Felix Arndt

b. 20 May 1889, New York, USA, d. 16 October 1918, Harmon-On-Hudson, New York, USA. A composer, pianist, and organist, Arndt attended the New York Conservatory before working for various music publishers and leading his own ensembles. He also made numerous piano rolls for the large Aeolian Company, which had several different labels. He was instrumental in encouraging other composers such as George Gershwin and Vincent Youmans to make rolls for the firm. Arndt’s most famous composition, ‘Nola’ (1915, lyric: James F. Burns), was named after his singer-composer wife, and became the theme song of Vincent Lopez. His orchestra performed it in The Big Broadcast (1932), and the number was also featured on the screen in the Jack Oakie starrer That’s The Spirit (1945). Among Arndt’s other compositions were ‘Soup To Nuts’, ‘Toots’, ‘Kakuda’, ‘Marionette’, ‘Love In June’ and ‘Operatic Nightmare’.