Nick Kenny

Education

Born in Queens, Kenny attended high school for only three months before joining the Navy (1911-1918), serving on the United States Ship Arizona, followed by a tour of duty in the Merchant Marine (1918-1920).

Career

He continued his education with extensive reading in ships" libraries. He began writing poetry but did not sign his poems until one was published in Arthur Brisbane"s column. While a sportswriter and rewrite man at the Bayonne Times (1920-1923), he wrote his first column, "Getting an Earful" (later collected in a 1932 book).

After a brief period at the Boston American (1923-1924), Kenny moved on to the New York Journal (1924-1927) and the New York Daily News (1927-1930).

He was the radio editor at the New York Daily Mirror, and in 1930, he began writing "Nick Kenny Speaking," a column combining verse, jokes and observational humor with his commentary on current radio programs. The popularity of the column kept him at the New York Daily Mirror until that paper shut down in 1963.

At that point, he moved to Sarasota, Florida where he wrote a column for the Sarasota Herald Tribune until his death. When the United States Ship Arizona went down at Pearl Harbor, one of Kenny"s poems was on the ship"s bulletin board.

Kenny is mainly remembered today as the lyricist of the popular song standard, "Love Letters in the Sand", a 1957 gold record hit for Pat Boone.

His songs included "Gone Fishin"" and "Scattered Toys" recorded by The Three Suns, which has lyrics somewhat similar to one of his "Patty Poems". During the mid-1930s he was the host of The Nick Kenny Radio Hour which sometimes featured the song-and-dance team of Jacqueline and William Daniels (who grew up to become the Screen Actors Guild President in 1999-2001). In 1934, the Three X Sisters, a popular radio harmony trio were part of his "Radio Scandal"s" scripted radio acting

Delores Hawkins (1927-1987) was the vocalist on Nick Kenny"s Children"s Follies.

Kenny was a guest on various radio programs between 1939 and 1952, including What"s My Name?, Finders Keepers, Music for Millions and The Billion Dollar Show, a 1952 program celebrating the 30th anniversary of broadcasting. He also contributed scripts and poems to Mutual"s Family Theatre.

On National Broadcasting Company television, Kenny had his own 15-minute music and talk show, The Nick Kenny Show (1951-1952) with cast members Irene Walsh and Don Tippen. Kenny published several collections of his poems between 1929 and 1959.

The poems in this book were grouped into sections, including Human Interest Poems, Personality Poems, Sailor Poems, Patty Poems and Joy Poems.

The illustrator Richard Bassford has long had an interest in Kenny"s work and has illustrated Kenny poems in recent years.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Day Unto Day

    (1945 Frederick Fell Inc. Brown hardcover with dust jacket.)

  • The navy in rhyme,