Dietz, Howard

Dietz, Howard

(1896–1983) librettist, lyricist; born in New York City. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War I, then went to work in public relations for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. At the same time, he began to write lyrics for Jerome Kern and other composers before beginning a long collaboration in 1929 with composer Arthur Schwartz. He wrote lyrics for their successful revue The Little Show (1929) and the musical The Band Wagon (1931), which included "Dancing in the Dark," their most famous song. His work was curtailed after he developed Parkinson's disease in 1954 but he collaborated with Schwartz on Jennie (1963).