Howard Dietz was a masterful lyricist and librettist who, with his composer partner Arthur Schwartz, wrote some of the most memorable songs to come out of that long-gone genre, the original Broadway musical revue. Aside from Irving Berlin, no one contributed better scores to these sophisticated and timely forms of entertainment than Dietz and Schwartz. Yet, success in the field of book musicals eluded the team, and Dietz's lyrics were only rarely heard coming from a character in a musical play. Nonetheless, his lyrics were often incisive and sometimes created succinct minidramas within the framework of a single song.

Dietz's output during a career that lasted forty years was somewhat limited because his energies were divided into two quite different directions: in addition to writing lyrics, librettos, and sketches for Broadway and Hollywood, he was also a topflight creator of advertising and a major movie-studio executive for much...