Harry Ruby

Composer Harry Ruby enjoyed a long career songwriting for Broadway and Hollywood musicals, almost always in collaboration with lyricist Bert Kalmar. Born in N.Y.C. in 1895, he got his start working as a staff pianist for various music publishers, then toured vaudeville accompanying groups such as the Bootblack Trio and the Messenger Boys Trio. Ruby and Kalmar had worked together before, but in 1920 they formed a songwriting duo that would last until Kalmar's death in the late '40s. The team produced a large number of stage and movie hits, such as "I Wanna Be Loved by You," "Wh...