Charles Tobias (August 15, 1898 – July 7, 1970) was an American

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

Biography

Born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, United States, Tobias grew up in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 census, making it the second- most populous city in New England after ...

with brothers

Harry Tobias Harry Tobias (September 11, 1895 – December 15, 1994) was an American lyricist. Like his younger brother Charles, he is an inductee of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Born in New York City, United States, but raised in Worcester, Massachuset ...

and

Henry Tobias Henry Tobias (Worcester, Massachusetts, 23 April 1905 – 5 December 1997) was an American songwriter. He was the youngest of the three brothers, Charles Tobias, Harry Tobias Tobias wrote the 1974 song "Hang In There, Mr. President" in support of Ri ...

, also songwriters. He started his musical career in

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic compositio ...

. In 1923, he founded his own music publishing firm and worked on

Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley was a collection of music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It originally referred to a specific place: West 28th Street ...

. Tobias referred to himself as "the boy who writes the songs you sing." His credits include "Merrily We Roll Along," "Rose O'Day," "

Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer ''Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer'' is a 1963 album by Nat King Cole, arranged by Ralph Carmichael. The album reached #14 on ''Billboards LP chart. Track listing # " Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer" ( Hans Carste, Charles Tobias) – 2 ...

," "Comes Love," and " Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (With Anyone Else but Me)." With frequent collaborators

Al Sherman Avrum Sherman (September 7, 1897 – September 16, 1973), pen name Al Sherman, was a Russian-American songwriter and composer active during the Tin Pan Alley era in American music history. Some of his most recognizable song titles include: " Y ...

and Howard Johnson he wrote, "

Dew-Dew-Dewey Day "(What Do We Do on a) Dew-Dew-Dewey Day" was a popular song dating from 1927. It was recorded by Clyde Doerr and his Orchestra. The song is a Fox Trot which contains a vocal refrain, hence the unconventional length of the record (4 minutes, 2 seco ...

". In the 1930s, Tobias and several of his fellow hit makers formed a revue called "

Songwriters on Parade Songwriters on Parade was a musical Vaudeville revue which featured hit songwriters of the day. It was considered one of the last Vaudevillian forays of this type. Between 1931 and 1940 (at least) various line-ups of popular songwriters would form ...

," performing across the Eastern seaboard on the Loew's and

Keith Keith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Keith (surname) * Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949) * Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons ...

circuits. He co-wrote the 1933 to 1936

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animation, animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. Then some new cartoons were produced from the late 197 ...

theme song "I Think You're Ducky" with

Gerald Marks Gerald Marks (October 13, 1900 – January 27, 1997) was an American composer from Saginaw, Michigan. He was best known for the song " All of Me" which he co-wrote with Seymour Simons and has been recorded about 2,000 times. He also wrote the s ...

and

Sidney Clare Sidney Clare (August 15, 1892 – August 29, 1972) was an American comedian, dancer and composer. His best-known songs include "On the Good Ship Lollipop" (introduced by Shirley Temple), " You're My Thrill" (recorded by Billie Holiday), and "Pl ...

. And, he later co-wrote the 1936-1964

theme song " Merrily We Roll Along" with Murray Mencher and

Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie, and early television audiences ...

. Immediately after

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the ...

, he and

Cliff Friend Cliff Friend (October 1, 1893 – June 27, 1974) was an accomplished songwriter and pianist. A member of Tin Pan Alley, Friend co-wrote several hits including " Lovesick Blues", "My Blackbirds Are Bluebirds Now" and " The Merry-Go-Round Broke Do ...

wrote and recorded "We Did It Before and We Can Do It Again" on December 16, 1941. The song reminded the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. From 1929 to 1960, he contributed songs to a number of musicals, such as "Manhattan Melodrama" and "The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady." Tobias was inducted into the

Songwriters Hall of Fame The Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) is an American institution founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer, music publisher/songwriter Abe Olman, and publisher/executive Howie Richmond to honor those whose work, represent, and maintain, the he ...

in 1970. He died in Manhasset, Long Island, on July 7, 1970.''Charles Tobias is Dead at 72; Was Noted Composer''
''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'', July 18, 1970, p. 6

References

External links

New England Jazz History DatabaseSongwriters' Hall of Fame: Profile: Charles TobiasCharles Tobias recordings
at the

Discography of American Historical Recordings The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The DAHR provides some of these original recordings, free of charge, via audio streaming, along with ...

. 1898 births 1970 deaths Jewish American songwriters 20th-century American composers 20th-century American Jews {{US-songwriter-stub