HARVEY SCHMIDT

HARVEY SCHMIDT, composer of THE FANTASTICKS, the longest-running musical in the world and a prize-winning graphic artist, died in February, 2018 in Tomball, Texas.  He was born September 12, 1929, in Dallas, Texas, the second child of Emmanuel Carl Schmidt, a Methodist minister, and Edna Wieting, a music teacher.  He taught himself to draw, copying illustrations from magazines, and learned to play the piano by ear (his mother found him too restless to teach.)  His strongest musical influences were the Methodist hymnal (he often sang trios in church with his older sister, Evelyn, and his younger brother, Homer), classical music radio broadcasts (especially Toscanini and the NBC Studio Symphony Orchestra, and the Metropolitan Opera), and, most importantly, the Hollywood movie musicals of the 30’s and 40’s.

He attended the University of Texas at Austin as an art major, where roommates included cartoonist Rowland Wilson and Oscar-winning movie director Robert Benton.  Playing the piano for The Curtain Club led to meeting other students including Word Baker, Liz Smith, Fess Parker, Pat Hingle, Rip Torn, Jayne Mansfield, Barbara Barrie, Kathryn Crosby, and Directing major Tom Jones, who asked him to write music to his lyrics for an original school musical, TIME STAGGERS ON, in 1951.  The unprecedented success of this show led to a collaboration that lasted over 50 years.  After separate military stints during the Korean War, they ended up in New York, and after five years of contributing revue material for Julius Monk’s UPSTAIRS AT THE DOWNSTAIRS and Ben Bagley’s SHOESTRING ’57, their first show, THE FANTASTICKS, opened off-Broadway on May 3, 1960.  It was directed by fellow UT alum Word Baker, starred Jerry Orbach, Kenneth Nelson and Rita Gardner, and was produced by Lore Noto at the Sullivan Street Playhouse in Greenwich Village where it ran for almost 42 years.  In 2006 it was revived at the Jerry Orbach Theatre.  The show includes the hit songs, “Try To Remember” and “Soon It’s Gonna Rain.”

Their next two shows were on Broadway, produced by the legendary David Merrick:  110 IN THE SHADE, (1963), adapted from N. Richard Nash’s play, “The Rainmaker” (and revived on Broadway at the Roundabout Theatre in 2007 with Audra McDonald), and I DO! I DO! (1966), directed by Gower Champion, and starring Mary Martin and Robert Preston.  The scores of both shows were nominated for Tony Awards.  CELEBRATION (1969) was created in their experimental Portfolio workshop and was moved to Broadway by another famed producer, Cheryl Crawford.  Portfolio also produced the award-winning off-Broadway show, PHILEMON (1975), which was televised by Hollywood Television Theatre.  Additional shows include:  COLETTE (1982), a pre-Broadway tour starring Diana Rigg, COLETTE COLLAGE (1983), a reworking of the piece at the York Theatre, MIRETTE (1996), based on Emily McCully’s award-winning children’s book, GROVER’S CORNERS (1987), based on Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” THE SHOW GOES ON (1988), a compilation of their theatre and revue work, starring the authors, and ROADSIDE (2001), based on the Lynn Riggs play, and produced by the York Theatre and the Lyric Stage of Irving, Texas.

Awards include a Special Tony Award for THE FANTASTICKS (1992), an Obie and an Outer Critics Award for PHILEMON (1975), and the ASCAP-Richard Rodgers Award (1993).  In 1995 they were inducted into the Broadway Hall of Fame at the Gershwin Theatre, and on May 3, 1999, they were added to the off-Broadway Walk of Fame in front of the Lucille Lortel Theatre. In 2012 they were inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame and in December of 2017 they received the Oscar Hammerstein Award.

Apart from his work with Jones, Schmidt also composed music for the art film A TEXAS ROMANCE, 1909 (1964), Elinor Jones’ Off-Broadway play COLETTE, starring Zoe Caldwell and Mildred Dunnock, Robert Benton’s first film, BAD COMPANY (1972) and the ballet TEXAS FOURTH (1973), for Agnes De Mille’s Heritage Dance Theatre.  In 2006 he received the Dramatists Guild’s Frederick Loewe Award for lifetime achievement.  

Schmidt’s art career, which preceded his New York theatre work, began in 1955, creating graphics and titles for live NBC television productions, including Mary Martin’s PETER PAN.  In 1958, a trip to Mexico City to study painting on the G.I. Bill produced a portfolio of paintings that ran soon after in LOOK magazine and launched his free-lance career.  In rapid succession his work appeared in LIFE, ESQUIRE, FORTUNE, and HARPER’S BAZAAR.  His portrait of Joseph McCarthy in ESQUIRE received a lot of attention and influenced illustration style.  THE IN AND OUT BOOK (Viking Press, 1959), with Robert Benton, popularized the phrase and spawned countless lists and articles.  His artwork received numerous awards from The New York Art Director’s Club and The New York Society of Illustrators (1959, 1960, 1963).  In 1962, his choice to compose the music for the Merrick production of 110 IN THE SHADE over a painting assignment for SPORTS ILLUSTRATED to record a tiger hunt with the Shah of Iran, finally solidified his focus on composing.  He kept his hand in art, however, often doing set and costume designs, as well as conceptual art, for the Jones and Schmidt shows. His distinctive handwriting became the logo art for two of their shows, THE FANTASTICKS and CELEBRATION.  He also contributed the artwork for dozens of album covers in Ben Bagley’s REVISTED series.  

In 1997, he retired to Tomball, Texas where he continued to contribute new material for revivals of his shows and produced a piano CD of his own music, HARVEY SCHMIDT PLAYS JONES AND SCHMIDT for the occasion of his 75th birthday. His papers are in the collection of the Library of Congress, and his paintings and drawings are at the Harry Ransom Center of the University of Texas at Austin.