41 Quotes by Dorothy Fields

A song must move the story ahead. A song must take the place of dialogue. If a song halts the show, pushes it back, stalls it, the audience won't buy it; they'll be unhappy.

The songwriter mustn't fall in love with his own song. If it doesn't belong, he can't push it into a show. Let him save it; maybe it'll fit in another show.

My father assigned me to keep his scrapbooks. At first I was interested in reading only his rave notices, but I got interested in reading what the critics were saying about whether the play was good or not.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning could write a poem two pages long. Could she have brought it to a music publisher?

I don't care how good a song is. If it holds back the storyline, stalls the plot, your audience will reject it.

If you don't have a story that will hold the audience, you won't have a successful show.

In a show or a movie, one must work with many people. Many women just don't have the time for it.

I do not think men have more talent. There are a great many women in the arts; novelists, painters, sculptors, poets-but the proportion is far lower in the field of song writing.

We're confined to a framework of music, and I feel that the words can be poetic, but I wouldn't say poetry in the strictest sense.