death_date death_place birth_place background birth_date article_title name occupation
august 26 , 1979 -lrb- aged 71 -rrb- hollywood , california new york city , new york non_performing_personnel september 24 , 1907 ben oakland
 ben oakland songwriter
ben oakland

ben oakland -lrb- september 24 , 1907 - august 26 , 1979 -rrb- was an american composer , lyricist and pianist most active from the 1920s through the 1940s .
he composed mainly for broadway and vaudeville , though he also worked on several hollywood scores including for the film `` my little chickadee '' .
oakland often composed music only , collaborating with lyricists including oscar hammerstein ii , bob russell , milton drake , l. wolfe gilbert , and artie shaw .
notable compositions include `` java jive '' -lrb- a huge hit for the ink spots and covered by the manhattan transfer -rrb- , `` i 'll take romance '' , and `` i 'm a hundred percent for you '' .
the two songs that oakland wrote with oscar hammerstein ii are `` i 'll take romance '' and `` a mist over the moon . ''
the latter , which was written for a 1938 picture called `` the lady objects '' won hammerstein and oakland an oscar nomination .
the former , which was written for a 1937 film starring grace moore , won no awards but is frequently performed .
june christy sang it , to an arrangement by pete rugolo , on the 1954 album `` something cool '' .
he collaborated with artie shaw and milton drake on the love song `` if it 's you '' introduced by tony martin in the 1941 marx brothers ' picture `` the big store '' .
`` if i love again , '' which has a lyric by jack murray , was performed by anita o'day on the 1960 album `` incomparable ! ''
and by barbra streisand in the 1975 film `` funny lady '' .
it was written for the 1933 musical `` hold your horses '' .
the songwriter 's hall of fame lists oakland on their notable -lrb- non-inducted -rrb- songwriters list for contributions to the american popular song .
