ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 28, 1997 TAG: 9701280061
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: Associated Press
FOR HIS 96TH BIRTHDAY, he wrote the song ``At My Age, Why Ask?'' and sang it to friends who called to ask about his health..
Gerald Marks, a Tin Pan Alley composer best known for the song ``All of Me,'' died at his home Monday. He was 96.
``All of Me,'' written in 1931 with Seymour Simons, has been recorded by artists including Paul Whiteman, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Johnny Ray and Frank Sinatra.
Marks also contributed to the scores of four Broadway shows, including ``Ziegfeld Follies,'' and wrote for events ranging from school safety programs to World War II bond drives.
Another of his notable tunes, ``Is It True What They Say About Dixie?'' was written in 1936 with Irving Caesar and Sammy Lerner.
It was first made popular by Al Jolson and later recorded by Rudy Vallee.
Until five years ago, he was still giving college lectures about his days writing music in Tin Pan Alley and at the time of his death was finishing a book, ``What I Found in the Alley.''
For his 96th birthday, he wrote the song ``At My Age, Why Ask?'' and sang it to friends who called to ask about his health.
Marks instructed that no service be held, and that the epitaph on his urn read ``All of Me.''
LENGTH: Short : 36 linesby CNB