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Richard Adler

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Songwriter

The Resume

    (August 2, 1921-June 21, 2012)
    Born in New York City, New Mexico
    With Jerry Ross, wrote songs for the Broadway musicals 'The Pajama Game' (1954) and 'Damn Yankees' (1955)
    Wrote the songs 'Rags to Riches,' 'Hey There,' 'Steam Heat,' 'Heart' and 'Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets' (all with Ross) and 'Everybody Loves A Lover' (with Robert Allen)
    Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (1984)

Why he might be annoying:

    Growing up, he would greet boys coming to the Adler home for piano lessons from his father with a baseball bat in his hands and call the pupil a sissy.
    He said the 'Pajama Game' song 'Steam Heat' was written in the bathroom (after the radiator there started clanging).
    After the death of songwriting partner Jerry Ross in 1955, he had no more Broadway hits.
    He said, 'It was very difficult for me when Jerry died because Adler and Ross were a familiar well-known combination. Richard Adler alone was a question mark.'
    He wrote a lot of commercial jingles, including 'Let Hertz put you in the driver seat.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    He and Ross won back-to-back Tonys for Best Musical for 'The Pajama Game' and 'Damn Yankees.'
    As White House Consultant for the Arts, he staged several presidential events, most famously the birthday bash where Marilyn Monroe breathily serenaded John F. Kennedy.
    He won awards from the National Advertising Association three consecutive years.
    He wrote the symphonic composition 'The Lady Remembers' for the centennial of the Statue of Liberty.
    He scored an unlikely turn of the millenium hit when Debelah Morgan interpolated 'Hernando's Hideway' from 'The Pajama Game' into her Top 10 hit 'Dance With Me.' (2000)

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2022, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 38 Votes: 34.21% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 6 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 4 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 61 Votes: 72.13% Annoying