September 25 - Al Hoffman

On this day, in 1902, composer Al Hoffman was born in Minsk, Russia. When Al was six, the Hoffman family relocated to Seattle, Washington. After graduating from high school, Al got even farther a way from the Mother Country by moving to New York and becoming a drummer in a band. In order to survive and keep at his fledgling musical career at night, Al would spend the day selling bagels door-to-door. In any spare time he had, he would also write songs, occasionally by himself but most often in collaboration with others.

Hits from this early period include 1932's "Fit as a Fiddle," which would regain popularity 20 years later when it showed up in Singing in the Rain. 1931's "I Apologize" reached number eight on the charts and entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.

In 1934, Al continued his migration east, moving to London. For the next three years he worked on stage productions and movies. Hits from his cockney period include "She Shall Have Music" and "Everything Stops for Tea." By 1937, Al had tired of the British life. For once he traveled west and returned to the United States.

Al's biggest ear worm of a hit would occur in 1943 at the height of World War II. It caused such a crazed sensation that the New York Times ran an article about the phenomenon simply titled "That Song". It's a silly song, apparently exactly what people needed at that point in the war, and I'm pretty sure you've heard it. It's called "Mairzy Doats" and it goes "Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey..." And now, if you've ever heard it before even once, it's stuck in your head and, no, I'm not particularly sorry about that. It went up the charts several times with multiple people singing it, hitting number one at least once and sold over 450,000 copies of the sheet music withing the first three weeks.

Al made four significant contributions to the Disney songbook, all of them collaborations with Mack David and Jerry Livingston. The first few came in 1950 for Cinderella and one also included some nonsensical lyrics. I'm talking about the thingamabob that does the job, of course, "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo." The boys put a song in the heart of the film's leading lady with "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" and "So This Is Love." The fourth song that's entered into a special place in Disney lore comes from 1951's Alice in Wonderland. Of all the songs in that movie, Al's is the one everyone remembers the most, "The Unbirthday Song."

Al continued to write hit songs throughout the 1950s. By the end of his life, he had over 1,500 songs registered with ASCAP. He passed away from prostate cancer at the age of 57 in 1960. Twenty-four years later, he was finally given a spot in the Songwriter's Hall of Fame.