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Kalmar and Ruby

 Organization

Biography

Kalmar and Ruby was a publishing entity of sheet music.

Bert Kalmar hired Harry Ruby as a "song plugger", and as a result of a knee injury that stopped him from dancing professionally, turned to writing songs full-time. Ruby, who had gotten a job at the firm of Waterson, Berlin and Snyder, got Kalmar a job at the same firm writing song lyrics. Before World War I he had begun to write lyrics for a number of different composers. One of them, Ruby, who had also had a number of collaborators, saw a strong compatibility between the two, and by 1920, Kalmar and Ruby recognized that they should form a permanent songwriting team. They also wrote comedy for stage and screen for Wheeler & Woolsey, Eddie Cantor and the Marx Brothers.

Together, Kalmar and Ruby formed a successful team until Kalmar's death in 1947. This partnership is portrayed in the 1950 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical "Three Little Words" starring Fred Astaire and Red Skelton.

Found in 1 Collection or Record:

"The Moon of Manakoora", 1937

 Item — Box 2: Series Vocal_sheet_music_001, Folder: Mo-Mu, Object: 5
Identifier: Vocal_sheet_music_001