Lew Pollack (June 16, 1895 – January 18, 1946) was an American song composer and musician active during the 1920s and the 1930s.

Career

Pollack was born in New York City[1] where he went to DeWitt Clinton High School and was active as a boy soprano in a choral group headed by Walter Damrosch.

Starting out as a singer and pianist in vaudeville acts he began writing theme music for silent films before collaborating with others on popular songs.[2] In 1914, he wrote "That's a Plenty", a rag that became an enduring Dixieland standard.

Among his best-known songs are "Charmaine" and "Diane" with Ernö Rapée, "Miss Annabelle Lee",[3] My Yiddishe Momme" with Jack Yellen, made famous by Sophie Tucker, "Two Cigarettes in the Dark", "At the Codfish Ball"[4] (featured in the Shirley Temple movie "Captain January" with Buddy Ebsen, and later the title of a Mad Men television episode), and Go In and Out The Window, now a children's music standard. He also collaborated with Paul Francis Webster, Sidney Clare, and Ned Washington amongst others. He died in Hollywood.

Recognition

Lew Pollack was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.

References

External links

• Lew Pollack's entry at the Songwriters' Hall of Fame
• Lew Pollack at IMDb
• Free scores by Lew Pollack at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
• Lew Pollack recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.