Charles Tobias

Charles Tobias (August 15, 1898 – July 7, 1970) was an American songwriter, composer, and book writer born in New York City. He grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts alongside his brothers Harry Tobias and Henry Tobias, both of whom also pursued careers as songwriters. Tobias began his musical career in vaudeville before establishing his own music publishing firm in 1923 and becoming a fixture of Tin Pan Alley. He referred to himself as "the boy who writes the songs you sing."

Among his most recognized songs are "Merrily We Roll Along," "Rose O'Day," "Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer," "Comes Love," and "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (with Anyone Else but Me)." He co-wrote "Dew-Dew-Dewey Day" with frequent collaborators Al Sherman and Howard Johnson. With Gerald Marks and Sidney Clare, Tobias co-wrote "I Think You're Ducky," which served as the Merrie Melodies theme song from 1933 to 1936. He subsequently co-wrote its replacement theme, "Merrily We Roll Along," with Murray Mencher and Eddie Cantor, a song that held that position from 1936 to 1964. On December 16, 1941, days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Tobias and Cliff Friend wrote and recorded "We Did It Before and We Can Do It Again," a song that drew a parallel to the United States' involvement in World War I. From 1929 to 1960, he contributed songs to a number of film musicals, including Manhattan Melodrama and The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady. During the 1930s, Tobias joined fellow songwriters in a touring revue called "Songwriters on Parade," which performed across the Eastern seaboard on the Loew's and Keith circuits.

Tobias also built a body of work on Broadway as both a composer and book writer. His stage credits include the musical Banjo Eyes, the musical Yokel Boy, and the revues Earl Carroll's Sketch Book (1935), Keep It Clean, and Hellzapoppin. Tobias was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. He died on July 7, 1970, in Manhasset, Long Island, from a liver ailment.