Al Dubin

Al Dubin was an American lyricist and Broadway contributor born Alexander Dubin on June 10, 1891, in Zürich, Switzerland, to a Russian Jewish family that emigrated to the United States when he was two years old. He grew up in Philadelphia and developed an early fascination with musical theater, traveling from Philadelphia into New York City between the ages of thirteen and sixteen to attend Broadway shows. By age fourteen he was already writing special material for a vaudeville entertainer on Tin Pan Alley, the stretch of 28th Street between Fifth Avenue and Broadway in New York City.

Dubin sold his first lyrics, for two songs titled "Prairie Rose" and "Sunray," to the Witmark Music Publishing Firm in 1909, the same year he enrolled at Perkiomen Seminary. He was expelled from the seminary in 1911, an irony given that he had written its alma mater during his time there. After leaving Perkiomen he worked as a singing waiter at a Philadelphia restaurant while continuing to write lyrics and submit them to publishing firms. During this period he met composer Joe Burke, and the two collaborated on "Oh, You, Mister Moon" in 1911, published by M. Witmark and Sons. Dubin and Burke also composed the Villanova University Anthem together.

In 1917, Dubin was drafted and reported to Camp Upton in Yaphank, New York, serving as a private in the 305th Field Artillery of the 77th Division. While in service he co-wrote the song "They Didn't Think We'd Do it, But We Did" with composer Fred Rath, published by the 77th Division. On his first weekend pass he attended a show at the Majestic Theater in New York City, where he met Broadway singer Helen McClay. The two married on March 19, 1921, at the Church of St. Elizabeth in New York City, following Dubin's conversion to Catholicism and McClay's receipt of an annulment of her prior marriage. That same year, Dubin was accepted into ASCAP.

His Broadway career began with the 1925 revue Charlot Revue, for which he served as featured co-lyricist on "A Cup of Coffee, a Sandwich and You," a song he had written that year with composer Joseph Meyer and lyricist Billy Rose. That song also marked his first major commercial success. Also in 1925, Dubin met composer Harry Warren, with whom he would form his most significant and enduring professional partnership. Their first collaboration was "Too Many Kisses in the Summer Bring Too Many Tears in the Fall."

Because Dubin was under contract to the publishing firm Harms, and Warner Bros. had purchased Harms along with Witmark and Remick, Warner Bros. inherited his services. In 1929 he wrote "Tiptoe through the Tulips" with Joe Burke for the film Gold Diggers of Broadway. Dubin's formal teaming with Warren at Warner Bros. began in 1932 with the movie musical 42nd Street, starring Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Warner Baxter, and Bebe Daniels, with choreography by Busby Berkeley. The pair contributed four songs to that film: "42nd Street," "You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me," "Young and Healthy," and "Shuffle Off to Buffalo." Between 1932 and 1939, Warren and Dubin produced sixty hit songs for Warner Bros. musicals, among them Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade starring James Cagney, Roman Scandals starring Eddie Cantor, Dames, Wonder Bar, and Go Into Your Dance, the latter two starring Al Jolson. Their song "Lullaby of Broadway," written for Gold Diggers of 1935, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 1936 ceremony.

Dubin's additional Broadway credits included White Lights in 1927 as co-lyricist, the 1939 revue Streets of Paris as lyricist, and the 1940 revue Keep Off the Grass as co-lyricist. He served as featured lyricist for "Robert the Roue" in the 1942 burlesque revue Star and Garter. His work also appeared posthumously in the 1979 revue Sugar Babies, on which he received co-lyricist credit. The most prominent stage adaptation of his film work came in 1980, when producer David Merrick and director Gower Champion brought the 1933 film 42nd Street to Broadway as a musical, with a book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble and a score drawing on Warren and Dubin songs from multiple films, including 42nd Street, Dames, Go Into Your Dance, Gold Diggers of 1933, and Gold Diggers of 1935. The production won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1981, and a revival followed in 2001.

In the 1940s, Dubin's personal difficulties, including struggles with alcohol and drugs, left him estranged from his wife and unable to sustain steady work in either Hollywood or New York. The final production he was contracted to work on was Laffing Room Only, with composer Burton Lane, for which he contributed only a title, "Feudin' and a Fightin'," receiving twenty-five percent credit. He spent his final years living alone at the Empire Hotel in declining health. On February 8, 1945, he collapsed on the street after ingesting a large quantity of doctor-prescribed barbiturates and was admitted to Roosevelt Hospital with barbiturate poisoning and pneumonia. He died on February 11, 1945. Radio personality Walter Winchell announced his death on air. Dubin was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.