Hugh Martin

The Trolley Song, a giddy number nominated for an Academy Award for best original song, was written by Martin and his professional partner, Ralph Blane. Blane said that he had borrowed the idea for the words from a children’s book in which a picture of a St Louis trolley car was captioned “Clang, clang, clang went the jolly little trolley”.

Hugh Martin writing the score for the Broadway show High Spirits

But although Martin once explained that both he and Blane pooled their work, he asserted in his autobiography, published last year, that the songs for Meet Me in St Louis were actually all his own work.

Judy Garland had rejected the original lyrics for the film’s Christmas number, complaining that they were too depressing. They ran: “Have yourself a merry little Christmas, it may be your last. Next year we may all be living in the past, followed by faithful friends who were dear to us, will be near to us no more.”

A studio executive agreed, and suggested cheering it up. So Martin returned to his desk and came up with: “Have yourself a merry little Christmas, let your heart be light; next year all our troubles will be out of sight.”

When the film was released, during the Second World War, the song immediately struck a popular chord, especially with homesick GIs serving overseas. When Frank Sinatra was recording a seasonal album to be called A Jolly Christmas in 1957 he asked Martin to “jolly up” his song still further. So instead of “Until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow”, Martin substituted “Hang a shining star upon the highest bough”. Sinatra’s version assured the song a place in the pantheon of perennial Christmas classics. Nearly 70 years later Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas retains a sentimental potency, and each year continues to enjoy radio airplay all over the world. It entered the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame as one of the most recorded Christmas songs of all time.

Hugh Martin was born on August 11 1914 in Birmingham, Alabama, and started to play the piano when he was five. After studying at Birmingham Southern College, he moved to New York.
He met Ralph Blane in the late 1930s when they were both performers singing in Broadway musicals. The pair were asked to write words and music for Best Foot Forward in 1941. After finishing the score for Meet Me in St Louis, Martin served in the US Army, entertaining troops in Europe.
He returned to Hollywood and, with Blane and Roger Edens, received another Oscar nomination for the song Pass That Peace Pipe from the film Good News (1947).
At the height of the swing band era, as well as continuing to write and compose show tunes, Martin also led his own quartet, and became a versatile crooner and vocal arranger.
Although sidelined by rock and roll, he continued to find success with Judy Garland, as her pianist in her solo show at the Palace Theatre, New York, in 1951, and as vocal director and arranger for her 1954 film A Star Is Born.
Martin continued to write and arrange for both film and stage productions, and in 1989 worked with Blane again on a Broadway revival of Meet Me in St Louis, writing 10 new songs for the show. Ralph Blane died in 1995.
Hugh Martin, who died on March 11, was unmarried

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8384039/Hugh-Martin.html