Like virtually all of Harry Warren’s songs, “There Will Never Be Another You” was written for a motion picture, in this case for Iceland (1942), a forgettable movie that featured ice skating star Sonja Henie.
In the movie, Joan Merrill renders the song twice in a nightclub scene, once in ballad style, once in a torchy arrangement, backed by a band. The song is only loosely connected with the plot of the movie, such as it is.
Although as a songwriter Warren got his start on Broadway, his mature career unfolded in Hollywood, where he worked for no fewer than four of the major studios: Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Metro Goldwyn Mayer, and Paramount Pictures.
Born in Brooklyn in 1893, Harry Warren was given the name Salvadore Guaragna by his immigrant Italian parents. Like several other prominent songwriters of his era he exchanged his name for one that was more accessible to the public and one that did not elicit ethnic biases and pigeonholing.
It seems that because Warren was connected with Hollywood and not with Broadway for the major portion of his career, his name often does not appear with those of his contemporaries among the major songwriters of the period.6Ironically, and because of their movie origins, his songs probably reached a much larger and more diversified public than did those that came out of traditional musical theater.
Among the very popular songs from Warren’s pen are: “I Only Have Eyes For You” (1934); “September In The Rain” (1937); “Jeepers Creepers” (1938); “At Last” (1942); “Serenade in Blue” (1942); “You’ll Never Know” (1943); “On The Atcheson, Topeka And The Santa Fe” (1945). Of these, “September In The Rain,” “Jeepers Creepers,” and “You’ll Never Know” attained first place on “Your Hit Parade,” with “You’ll Never Know” occupying that position nine times.7
In a curious turnabout, the 1932 movie musical 42nd Street (with Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, and Ginger Rogers) was revised and staged as a Broadway musical in the 1980–81 seasons, winning a Tony award. Unfortunately, Harry Warren died in 1981, so he was unable to enjoy this career-spanning tribute to the fullest.
