Philip Henry Bartholomae was born in
Chicago on July 3, 1880. He graduated from the
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute prior to his career as a playwright. Bartholomae's first success in the theatre was the play
Over Night which was produced on
Broadway by
William A. Brady. It premiered at
Hackett Theatre on January 2, 1911. Bartholomae later adapted this play in collaboration with
Guy Bolton into the hit Broadway musical
Very Good Eddie (1915) which featured music by
Jerome Kern. Prior to this Bartholomae had penned the book and lyrics to the Broadway musicals
When Dreams Come True (1913) and
Miss Daisy (1914) with composer
Silvio Hein. His other early stage works on the New York stage include the plays
Little Miss Brown (1913) and
Kiss Me Quick (1913), and the musicals
Over the Top (1917), ''Girl o' Mine
(1918), and The Greenwich Village Follies of 1919''. For his 1921 musical
Tangerine, Bartholomae collaborated with Guy Bolton once again to create a book out of an earlier play he had created with the playwright
Lawrence Langner. This was followed by the plays
Personality (1921) and
Barnum Was Right (1923), and his final musical, ''Kitty's Kisses
(1926). A Broadway revival of his musical Very Good Eddie'' starring
Charles Repole in a
Tony Award nominated performance had a long run at the
Booth Theatre in 1975–1976. The musical also had a long running production in the
West End at the
Piccadilly Theatre in 1975 starring
Prue Clarke. The 1975 West End production was nominated for the
Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical; making Bartholomae a posthumous nominee for that award. Bartholomae died on January 5, 1947, in Winnetka, Illinois. ==Musicals==