Tunesmith Lee (Leo) Zahler was the eldest of three sons and a daughter born to Joseph and Annie Zahler, Austro-Hungarian Jews who had immigrated to America a decade or so before the turn of twentieth century. His father may have come from an area in Hungary that is now part of the Slovak Republic. Lee Zahler was born in New York City, where his father worked as a pattern designer for a dressmaker. Lee Zahler began his show business career working for a New York music publishing house and as professional piano player. By 1933 he was credited with having over two hundred and fifty of his original tunes adapted for the cinema. Starting in the early 1920s Zahler served for over a decade and a half as music director at the Larry Darmour Studio, which is probably best known for the "Mickey McGuire" series that starred Mickey Rooney and productions featuring comedian Charlie Chase. In 1940 Zahler's life was turned upside-down when his son Gordon broke his neck while performing a gymnastic feat at a Pasadena junior high school, leaving him a quadriplegic for life. This terrible accident would eventually lead to financial ruin, the breakup of his marriage and quite possibly his early death at age fifty-three.