JEROME KERN - DOCUMENT SIGNED 03/22/1937 CO-SIGNED BY: DOROTHY FIELDS - HFSID 257526

JEROME KERN and DOROTHY FIELDS
Assignment of Canadian copyright of two songs from When You're in Love.
Partly Printed DS: "Jerome D. Kern" and "Dorothy Fields", 1p, 8¼x13½. New York, 1937 March 22. Headed: "Assignment of Canadian Copyright". In full: "Know All Men By These Presents, That for and in consideration of the sum of one dollar and other good and valuable considerations received, of Chappell & Co. Inc. hereinafter called the Assignee, I/we, the undersigned, hereinafter called the Assignor(s), do hereby bargain, sell, assign, set over and transfer to and unto the said Assignee its/his successors and assigns, a certain title, song, words, music and musical work entitled: 'OUR SONG'-from When You're In Love, 'THE WHISTLING BOY'-from When You're In Love and the exclusive right to have and obtain copyright therein in its own name in Canada, and all of the Canadian copyright therein, subject however, to the provisions of Section 11, Sub-section 2, of the Copyright Law of 1921, the author of said words being Dorothy Fields, Citizen (or Subject) of U.S.A. Resident of 808 North Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, California when the aforesaid words were written and composed; the composer of the music being Jerome Kern Citizen (or Subject) of U.S.A., Resident of Beverly Wilshire Hotel Beverly Hills, California when aforesaid music was written and composed." Also signed twice by witness Florence Brooks, who has also signed twice on verso where the Notary Public has also signed twice. The Columbia Pictures film based on the Broadway musical When You're in Love was released on February 27, 1938. It starred Grace Moore as Australian opera star Louise Fuller, who could not enter the United States to perform in a major U.S. festival unless she was married. It costarred Cary Grant as Jimmy Hudson, an artist who temporarily marries her. At first, it is strictly a business arrangement, then Hudson starts falling in love. In addition to "Our Song" and "The Whistling Boy", other songs in When You're in Love by Fields and Kern include: "Minnie the Moocher" (later Cab Calloway's signature song), "Siboney" and "The Waltz Song". DOROTHY FIELDS was the first woman to be elected to the Songwriters' Hall of Fame. Fields and Kern wrote four films together, including Swing Time with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. She planned to write a musical for Ethel Merman based on the story of Annie Oakley called Annie Get Your Gun. She had persuaded Jerome Kern to work on the score but the project had just gotten underway when Kern suffered a fatal heart attack on November 11, 1945, at the age of 60. He was replaced by Irving Berlin, who always wrote his own lyrics so Fields' credit on the musical is only as co-librettist. Both Fields and Kern have been honored on U.S. postage stamps. Creased, not at signatures. Slight vertical tears at lower blank edge, all intact. Horizontal fold touches Kern's signature. Staple holes at upper left corner. Overall, fine condition.