Loewe

Don't get me wrong: German composers had also a hard time to be accepted on Broadway. One of my heroes, Frederick Loewe, born in Berlin to a musical family, was so talented that he could play piano with the Berlin Symphony at the age of thirteen. At 15 he already had a European top hit with a song called "Katrina". At twenty his ambition drew him to the New World where he was met with bitter disappointment. He learned the hard way that his European success and his musical abilities meant nothing in the US. To survive he worked as a nightclub pianist, a boxer, a busboy and even a cow puncher. But he never stopped believing in himself. Nor did he seriously consider giving up and going back to Germany. In 1942, after many frustrating years, he met another unsuccessful man, a young lyricist and playwright, who recognized Loewe's potential. One year later the first Lerner/Loewe musical reached Broadway. You know the rest of the story.