Starting a New Series: Unsung Jewish Composers and Lyricists of the Great American Songbook - Albert Von Tilzer

It's well known that many of the songs that comprise the collection known as The Great American Song Book were written by Jewish composers and lyricists, mostly in the decades between 1930 and 1965, but also going back to the turn of the 20th century.

The most prolific of these writers are responsible for the great majority of songs. Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin lead the long list of songwriters and their songs number in the hundreds.

But there are many others that were written by composers and lyricists that you very likely never heard of. These songwriters wrote lots of pop songs to stand alone and as parts of Broadway and Off-Broadway shows and Hollywood movies. Most of the songs are long forgotten, but a few of them have become popular standards, and are sung as much today as in the years they were written.

In this series, which will run in Jewish Humor Central on a weekly basis, we will focus on one songwriter at a time, and feature a video performance of their most popular song.

Today we're starting with Albert von Tilzer, who was born as Albert Gumm to Polish Jewish immigrants Sarah Tilzer and Jacob Gumbinsky. When his older brother Harry adopted his mother's maiden name as his own, seeking to make it sound even classier by tacking on a "Von", Albert and his other brothers followed suit.

Albert Von Tilzer was a top Tin Pan Alley tune writer, producing numerous popular music compositions from 1900 continuing through the early 1950s. He collaborated with many lyricists, including Jack Norworth, Lew Brown, and Harry MacPherson. A number of his tunes were performed (and recorded) by jazz bands and continue to be played decades later. 

But Albert's most popular song was Take Me Out to the Ball Game, with lyrics written by Jack Norworth.  Here is a video of the song performed by Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly, from a movie with the same title.

Enjoy!

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