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Wikipedia / Harry Ruby

Harry Rubenstein (January 27, 1895 February 23, 1974), known professionally as Harry Ruby, was an American pianist, composer, songwriter and screenwriter, who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. He was married to silent film actress Eileen Percy.

Biography

Ruby was born in New York City in 1895. After failing at his early ambition to become a professional baseball player, he toured the vaudeville circuit as a pianist with the Bootblack Trio and the Messenger Boys Trio.

In his early career he worked as a pianist and song plugger for the Gus Edwards and Harry Von Tilzer publishing firms (one of his co-workers at Edwards' place was the young Walter Winchell, who was also a song plugger). Ruby also played in vaudeville acts, nickelodeons and cafes throughout New York.

From 1917-1920, Ruby collaborated with songwriters Edgar Leslie, Sam Lewis, Joe Young and George Jessel on the hit songs “What’ll We Do Saturday Night When the Town Goes Dry”, “When Those Sweet Hawaiian Babies Roll Their Eyes”, “Come on Papa”, “Daddy Long Legs” and “And He’d Say Oo-La-La Wee Wee.”

Ruby found his most sustained success as a composer after meeting the man who would become his longtime partner, lyricist Bert Kalmar. Kalmar and Ruby were a successful songwriting team for nearly three decades until Kalmar's death in 1947, a partnership portrayed in the 1950 MGM musical Three Little Words, starring Fred Astaire as Kalmar and Red Skelton as Ruby.

Ruby was a close friend of the Marx Brothers, especially Groucho and he made several appearances on Groucho's television program, You Bet Your Life. In his 1972 concert at Carnegie Hall, Marx gave the following introduction before performing one of a few songs by Ruby: "I have a friend in Hollywood ... I think I do, I'm not so sure. [laughter] His name is Harry Ruby [applause] and he wrote a lot of songs that I've sung over the years ..."

  1. Today, Father, is Father's Day

  2. And we're giving you a tie

  3. It's not much we know

  4. It is just our way of showing you

  5. We think you're a regular guy

  6. You say that it was nice of us to bother

  7. But it really was a pleasure to fuss

  8. For according to our mother

  9. You're our father

  10. And that's good enough for us

  11. Yes, that's good enough for us

In The Dick Cavett Show, recorded June 13, 1969, Marx also sang a second stanza, and introduced it with, "Isn't that a beautiful melody? And a beautiful sentiment: ... Today, father, is father's day. ... 16 men in that orchestra: nine of them are illegitimate children [laughter]. Nine and a half including the director."

  1. The tie that you got

  2. Didn't cost such a lot

  3. And we'll give you the same tie next year.

  4. You tell us it was nice of us to bother

  5. But it really was a pleasure to fuss

  6. For they say, a child can only have one father

  7. And you are the one for us.

  8. And you are the one for us.

Works

Selected film scores

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Selected screenplays

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Selected Broadway scores

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  • Ziegfeld Follies of 1918 (1918) - revue - featured songwriter

  • Helen of Troy, New York (1923) - musical - co-composer and co-lyricist

  • No Other Girl (1924) - musical - co-composer and co-lyricist

  • Holka Polka (1925) - musical - co-book-editor

  • The Ramblers (1926) - musical - co-composer, co-lyricist and co-bookwriter

  • Lucky (1927) - musical - co-bookwriter

  • The Five O'Clock Girl (1927) - musical - composer

  • She's My Baby (1928) - musical - co-bookwriter

  • Good Boy (1928) - musical - co-composer and co-lyricist

  • Animal Crackers (1928) - musical - co-composer and co-lyricist

  • Top Speed (1929) - musical - co-producer and co-bookwriter

  • High Kickers (1941) - musical - co-composer, co-lyricist and co-bookwriter

  • Fosse (1998) - revue - featured songwriter for "Who's Sorry Now?" from All That Jazz 1979

Notable songs

Source:

Selected bibliography

Death

Ruby died on February 23, 1974, in Woodland Hills, California, and was interred at the Chapel of the Pines in Los Angeles.

See also

References

Streaming audio