Jerry Blatt (1942 - January 19, 1989)

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Jerry Blatt, a composer and lyricist who had collaborated with Bette Midler since 1975, died on January 19, 1989, in Amsterdam. He was 47 years old.

Mr. Blatt's parents, who were with him when he died, said the cause of death was lymphoma.

''He had an unerring sense of how a certain piece of music could touch people, and his standards of performance were extremely high,'' Ms. Midler said. ''Everyone who worked with him adored him.''

Mr. Blatt was a writer and director on five national tours and one world tour by Ms. Midler. He first collaborated with her in 1975 in ''Clams on the Half Shell Revue.'' In addition, he co-wrote and directed ''Bette! Divine Madness,'' Ms. Midler's 1979 Broadway show.

Mr. Blatt also contributed to Ms. Midler's 1979 movie, ''The Rose,'' was co-writer of her 1982 motion picture ''Jinxed'' and contributed music and lyrics to many of Ms. Midler's albums.

Mr. Blatt, a native New Yorker, was a graduate of Queens College. He began as a collaborator on musicals at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, and later worked as a composer and lyricist on shows produced at the Actors Theater in Louisville, Ky.

Mr. Blatt also composed music and wrote lyrics for children's television shows like ''Sesame Street,'' ''Vegetable Soup'' and ''The Electric Company,'' and won an award from the International Society of Animators for the best song of 1973.


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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/28/obituaries/jerry-blatt-47-dies-composer-worked-with-bette-midler.html

Further Readings:

True Stories by Felice Picano
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Chelsea Station Editions (March 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0984470778
ISBN-13: 978-0984470778
Amazon: True Stories

From author Felice Picano, co-founder of the path breaking Violet Quill Club, comes a new collection of memoirs, many of which have never appeared in print. Picano presents sweet and sometimes controversial anecdotes of his precocious childhood, odd, funny, and often disturbing encounters from before he found his calling as a writer and later as one of the first GLBT publishers. Throughout are his delightful encounters and surprising relationships with the one-of-a-kind and the famous-including Tennessee Williams, W.H. Auden, Charles Henri Ford, Bette Midler, and Diana Vreeland.

More LGBT History at my website: www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Gay Classics