Harry Rubenstein, professionally known as Harry Ruby, was a song plugger for renowned music publishing firms such as Gus Edwards and George Gershwin at Jerome H. Remick's in Detroit. Despite his unfulfilled aspirations to become a professional baseball player, Ruby had previously worked as a pianist on the vaudeville circuit with The Bootblack Trio and The Messenger Boys Trio.
Ruby's fortunes took a dramatic turn after meeting lyricist Bert Kalmar at a Tin Pan Alley publishing house. By 1918, the duo had formed a songwriting partnership that would endure for nearly three decades, resulting in an impressive array of popular hits for Broadway shows and movies.
Some of the most notable numbers penned by Kalmar and Ruby include "I Wanna Be Loved by You", "Who's Sorry Now?", "Three Little Words", "Give Me the Simple Life", "A Kiss to Build a Dream On", and many more. A biographical film, Three Little Words (1950),was released by MGM three years after Kalmar's passing, with Red Skelton portraying Ruby.
Ruby lived on until 1974, but managed to achieve only one solo hit song, the 1949 chart-topper "Maybe It's Because".
