Allie Wrubel
b. 15 January 1905, Middletown, Connecticut, USA, d. 13 December 1973,
Twentynine Palms, California, USA.
This popular songwriter from the '30s through to the '50s, sometimes
wrote both music and lyrics. He also played the saxophone and other
reed instruments. After studying medicine at Columbia University,
Wrubel played the saxophone with several dance bands, including a
one-year stint with Paul Whiteman in the '20s, and toured England with
his own band in 1924. He spent some time working as a theatre manager
before having his first song published in 1931. Now You're In My Arms
(written with Morton Downey), was followed by As You Desire Me, I'll
Be Faithful ( Jan Garber) and Farewell To Arms (Paul Whiteman).
In 1934, like many of his contemporaries, Wrubel began to write songs
for films, often with lyricist Mort Dixon. Their Try To See It My Way
was interpolated into the Dubin-Warren score for Dames. During the
'30s Wrubel also contributed to HAPPINESS AHEAD (Pop! Goes Your
Heart); FLIRTATION WALK (Mr And Mrs Is The Name); I LIVE FOR LOVE(Mine
Alone); IN CALIENTE (The Lady In Red); SWEET MUSIC (Fare Thee Well,
Annabelle and I See Two Lovers); THE TOAST OF NEW YORK (The First Time
I Saw You); LIFE OF THE PARTY (Let's Have Another Cigarette); and
RADIO CITY REVELS(Goodnight Angel and There's A New Moon Over The Old
Mill). The films featured some of the biggest stars of the day, such
as Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler and Rudy Vallee.
Around that time Wrubel also wrote several numbers with Herb Magidson,
such as Gone With The Wind, which went on to become a standard,
recorded by Denny Dennis with the Roy Fox Orchestra, and Frank
Sinatra; The Masquerade Is Over, sung by Dick Robertson, Sarah Vaughan
and Patti Page; and Music Maestro Please, one of the most popular
songs of the '30s, in versions by Tommy Dorsey and Lew Stone. During
the '40s and '50s, Wrubel continued to write for movies, such as SING
YOUR WAY HOME, in which Anne Jeffreys sang Wrubel and Madgison's
Oscar-nominated I'll Buy That Dream ("honeymoon in Cairo, in a
brand-new autogiro/Then, home by rocket in a wink"); SONG OF THE SOUTH
(an Oscar-winner, this time, with Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, written with Ray
Gilbert); DUEL IN THE SUN (Gotta Get Me Somebody To Love); The
Fabulous Dorseys(To Me); I WALK ALONE(Don't Call It Love); two
full-length Walt Disney cartoons, MAKE MINE MUSIC in which the Andrews
Sisters sang his Johnny Fedora And Alice Blue Bonnet; and MELODY TIME,
the Andrews again, with Wrubel's story about a tiny tugboat, Little
Toot. During the '50s Wrubel's output declined, although he did
contribute several songs to NEVER STEAL ANYTHING SMALL (1959), which
featured an ageing James Cagney duetting with Cara Williams on I'm
Sorry, I Want A Ferrari.
Wrubel also contributed What Does A Woman Do? to the thriller,
MIDNIGHT LACE (1960). During a career spanning nearly 30 years, his
other songs included Gypsy Fiddler, The You And Me That Used To Be, I
Can't Love You Anymore, I'm Home Again, I'm Stepping Out With A Memory
Tonight (a hit for Glenn Millerand Kate Smith), Where Do I Go From
You?), There Goes That Song Again (revived by Gary Miller in the UK in
1961), The Lady From Twentynine Palms, 1400 Dream Street, Please, My
Love and Corabelle. His collaborators included Walter Bullock, Nat
Shilkret, Ned Washington, Abner Silver, and Charles Newman.
Wrubel was a Charter member of the Composers Hall of Fame. He died,
from a heart attack, in 1973, at the location of his one of his
popular songs "Twentynine Palms", California, USA.