7 Things You Might Not Know About NEW YORK, NEW YORK Composers John Kander and Fred Ebb

This season the new musical New York, New York is bringing the hopes and dreams of young artists to the Broadway stage in a new musical from iconic duo John Kander and Fred Ebb. From their meeting in 1964, Kander and Ebb have forged one of the longest-running and most successful partnerships in Broadway history, crafting beloved hits like Flora, the Red Menace, Cabaret, Zorba, Chicago, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, Curtains, The Scottsboro Boys and many more.

Their work in the theater has been recognized by three Tony Awards (Cabaret, Woman of the Year, and Kiss of the Spiderwoman.) The film adaptations of Chicago and Cabaret are two of the most successful musicals on film of all time. Rob Marshall's film adaptation of Chicago took home 6 Academy Awards including "Best Picture" and Bob Fosse's Cabaret earned 8 Academy Awards including "Best Original Song Score."The two have been honored with numerous awards, including the Kennedy Center Honors Award.

The legendary duo is also currently represented on Broadway with Chicago, which holds the distinction of being the longest-running American musical in Broadway history and is currently the longest-running production on Broadway.

This dynamic duo has created a lifetime of thrilling work and with it some of the most memorable songs of all-time, but if you think you know all that there is to know about Kander and Ebb, think again! Below check out a few fun facts about these musical theatre icons!

They didn't invent the term, "all that jazz"

During their research for Bob Fosse's Chicago, lyricist Ebb happened upon an iconic bit of inspiration that resulted in one of the most famous showtunes of all time.

In appearance on Theatre Talk, Fred Ebb told hosts Michael Riedel and Susan Haskins, "I was doing research in a TimeLife series of the decades and I got the 20s-30s decade books, and one of the chapter headings...I shouldn't be telling you this [laughs] was, 'All That Jazz' and I thought, 'Well, that's a neat title.'"

But they DID popularize New York's iconic catchphrase!

If you've ever wanted to wake up in "the city that never sleeps" you have Kander and Ebb to thank. The first rumblings of this iconic moniker have roots as old as 1898 when author Jacob Riis turned the phrase "the Bowery never sleeps" in his book Out of Mulberry Street: Stories of Tenement Life in New York City. Several yearts later, the modern iteration of the name made its first appearance in Indiana's Fort Wayne Daily. The nickname wouldn't reach its iconic status until the 1970s when Kander and Ebb used it in a song that became a near instant classic.

The song, "New York, New York", made its first appearance in 1977 as sung by Liza Minnelli in the film of the same name, but it wasn't until crooner Frank Sinatra put his spin on it in 1979 that the song hit the top of the heap. To this day, Sinatra's version is widely considered to be the theme song of the city, closing out every home game at Yankee Stadium, and now being performed eight times a week on Broadway!

Finger snaps sold "Razzle Dazzle".

The iconic number, "Razzle Dazzle" made it into the score of Chicago thanks to some last-minute inspiration from Fred Ebb. John Kander shared on Theatre Talk, "I remember when we wrote "Razzle Dazzle", before we took it in and played it for Bob, you [Ebb] said with absolute confidence 'Try adding a couple of finger snaps to it. Bobby will love that.' We added them...and as soon as he heard the finger snaps, he loved the song."

They were the second writers to try their hand at Cabaret.

Though Kander and Ebb's score for the classic musical drama now boasts some of the most beloved showtunes in the musical theatre canon, the iconic duo were not the first composers to take a crack at the material.

In early 1963, English composer and lyricist Sandy Wilson was hired by producer David Black to create a musical adaptation of John Van Druten's 1951 play I Am a Camera. By the time Wilson turned in his draft, Black's hold on the rights to the material had lapsed and been acquired by rival Broadway producer Harold Prince. Feeling that Wilson's score didn't adequately capture the carefree hedonism of the time period and setting, Prince and book writer Joe Masteroff brought Kander and Ebb onto the project.

Fred Ebb's first gig was for a major star.

Fred Ebb's first professional songwriting assignment came in 1953 when he and Phil Springer were hired by Columbia Records to write a song for Judy Garland called "Heartbroken." After meeting John Kander in 1964, the duo went on to notable partnerships with numerous divas inlcuding their first successful collaboration, a song titled "My Coloring Book" sung by Barbra Streisand and a longstanding collaboration with Liza Minnelli.

"Maybe This Time", "Mein Herr" and "Money, Money" were written for the Cabaret film

Though these iconic bops have occupied prominent spots in recent stage productions of the show, all three originated in the Academy Award-winning 1972 film adaptation. "Money, Money" as performed in the film by Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey, replaced a number titled "Sitting Pretty" in which the Emcee performs the song accompanied by the cabaret girls in international costumes and their units of currency representing Russian rubles, Japanese yen, French francs, American dollars, and German reichsmarks. "Money, Money" went on to make its stage debut in the 1998 Broadway revival. In that same production, "Mein Herr" was brought in to replace "The Telephone Song", and "Maybe This Time" replaced "Why Should I Wake Up?".

Kander later revealed that "Maybe This Time" was a trunk song that predated the making of the film much to the producer's dismay as this rendered it ineligible for an Oscar nomination.

The Fred Ebb Award

Each year, The Fred Ebb Foundation recognizes excellence in musical theatre songwriting, by a songwriter or songwriting team that has not yet achieved significant commercial success with the presentation of The Fred Ebb Award. The award is meant to encourage and support aspiring songwriters to create new works for the musical theatre. The prize includes a $60,000 award. In addition to the monetary prize, the Fred Ebb Foundation produces a one-night-only showcase of the winner's work. Previous winners of this presitigious honor include A Strange Loop Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael R. Jackson, Suffs composer Shaina Taub, and most recently Asian-American composer Julia Riew.