Louis Alter was an American composer and songwriter whose career spanned the golden age of popular music. He studied at the New England Conservatory of Music and began playing piano for silent films at age thirteen. From 1924 to 1928 he toured as accompanist for entertainer Nora Bayes, then worked as a song arranger for publishers including Irving Berlin's firm. His most celebrated work, Manhattan Serenade, began as a piano solo inspired by New York City and became widely recorded after Paul Whiteman's 1928 performance. Alter collaborated with leading lyricists including Harold Adamson, Frank Loesser, and Oscar Hammerstein II, and his songs appeared in Broadway shows and Hollywood films throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Among his standards is You Turned the Tables on Me, a swinging number that has remained a favorite in the jazz vocal repertoire.
