"On the Beach at Bali-Bali" is a song written by Al Sherman

Al Sherman

Al Sherman was an American Tin Pan Alley songwriter from the first half of the twentieth century. Sherman is a link in a long chain of musical Sherman family members.-Early life:...

, Abner Silver

Abner Silver

Abner Silver was an American songwriter who worked primarily during the Tin Pan Alley era of the craft. He was born on December 28, 1899, in New York....

 and Jack Maskill. It was written in 1935

1935 in music

-Events:*February 26 - Georges Bizet's Symphony in C is performed for the first time, under Felix Weingartner, in Basel, Switzerland*April 8 - Béla Bartók's String Quartet No. 5 is premiered in Washington, D.C....

 and recorded by Henry "Red" Allen among others. In 1937, it appeared in the Marx Brothers

Marx Brothers

The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...

 film A Day at the Races

A Day at the Races (film)

Further reading* Elisabeth Buxbaum: Veronika, der Lenz ist da. Walter Jurmann – Ein Musiker zwischen den Welten und Zeiten. Mit einem Werkverzeichnis von Alexander Sieghardt. Edition Steinbauer, Wien 2006, ISBN 3-902494-18-2-External links:*...

 where Chico Marx

Chico Marx

Leonard "Chico" Marx was an American comedian and film star as part of the Marx Brothers. His persona in the act was that of a dim-witted albeit crafty con artist, seemingly of rural Italian origin, who wore shabby clothes, and sported a curly-haired wig and Tyrolean hat.As the first-born of the...

 played it on the piano.

History of the title

The original title was "On a Street in Baden Baden", but the writers soon realized that Baden Baden was in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. Because in 1935, German dictator, Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

 threatened the peace of the world; the authors changed the "street" to a "beach" and the city of "Baden Baden" to the tropical (if not fictional) island of "Bali-Bali". Publishers commented that there was, in fact, no place called, "Bali-Bali" and insisted on the name being reduced to one "Bali". However, the writers refused to change the name any further, finally finding a home for their song, new name intact, with the publishing house: Joe Morris Music Co., Inc. of 1619 Broadway, New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

.

Literary Sources

• Sherman, Robert B. Walt's Time: from before to beyond
  Walt's Time: from before to beyond
  Walt's Time: from before to beyond is a 252-page autobiographic, full color book by Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman. It was edited by Imagineers Bruce Gordon, David Mumford and Jeff Kurtti and was published in 1998 by Camphor Tree Publishers who are out of Santa Clarita, California...
  
  . Chapter 2; "Al's Time", Pages 98-99. Santa Clarita: Camphor Tree Publishers, 1998.