Tunesmith Lee (Leo) Zahler was the eldest of three sons and a daughter
born to Joseph and Annie Zahler, Austro-Hungarian Jews who had
immigrated to America a decade or so before the turn of twentieth
century. His father may have come from an area in Hungary that is now
part of the Slovak Republic. Lee Zahler was born in
New York City, where his father worked as a pattern designer for a
dressmaker.
Lee Zahler began his show business career working for a New York music
publishing house and as professional piano player. By 1933 he was
credited with having over two hundred and fifty of his original tunes
adapted for the cinema. Starting in the early 1920s Zahler served for
over a decade and a half as music director at the
Larry Darmour Studio, which is probably
best known for the "Mickey McGuire" series that starred
Mickey Rooney and productions
featuring comedian
Charlie Chase.
In 1940 Zahler's life was turned upside-down when his son Gordon broke
his neck while performing a gymnastic feat at a Pasadena junior high
school, leaving him a quadriplegic for life. This terrible accident
would eventually lead to financial ruin, the breakup of his marriage
and quite possibly his early death at age fifty-three.