Nathan Bonx

b.: May 1, 1900 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.) d.: October 23, 1950 (Washington, District of Columbia, U.S.) American lawyer and composer. Nat Bonx was an accomplished pianist and a classmate of songwriter and bandleader Moe Jaffe at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. In law school, Bonx and Jaffe co-wrote the song "Collegiate" as the theme song for their band, "Jaffe's Collegians." Recorded by Penn alumnus Fred Waring & The Pennsylvanians in April 1925, the song became a huge hit. Bonx and Jaffe followed it with "Collegiate Blues" (1925), "I’ve Got Some Lovin’ To Do" (1925), "I Love The College Girls (1926)," "Bolshevik" (1926), and "Actions Speak Louder Than Words" (1926). The first four of these were also recorded by Fred Waring & The Pennsylvanians for Victor. In 1927, Bonx, Jaffe and Clay Boland contributed the song "Sweetest Little Girl" to the Shubert Brothers revue "Listen, Dearie." After that, Bonx focused on his law practice. In 1941, though, Bonx teamed up once more with Moe Jaffe and Jack Fulton and wrote the hit "If You Are But A Dream" (inspired by Anton Rubinstein's "Romance in E flat, Op. 44, No. 1). The song was covered by Jimmy Dorsey And His Orchestra (with vocals by Bob Eberly), Nelson Eddy, and Frank Sinatra and became one of Sinatra's standards.