b. 6 May 1866, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, d. 23 March 1919, New York, USA. An important librettist and lyricist during the early years of the twentieth century, Blossom left his father’s insurance business after he began writing short stories and then, novels, one of which, Checkers, he successfully dramatized. His first Broadway musical project as a book writer and lyricist was an early musical comedy, The Yankee Consul (1904, music: Alfred Robyn, ‘Ain’t It Funny’, ‘What A Difference A Few Hours Make’), which was followed by two immensely popular comic operettas, Mlle. Modiste (1905, ‘Kiss Me Again’, ‘I Want What I Want When I Want It’, ‘If I Were On The Stage’), and The Red Mill (‘Every Day Is Ladies Day With Me’, ‘Because You’re You’, ‘Moonbeams’, ‘In Old New York’), a vehicle for the ex-vaudeville comedy duo of David Montgomery and Fred Stone. His collaborator on both of them was the great composer Victor Herbert. From then on, Blossom wrote the book and/or lyrics for productions such as The Hoyden (1907, music: Paul Rubens), The Prima Donna (1908, music: Herbert, ‘If You Were I And I Were You’, ‘I’ll Be Married To The Music Of A Military Band’), The Slim Princess (1911, music: Leslie Stuart, ‘Let Me Live And Die In Dixie’), Baron Trenck (1912, music: Felix Albini and Robyn), The Man From Cook’s (1912, music: Raymond Hubbell), All For The Ladies (1912, music: Robyn), A Glimpse Of The Great White Way (1913, music: Robyn), The Only Girl (1914, music: Herbert, ‘When You’re Away’), The Princess Pat (1915, music: Herbert, ‘Two Laughing Irish Eyes’), The Century Girl (1916, music: Herbert, et al), Eileen (1917, music: Herbert, ‘Thine Alone’, ‘When Love Awakes’, ‘Eileen Alanna Asthore’), Follow The Girl (1918, music: Zoel Paranteau), and The Velvet Lady (1919, music: Herbert, ‘Life And Love’, ‘Spooky Ookum’). Blossom was also involved with several shows that failed to reach Broadway, and was working until shortly before his death in 1919.