wait, who are you talking about?

So I was looking around for something to blog about concerning musicals and I came across this guy Harry Warren and the link looked totally boring so I almost didn't click it. But it turns out that this guy is one of the most prolific and celebrated composers ever- but no one seems to know who he is...

TCM estimates that he wrote 500 songs for more than 100 movies. And the official Harry Warren site says that at this point his songs are in over 270 films, but imdb's got something like 889 credits under his name.

He had 42 songs place in the top ten on the radio program Your Hit Parade. Which I thought was funny because I've got a crapload of Your Hit Parade songs on my ipod and I think half of them are actually his.
He was nominated for 11 oscars, he won three.
He worked with tons of famous songwriters like Ira Gershwin, Billy Rose, Al Dublin and my personal favorite Johnny Mercer.
TANGENT:
if you're not familiar with Johnny Mercer, he's got a great voice, his songs are classic and he's totally cool- I'm sure you guys all know the accentuate the positive song- that was him. anyway, mercer rocks.
BACK ON TOPIC:
Warren's real name is actually Salvatore Guaragna- he's italian (yeah, i didn't see that coming either) On italianpride.com they list Harry Warren's accomplishments as reason number 76 of 101 to be proud of being italian. And I don't even have to tell you guys that italianpride.com is the foremost authority on exactly why italians are the sh*t.

This website has a giant listing of movies and TV shows that feature one or more songs by Warren, and it was totally overwhelming choosing any to list here. Just as an example 42nd street is on this list and I'm sure all of you have seen the 1976 TV special on Olivia Newton-John- that's on the list too.

I also found this really cool quote from Warren...
"I've always written music the way I felt it.  I write for the public because I feel like the public, the way they would write if they could.  You don't have to know anything about music to understand what I write.  Mine are simple melodies.  In music there are certain chords that are tender and poignant – it's the universal language."  HARRY WARREN (December 24, 1893 - September 22, 1981)
pretty sweet, right?