Class Notes
alumni Daring to Dream
Aaron Harburg’s film will honor his great-grandfather, “Wizard of Oz” lyricist Yip Harburg The notes of a Jazz Age piano tune roll into every corner
of The Earle in downtown Ann Arbor. The location resonates as much as the music does for Aaron Harburg (BA08), who is recalling tales of his famed great-grandfather. Yip Harburg, best known as the lyricist for The Wizard of Oz,
had been invited to help celebrate the Earle’s grand opening in 1977. It was a jazz club at the time, and he was going to perform a set of his most famous songs, like “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”, “April in Paris,” “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” and, most notably, “Over the Rainbow.” But Yip developed a neck twitch that night, a nuisance he was determined to control. Harburg recalls the story as told to him by his grandfather,
Ernie: “Apparently my great-grandfather took a hit of marijuana to help with this thing he had before his set. So, he disappears. Everyone’s trying to figure out where he is. He has to perform next!” According to the story, Ernie finally found his father sprawled
out on a bench, zonked. “Apparently this was really strong, and it knocked him out,” Harburg says, “but it took care of the little twitch!” Yip died five years before his great-grandson was born in
1986, but even though they never knew each other, Harburg says he feels a strong connection to his renowned ancestor. Other than Yip, the 28-year-old Aaron is the only member of his family to pursue the arts as a career. Now, the Eastern electronic media and film graduate is
honoring Yip with his own art by producing a film about his life. In The Sound of Oz, the Ypsilanti-based documentarian celebrates the history and profound influence of the legendary songs Yip wrote for the 1939 classic. “When Dorothy opens that door and the movie goes from
sepia tones to color —that moment is seismic in the history of film,” Harburg says. “It’s just incredibly powerful. It really hit me that not only is this movie and these songs iconic as in famous, but also iconic in that we all have a personal connection to them. I think people who connect with The Wizard of Oz connect with it because, in many ways, it reveals to us what’s important.” Like many other youngsters, Harburg marveled at the movie.
Aaron Harburg, great grandson of Lyricist E. Y. “Yip” Harburg. Photograph by Josie Lapczynski
34 Eastern | SUMMER 2015
His passion for film was triggered when, as a second grader, he watched his older brother make home movies on a VHS camcorder. “I was just so enthralled by the whole process,” recalls
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