When", and "Ring Telephone Ring" among others. Controversy has surrounded "I'll Be Home for Christmas", since it was first published. The label on Bing Crosby's recording of "I'll Be Home for Christmas" credits it to Kent, Gannon, and Ram. Later recordings usually credit only Kent and Gannon. The discrepancy arose from the fact that on December 21, 1942, Buck Ram copyrighted a song titled "I'll Be Home for Christmas (Tho' Just in Memory)" although that version bore little or no resemblance, other than its title, to the Crosby recording. A song titled "I'll Be Home for Christmas" was also copyrighted on August 24, 1943, by Walter Kent (music) and James "Kim" Gannon (words). Kent and Gannon revised and re-copyrighted their song on September 27, 1943, and it was this version that Bing Crosby made famous. Unlike other talent managers of the era who were known for stealing and publishing songs others had written, Ram did not need to do so. He was a songwriter first and manager/producer second. The Platters and other groups he managed, like the Flares, were his vehicle to getting his songs recorded. In many cases he put singers' names on songs he had written. The only other controversy in Ram's long songwriting career was with "Twilight Time" which had been an instrumental recorded by the Three Suns. When Ram wrote the lyrics to the song and made it a hit, the Three Suns sued. As in the Christmas standard, the court ruled that the names of Artie Dunn and the Nevin brothers, writers of the instrumental, be included. It did not find against Ram. Ram died in 1991, aged 83, in Las Vegas, Nevada. References External links 1907 births 1991 deaths American music industry executives Songwriters from Illinois Jewish American musicians Jewish American songwriters Musicians from Chicago 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American Jews