Songwriter and orchestrator Zahler provided both the musical score and an original theme song for the first talking serial, King of the Kongo, produced by Mascot Pictures in 1929.
Zahler's agitato scores for Holt of the Secret Service (1941) and Batman (1943) are perhaps most familiar to serial fans.
Lee Zahler's life took a devastating turn in 1940 when his 14-year-old son Gordon was seriously injured in a high-school-gymnastics accident.
This library passed to Gordon, whose Zahler Music Library profitably sold stock music for TV productions including The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, Cavalcade of America, Private Secretary, Your Funny, Funny Films, The New 3 Stooges, and Underdog.
As late as 1975 Lee Zahler was still getting screen credit (for the Al Adamson western tribute Blazing Stewardesses).