrics by Ira Gershwin, who introduced him to Jay Gorney. One of Harburg's songs, "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?", introduced in the 1932 revue, Americana, swept the nation and became the "national anthem" of the Great Depression. In addition to writing for Broadway reviews and musicals, Harburg also enjoyed a successful career in Hollywood, writing lyrics for a number of films. His other well known songs include "April in Paris", "It's Only a Paper Moon", "Old Devil Moon" and "When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich", from his Broadway musical, Finian's Rainbow. Harburg was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972. No dust jacket. Inside covers are lightly stained. Some pages slightly creased. Internally sound.