{{Short description|English songwriter, actor and screenwriter (1887–1941)}} {{Distinguish|Clifford Gray (disambiguation){{!}}Clifford Gray}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}} <!-- Before adding an infobox to this article, please seek to establish a new consensus on the Talk page to do so. --> [[File:clifford-grey-1921.jpg|thumb|right|Grey in 1921]] '''Clifford Grey''' (5 January 1887 – 25 September 1941) was an English songwriter, librettist and screenwriter. His birth name was '''Percival Davis''', and he was also known as '''Clifford Gray'''.
Grey contributed prolifically to dozens of [[West End theatre|West End]] and [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] shows, for the period from the First World War to the Second World War, as librettist and lyricist for composers including [[Ivor Novello]], [[Jerome Kern]], [[Howard Talbot]], [[Ivan Caryll]] and [[George Gershwin]]. Among his best-remembered songs are two from early in his career, in 1916: "[[If You Were the Only Girl (In the World)]]" and "Another Little Drink Wouldn't Do Us Any Harm". His later hits include "Got a Date with an Angel" and "[[Spread a Little Happiness]]". He also wrote lyrics and screenplays for dozens of films released from 1929 to 1941, and they were used in films released posthumously.
For 35 years after 1979 it was widely believed that Grey secretly competed as an American bobsleigher, under the name [[Clifford Gray (athlete)|Clifford "Tippy" Gray]], in two [[Winter Olympics]], in 1928 and 1932, winning gold medals, but it was finally shown that the sportsman was a different person.
==Life and career== ===Early years=== Grey was born in [[Birmingham]], Warwickshire, the son of George Davis, a whip manufacturer, and his wife Emma, ''née'' Lowe. He was educated at the [[King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys|King Edward VI School]].<ref name=dnb>Moore, James Ross, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/47284,"Grey, Clifford (1887–1941)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, September 2004; accessed 28 August 2010. {{ODNBsub}}</ref><ref name=Guardian>Bull, Andy. [https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/may/05/the-spin-its-just-not-cricket "It's just not cricket: The Mystery of Clifford Grey, Olympic Champion Who Never Was"], ''The Guardian'', 5 May 2015</ref> On leaving school in 1903 he had a variety of office jobs, in none of which he had any success. He became a [[pierrot]] with a local [[Concert Party (entertainment)|concert party]], and adopted the stage name Clifford Grey, performing in pubs, piers and music halls.<ref name=dnb/><ref name=Guardian/> By the time he married in 1912 he had reduced his stage performing in favour of writing lyrics for [[West End theatre|West End]] shows. His wife was Dorothy Maud Mary Gould (1890 or 1891–1940), a fellow member of the concert party. They had two daughters, June and Dorothy; Grey also adopted Gould's daughter. Their marriage lasted until Dorothy's death.<ref name=dnb/><ref name=Guardian/>
In 1916 Grey had his big breakthrough as a writer, collaborating with the American composer [[Nat Ayer]] on ''[[The Bing Boys Are Here]]'', a long-running [[revue]] that opened in London in April, and contained two of Grey's early successes, "[[If You Were the Only Girl (In the World)]]" and "Another Little Drink Wouldn't Do Us Any Harm". He collaborated with Ayer on ''Pell-Mell'', ''The Bing Girls Are There'', ''The Other Bing Boys'', ''The Bing Brothers on Broadway'', and ''[[Yes, Uncle!]]'' and with [[Herman Finck]] in ''Hallo, America!'', [[Ivor Novello]] and [[Jerome Kern]] in ''[[Theodore & Co]]'', [[Howard Talbot]] and Novello in ''Who's Hooper?'', Novello in ''[[Arlette (musical)|Arlette]]'' (1917) and [[Ivan Caryll]] in ''[[Kissing Time]]''.<ref name=oxford>[http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/epm/10890?q=Clifford+Grey&source=omo_epm&source=omo_t237&source=omo_gmo&source=omo_t114&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1 "Grey, Clifford"], ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', Oxford University Press, 11 July 2006, Oxford Music Online, accessed 28 August 2010. {{subscription required}}</ref> On the last show he collaborated with [[P.G. Wodehouse]],<ref>Jason, p, 82</ref> who was privately lukewarm about Grey's talent, regarding him as a specialist in adapting other people's work rather than as an original talent.{{refn|According to the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Wodehouse's views did not prevent his purchasing a plot from Grey on one occasion.<ref name=dnb/>|group= n}}
===1920s – Broadway and Hollywood=== In 1920 Grey was invited to New York by Kern to renew their collaboration, writing [[Florenz Ziegfeld]]'s ''[[Sally (musical)|Sally]]''.<ref name=oxford/> Grey remained in the US for most of the decade, with occasional sorties back to London for ''[[Phi-Phi]]'' with [[Henri Christiné]] (1922), ''The Smith Family'' with Ayer (1922), and ''The Rainbow'' with [[George Gershwin]] (1923). For Broadway, he provided a regular stream of lyrics – and some libretti – for musical comedies and revues. His collaborators included [[Sigmund Romberg]] and [[Melville Gideon]] on some of the less-remembered shows, [[Ivan Caryll]] and [[Guy Bolton]] on ''[[The Hotel Mouse (musical)|The Hotel Mouse]]'' (1922),<ref>''The New York Times'', 14 March 1922, p. 20</ref> [[Vincent Youmans]] on ''[[Hit the Deck (musical)|Hit the Deck]]'' (1927), and [[Rudolph Friml]] and Wodehouse on ''The Three Musketeers'' (1928) and ''Ups-A-Daisy'' with [[Robert A. Simon]] for the Shubert Theatre (1928).<ref name=Guardian/><ref name=oxford/> With [[William Cary Duncan]] he co-authored the book and lyrics for ''[[Sunny Days (musical)|Sunny Days]]'' (1928, based on Grey's 1925 play ''A Kiss in a Taxi'') at the [[Imperial Theatre]].<ref>{{cite book|first1=Dan|last1=Dietz|title=The Complete Book of 1920s Broadway Musicals|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield Publishers]]|year=2019|isbn=9781442245280|chapter=Sunny Days }}</ref>
The introduction of talking pictures attracted Grey to [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]]. He collaborated with [[Victor Schertzinger]] on the 1929 [[Maurice Chevalier]] and [[Jeanette MacDonald]] film, ''[[The Love Parade]]'', and with [[Oscar Straus (composer)|Oscar Straus]] on ''The Smiling Lieutenant'' (1931), and contributed to films with a range of stars from [[Ramon Novarro]] to [[Lawrence Tibbett]] to [[Marion Davies]].<ref name=oxford/> His songs and lyrics from shows were used in many films, and he wrote screenplays and lyrics for fourteen new Hollywood films between 1929 and 1931, including ''[[The Vagabond Lover]]'' (1929), ''[[In Gay Madrid]]'' (1930) and ''[[The Smiling Lieutenant]]'' (1931).<ref name=dnb/> After his death Grey's songs continued to be used in films and television productions. His best known song, "If You Were the Only Girl (in the World)", appeared in such films as ''[[Lilacs in the Spring]]'' (1954), ''[[The Bridge on the River Kwai]]'' (1957) and ''[[The Cat's Meow]]'' (2001), and some films, such as ''[[Hit the Deck (1955 film)|Hit the Deck]]'' (1955), were adaptations of his shows. In 1929, he returned temporarily to London, where he collaborated with [[Vivian Ellis]] on the musical ''[[Mr Cinders]]'', which had a long West End run and featured one of Grey's best-remembered songs, "[[Spread a Little Happiness]]".{{refn|"Spread a Little Happiness" was revived by [[Sting (musician)|Sting]] in 1982, when it reached the [[UK Singles Chart|British Top 20]].<ref>Barker, Dennis. [https://www.proquest.com/docview/186372709 "The melody lingers on for a song-writer of the 1920s"], ''The Guardian'', 1 September 1982, p. 2 {{subscription required}}</ref>|group= n}}
===West End, British films and last years=== Returning to England in 1932, although apparently spending time in California,<ref name=Guardian/> Grey concentrated thereafter on the West End stage and British films. His screenplay for ''[[Rome Express]]'' (1932), a spy story, was "extremely popular in its day and virtually created a subgenre".<ref name=dnb/> He wrote more than twenty screenplays for British films, usually for the popular comedians of the day, but also including ''[[My Song Goes Round the World]]'' (1934), ''[[Mimi (1935 film)|Mimi]]'' (1935), an adaptation of ''[[La Bohème]]'', for [[Gertrude Lawrence]] and [[Douglas Fairbanks Jr.]] and ''[[Yes, Madam?]]'' (1940).<ref name=dnb/>
Throughout the decade Grey had shows running in the West End, written in collaboration with previous collaborators and new ones including [[Oscar Levant]], [[Johnny Green]] and [[Noel Gay]].<ref name=dnb/><ref name=oxford/> Grey wrote more than 3,000 songs.<ref>Daniels, Robert L. (31 July 2006). "Jazz in July – Twelve Hands, Two Pianos, One Night", ''Daily Variety'' (New York, N.Y., Reed Business Information) 31 July 2006, pp. 7–8</ref>
When the [[Second World War]] began, Grey joined the [[Entertainments National Service Association]] (ENSA), which took shows round the country and overseas to provide relief for serving members of the armed forces. In 1941 he was presenting a concert party in [[Ipswich]], [[Suffolk]], when the town was heavily bombed. Grey died two days later, aged 54, as a result of a heart attack, brought on by the bombing, and exacerbated by [[asthma]]. He is buried in [[Old Ipswich Cemetery|Ipswich Old Cemetery]].<ref name=dnb/><ref>Wallenchinsky, pp. 559–60</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1941/09/27/archives/clifford-grey-54-english-lyricist-wrote-words-for-hit-the-deck-and.html "Clifford Grey, 54, English Lyricist; Wrote Words for ''Hit the Deck'' and ''The Three Musketeers'' Tunes – Dies in Ipswich"], ''The New York Times'', 27 September 1941, p. 17</ref>
===Olympian bobsleigher myth=== [[File:Grave of Clifford Grey in Ipswich Cemetery, Oct 2019.jpg|thumb|alt=Grey's grave with a new horizontal gravestone added in 2005 |Inscription on the stone laid on Grey's grave in [[Old Ipswich Cemetery]] in 2005 including the erroneously attributed Olympic gold medals]] After an article written in 1979 by an American journalist, Tim Clark, in ''[[Yankee Magazine]]'', it was believed for more than three decades that Grey had competed, secretly, for the US Olympic bobsleigh team in 1928 and 1932 under the name [[Clifford Gray (athlete)|Clifford "Tippy" (or "Tippi") Gray]]. Many news sources and biographers accepted this idea, based on circumstantial evidence that Clark had found. The evidence also persuaded Grey's daughters that their late father was not only the peripatetic writer that they remembered, but also a secret world-class sportsman who had been too modest to boast of his Olympic success.<ref name=Guardian/> The press thereafter widely reported that Grey the librettist had also won a gold medal in the five-man bobsleigh race at the [[1928 Winter Olympics]] in [[St. Moritz]], another at the following [[1932 Winter Olympics|Winter Olympics]] in [[Lake Placid, New York]], this time in the four-man event, and a bronze medal in the four-man race at the [[FIBT World Championships 1937|1937 FIBT World Championships]] in St. Moritz.<ref>Stewart, Graham. [http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:UKNB:LTIB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=10FB764482001D90&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=102CDD40F14C6BDA "With a song – and a bobsleigh – in his heart"], ''[[The Times]]'', 11 February 2006</ref> In the ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'' the historian James Ross Moore concluded that during Grey's New York years:
{{blockquote|Grey made many theatrical and sporting friends. Much later, the secret life of this quiet, retiring, and serious-looking man, so supposedly sedentary and shy behind his horn-rimmed glasses, was revealed. With considerable skill, Grey had invented an American persona, Tippi Gray, and it was under this name that he joined three bobsleighing friends and won gold medals in both the 1928 and the 1932 winter Olympic games.<ref name=dnb/>|}}
There were a few who did not accept that "Tippi" Gray was the same person as Clifford Grey the writer. The Olympic historian [[David Wallechinsky]] was one, and John Cross, a researcher from [[Bowdoin College]], was another.<ref name=Guardian/><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20200417062137/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/gr/cliff-gray-1.html "Clifford Barton 'Cliff' Gray"], SR/Olympics, Sports Reference LLC, accessed 2 November 2012</ref> Finally, around 2013, Andy Bull, a sportswriter for ''[[The Guardian]]'', was writing a book about the 1932 gold medal-winning bobsleigh team that was published in 2015 under the title ''Speed Kings''.<ref>Bull, Andy. ''Speed Kings'', Bantam Press (2015) {{ISBN|0593073762}}</ref> Although Bull had earlier accepted the story, as he looked closer, he became suspicious. He found an interview with "Tippy" Gray from 1948 in the ''[[Sarasota Herald-Tribune]]'', seven years after Grey's death.<ref>''Sarasota Herald-Tribune'', 9 March 1948, p. 11</ref> "Tippy" Gray, the Olympic champion, died in April 1968 in San Diego, California.<ref name=Guardian/> Bull wrote:
{{blockquote|There are so many odd coincidences in the lives of the two men, it's easy to see now how their tales became tangled. ... [T]here was the physical resemblance, close enough for the two of them to be confused with each other in the grainy old black-and-white photos. Then ... "Tippy" Gray was a song-writer too. He had a short career in the movies, but killed his career when he was arrested in possession of an opium pipe and a pistol. After that, he moved to Paris and started writing jazz tunes for the revue at the Moulin Rouge.<ref name=Guardian/>|}}
==Musicals== {{div col|colwidth=18em}} *1916 – ''[[Theodore & Co]]''<ref name="EMT">{{cite book|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofmu00ganz_1/page/820/mode/2up?q=%22Grey%2C+Clifford%22|title=The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre, Second Edition|volume=II|first=Kurt|last= Gänzl|author-link=Kurt Gänzl|chapter=GREY, Clifford|publisher=[[Schirmer Books]]|year=2001|isbn=978-0-02-865573-4 }}</ref> *1916 – ''The Kodak Girl''<ref name="EMT"/> *1917 – ''[[Arlette (musical)|Arlette]]''<ref name="EMT"/> *1917 – ''[[Yes, Uncle!]]''<ref name="EMT"/> *1918 – ''[[The Girl Behind the Gun]]''<ref name="EMT"/> *1919 – ''Who's Hooper?''<ref name="EMT"/> *1919 – ''Baby Bunting''<ref name="EMT"/> *1919 – ''The Kiss Call''<ref name="EMT"/> *1920 – ''[[A Night Out (musical)|A Night Out]]''<ref name="EMT"/> *1920 – ''[[Kissing Time]]''<ref name="EMT"/> *1920 – ''[[Sally (musical)|Sally]]''<ref name="EMT"/> *1921 – ''Little Miss Raffles''<ref name="EMT"/> *1921 – ''[[The Co-Optimists]]'' *1922 – ''[[The Hotel Mouse (musical)|The Hotel Mouse]]''<ref name="EMT"/> *1922 – ''[[Phi-Phi]]''<ref name="EMT"/> (new English language lyrics from the French by [[Albert Willemetz]]) *1922 – ''The Smith Family''<ref name="EMT"/> *1923 – ''Lady Butterfly''<ref name="EMT"/> *1924 – ''Marjorie''<ref name="EMT"/> *1924 – ''Annie Dear''<ref name="EMT"/> *1925 – ''June Days''<ref name="EMT"/> *1925 – ''Sky High''<ref name="EMT"/> *1925 – ''Mayflowers''<ref name="EMT"/> *1926 – ''Patsy''<ref name="EMT"/> *1926 – ''Katja''<ref name="EMT"/> *1926 – ''Bubbling Over''<ref name="EMT"/> *1927 – ''[[Hit the Deck (musical)|Hit the Deck]]''<ref name="EMT"/> *1928 – ''The Madcap''<ref name="EMT"/> *1928 – ''Sunny Days''<ref name="EMT"/> *1928 – ''The Three Musketeers''<ref name="EMT"/> *1928 – ''[[Mr Cinders]]''<ref name="EMT"/> *1928 – ''Ups-a-Daisy''<ref name="EMT"/> *1930 – ''Smiles''<ref name="EMT"/> *1931 – ''[[For the Love of Mike (play)|For the Love of Mike]]''<ref name="EMT"/> *1932 – ''Out of the Bottle''<ref name="EMT"/> *1933 – ''He Wanted Adventure''<ref name="EMT"/> *1933 – ''Command Performance''<ref name="EMT"/> *1933 – ''Mr Whittington''<ref name="EMT"/> *1935 – ''Jack o'Diamonds''<ref name="EMT"/> *1935 – ''Love Laughs—!''<ref name="EMT"/> *1936 – ''At the Silver Swan''<ref name="EMT"/> *1937 – ''Oh! You Letty''<ref name="EMT"/> *1938 – ''Bobby Get Your Gun''<ref name="EMT"/> *1942 – ''Susie''<ref name="EMT"/> *1942 – ''Wild Rose''<ref name="EMT"/> {{div col end}}
==Films== Sources that confused Grey with the bobsledder Gray stated that he acted in a dozen silent films from 1914 to 1922, but this was Gray, not Grey, the lyricist. Grey's lyrics, songs or screenplays were used in nearly 60 talking films:<ref name=dnb/><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120711192714/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2ba95c6003 "Clifford Grey"], British Film Institute, accessed 2 November 2015</ref> {{div col|colwidth=18em}} *1929 – ''[[Devil-May-Care]]'' – Songs *1929 – ''[[The Love Parade]]'' – Lyrics *1930 – ''[[Call of the Flesh]]'' – Songs *1930 – ''[[Madam Satan]]'' – Songs *1930 – ''[[The Florodora Girl]]'' – Songs *1931 – ''[[The Smiling Lieutenant]]'' – Lyrics *1932 – ''[[After the Ball (1932 film)|After the Ball]]'' – Lyricist *1932 – ''[[For the Love of Mike (1932 film)|For the Love of Mike]]'' – Script *1932 – ''[[Lord Babs]]'' – Adaptation, dialogue and lyrics *1932 – ''[[Rome Express]]'' – Original story and dialogue *1932 – ''[[The Midshipmaid]]'' – Lyrics *1932 – ''[[There Goes the Bride (1932 film)|There Goes the Bride]]'' – Lyrics *1933 – ''[[Facing the Music (1933 film)|Facing the Music]]'' – Original story *1933 – ''[[King of the Ritz]]'' – Lyricist *1933 – ''[[No Funny Business]]'' – Lyricist *1933 – ''[[Sleeping Car (film)|Sleeping Car]]'' – Lyrics *1933 – ''[[Soldiers of the King (film)|Soldiers of the King]]'' – Lyrics *1933 – ''[[The Song You Gave Me]]'' – Script *1933 – ''[[This Is the Life (1933 film)|This Is the Life]]'' – Script *1933 – ''[[You Made Me Love You (film)|You Made Me Love You]]'' – Songs (words and music) *1934 – ''[[Doctor's Orders (film)|Doctor's Orders]]'' – Script *1934 – ''[[Girls Will Be Boys]]'' – Scenario and dialogue *1934 – ''[[Give Her a Ring]]'' – Adaptation, scenario and dialogue *1934 – ''Love at Second Sight'' – Music and lyrics *1934 – ''[[Mr. Cinders#Film version|Mr Cinders]]'' – Adaptation, scenario and dialogue *1934 – ''[[My Song Goes Round the World]]'' – Adaptation and scenario *1934 – ''[[The Luck of a Sailor]]'' – Script *1935 – ''[[Brewster's Millions (1935 film)|Brewster's Millions]]'' – Adaptation *1935 – ''[[Charing Cross Road (film)|Charing Cross Road]]'' – Script *1935 – ''[[Dandy Dick (film)|Dandy Dick]]'' – Adaptation, scenario and dialogue *1935 – ''[[Drake of England]]'' – Additional dialogue *1935 – ''[[Heart's Desire (1935 film)|Heart's Desire]]'' – Lyrics *1935 – ''[[Invitation to the Waltz (film)|Invitation to the Waltz]]'' – Scenario and additional dialogue *1935 – ''[[Me and Marlborough]]'' – Musical numbers *1935 – ''[[Mimi (1935 film)|Mimi]]'' – Scenario and dialogue *1935 – ''[[The Student's Romance]]'' – Adaptation and scenario *1935 – ''[[Things Are Looking Up (film)|Things Are Looking Up]]'' – Title song *1936 – ''[[Accused (1936 film)|Accused]]'' – Lyrics *1936 – ''Land without Music'' – Lyrics *1936 – ''[[Queen of Hearts (1936 film)|Queen of Hearts]]'' – Original screenplay *1936 – ''[[Southern Roses]]'' – Lyrics *1937 – ''[[Boys Will Be Girls (film)|Boys Will Be Girls]]'' – Script *1937 – ''[[Pearls Bring Tears]]'' – Story *1937 – ''[[Sing as You Swing]]'' – Screen story *1937 – ''[[The Lilac Domino (film)|The Lilac Domino]]'' – Lyrics *1938 – ''[[Luck of the Navy]]'' – Script *1938 – ''[[Premiere (1938 film)|Premiere]]'' – Lyricist *1938 – ''[[Yes, Madam?]]'' – Screenplay *1939 – ''[[An Englishman's Home (film)|An Englishman's Home]]'' – Screenplay *1939 – ''[[Lucky to Me]]'' – Screenplay *1939 – ''[[She Couldn't Say No (1939 film)|She Couldn't Say No]]'' – Script *1939 – ''[[The Lambeth Walk (film)|The Lambeth Walk]]'' – Continuity and additional scenes *1940 – ''[[Band Waggon (film)|Band Waggon]]'' – Song: "The only one who's difficult is you" *1940 – ''[[The Middle Watch (1940 film)|The Middle Watch]]'' – Screenplay *1941 – ''[[My Wife's Family (1941 film)|My Wife's Family]]'' – Screenplay *1948 – ''[[Sleeping Car to Trieste]]'' – Original story *1954 – ''[[Hit the Deck (1955 film)|Hit the Deck]]'' – Lyrics {{div col end}}
==Notes, references and sources== ===Notes=== {{Reflist|group=n}}
===References=== {{Reflist}}
===Sources=== * {{cite book | last= Jason | first= David | title=P. G. Wodehouse: A Portrait of a Master | year= 1975| location= London | publisher= Garnstone Press| isbn= 978-0-85511-190-8}} * {{cite book | last= Wallenchinsky | first= David |chapter= Bobsled: Four-Man | title= The Complete Book of the Olympics: 1896–1980| year= 1984| location=Harmondsworth and New York | publisher= Penguin Books | isbn=978-0-14-006632-6 }}
==External links== * {{IBDB name|4882}} * {{IMDb name|0340540|Clifford Grey}} (some acting roles are conflated with [[Clifford Gray (athlete)|Clifford Gray]]) * [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/108896 Clifford Grey recordings] at the [[Discography of American Historical Recordings]]. {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grey, Clifford}} [[Category:1887 births]] [[Category:1941 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century English male actors]] [[Category:English film score composers]] [[Category:English male film score composers]] [[Category:English lyricists]] [[Category:English male film actors]] [[Category:English male silent film actors]] [[Category:English male screenwriters]] [[Category:English male songwriters]] [[Category:People educated at King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys]] [[Category:Male actors from Birmingham, West Midlands]] [[Category:English expatriate male actors in the United States]] [[Category:20th-century English screenwriters]] [[Category:20th-century English male writers]] [[Category:20th-century English male musicians]] [[Category:Broadway composers and lyricists]]