EDENS, ROGER (1905-1970). Roger Edens, musician, composer, and producer, was born on November 9, 1905, in Hillsboro, Texas. He began his career in the early 1930s as a piano accompanist for ballroom dancers. He played piano in the orchestra pit for the musical Girl Crazy from 1930 to 1931. Afterward, he worked with Ethel Merman as accompanist and musical arranger. He also wrote songs for Judy Garland that she performed at the Palace Theater and in concert.
Edens joined the staff at Metro Goldwyn Meyer as a musical supervisor and composer in 1935 and eventually became an associate producer. He worked as a musical advisor or director on many noted films, including Born to Dance (1936), The Wizard of Oz (1939), Strike Up the Band (1940), Babes on Broadway (1941), Ziegfeld Follies (1944), and Meet Me in St. Louis (1944). He received the Academy Award for best scoring of a musical picture for Easter Parade (1948), On the Town (1949), and Annie Get Your Gun (1950). Some films he worked on as associate producer include Show Boat (1951), An American in Paris (1951), Funny Face (1957), The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964), and Hello, Dolly (1969). Edens helped produce many of the extravagant show numbers that have come to be associated with the great Hollywood musical. He died in Hollywood, California, on July 13, 1970.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Roger D. Kinkle, The Complete Encyclopedia of Popular Music and Jazz: 1900-1950 (4 vols., New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1974). The International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers.
