Kern

Kern, Jerome, 1885-1945, American composer of musicals, b. New York City. After studying in New Jersey and New York he studied composition in Germany and England. His first success was the operetta The Red Petticoat (1912). Among the numerous musicals that followed were Leave It to Jane (1917), Sally (1920), Sunny (1925), The Cat and the Fiddle (1931), and Roberta (1933). After 1931 he wrote scores for many films, including versions of several of his stage successes. His outstanding work is Show Boat (1927), for which Oscar Hammerstein II wrote an adaptation of Edna Ferber's novel. Kern's many famous songs include "Ol' Man River," from Show Boat, and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," from Roberta. He also wrote an orchestral work, A Portrait of Mark Twain (1942).

Kern, river, 155 mi (249 km) long, rising in the S Sierra Nevada Mts., E Calif., and flowing south, then southwest to a reservoir in the extreme southern part of the San Joaquin valley. The river has Isabella Dam as its chief facility. Kern River is the southern terminus of the Friant-Kern Canal, constructed between 1945 and 1951 to bring the waters of the San Joaquin River to the region (see Central Valley project); irrigated agriculture (alfalfa, fruit, cotton) and cattle grazing are practiced. U.S. explorer John Frémont named the river in honor of Edward M. Kern, the topographer of his third expedition. Gold was discovered along the river in 1853. The entire river is protected by the National Park Service; the canyon of the upper Kern in Sequoia National Park is noted for its beauty.

Kern can refer to several things:

• Kerning, the process of adjusting letter spacing in a proportional font
• Harvest Home, a festival known in Scotland as Kern
• Kern County, California, USA
• Kern (soldier), a light infantry unit in Medieval Irish armies

Surnames

• Anna Petrovna Kern (1800—1873), Pushkin's mistress
• Brad Kern
• Ericca Kern (1965— ), American bodybuilder
• David J. Kern
• Jamie Kern
• Jerome Kern (1885–1945), American composer
• Jim Kern
• Joey Kern
• Johan Hendrik Caspar Kern (or H. Kern, 1833–1917), Dutch linguist and former head of Brahmana College and of Queen's College, Benares
• John W. Kern (1849–1917), American politician
• John Kern (Canadian politician)
• Ken Kern
• Kevin Kern
• Nathaniel Kern, President, Foreign Reports Inc.
• Olga Kern (1975– ), Russian classical pianist
• Otto Kern (1863–1942), German linguist
• Paul J. Kern, American general
• Richard Kern (1954— ), American photographer and filmmaker
• Sally Kern (1946— ), Oklahoma state legislator
• Sean Kern (1978— ), American water polo player

See also

• Kerner
• Kirn (disambiguation)
• Kernel

Company

• Kern ag - a German based international language service company