Born in
Edgbaston,
Birmingham, England, Eric Maschwitz was educated at Arden House preparatory school,
Henley in Arden,
Repton School and
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. As a lyricist, Maschwitz wrote, often credited to his pseudonym "Holt Marvell", the
screenplays of several successful films in the 1930s and 1940s, but is perhaps best remembered for his lyrics to 1940s popular songs such as "
A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" (music by
Manning Sherwin) and "
These Foolish Things" (music by
Jack Strachey, reinterpreted in 1973 by
Bryan Ferry on his first solo album of the same name). (Other sources have suggested that either Maschwitz's wife
Hermione Gingold or American actress
Anna May Wong inspired the lyrics, but Maschwitz's autobiography cites "fleeting memories of [a] young love.") Maschwitz started his stage acting career in the early 1920s, playing Vittoria in the first successful modern production of Webster's
The White Devil (Marlowe Society, Cambridge ADC Theatre, 1920). He joined the
BBC in 1926. His first radio show was
In Town Tonight. While at the BBC, he wrote a radio operetta
Goodnight Vienna, with the popular song of the same title co-written by
George Posford. In 1932, it was adapted as a film,
Goodnight, Vienna, starring
Anna Neagle. Under contract to MGM in Hollywood from 1937, he co-wrote the adaptation of
Goodbye, Mr. Chips, This requisition enabled the British occupation troops to start broadcasting programmes for their soldiers in northern Germany, and was the nucleus for the British Forces Network (BFN), inaugurated with Maschwitz's help in July 1945, eventually to become the
British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS). In 1947, Maschwitz became chairman of the Songwriters' Guild of Great Britain, which was founded by Ivor Novello, Sir Alan Herbert, Eric Coates, Haydn Wood, Richard Addinsell and others, for the encouragement and protection of British popular music. He was the first Vice Chair and Chairman from July 1948 for one year, and again between December 1954 and April 1958. In 1958, near the start of the BBC/
ITV ratings wars, he rejoined the BBC as Head of Television Light Entertainment. Maschwitz was married twice: first to
Hermione Gingold, who was granted a divorce in 1945, and then immediately to Phyllis Gordon, they lived at 12 Dorset House, Gloucester Place, London NW1. She remained his wife until his death at an Ascot Nursing Home in Sunninghill, Berkshire. His autobiography,
No Chip On My Shoulder, was published by Herbert Jenkins in 1957. He was created an Officer of the
Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1936. ==Selected filmography==