Milton Drake(1912-2006)

Composer, songwriter ("Mairzy Doats", "Nina Never Knew", "She Broke My Heart in Three Places"), lyricist, author and market reseacher, educated at the Baruch School of Business Administration, and a violin student of Ernst Greenberger. As a child, he performed in vaudeville and films and on radio. Later he wrote special material for theater and night club revues, including "Cotton Club Parade", "Riviera Follies", "Paradise Parade", and "Latin Quarter Revue". He was the former vice president and a council chairman of AGAC, a member of ASCAP from 1934, and the director of Market and Media Research for Hayden Publications Company, and then research manager for McGraw-Hill. His chief musical collaborators included Oscar Levant, Al Hoffman, Jerry Livingston, Louis Alter, Con Conrad, Ben Oakland, Milton Berle, Fred Spielman, Al Frisch, Artie Shaw, and Morris Charlap. His other popular-song compositions include "Great Guns" (the official Coast Artillery song), "Don't Change Horses" (the 1944 Roosevelt campaign song), "My Dreams Have Gone With the Wind", "Champagne Waltz", "Java Jive", "I'm a Big Girl Now", "Kiss Me Sweet", "Bless Your Heart", "Fuzzy Wuzzy", "Hotta Chocolotta", "Felicia", "Heaven Only Knows", "Li'l Abner", "Pu-Leeze! Mr. Hemingway", "If Wishes Were Kisses", "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "The Man With the Weird Beard", "The Town Crier", and "Instant Love".