Songwriter ("Beer Barrel Polka", "Sonny Boy", "The Thrill is Gone"), composer, author, publisher and producer, he came to the USA in 1898 and was educated at DeWitt Clinton High School in New York. In 1925, he joined Buddy DeSylva and Ray Henderson as a songwriting team and music publishers. He wrote the Broadway stage scores for "George White's Scandals" (1925, 1926, 1928 and 1931), "Manhattan Mary", "Good News", "Hold Everything", "Three Cheers" and "Follow Through", and was also co-librettist for "Flying High", "Hot-Cha", "Strike Me Pink" and "Yokel Boy" (also producer-director). In 1929 he sold the publishing firm and went to Hollywood under contract to Fox. Joining ASCAP in 1921, his other musical collaborators included Albert Von Tilzer, Con Conrad, Moe Jaffe, Sidney Clare, Harry Warren, Cliff Friend, Harry Akst, Jay Gorney, Louis Alter, Harold Arlen, Sammy Fain, Sammy Stept, and Charles Tobias. His other song compositions include "Give Me the Moonlight, Give Me the Girl", "Oh, by Jingo!", "I Used to Love You but It's All Over Now", "Dapper Dan", "Wait Until You See My Madeline", "I'd Climb the Highest Mountain", "Last Night on the Back Porch", "Shine", "Don't Bring Lulu", "Then I'll Be Happy", "Collegiate", "Lucky Day", "Birth of the Blues", "Black Bottom", "It All Depends on You", "Manhattan Mary", "The Best Things in Life Are Free", "Good News", "The Varsity Drag", "Just Imagine", "Lucky in Love", "Broken Hearted", "Just a Memory", "So Blue", "I'm on the Crest of a Wave", "You're the Cream in My Coffee", "Button Up Your Overcoat", "You Wouldn't Fool Me", "My Lucky Star", "Together", "My Sin", "I'm a Dreamer, Aren't We All?", "Sunny Side Up", If I Had a Talking Picture of You", "Little Pal", "Without Love", "Thank Your Father", "Red Hot Chicago", "You Try Somebody Else", "My Song", "The Thrill is Gone", "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries", "This Is the Missus", "Strike Me Pink", "I've Got to Pass Your House", "Baby, Take a Bow", "If Love Makes Me Give Up Steak and Potatoes", "The Lady Dances", "Love Is Never Out of Season", "That Old Feeling", "Down Home Rag", "Comes Love", "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree With Anyone Else but Me", I Came Here to Talk for Joe", "I Dug a Ditch in Wichita", "The Beer that I Left on the Bar", "Oh, Ma-Ma", and Madam, I Love Your Crepe Suzette".