Allie Wrubel was an American composer and songwriter whose melodic gifts graced Hollywood musicals and Disney films from the 1930s through the 1960s. Born in Middletown, Connecticut, in 1905, he began his career as a saxophonist and bandleader before turning to songwriting. His most celebrated achievement was "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah," written with Ray Gilbert for Disney's Song of the South (1946), which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. His earlier hit "Gone with the Wind" (1937) became a jazz standard, widely covered by artists including Sarah Vaughan and Frank Sinatra. Working with lyricists including Herb Magidson, Mort Dixon, and Ned Washington, Wrubel contributed songs to numerous Warner Bros. musicals. He died in Twentynine Palms, California, in 1973.
