William Merrigan Daly

thumb|right|Daily {{circa|1931}} '''William Merrigan Daly Jr.''' (1 September 1887 – 3 December 1936)<ref>{{cite news |title=William Merrigan Daly obituary |newspaper=New York Times |date=4 December 1936 |page=26 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/12/04/archives/w-m-daly-musician-dies-suddenly-at-49-heart-attack-in-home-is-fatal.html |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=William Merrigan Daly obituary |url=http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2017/Syracuse%20NY%20Journal/Syracuse%20NY%20Journal%201936/Syracuse%20NY%20Journal%201936%20a%20-%200511.pdf |newspaper=Syracuse American |date=13 December 1936 |page=8E |access-date=26 January 2013}}</ref>{{efn|Several sources including IBDb and VIAF cite 1974 as Daly's date of death.}} was an American pianist, composer, songwriter, orchestrator, musical director and conductor.

==Life and career== William Daly was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of a successful song-and-dance man.<ref name="Peyser">{{cite book |last=Peyser |first=Joan |author-link=Joan Peyser |title=The Memory of All That: The Life of George Gershwin |year=1993 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4234-1025-6 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/memoryofallthatl00peys/page/66 66–67] |url=https://archive.org/details/memoryofallthatl00peys/page/66 }}</ref> He attended Harvard University receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1908. By 1911 he was a writer, editor, and eventually general manager for ''Everybody's Magazine'' in New York.<ref name="Pollack">{{cite book |last=Pollack |first=Howard |title=George Gershwin: His Life and Work |year=2006 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=978-0-520-24864-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/georgegershwinhi00poll/page/191 191–192] |url=https://archive.org/details/georgegershwinhi00poll/page/191 }}</ref> Daly left the company in 1914 to pursue a show business career. He married in 1915 settling in New York City.<ref name="Peyser"/>

Daly played piano with various Broadway orchestras, and in time established himself as a songwriter, arranger, orchestrator, and music director, conducting more than twenty shows between 1915 and 1934.<ref name="Pollack"/> He met George and Ira Gershwin in the late 1910s. Daly and George Gershwin collaborated on several Broadway scores. Both contributed songs to ''Piccadilly to Broadway'' (1920), a show which closed in Atlantic City, and ''For Goodness' Sake'' (1922). The two jointly composed the score for ''Our Nell'' in 1923. This was the beginning of a long friendship; Daly was a frequent arranger, orchestrator and conductor of Gershwin's music, and Gershwin periodically turned to him for musical advice.<ref name="Pollack"/> Gershwin dedicated his 1926 ''Preludes for Piano'' to Daly.

Around 1930, Daly also became conductor and music director of the National Broadcasting Company radio orchestra.<ref>{{cite news |title=Dynamic Daly – Radio's New Orchestra Leader Works Hard to Attain Good Effects |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1917&dat=19300505&id=tFohAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0oUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1220,873261 |newspaper=Schenectedy Gazette |date=7 May 1930 |page=12 |access-date=26 January 2013}}</ref>

Daly died suddenly of a heart attack in December 1936.

==Works== ;Operetta * ''Western Stuff'', Operetta in 1 reel (1917); libretto by James Montgomery Flagg

;Broadway musical contributions (songs and numbers) * ''Betty'' (1916) :: ''Spilling the Beans'', Fox-trot * ''Everything'' (1918) :: "You're the Very Girl I've Looked For" :: "Sunshine Alley" :: "Come to the Land of Romance" :: "Roll Along" * ''Kissing Time'' (1920); earlier version staged in London :: "The Nicest Sort of Feeling" * ''For Goodness' Sake'' (1922); co-composed with Paul Lannin; additional songs by George Gershwin :: "All to Myself" :: "When You're in Rome" :: "Every Day" :: "Twilight" :: "Greatest Team of All" :: "Oh Gee! Oh Gosh! I Love You" :: "In the Days of Wild Romance" :: "When Somebody Cares" :: "The French Pastry Walk" :: "The Whichness of the Whatness" * ''Earl Carroll's Vanities of 1923'' (1923) :: "A Girl Is Like Sunshine" :: "Laugh While You're Dancing Around" * ''Our Nell'' (1923); co-composed with George Gershwin :: "Gol-Durn!" :: "Innocent Ingenue Baby" :: "Old New England Home" :: "The Cooney County Fair" :: "Names I Love to Hear" :: "By-and-By" :: "Madrigal" :: "We Go to Church on Sunday" :: "Walking Home with Angeline" :: "Oh, You Lady!" :: "Little Villages" * ''Jack and Jill'' (1923) :: "Hello! Good-Bye" :: "Pretty City Girl (I Want a Pretty Girl)"

;Filmography * ''Air Mail'' as 'Tex' Lane (1932); directed by John Ford * "Could I Be in Love?", Song from the 1937 film ''Champagne Waltz'' directed by A. Edward Sutherland

;Literary * ''George Gershwin as Orchestrator'' (1933); published in the 15 January 1933 issue of The New York Times

==Notes== {{notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{IBDB name|name=William Daly}} *{{IMDb name|id=0198521|name=William Daly}} * [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1917&dat=19300505&id=tFohAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0oUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1220,873261 Schenectedy Gazette, 7 May 1930: ''Dynamic Daly – Radio's New Orchestra Leader Works Hard to Attain Good Effects''] Caricature of William Daly as conductor.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daly, William Merrigan}} Category:1887 births Category:1936 deaths Category:American musical theatre composers Category:American male musical theatre composers Category:American male conductors (music) Category:American music arrangers Category:20th-century American conductors (music) Category:American music directors Category:Songwriters from New York (state) Category:Musicians from Cincinnati Category:Musicians from New York City Category:Songwriters from Ohio Category:Harvard University alumni Category:20th-century American composers Category:Classical musicians from New York (state) Category:Classical musicians from Ohio Category:20th-century American pianists Category:American male songwriters Category:20th-century American songwriters Category:20th-century American male composers Category:20th-century American male pianists