Phil Boutelje

Phil Boutelje (August 6, 1895 in Philadelphia-July 29, 1979 in Los Angeles) is an American pianist, songwriter, composer, author and conductor. He was educated at the Philadelphia Music Academy. Phil was a pianist and arranger for the Paul Whiteman orchestra, and a military bandmaster during World War I. Later, he was the music director for Paramount Pictures and United Artists Studios, and composed for films, often on an uncredited basis. Joining ASCAP in 1930, his chief musical collaborators included Ned Washington, Dick Winfree, Harry Tobias, Rubey Cowan, Foster Carling and Al Dubin. His song compositions include ‘China Boy’, ‘Blue Dawn’ and ‘Lonesome’. He was nominated twice for Academy Awards, for Best Musical Scoring in 1939 for "The Great Victor Herbert" and for Best Score in 1943 for "Hi Diddle Diddle".