Edward Pola
Edward Pola (June 23, 1907 – November 3, 1995)[1][2][3][4] was an actor, radio/television producer, and songwriter.
Pola was born Sidney Edward Pollacsek in New York City, the son of Ida (Friedmann) and Alexander Pollacsek, both Hungarian Jews.[5][6]
In the 1920s, Pola began to write songs. He scored one of England's first sound films, Harmony Heaven (1929). Toward the end of the decade, he moved to the United States to produce The Alan Young Show[7] comedy on radio as well as dramatic radio programs, and continued as a producer, moving into television in the 1950s.
His most famous songs include:
- "I Didn't Slip, I Wasn't Pushed, I Fell" (co-written with George Wyle)
- "I Love the Way You Say 'Good Night'" (co-written with George Wyle)
- "I Said My Pajamas (and Put on My Pray'rs)" (co-written with George Wyle)
- "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" (co-written with George Wyle)
- "Quicksilver" (co-written with George Wyle and Irving Taylor)
- "Till The Lights Of London Shine Again" (co-written with Tommie Connor)
In the 1980s, Pola taught Creative Writing to elementary school students at Smiley Elementary School in Redlands, California.
Pola died in Jackson County, Oregon.
References
- Ancestry.com. Social Security Death Index [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2009.
- Ancestry.com. Oregon Death Index, 1903-98 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000.
- U.S. Census, 1930, State of California, County of Los Angeles, enumeration district 46, p. 3-A, family 52.
- Passenger list, S.S. Transylvania, port of New York, 20 August 1931.
- http://www.interfaithfamily.com/arts_and_entertainment/popular_culture/The_Jews_Who_Wrote_Christmas_Songs_2012.shtml.upl
- Bloom, Nate (December 22, 2014). "All those Holiday/Christmas Songs: So Many Jewish Songwriters!". Jewish World Review.
- Sies, Luther F. (2014). Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960, 2nd Edition, Volume 1. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-5149-4. P. 16.