Pop composer Con Conrad wrote for Broadway through the 1920s, then worked for Hollywood through the mid-'30s. Born in N.Y.C. in 1891, Conrad K. Dober played piano for a theater and then in vaudeville, touring the U.S. and Europe, before he got songs published during the 1910s. He had a few hits in the late '10s and early '20s, including "Singin' the Blues," before he began writing for Broadway. Some of the theater productions featuring songs by Conrad were Moonlight (1924), Kitty's Kisses (1926), and Take the Air (1927). In the late '20s, Conrad moved to Hollywood, where he wrote tunes for one of the first "talkies," Fox Movietone Follies of 1929, followed by songs for Broadway (1929), Happy Days (1930), Gift of Gab (1934), Here's to Romance (1935), and more. While in Hollywood, Conrad also wrote a few Tin Pan Alley hits including "You Call It Madness" (1931). Some of his other best-known songs are "Margie," "Memory Lane," "Lonesome and Sorry," "Ma," "Champagne Waltz," and "Midnight in Paris." Conrad collaborated with many lyricists during his career, but most often teamed up with Buddy DeSylva, Joe Young, Benny Davis, and, finally, Herb Magidson, with whom Conrad co-wrote the first recipient of the Oscar for Best Song, "The Continental," from the 1934 film The Gay Divorcee.
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