George Goehring, composer of “Lipstick on Your Collar, ” the 1959 pop song popularized by Connie Francis, died Aug. 15 at Amazing Grace Assisted Living in West Palm Beach, Florida. The former Montebello-area resident was 91. A cause of death was not available.
A longtime Baltimore resident, he also composed the score to “Lady Audley’s Secret,” a musical performed at Center Stage and at the Vagabond Players. He was the co-composer of the “The Baltimore Song,” recorded by the Baltimore Men’s Chorus.
Born in Philadelphia, Goehring moved to New York City where he worked with other songwriters in the Brill Building, an office structure that contained numerous composer and lyricist offices.
Goehring told The Sun in 1982 he had personally pitched “Lipstick on Your Collar” to Francis during a visit to her home. He arrived unannounced at her New Jersey residence and demonstrated the song at her personal piano. It became a gold record.
“Lipstick” went on to be popularized by Francis and covered by Terri Dean, Petula Clark and others. He also wrote “Half Heaven – Half Heartache,” recorded in 1962 by Gene Pitney and “Suppose,” recorded in 1967 by Elvis Presley. He also composed for Dion, the Platters and Barbra Streisand.
He moved to Baltimore and had a home near Lake Montebello in Northeast Baltimore.
In 1966 Goehring was the composer for Donald Seale’s adaptation of Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s novel, “Lady Audley’s Secret,” which opened at Center Center in 1966.
The Sun’s theater critic, R.H. “Hal” Gardner, wrote “‘Lady Audley’s Secret’ must be regarded as a triumph for Center Stage.” He praised the adaptation of the mid-Victorian novel into a musical comedy and Goehring’s score for its “Gilbert and Sullivan quality.”
The musical later revived in New York City off-Broadway in 1972 and at the Vagabond Players in Fells Point in 1989.
“George had the sunniest personality. He had the sweetest disposition,” said a friend, Alan Sea, a former Baltimore Magazine editor. “George also played an important role in the gay musical community of the 1980s, when he was the piano accompanist for the Baltimore Men’s Chorus.”
In 1992 Goehring was shot in the hand by a U.S. postal agent during a botched drug raid at his home. He settled a lawsuit against the Postal Service for $150,000.
“He was treated at the Union Memorial Hospital hand clinic,” said Sea. “Miraculously, he was playing the piano again after a few weeks.”
Goehring also operated an antiques store in Waverly. He collected tobacco tins and once scored a collecting coup when he found a tin box that traded on the name of Babe Ruth — a Bambino brand tin.
More recently, Goehring assembled a revue of his songs, titled “My Life in the Brill Building,” which he performed at multiple Florida venues.
“George loved playing his music and was still entertaining the people in his assisted living home only a few weeks ago,” said Sea.
His partner — and later husband — Dennis O’Brien, died in 2023.
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