Harry B. Smith was perhaps the most prolific lyricist and scriptwriter in the early American musical theatre. This biography of him is fun to read and exhaustive in its research. It is part of a series of books on these early neglected figures, all of which do not have footnotes. As a scholar, I thought I would find that frustrating, but the author very clearly indicates his sources in the text, and this procedure suffices perfectly adequately for most purposes. To learn about the man behind early operetta hits, from "Gypsy Love Song" (from The Fortune Teller) to "Yours Is My Heart Alone" (from an adaptation of Lehar's The Land of Smiles), is a great pleasure. Smith also wrote the scripts for many early musical comedies, such as Irving Berlin's Watch Your Step.