Milton Ager

Milton Ager (October 6, 1893 – May 6, 1979) was an American composer born in Chicago, Illinois, the sixth of nine children of Fannie Nathan and Simon Ager, a livestock dealer. He taught himself piano and attended McKinley High School before leaving after three years to pursue a career in music. Regarded as one of the leading songwriters of the 1920s and 1930s, his most enduring compositions include "Ain't She Sweet" and "Happy Days Are Here Again."

Ager began his professional life as a song plugger for the Chicago office of music publishers Waterson, Berlin & Snyder, while also accompanying touring singer Gene Greene and providing piano accompaniment for silent films. In 1914 he relocated to New York City to work as an arranger for the same publishing firm, where he began composing in collaboration with Pete Wendling. Following a period of service in the U.S. Army's Morale Division at Fort Greenleaf, Georgia, he returned to songwriting in 1918 and scored his first hit, "Everything is Peaches Down in Georgia," co-written with lyricist Grant Clarke for Al Jolson.

His partnership with lyricist Jack Yellen proved especially productive. The two collaborated on the 1920 Broadway revue What's in a Name?, which featured the song "A Young Man's Fancy." Subsequent hits written with Yellen and others included "I'm Nobody's Baby" (1921, with Benny Davis and Lester Santly) and "Who Cares?" (1922). In 1922, Ager and Yellen co-founded the publishing company Ager, Yellen and Bornstein. Over the following decade, Ager composed a string of successful songs, among them "Lovin' Sam (The Sheik of Alabam')" (1922), "Hard Hearted Hannah (The Vamp of Savannah)" (1924), "Ain't She Sweet" (1927), and "Happy Days Are Here Again" (1929).

Ager's Broadway credits also include the 1928 musical Rain or Shine, on which he served as co-composer, and John Murray Anderson's Almanac (1929), a revue to which he contributed as co-composer. "Happy Days Are Here Again" appeared in the 1930 film King of Jazz alongside "A Bench in the Park" and was subsequently adopted by Franklin D. Roosevelt for his 1932 presidential campaign.

In 1930, Ager moved to Hollywood, contributing to films including Chasing Rainbows and King of Jazz. After Warner Brothers acquired Ager, Yellen and Bornstein, he continued writing in Hollywood, with later songs including "Auf Wiedersehen My Dear" (1932) and "Trust in Me" (1937). He effectively retired from songwriting in the 1940s.

In 2007, a revue of Ager's music titled Vampin' Lady opened in New Hope, Pennsylvania, performed by singer Joyce Moody under the direction of Earl Wentz, and subsequently transferred to New York City as part of the American Composer Series. Ager was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1979, the same year he died in Inglewood, California, at the age of 85. He was interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. His wife was columnist Cecelia Ager, and he was the father of columnist Shana Alexander.