Biography
Nathaniel Davis Ayer entered the world on 30 September 1887 in Boston, Massachusetts, and left it on 19 September 1952 in Bath, England. Working as a composer, pianist and performer, he produced his single lasting standard, the 1911 song “Oh, You Beautiful Doll,” in partnership with A. Seymour Brown (born 1885, died 1952). The same team also created “Moving Day In Jungle Town” in 1909—an apparent nod to Theodore Roosevelt’s African safari—and “If You Talk In Your Sleep, Don’t Mention My Name” in 1911. On Broadway he supplied material for the musical comedies Miss Innocence (1908), The Newlyweds And Their Baby (1909), The Echo (1910), A Winsome Widow (1912) and The Wall Street Girl (1912).
Ayer’s initial visit to England came as a member of the Ragtime Octet, just as ragtime and early jazz pieces, especially those by Irving Berlin, were gaining momentum across Europe. In 1916 he joined lyricist Clifford Grey to furnish the score for the West End revue The Bing Boys Are Here, one of the largest theatrical successes of the First World War; George Robey and Violet Loraine headed the cast, and the show introduced the enduring “If You Were The Only Girl In The World” along with “Another Little Drink Wouldn’t Do Us Any Harm” and “The Kipling Walk.” The same collaborators followed with The Bing Boys Are There (1917), which contained “Let The Great Big World Keep Turning,” and The Bing Boys On Broadway (1918), whose ballad “First Love, Last Love, Best Love” was premiered by Robey and Clara Evelyn.
In addition to writing music—and occasionally lyrics—Ayer frequently performed in the productions themselves. He appeared alongside Alice Delysia in the 1916 revue Pell-Mell (Clifford Grey, Hugh E. Wright) and with Binnie Hale and Gertie Millar in the musical comedy Houp-La! (1916, Howard Talbot, Hugh E. Wright, Percy Greenbank). Further London credits include Hullo, Ragtime (1912, “You’re My Baby” with A. Seymour Brown), 5064 Gerard (1915, “At The Foxtrot Ball” credited to Dave Comer, Irving Berlin, Henry Marshall, Stanley Murphy and others), Yes, Uncle! (1917, Grey), Baby Bunting (1919, Grey), Snap (1922, Kenneth Duffield, Herman Hupfeld), “Shufflin’ Along” (with Ralph Stanley), The Smith Family (1922) and Stop-Go! (1935, Edgar Blatt).
Ayer’s initial visit to England came as a member of the Ragtime Octet, just as ragtime and early jazz pieces, especially those by Irving Berlin, were gaining momentum across Europe. In 1916 he joined lyricist Clifford Grey to furnish the score for the West End revue The Bing Boys Are Here, one of the largest theatrical successes of the First World War; George Robey and Violet Loraine headed the cast, and the show introduced the enduring “If You Were The Only Girl In The World” along with “Another Little Drink Wouldn’t Do Us Any Harm” and “The Kipling Walk.” The same collaborators followed with The Bing Boys Are There (1917), which contained “Let The Great Big World Keep Turning,” and The Bing Boys On Broadway (1918), whose ballad “First Love, Last Love, Best Love” was premiered by Robey and Clara Evelyn.
In addition to writing music—and occasionally lyrics—Ayer frequently performed in the productions themselves. He appeared alongside Alice Delysia in the 1916 revue Pell-Mell (Clifford Grey, Hugh E. Wright) and with Binnie Hale and Gertie Millar in the musical comedy Houp-La! (1916, Howard Talbot, Hugh E. Wright, Percy Greenbank). Further London credits include Hullo, Ragtime (1912, “You’re My Baby” with A. Seymour Brown), 5064 Gerard (1915, “At The Foxtrot Ball” credited to Dave Comer, Irving Berlin, Henry Marshall, Stanley Murphy and others), Yes, Uncle! (1917, Grey), Baby Bunting (1919, Grey), Snap (1922, Kenneth Duffield, Herman Hupfeld), “Shufflin’ Along” (with Ralph Stanley), The Smith Family (1922) and Stop-Go! (1935, Edgar Blatt).