Background
Gladys Shaskan was born in Lawrence, New York to George Fried and Fannie Shaskan.
Gladys Shaskan was born in Lawrence, New York to George Fried and Fannie Shaskan.
She began writing at an early age. Her first efforts were primarily poetry and before graduating from high school she had had several items of her light verse published by Walter Winchell and other newspaper columnists. After high school, she moved to Manhattan, enrolling at Columbia University and working for a time as an actress and dancer.
She began writing song lyrics in the late 1930s.
In 1940, Gladys Shelley and Abner Silver penned How Did He Look? which became her first hit and most frequently recorded song, originally done in 1941 by Joan Merrill. Her second song with Silver, There Shall Be Number Night, had its title taken from a then-current anti-Nazi play, and was recorded by the orchestras of Duke Ellington, Bob Chester, and Dick Jurgens.
Over the course of her career, she penned more than 300 songs with a variety of composers, including Morton Gould, Frank Black, and Fred Astaire. The Shelly-Astaire collaboration, Just Like Taking Candy From A Baby, was recorded by Fred Astaire.
A 1946 musical entitled The Duchess Misbehaves, for which she wrote the book and lyrics, opened at the Adelphi Theater in Manhattan, but managed only three performances before closing.
The song "Oliver Twist", she co-wrote along with Rod McKuen, appeared on the same-named single issued on the Spiral label. lieutenant was sung by McKuend and in 1961 reached Number. 76 on the Billboard popular chart.
Gladys Shelley married Irving Rosenthal, the owner of New Jersey"s, and in 1965 she wrote the music and lyrics to a radio and television jingle called Come on Over which proved to be a catchy and effective promotions device.
She died at her Manhattan home at age 92. The composer"s death on December 9, 2002 was announced by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, the agency that licensed her songs.
Her New York Times obituary noted that the composer was a "memorable presence in her East Side neighborhood, where the sight of Mississippi Shelley walking her five chihuahuas was a familiar one for many years." The Duchess Misbehaves, book and lyrics (February 13, 1946 - February 16, 1946) Money Mad, performer (May 24, 1937 - May 24, 1937) Moon Over Mulberry Street, performer (September 4, 1935 - May 1936) Baby Pompadour, performer (December 27, 1934 - December 1934).