Tin Pan Alley’s Dana Suesse; Once Known as ‘Girl Gershwin’

Dana Suesse, who composed hit songs when Tin Pan Alley was peopled almost entirely by males, has died of a stroke in New York City.

Daily Variety reported in its Thursday editions that Miss Suesse, once known as “The Girl Gershwin,” died Oct. 16 in New York City.

Biographical sources indicate that she was between 75 and 78 years old.

The composer of such evergreen tunes as “Whistling in the Dark,” “My Silent Love,” “You Ought to Be in Pictures” and “The Night Is Young and You’re So Beautiful” was a child prodigy who taught herself the piano when a toddler.

She studied composition with Rubin Goldmark and later with Nadia Boulanger in Paris.

Her first song, “Syncopated Love Song,” published when she was 18, was a hit, as was her second, “Ho Hum,” which sold 500,000 copies--thanks partly to Rudy Vallee, who plugged both on his radio show.

She came to the attention of Paul Whiteman, who introduced her as pianist and composer of “Valses for Piano and Orchestra” in 1933.

Her other serious compositions include “Young Man With a Harp,” “Concerto Romantico” for piano and orchestra, and a tone poem, “Three Cities.”

In 1936 she wrote the score for Billy Rose’s “Casa Manana” revue and worked with Rose again in 1939 for his “Aquacade” revue at the New York World’s Fair.