Arlen (1906-86) began playing with local bands, movie houses, vaudeville troupes and cabaret as a teenager in his home town of Buffalo, NY. His early collaboration with Ted Koehler, beginning in 1930, lead to writing such hits as "Between the Devil and the Deep blue Sea" and "I've Got the World On a String" for the famed Cotton Club. In 1939 he won the Oscar for Best Original Song for "Over the Rainbow," and later earned more Academy Award nominations, including one for "The Man That Got Away" from "A Star is Born."