Biographie
Composer, songwriter, conductor, pianist and arranger, educated at the Peabody Conservatory (on scholarship). He was a pianist in early film theatres, and later a choral director and music director for the Aborne Opera Company. He conducted and arranged for Al Jolson, and conducted the Broadway musicals "Blossom Time", "My Dream Girl", "Good News", "The Band Wagon", "The New Moon", "Ziegfeld Follies", and "George White's Scandals". His Broadway stage scores include "Linger Longer Lettie", "Cinderella on Broadway", "The Whirl of New York", "The Passing Show of 1922", "The Lady in Ermine", "Dew Drop Inn", "Artists and Models of 1925", and "Gay Paree". He became a radio conductor in 1932, and conducted for television beginning in 1949, and made many records. Joining ASCAP in 1922, his chief musical collaborators included Edgar Smith, Cyrus Wood, and Clifford Grey. His popular-song compositions include "When Hearts Are Young", "Love Has Found My Heart", "I Came, I Saw, I Fell", "Call of Love", "Twilight", "The Lady in Ermine", and "Who Knows Why".
