Irving Berlin (1888-1989) was the greatest songwriter in American history. Born in Imperial Russia his father, an itinerant cantor, brought his family to America after their house was burned to the ground during a pogrom. Irving was 5 years old when he arrived in New York. Raised in Dickensian poverty he was out on the street at age 8. His formal education ended when he was 13. On his own at 16, he worked as a song plugger, a singing waiter, and eventually a songwriter. Writing lyrics first, he soon began to compose both words and music having taught himself how to play the piano. For many years he could only play in F sharp and used a transposing piano to change keys.
He had his first hit in 1911 with Alexander’s Ragtime Band (Merman). It was a huge success placing Berlin at the apex of American songwriters a position he held for a half century. The bulk of his career was on Broadway and then writing for the movies. He soon realized that he needed more than ragtime to express the musical emotions he sought to express. Over the decades of his professional life, he wrote about 1500 songs. His ability to connect with basic human emotions was akin to that of Schubert to whom he is often compared, save that he wrote the words he set to music.
In 1912 he married Dorothy Goetz, She died six months later from typhoid fever contracted on their honeymoon in Havana. When I Lost You (Crosby) was written to express his grief. It was his first ballad. In 1915 he wrote the comic and erotic ragtime song I Love a Piano (Garland). Over the next few years, he wrote hundreds of songs.
Berlin was drafted into the Army in 1917 as part of the US mobilization after its entry into World War He was assigned to write music and composed an all-soldier musical revue titled Yip Yip Yaphank. It was played on Broadway. One of its hits was Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning. The composer performs on this recording. At the show’s grand finale… Sergeant Berlin led the entire 300-person cast off the stage, marching them down the theater’s aisles, singing ‘We’re on Our Way to France,’ all to tumultuous applause. One of Berlin’s iconic songs was written for the show, but not used. It was introduced 20 years later – see below.
In 1919 he wrote A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody (Pat Boone) for the Ziegfeld Follies of that year. It was a huge hit and showed a great leap forward in sophistication. Another great tune was Always (The Inkspots); written in 1925 it was a wedding gift for his wife Ellin Mackay, whom he married in 1926, and to whom he gave the song’s royalties. All Alone (Frank Sinatra) written in the same year becomes a poignant lament when sung by Frank Sinatra. His reading leaves those of everyone else light years behind.
‘What’ll I Do?’ was composed in 1924. More than 20 years later both Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra made hit recordings of the song. Both words and music exemplify Berlin’s unique ability to tap into basic human emotions, seemingly without effort.
The 1946 Fred Astaire film Blue Skies was built around the song of the same name written by Berlin in 1926. In addition to the title song, it featured Puttin on the Ritz written two years after ‘Blue Skies’. The link to the song, just above, goes to a video of Astaire singing and dancing to Berlin’s great music. It’s one of the greatest dance numbers ever filmed. The combination of Berlin and Astaire reaches the highest level of art.
The song left out of Berlin’s World War I show, with a few modifications, was recorded by Kate Smith in 1938. ‘God Bless America’ had become a second US national anthem. It is played during the seventh-inning stretch at every New York Yankee home game. Kate Smith God Bless America. The video below presents Berlin, in one of his last public appearances singing the song. He was 80 years old at the time of this appearance. He obviously believed every word that he had written. Kate Smith, a lifelong advocate of civil rights, has been canceled because of two recordings now on the Index that she made in the early 30s.
The Jewish immigrant also wrote two of the most popular songs about the two most important Christian holidays. ‘Easter Parade’ was composed in 1933 for the show As Thousand Cheer. In 1948 the movie Easter Parade was built around the song. Bing Crosby sang the song in the 1942 movie Holiday Inn. The same film featured ‘White Christmas’ also sung by Crosby. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Crosby’s recording has sold about 50 million copies, the most in recording history. Another 50 million copies recorded by other performers have also been sold.
When the United States joined World War II after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Berlin immediately began composing a number of patriotic songs. His most notable and valuable contribution to the war effort was a stage show he wrote called “This Is The Army”. It was taken to Broadway and then on to Washington, DC (where President Franklin D Roosevelt attended). It was eventually shown at military bases throughout the world, including London, North Africa, Italy, the Middle East, and Pacific countries, sometimes close to battle zones. Berlin wrote nearly three dozen songs for the show which contained a cast of 300 men. He supervised the production and traveled with it, always singing ‘Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning. The show kept him away from his family for three and a half years, during which time he took neither salary nor expenses and turned over all profits to the Army Emergency Relief Fund. [From Wikipedia article on Berlin]
After Jerome Kerns died suddenly before he could begin work on Annie Get Your Gun the producers Rogers and Hammerstein asked Berlin to do the show. He reluctantly agreed to take the assignment but thought the topic was not right for him. The result, however, was a triumph. Annie ran on Broadway for 1,147 performances. There’s ‘No Business Like Show Business’ was not only a gigantic hit it also became Ethel Merman’s trademark. ‘Anything You Can Do’ was written in a few hours after Berlin overheard director Josh Logan and Hammerstein say they wanted another duet. The song is a piece of virtuosic wordplay and musical invention.
Berlin went on to write several more musicals of which Call Me Madame was a big hit. After 1966 he retired and wrote no more music, spending the remaining 23 years of his life silent and away from public view. Berlin was the only musician of genius who was entirely self-taught – and he brilliantly wrote his lyrics despite no formal education after age 13. It will be a long time before we see his like again. Absent Berlin the Great American Songbook would be half the size.
I enjoyed reading this enlightening and highly educational biography.