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Nacio Herb Brown & Arthur Freed
Composer/Lyricist

Composer Nacio Herb Brown (1896-1964) and lyricist Arthur Freed (1894-1973) started writing songs together in 1921. When sound came to motion pictures in 1927, the pair were doing a series of small stage revues at the Music Box Theatre in Hollywood. MGM immediately signed them up, taking one of the songs – ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ – and featuring it in the early movie musical The Hollywood Revue of 1929. Brown and Freed continued on staff at MGM through the 1930s, with song hits including ‘All I Do is Dream of You’, ‘Temptation’, ‘You Are My Lucky Star’, ‘Broadway Melody’, ‘Pagan Love Song’ and ‘You Were Meant for Me’. In 1939, Freed served as an associate producer of MGM’s The Wizard of Oz, during the production of which he convinced studio head Louis B Mayer to put him in charge of a division to produce movie musicals. The Freed Unit made such classics as Meet Me in St Louis, An American in Paris, The Band Wagon and Gigi. Most popular of all was the 1952 film Singin’ in the Rain, with a score featuring songs from the early Brown-Freed catalogue.