Gerald Marks , a self-taught pianist, showed musical promise as a child and left school to pursue a career as a songwriter. He wrote for both stage and film, but his most enduring hit, “All of Me” with lyrics by Seymour Simons, was introduced in 1931 and won a “Towering Song” award in 2000 from the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame.

His next most memorable effort was “Is It True What They Say About Dixie?” written with Irving Caesar and Sammy Lerner, which made Your Hit Parade in 1936 and was a favorite vehicle for Al Jolson. That same year, with Caesar, he also wrote a song for Shirley Temple, “That’s What I Want for Christmas,” which she sang in the film Stowaway.

During the ‘30s Marks wrote the music for Caesar’s 22-song serie...