Biography

Brian Hooker

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Lyricist ("Song of the Vagabonds", "Only a Rose"), author and educator, educated at Yale University (BA, MA), and who became the assistant professor of English at Columbia University between 1903 and 1905, a rhetoric instructor at Yale University between 1905 and 1909, and a lecturer at the Columbia extension. He was literary editor at the New York Sun in 1917. His Broadway stage scores include "The Vagabond King", "June Love", and "Marjolaine", and he was the librettist for "Through the Years". He was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Joining ASCAP in 1923, his chief musical collaborators included Rudolf Friml and Hugo Felix, and his other popular-song compositions include "Give Me One Hour", "Huguette Waltz", "Love Me Tonight", "Regimental Song", "Some Day", and "Tomorrow".
- IMDb mini biography by: Hup234!

Poet, translator,librettist, and lyricist. His most revived stage work is his 1923 English translation of Edmond Rostand's "Cyrano de Bergerac". It was prepared especially for Walter Hampden, the most famous Cyrano of his time, and is considered one of the greatest translations of a literary work. For many years it was the standard English version, and such actors as José Ferrer and Ralph Richardson played Cyrano using Hooker's translation - Richardson on stage and on records, and Ferrer on stage, records, film and television.
Was librettist for one the first American operas produced by the Metropolitan Opera, "Mona," with music by the noted composer-educator Horatio Parker. Premiered in March, 1912, with a mostly American cast, including the legendary contralto Louise Homer in the title role, it was an expensive failure, only lasting four performances in one season.

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