Despite her date of birth appearing almost everywhere online as 1904, Mabel was actually born in 1899, and made her debut on Rythmodik rolls in 1914, specialising in ragtime and popular vaudeville pieces.

Born into a family of performers and musicians, she studied voice and piano in Switzerland and then attended the New York School of Music. At age 16 she left school and toured the country, performing as a pianist and concert singer as well as a dancer in vaudeville acts, but her fame came later as a composer.

Her first genuine hit was in 1925 with 'Don't Wake Me Up, Let Me Dream' and a string of successes followed, the greatest being 'Ramona', 'Chiquita', 'In A Little Spanish Town', 'It Happened In Monterey', and many more. In 1928 she joined ASCAP

She collaborated with various lyricists including Sam Lewis, L. Wolfe Gilbert (pictured, with Mabel), and Billy Rose, and composed music for the famous film 'The King Of Jazz' (1930), amongst others. She continued to compose well into the 1950s.

Mabel Wayne and L. Wolfe Gilbert