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Sam H. Stept

Rockaway Baby sheet music cover with photo of Fanny Brice

Samuel Howard Stept[a] (aka Sammy Stept; 18 September 1897 – 1 December 1964) was an American songwriter who wrote for Broadway, Hollywood and the big bands. He became known simply as Sam Stept or Sam H. Stept – he rarely used his full middle name.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]

Family

Born in Odessa, Ukraine, Stept came to the United States at the age of three and grew up in Pittsburgh. Sam was the son of Solomon (1874–1969,) and Clara Stept (born 1872), who were married around 1895, in Russia. Sam Stept married Jessie E. Stept (née McBride, c. 1901–1967).[10] Jessie was the daughter of George B. McBride and Ada F. McBride of Pittsburgh.

Career

Early in his music career, Stept worked for a local publishing house as staff pianist (song-plugger), then in vaudeville as accompanist to performers that included Anna Chandler, Mae West, and Jack Norworth.

During the early 1920s, Stept lived in Cleveland, Ohio, where he led a dance band. Within the next few years, he began composing with lyricist Bud Green. Their first hit came in 1928 with vocalist Helen Kane's rendition of "That's My Weakness Now," and the duo would collaborate on tunes through the early 1930s.

Stept worked with many other lyricists through his career, including Sidney Mitchell and Ned Washington (while songwriting for Hollywood from the mid-1930s to mid-1940s), Lew Brown, Charles Tobias, and Eddie DeLange.

Some of his popular tunes for the big screen are "Laughing Irish Eyes" for the 1936 film of the same name, "Sweet Hearts" for Hit Parade of 1937 and for the 1942 movie Private Buckaroo, "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" and "Johnny Get Your Gun." Stept's output slowed down in the late 1940s, and by the late 1950s, he was concentrating fully on his music-publishing business.

Songs written by Stept have been recorded by many other big names in pop and jazz, including, Sarah Vaughan, Glenn Miller, Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, as well as by Henry "Red" Allen, Bunny Berigan, Count Basie, Fletcher Henderson, and Josephine Baker.

Death

He died at age 67 in Los Angeles, California.

Selected songs

Broadway shows

Recordings and performers

Film, TV, and theater

Notes

  1. ^ Stept's World War I Draft Registration Card, shows Howard to be his middle name

References

  1. ^ The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (3rd ed., Stept is in Vol. 7 of 8), Colin Larkin (ed.), London: Muze (1998); OCLC 39837948
  2. ^ Tin Pan Alley; An Encyclopedia of the Golden Age of American Song, by David A. Jasen, New York: Routledge (2003); OCLC 51631299
  3. ^ The Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music, Composers and Their Music ("Stept" is in Vol. 2 of 3), by William H. Rehrig, Paul E. Bierley (born 1926) (ed.) Westerville, Ohio: Integrity Press (1996); OCLC 24606813
  4. ^ American Popular Songs; From the Revolutionary War to the Present, David Ewen (ed.), New York: Random House (1966); OCLC 598027
  5. ^ ASCAP Biographical Dictionary
        3rd ed. (1966); OCLC 10721505
        4th ed. (1980); Jaques Cattell Press, R.R. Bowker; OCLC 7065938
  6. ^ Biographical Dictionary of American Music, by Charles Eugene Claghorn (1911–2005), Parker Publishing Company, Inc. (1973); OCLC 609781
  7. ^ The Complete Encyclopedia of Popular Music and Jazz, 1900–1950 ("Stept" is in Vol. 3 of 4), by Roger D. Kinkle (1916–2000), New Rochelle: Arlington House Publishers (1974); OCLC 897890
  8. ^ Sweet and Lowdown; America's Popular Song Writers, by Warren Craig, Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press (1978); OCLC 3380132
  9. ^ Biography Index Vol. 7: September 1964 – August 1967, New York: H.W. Wilson Co. (1968); ISSN 0006-3053
  10. ^ "Death Notices: Jessie E. Stept," New York Times, June 20, 1967
  11. ^ "Composer Defends New Army Song," Stars and Stripes, March 16, 1953
    The Nebraska Society of the DAR criticized Stept composing a godless, unpatriotic, warmongering song; and, they annoyed Stept by pointing to his Russian heritage as being suspicious; this was the age of McCarthyism
  12. ^ "Army Picks Winning Song," Stars and Stripes, January 9, 1953

External links