{{Short description|American composer (1887–1952)}}{{Infobox person | name = Nat D. Ayer | image = Nat-D-Ayer.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Nathaniel Davis Ayer | birth_date = {{Birth date|1887|8|5}} | birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1952|9|19|1887|8|5}} | death_place = Bath, Somerset, England | occupation = Composer, pianist, singer, actor | known_for = "Oh, You Beautiful Doll" (1911) <br> "If You Were the Only Girl In the World" (1916) | notable_works = ''The Bing Boys Are Here'' (1916) <br> ''Yes, Uncle'' (1917) }}
'''Nathaniel Davis Ayer''' (August 5, 1887 – September 19, 1952) was an American composer, pianist, singer, and actor. He made most of his career composing and performing in England in Edwardian musical comedy and revue. He also contributed songs to Broadway shows, including some of the ''Ziegfeld Follies''.
Ayer's most successful shows were the World War I hits ''The Bing Boys Are Here'' (1916) and ''Yes, Uncle'' (1917). His best-known Broadway song was "Oh, You Beautiful Doll" (1911). Of his many songs composed for London shows, his most famous is probably "If You Were the Only Girl In the World" (1916). After the war, he had less success and was declared bankrupt in 1938.
==Life and career==
===Early years=== Ayer was born '''Nathaniel Davis''' in Boston, Massachusetts.<ref name=pop>Larkin, Colin (ed.) "[http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t270.e65456 "Ayer, Nat D."], ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', Muze Inc and Oxford University Press, 2009, accessed 31 January 2012 {{subscription required}}</ref> His first big hit was the song "Oh, You Beautiful Doll" (1911), with words by A. Seymour Brown (1885–1947). He wrote songs for Broadway revues and musical comedies including ''Miss Innocence'' (1908), ''The Newlyweds and their Baby'' (1909), ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1909,'' ''The Echo'' (1910), ''A Winsome Widow'', ''The Wall Street Girl'', ''Let George Do It'' (all 1912) and ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1916''.<ref name=pop/><ref name=guide>[http://www.guidetomusicaltheatre.com/composers/a-composers/ayer-nat.html "Nat D. Ayer"], The Guide to Musical Theatre, accessed 1 February 2012</ref>
Ayer first visited London as a member of the Ragtime Octet in the years before the First World War.<ref name=pop/> In 1912, he contributed to the West End revue ''Hullo, Ragtime'' the song "You’re My Baby" with words by Brown.<ref name=pop/> In 1913, he appeared at the Tivoli music hall in the Strand, with Harry Williams, performing songs of their own composition, with Ayer at the piano.<ref>"The Theatres", ''The Times'', 3 March 1913, p. 10</ref> Later in the same year, the two appeared in ''The Hippodrome Revue'', when ''The Times'' described them thus: {{quote|Mr. Harry Williams and Mr Nat D. Ayer are an American pair of a type now becoming familiar to London. One sings, one plays the piano and sings; both wear pronounced evening dress, and both perform ragtime. For complicated syncopation perhaps one of the songs sung by the gentleman at the piano is (in ragtime's native idiom) "the limit".<ref>"The Hippodrome Revue", ''The Times'', 11 April 1913, p. 8</ref>|}} One of Ayer's and Williams's songs, "That Ragtime Suffragette", was the subject of a court case in October 1913, when the lyricist and composer successfully took action to prevent others from violating its copyright.<ref>"High Court of Justice", ''The Times'', 18 October 1913, p. 3</ref>
===West End shows=== In 1916, Ayer composed the music for the hit show ''The Bing Boys Are Here'', with a book by George Grossmith Jr. and Fred Thompson and lyrics by Clifford Grey.<ref>"Varieties", ''The Times'', 6 May 1916, p. 6</ref> His best-known song from that show is "If You Were the Only Girl In the World",<ref name=pop/> adapted from a song by Willy Redstone which he had sold to Bert Feldman.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article231579102 |title=Contact |newspaper=The Sun (Sydney) |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=16 September 1946 |access-date=20 April 2020 |page=1 |via=Trove }}</ref> In the same year, Ayer appeared with Alice Delysia in the revue ''Pell-Mell'', with songs by Ayer and Grey.<ref>"New Plays and Revues", ''The Times'', 5 June 1916, p. 13</ref> Ayer's last show of 1916, which he composed and appeared in, was the musical comedy ''Houp La!'', starring Gertie Millar.<ref name=pop/> It was not a success, running for just over 100 performances, but Ayer's next show, ''Yes, Uncle'', was a considerable hit, with a run of 626 performances.<ref>[http://www.stagebeauty.net/th-frames.html?http&&&www.stagebeauty.net/th-longr.html "Longest Running Plays in London and New York"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613222559/http://www.stagebeauty.net/th-frames.html?http&&&www.stagebeauty.net%2Fth-longr.html |date=2020-06-13 }}, Stage Beauty, accessed 1 February 2012.</ref>
Ayer's post-war shows were ''Baby Bunting'' (1919), ''Snap'', ''Shufflin' Along'' and ''The Smith Family'' (1922). In 1938, he was declared bankrupt.<ref>"From The London Gazette", ''The Times'', 29 January 1938, p. 20</ref> He appeared as himself in the 1943 film ''Variety Jubilee''.
Ayer died in 1952 in Bath, in the west of England, at the age of 65.<ref name=pop/>
==Notes== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== * {{IMSLP|id=Ayer, Nathaniel Davis}} *{{YouTube|Fy11oy7Sdbg|Nat D. Ayer sings 'Cleopatra' from Pell Mell, London, 1916}} *{{YouTube|K1RH-60_JtY|Nat D. Ayer sings 'I Like a Place Where the Peaches Grow' from Houp La!, London, 1917}} *Sheet music for [http://purl.lib.ua.edu/8916 "Oh, you beautiful doll"], New York : J.H. Remick, 1911. From [http://purl.lib.ua.edu/18238 Wade Hall Sheet Music Collection]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayer, Nathaniel Davis}} Category:1887 births Category:1952 deaths Category:20th-century American male composers Category:20th-century American composers Category:Musicians from Boston Category:Composers from Massachusetts