George Kleinsinger

George Kleinsinger (February 13, 1914 – July 28, 1982) was an American composer mostly known for children’s compositions, Broadway scores, and film/television scores. He is best-known for a string of children’s compositions in collaboration with lyricist Paul Tripp (most notably Tubby the Tuba) and a series of works in collaboration with Joe Darion (including the musical Shinbone Alley) based on Don Marquis’ Archy and Mehitabel columns. Biography Early life, career, and death Born in San Bernardino, California to a Polish-Jewish family. In 1930, Kleinsinger graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School. He earned a B.A. degree in music from New York University, then further studied composition at Juilliard. He began his career playing in bands on the Borscht Belt, including playing with trumpeter Frankie Newton. He collaborated with Paul Tripp on a number of orchestral/vocal works for a young audience, beginning with “Tubby the Tuba”. In 1948, he wrote music for the original Max Fleischer/Jam Handy animated adaptation of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. This led to him being commissioned to set the song to music for the 1964 Rankin-Bass adaptation. The producers elected to use the Johnn