Irving Berlin

Composer

• Born: May 11, 1888
• Birthplace: Mogilyov, Russia (now in Belarus)
• Died: September 22, 1989
• Place of death: New York, New York

Russian-born songwriter

The best-selling American songwriter in history, Berlin penned fifteen hundred songs, nineteen Broadway musicals, and scores for eighteen Hollywood films.

Areas of achievement: Music; entertainment

Early Life

Irving Berlin (bur-LIHN) was born in Mogilyov in what is now Belarus. His father, Moishe Baline, was a shochet, one who kills kosher animals according to religious laws, and a cantor in a synagogue. Moishe moved his wife Leah and six children several times to avoid the pogroms, violent attacks on Jews that destroyed their village in 1893. Berlin spoke of a childhood memory of watching his house burn to the ground. Escaping through Poland and Germany into Belgium, the Balines took the steamer Rhynland to the United States, passing through Ellis Island. One of Leah’s relatives found them a three-room basement apartment on Monroe Street on the lower East Side, but as soon as they could afford it they moved to a larger place at 330 Cherry Street.

When his father died in 1896, eight-year-old Berlin took to the streets—along with the rest of his siblings—to support the family. He spent the next six years as a newsboy, but in 1902, at age fourteen, mortified that even his sisters earned more than he, Berlin left home to eke out a living in the Bowery. Inheriting his father’s musical ability, he became a “busker,” a bar singer who serenaded patrons for tips. This was the best possible training for a songwriter, because he was memorizing the most popular songs in the biggest song market in the world. Moving up to classier bars, and finally to the premier venue in New York, Tony Pastor’s Music Hall, Irving Berlin—as he called himself—became a “plugger,” a singer of new songs to impresarios in hopes they will use the songs in their shows. This practice put Berlin in contact with the major music publishers in New York. After the bars closed each night, Berlin practiced on the bar pianos the songs he sang until he could play all the current hits by ear. In 1907, he published his first song, “Marie from Sunny Italy.”

Life’s Work

Berlin continued to write, hitting it big with “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” in 1911. While not really a rag, it revived popular interest in syncopated music and influenced later composers. George Gershwin called the song the first real American musical work. It was an international hit, known even in Berlin’s native Russia, and sparked a ragtime dance craze in America. The following year Berlin married Dorothy Goetz, but she died sixth months later of typhoid contracted on their honeymoon in Havana. He expressed his grief in a ballad, “When I Lost You,” the first of many hits in that popular idiom.

In 1914, Berlin wrote an entire Broadway musical in ragtime, Watch Your Step, solidifying the role of syncopation in American popular music. When America entered World War I in 1917, Berlin began writing the patriotic songs that would typify his later work. Berlin’s patriotism was genuine: As an immigrant, he often expressed his gratitude to his adopted country. Berlin’s celebration of the immigrant nature of America, however, was a mixed blessing for his Jewish identity. The emphasis in 1917 was on assimilating, which Berlin acknowledged by collaborating with George Meyer and Edgar Leslie on a song called “Let’s All Be Americans Now,” promoting an end to ethnicity in the face of worldwide conflict.

Drafted into the U.S. Army, thirty-year-old Berlin was commissioned to write a review for servicemen to boost morale. The result was Yip Yip Yaphank, which introduced the hits “Mandy” and “Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning.” One song cut from the show, “God Bless America,” would become one of Berlin’s most recorded songs and an unofficial national anthem.

After the war, most of his big hits in the 1920’s were romantic ballads: “What’ll I Do?” (1924), “Always” (1925), and “Blue Skies” (1926). Perhaps not coincidentally, the 1920’s also saw Berlin’s courtship with his second wife, Ellin Mackay, a society heiress whose father, head of a telegraph service, vowed she would marry the songwriter only over his dead body. Nevertheless, they did marry in 1925. “Blue Skies” was Berlin’s celebration of the birth of their first daughter a year later.

The advent of sound in motion pictures provided a new showcase for Berlin’s talents. The first talking picture, The Jazz Singer (1927), featured Berlin’s “Blue Skies.” Many songwriters became attached to film studios, but Berlin’s name was such a draw in itself that his name often dominated the marquis in films such as Top Hat (1935), On the Avenue (1937), and Holiday Inn (1942), which introduced the classic “White Christmas.”

World War II brought Berlin back to patriotism, resulting in the stage show This Is the Army (1943), converted immediately into a successful film with Ronald Reagan. After touring for three and a half years with the show, Berlin returned to Broadway with Annie Get Your Gun (1946), Miss Liberty (1949), Call Me Madam (1950), and, after a decade of retirement, Mr. President (1962). Berlin died in his sleep in 1989 at the age of 101.

Significance

Jerome Kern once said that Berlin did not have a place in American music; he was American music. Berlin dominated twentieth century music in quantity (more than fifteen hundred published songs), quality (twenty-five number one hits certified by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), and longevity (sixty years of songwriting). In addition to numerous awards from the entertainment industry, the United States recognized Berlin with the Medal of Merit for This Is the Army in 1944, a Congressional Gold Medal for “God Bless America” in 1954, a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, and a Medal of Liberty in 1986. Berlin charted at age ninety-four with Taco’s 1982 cover of “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” which peaked at number four, and posthumously with Celine Dion’s version of “God Bless America,” which reached number fourteen in 2001. Always a leading contributor to Jewish charities, Berlin was honored in 1944 by the National Conference for Christians and Jews for promoting religious and racial harmony.

Bibliography

Barrett, Mary Ellin. Irving Berlin: A Daughter’s Memoir. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994. Family memories (and rare photos) enhance this biography, written by the daughter for whom Berlin wrote “Blue Skies.”

Bergreen, Laurence. As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin. New York: Viking Press, 1990. At 658 pages, this is a thorough and balanced biography of the composer.

Furstinger, Nancy. Say It with Music: The Story of Irving Berlin. Greensboro, N.C.: Morgan Reynolds, 2003. This brief biographical introduction (128 pages) in the Modern Music Masters series is rich in photographs.

Gottlieb, Jack. Funny, It Doesn’t Sound Jewish. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2004. A brief section on Berlin with side-by-side comparisons of Jewish sacred music and Berlin’s songs shows a clear influence.

Jablonski, Edward. Irving Berlin: American Troubador. New York: Henry Holt, 1999. Jablonski is nearly exhaustive in his coverage of Berlin’s songs, including a detailed discography and filmography.

Leopold, David. Irving Berlin’s Show Business: Broadway, Hollywood, America. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2005. This study parallels cultural events in various periods of Berlin’s life with his own works.

Whitcomb, Ian. Irving Berlin and Ragtime America. London: Century-Hitchinson, 1987. A study of Berlin’s music focusing on the influence of modern jazz in its creation.