Biography
Gerald Marks, a Tin Pan Alley songwriter, gained lasting recognition for collaborating on “All of Me,” the most successful among the more than four hundred compositions he placed with publishers. Born in Saginaw, Michigan, on October 13, 1900, he acquired piano skills without formal instruction and heard one of his own pieces played in public by the town orchestra when he was eleven. After leaving school, he traveled to New York with the aim of earning his living as a songwriter.
In 1931 he joined lyricist Seymour Simons to create “All of Me.” The following year both Louis Armstrong and Paul Whiteman scored successes with the number, which later received interpretations from Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, and, decades afterward, Willie Nelson. Another major achievement arrived in 1936 with “Is It True What They Say About Dixie?,” written with Irving Caesar and Sammy Lerner expressly for Al Jolson; recordings by Jimmy Dorsey and Rudy Vallée turned the song into a hit. That same year Marks supplied “That’s What I Want for Christmas” to the Shirley Temple picture Stowaway. Additional joint efforts with Lerner and Caesar produced “Old Susannah, Dust Off That Piana” and “I Don’t Know You, but You’re Beautiful.”
Beyond his work for films and stage productions, Marks composed material supporting children’s safety initiatives and U.S. war-bond drives, directed his own orchestra during one period, and held a seat on the board of the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame. In later years he regularly delivered talks recounting his Tin Pan Alley years and withdrew from active work in 1991. He died on January 27, 1997.
In 1931 he joined lyricist Seymour Simons to create “All of Me.” The following year both Louis Armstrong and Paul Whiteman scored successes with the number, which later received interpretations from Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, and, decades afterward, Willie Nelson. Another major achievement arrived in 1936 with “Is It True What They Say About Dixie?,” written with Irving Caesar and Sammy Lerner expressly for Al Jolson; recordings by Jimmy Dorsey and Rudy Vallée turned the song into a hit. That same year Marks supplied “That’s What I Want for Christmas” to the Shirley Temple picture Stowaway. Additional joint efforts with Lerner and Caesar produced “Old Susannah, Dust Off That Piana” and “I Don’t Know You, but You’re Beautiful.”
Beyond his work for films and stage productions, Marks composed material supporting children’s safety initiatives and U.S. war-bond drives, directed his own orchestra during one period, and held a seat on the board of the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame. In later years he regularly delivered talks recounting his Tin Pan Alley years and withdrew from active work in 1991. He died on January 27, 1997.