John Latouche
John Treville Latouche (1914-1956) grew up in poverty in Richmond, VA and moved to New York City in 1932. He attended, on scholarship, first the Riverdale Country School and then Columbia University, ... Read more
John Treville Latouche (1914-1956) grew up in poverty in Richmond, VA and moved to New York City in 1932. He attended, on scholarship, first the Riverdale Country School and then Columbia University, where he wrote the book, lyrics and some of the music for the Varsity Show of 1935, called Flair-Flair, the Idol of Paree. Described by John as "Rabelaisan," it caused the University to create a censorship board to oversee future student shows and resulted in John's exit from Columbia after only 2 years. He then contributed music and/or lyrics to a number of musical revues on and off-Broadway, as well as writing nightclub material for a variety of performers, including the notoriously ribald Madame Spivy.