I. B. Kornblum

I. B. Kornblum
Kornblum, c. 1923
Born
Isadore Benjamin Kornblum

June 21, 1895
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
DiedNovember 9 , 1996
Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Burial place
Hillside Memorial Park
Other namesIsidore Benjamin Kornblum, Izzy Kornblum
OccupationsComposer, playwright, pianist, lawyer, film producer, union organizer
Spouse(s)Carmel Myers (m. 1919–1923; div.)
Ann Beshon (m. 1926)
Children2

Isadore Benjamin "I. B." Kornblum,[1] also spelled as Isidore Benjamin Kornblum (June 21, 1895 – November 9 , 1996) was an American composer, playwright, pianist, lawyer, and union organizer.[2]

Life and career

I. B. Kornblum was born on June 21, 1895, in St. Louis, Missouri. He was Jewish.[3] His family moved to Los Angeles County, California where his father was a land developer, and Kornblum Avenue in Hawthorne, California carries the family's name.[4] While in high school he started writing musicals and performing the piano.[2] He attended Los Angeles High School (class of 1913).[5] His first professional performance was as a teenager in 1911 at the Hyman Theatre in Los Angeles, where he played the piano and sang popular songs of the time.[6] Kornblum graduated in 1917 with a law degree from the University of California, Berkeley.[7]

He moved to New York City after college, and became a playwright. He created three popular Broadway musicals titled “Chin Toy,” “Twinkle Toes”, and “Blue Eyes.”[2] In New York City he lived at 161 Broome Street in the Lower East Side in the 1920s.[8]

Kornblum was the lawyer for the Actors' Equity Association in Los Angeles.[9][10] He represented singer Helen Morgan in 1934 for her lawsuit filed against film producer Myron C. Fagan for harassment.[9]

Personal life and death

He married film actress Carmel Myers in 1919. They divorced in 1923.[11][12][13][14][15] His second marriage was to Ann Beshon in 1926, and they had a son and daughter.[16][2]

He lived in Beverly Hills, California for 65 years before his death.[1] He died at the age of 101 on November 9 , 1996, in his home in Beverly Hills.[2]

Stage

  • Blue Eyes (1921), as writer and composer[17]
  • Patsy (ca. 1926), as writer and composer[18]
  • Waiting For Robert E. Lee (1933), as writer and composer[18]

Music

  • Fight 'Em / Down from the North (1915), Kornblum as composer, H. E. Kowalski as lyricist;[7] the University of California fight song, created about its rival the University of Washington created for the 1915 Big Game[19][20]

Filmography

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "I. Kornblum, Composer and Lawyer". Sun Sentinel (obituary). November 15, 1996.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Oliver, Myrna (November 14, 1996). "I.B. Kornblum, 101; Composer, Lawyer and Union Organizer". Los Angeles Times (obituary).
  3. ↑ Schneiderman, Harry; Carmin, Itzhak J. (May 31, 1955). "Who's Who in World Jewry". Pitman Publishing Corporation – via Google Books.
  4. ↑ "Sonic Geniza: Finding Zohra El Fassia in Los Angeles – Sephardic Los Angeles".
  5. ↑ "Los Angeles High". The Los Angeles Times. January 12, 1913. p. 35. Retrieved June 1, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "Music and stage". The Los Angeles Times. April 26, 1911. p. 24. Retrieved June 1, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. 1 2 "The Blue and Gold". 1917. p. 327.
  8. ↑ "New York Supreme Court" – via Google Books.
  9. 1 2 "Helen Morgan Files Charges Against Fagan With Equity". Daily News. May 14, 1934. p. 6. Retrieved June 1, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Final Drafting of Lewd Show Curb Due". Los Angeles Evening Citizen News. February 18, 1941. p. 15. Retrieved June 1, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Say She's Wed". The Oklahoma News. January 4, 1921. p. 8. Retrieved June 1, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Article clipped from The Register". The Register. November 16, 1920. p. 2. Retrieved June 1, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "Carmel Myers Finds Wedded Life Irksome". The San Bernardino County Sun. May 23, 1923. p. 9. Retrieved June 1, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ "Carmel Myers Talked, but, Like the Sphinx, She Said Nothing". The Seattle Star. March 19, 1921. p. 3. Retrieved June 1, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ "Carmel Myers Divorces Lawyer". The New York Times. July 7, 1923. p. 22. ProQuest 103123279. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
  16. ↑ "Ex–Husband of Actress Again Weds". The Los Angeles Times. October 4, 1926. p. 26. Retrieved June 1, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ "I. B. Kornblum (Writer)". Playbill.
  18. 1 2 "Kornblum Writes Operetta 'Waiting for Robert E. Lee'". Daily News. July 12, 1933. p. 13. Retrieved June 1, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ↑ "Cal Songs". University of California Marching Band.
  20. ↑ Borland, Lynn (December 2014). "The birth of 'Bow Down to Washington'". University of Washington Magazine.
  21. ↑ "The Man You Loved To Hate (1979)". svenskfilmdatabas.se.
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