Lecture
Ronald E. Bornstein
Wednesday 26.08.2026
Ronald E. Bornstein
Harold Arlen, The Early Years: Stormy Weather? Get Happy!
Wednesday 26.08.2026
How to watch
This lecture starts on 26 August at 5:00pm (UK).
Summary
Harold Arlen (1905–1986) composed approximately 500 songs and is probably best known today as the composer of “Over the Rainbow.” However, in the years before writing the score for The Wizard of Oz in the late 1930s, this son of a cantor from Buffalo, New York, made quite a splash in New York City. His collaboration with lyricist Ted Koehler resulted in a host of amazing popular tunes, including those written for the famed Cotton Club in Harlem. Originally introduced by stars such as Ethel Waters and Cab Calloway, decades later many of his songs became hallmarks for Lena Horne, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, and numerous other performers. Join us for an exciting excursion from upstate New York to uptown Manhattan tracing the footsteps of the great Harold Arlen from his boyhood to his smashing early success in the 1930s. Let’s fall in love and get happy with Harold and Teddy …
Ronald E. Bornstein
Ronald E. Bornstein is an international lawyer who has practiced in New York, Paris, San Francisco, and London. He is a member of Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, and a Lifetime Member of the Pacific Pension & Investment Institute (PPI). He was a Ford Foundation Fellow at the Academy of International Law at The Hague and a visiting Fulbright Professor at the University of Dakar. Ron grew up in Manhattan and is a lifelong student of the “Great American Songbook” and American music from 1920 to 1970.
Watch video of Ronald E. Bornstein in Conversation with Barry Kester, author of Round in Circles, the Story of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel, at Jewish Book Week, London 2025: JewishLiteraryFoundation.co.uk