Hirsch was born in
New York City. In his senior year at the
City College of New York, Hirsch traveled to Europe to study piano at Berlin's
Stern Conservatory, with pianist
Rafael Joseffy. He returned to the U.S. in 1906 and began working as a staff pianist in the
Tin Pan Alley publishing houses of
Gus Edwards, and
Shapiro-Bernstein. He also began to write some of his own music. Hirsch's first assignment was writing music for the Lew Dockstader's Minstrels. Soon, some of his melodies were interpolated into
Broadway shows, including
The Gay White Way,
Miss Innocence (starring
Anna Held), and
The Girl and the Wizard. In 1910,
He Came From Milwaukee was Hirsch's first full score. His
Revue of Revues (1911) introduced French star
Gaby Deslys to America. He subsequently wrote the music to many songs that Deslys made popular, including "The Gaby Glide", "
Come Dance with Me", and "When You Hear Love's Hello". One of his best jazz tunes is "It's Getting Very Dark on Old Broadway". His first major success was
Vera Violetta (1911), which made
Al Jolson a star. For the Schuberts in 1912 and 1913, he contributed music to
The Whirl of Society and
The Passing Show (both starring
José Collins). Hirsch was one of the nine founders of
ASCAP in 1914 and an ASCAP director between 1917 and 1924. During
World War I, he contributed songs to four editions of The
Ziegfeld Follies, including "Sweet Kentucky Lady" and "Hello Frisco!". He wrote music for the 1918 musical
Oh, My Dear! and collaborated with
Otto Harbach as lyricist on the musical
Going Up (1917),
Mary (1920), including "Love Nest", his most successful song, which later became the
Burns and Allen radio show theme. He also wrote music for
The Rainbow Girl and
See Saw, among others. Hirsch also conceived many of the storylines and concepts in his musicals. In 1921, he contributed to the Broadway show ''The O'Brien Girl
and then the 1922 and 1923 editions of The Greenwich Village Follies''. Other popular Hirsch songs include "Neath the Southern Moon" (also titled "'Neath the South Sea Moon"), "The Tickle Toe", "Always Together", "Garden of Your Dreams", "Hold Me in Your Loving Arms", "Going Up", "My Sumurum Girl", "Mary", "Love Is Like a Red Red Rose", "When I Found You", "Beautiful Island of Girls", "My Rambler Rose", "The Love Nest", "I Am Thinking of You", and "Annabel Lee". On May 27, 1920, Hirsch sued the
New York Yankees for $100‚000 because of an incident at the Yankee game at the Polo Grounds on the 24th. To avoid sitting next to a cigar smoker‚ Hirsch switched seats with his brother. An usher informed him it was against the rules to shift seats and ordered the two brothers to switch back. Hirsch refused and was forcibly ejected from the stands. Hirsch died in New York City of pneumonia, aged 36. ==Musicals==