Max Hoffmann was born in Gnesen, Poland on December 8, 1873 and died in Hollywood, California on May 21, 1963. He was a composer, conductor and arranger of American music. Originally a ragtime arranger, he is described as being "the first white man to make successfully the first rag arrangements" (Berlin 65). Oxford Music Online describes Hoffmann and his work as "a model of scoring for the nascent piano ragtime industry…[which] helped popularize the work of …ragtime pioneers." Hoffmann also worked as an arranger and conductor for vaudeville acts and as a Broadway composer. He wrote for acts such as the Rogers Brothers and the theatrical producers Klaw and Erlanger. One of his best known Broadway scores is The Parisian Model, which was produced by Oscar Hammerstein. He was also famous for his song The Hoffmann Glide. Hoffmann served as the composer and musical director for his wife, Gertrude Hoffmann and her dancing troupes known as The Gertrude Hoffmann Girls.

Catherine Gertrude Hayes Hoffmann was born in San Francisco on May 7, 1885, the daughter of John and Catherine (née Brogan) Hayes and died October 21, 1966 in Los Angeles, California. Gertrude Hoffmann was a legendary vaudevillian dancer, mimic, and choreographer who, early in her career, worked with such stage greats as Anna Held and Flo Ziegfield. Known for her Salome dance, Gertrude Hoffmann went on to become a celebrated imitation artist and one of the first female dance directors and choreographers in vaudeville and Broadway (Cohen-Stratyner 430). Gertrude Hoffmann was well-known for introducing the United States to the  Ballet Russes in 1910, when she brought her version of the ballet to America. She also worked extensively with Oscar and William Hammerstein, and founded the dance group The Gertrude Hoffmann Girls. The Hoffmann Girls regularly toured in Europe and the United States including appearances at the Moulin-Rouge in 1924-1925, engagements in Paris and London in 1934-35, and at least one appearance in Hollywood. Gertrude Hoffmann was also a co-director of a dance studio and is credited with various musical compositions.

The couple's later years are less well-known. A few biographers attribute a position as a studio arranger in Hollywood to Max and extras parts in films to Gertrude. Evidence, however, of another actress with the same name (Gertrude W. Hoffman) complicate the record. The couple had one son, Max Hoffmann, Jr. He was born in 1902, married Norma Allison, and predeceased both his parents in 1945. Their daughter-in-law, Norma Allison (later Norma Terris), was an actress best known for her role as Magnolia in the musical Show Boat.