Wikipedia:
Jim Cowler; actually Karl Gustav Herbert Noack (* January 23, 1898 in Berlin; † July 15, 1964 in Berlin) was a German pop and film composer. He also published under the pseudonyms Herbert Henderson and Herbert Kauler.
His parents ran an inn with a restaurant at Große Frankfurter Straße 128. After his first piano lessons, he was admitted to the Berlin Musikhochschule at the age of 12 and studied piano and church music with Julius Schuppmann and Bernhard Heinrich Irrgang. Along the way, he played in his parents' pub and as a musical accompanist for silent films in various cinemas. Due to his skilful musical arrangements he got an engagement at the Biophon-Theater Berlin in Alexanderstr. 39/40 in 1913.
After serving as a soldier in World War I, he published his first composition, the waltz intermezzo Liebesklänge, in 1919 with the publishing house of his brother Walter Noack. Other successful titles of the time were Berlin-Königsberg, Tanzelfchen, Mittsommernacht, Mohammed Aly and Araby.
In June 1923, the VOX Tanzorchester recorded Araby on VOX 01378, and in August Mohamed Aly was released on Beka 32181. Other recordings followed.
In 1922/23 he met the music publisher of Curt Max Roehr. The latter recommended that he choose an English pseudonym, whereupon he adopted the name Jim Cowler. His arrangements and instrumentations for other composers such as Henry Richards, Walter Kollo, Ray Henderson[2], Frederick Loewe, Leo Fall, however, continued under his birth name.
He achieved international success in 1927 with the title Heut war ich bei der Frida, which was recorded by numerous record labels and also appeared abroad under the title All about Frida. Numerous other hit compositions followed, together with the lyricists Fritz Rotter, Kurt Schwabach, Bruno Balz, Wolfgang Böttcher, Werner Brink and Leo Breiten. Important interpreters of his songs were the Comedian Harmonists (Ich hab ein Zimmer goldige Frau) and Richard Tauber the mother song: "Es gibt eine Frau die dich niemals vergißt". And the very famous title Kleine Möwe, flieg nach Helgoland, sung by Hans Albers, Freddy and many others.
From 1930, film music for Pension Schoeller (1930) and Das Rheinlandmädel (1930) also followed. In the 1931 film Einer Frau muss man alles verzeih'n he also appeared with his orchestra and his own composition Mit dir möchte ich so gern nach Spanien. Later came Wenn ich König wär (1933), Der geheimnisvolle Mr. X (1936), Haupttreffer: Ein Mann (1933?) and Das Veilchen vom Potsdamer Platz (1936) with the song Veilchen, kleine blaue Veilchen. Radio secures the composer's collaboration for radio plays, special music and song recitals. His own performances at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm and the Komische Oper Berlin followed.
In 1938, his foreign pseudonym caused him trouble with the Reich Chamber of Music, which threatened to ban him from his profession. He planned to emigrate, traveling to New York and London, but returned disappointed, as neither city appealed to him. As a compromise, he agreed with the Reichskulturkammer on the name Herbert Kauler. Since his style was no longer in demand, but he was also unwilling to adapt too much to political demands, the number of publications declined sharply. Added to this were health problems. From 1941 until the end of the war, his musical activities took the form of front-line support from the Eastern to the Western Front, with ensemble performances. Meanwhile, his apartment in Berlin was bombed out, and personal documents as well as his own music archive were lost.
After the war, he resumed his compositional activities and published titles such as Den ersten Kuß gibt man am Morgen, Schönes Wetter, Kontraste, Tenoki, Musik der Welt, Wir sind ja nicht vom Neckar, Komm bald wieder, Muß es denn ein Cowboy sein, Schneeflöckchen, Denk an unsere Liebe. He also gave guest performances in various cities, but was not able to continue his earlier successes.
Cowler was married twice. He died on July 15, 1964 at the age of 66 and was buried in the Zehlendorf Forest Cemetery. The grave has not been preserved.[3] Jim Cowler left behind two sons.
Cowler's entire musical oeuvre, which is mainly characterized by the period from 1919 to 1937, comprises about 725 published and printed own hit tunes, about 250 arranged foreign works, six film scores and more than thirty radio play scores. He also wrote the music for at least five stage plays.
Note: Translated German version of Wikipedia into English.
