Irving Berlin - Obituary

Thomas Stevenson – 30134329

Irving Berlin: May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989.

The lights on Broadway were dimmed last night in honour of legendary American songwriter Irving

Berlin, who died in his Manhattan home at the age of 101. With a career spanning over 60 years,

Berlin is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers and lyricists in American history.

Though he never formally learned to read and write music, over the course of his career he scored

451 hits, of which 282 made it into the top ten with a further 35 reaching number one1. Indeed,

fellow theatre icon Cole Porter once remarked: “I don’t know of anybody who sits down to write a

hit, with the exception of Irving Berlin who can’t help writing hits”2. In total he wrote the scores for

seventeen complete Broadway shows, contributed to six more3 and wrote for eighteen Hollywood

films4. His songs combined a multiethnic everyman’s sensibilities with innate melodic and

harmonic understanding, that set the tone of American songwriting for much of the 20 th Century,

prompting Jerome Kern to comment “Irving Berlin has no place in American music – he is

American music”5.

FROM RAGTIME TO RICHES

Born in Russia on May 11th 1888 as ‘Israel Beilin’, he was the youngest of eight children born to

Moses and Lena Beilin6. Fleeing anti-Semitic persecution, his family immigrated to America in

1893 with Berlin remarking that his only enduring memory from his five years in Russia was sitting

on a blanket by the side of the road watching his house burn to the ground7. Though his family lived

in New York City’s poorer Lower East Side district he said: “I never felt poverty because I’d never

1 John Shaw, This Land That I Love: Irving Berlin, Woody Guthrie, and the story of Two American Anthems (Published by PublicAffairs, New York, 2013) p 62 Gilbert Millstein, ‘Words Anent Music by Cole Porter; The Composer of 500 Songs, a good many of them hits, confesses his sole inspiration is a telephone call from a producer’ New York Times (February 20, 1955). 3 Irving Berlin Biography – Songwriters Hall of Fame as found 4 Marilyn Berger, ‘Irving Berlin, Nation’s songwriter, Dies’ New York Times (September 23, 1989)5 Stephen Holden, ‘Pop View; Irving Berlin’s American Landscape’ New York Times (May 10, 1987)6 Op Cit. John Shaw p 117 Ibid

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known anything else”8. When his father died in 1901, along with the family’s main source of

income9, Berlin got a job as singing waiter, where he taught himself to learn how to play the piano

at night10. Berlin drew inspiration from the common tunes and everyday vernacular of the people

around him, resulting in incredibly popular songs that emotionally resonated with the general public

as they seemed to capture the essence of what it was to be American, prompting Jerome Kern to

comment “emotionally, he honestly absorbs the vibrations emanating from the people, manners and

life of his time and, in turn, gives these impressions back to the world – simplified, clarified, and

glorified”11.

This trend began with his first song in 1907, “Marie From Sunny Italy”12. Due to a printing error the

lyricist in the copy of the sheet music read “I. Berlin”, a name, which he kept when was launch into

national and international stardom with his hit song “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”, which sparked an

international dance craze. His overwhelming popularity remained the hallmark of his work

throughout his career, his unique blend of east and west, poor and rich, old and new, made him

irresistible to every facet. Throughout the period from 1920s top the 1940s he produced a string of

hits, notably “What I’ll Do”, “Always”, “Blue Skies”, “Puttin’ on the Ritz”, “Say It Isn’t So”, “I’ve

Got My Love To Keep Me Warm”, and “God Bless America”. Ever the pragmatist, at the age of 32

he commissioned the building of the Music Box Theatre simply for the purpose of housing his

famous music box reviews13. Berlin was often at the forefront of both theatre and film, providing

Fanny Bryce with her first comedy song, “Sadie Solome Go Home”, and featuring one of his songs,

“Blue Skies” in the first talking picture The Jazz Singer14. He spent many years in Hollywood,

8 Op Cit. John Shaw p 229 Ibid p 1110 Irving Berlin’s 100th Birthday Celebration (27 May 1988) found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uV4frZIkIQ 11 Ibid 12 Marilyn Berger, ‘Irving Berlin, Nation’s songwriter, Dies’ New York Times (September 23, 1989)13 Ibid14 Irving Berlin’s 100th Birthday Celebration (27 May 1988) found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uV4frZIkIQ

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writing the score to the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers musical, the Top Hat15 in 1935, and in the

process becoming close friends with Fred Astaire16.

HOW I HATE TO GET UP IN THE MORNING

Upon the United States’ entry into World War II, Berlin was commissioned by the American

government to write a series of patriotic songs. His most significant contribution came in the form

of his hit show, This Is The Army, containing his legendary song “Oh How I Hate To Get Up In The

Morning” which he himself performed as part of the show. He donated the profits to the Army

Emergency Relief Fund, raising more than $10 million. During the war Berlin also experienced

considerable success with the song, “White Christmas” in the movie Holiday Inn, which would go

on to be one of the most recorded songs in history.

After the war the legendary team of Rodgers and Hammerstein approached him to compose the

score and write the lyrics for a Broadway musical about the life of Annie Oakley, Annie Got Your

Gun. He was initially skeptical of writing the new type of heavily plot based musical requested by

the producers, which he dubbed “situation shows”17. However he took the script home and ended up

writing three musical numbers “Doing What Comes Naturally”, “They Say That Falling In Love Is

Wonderful” and “You Can’t Get A Man With a Gun”. He also wrote was had been described as the

“official anthem of the American Musical Theatre”, “There’s No Business Like Show Business”18.

Annie Get Your Gun produced eight hit songs, and although the critics claimed it was old-fashioned,

Berlin agreed and said it was nothing but “good old-fashioned hits”19. He wrote more shows20 in the

15 McCorkle, Susanna. ‘Always: A Singer’s Journey Through The Life Of Irving Berlin’ American Heritage (November 1998)16 Ibid.17 Broadway: The American Musical (2004 PBS documentary) found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNgE085lJZU 18 Ibid19 Ibid20 Miss Liberty (1949), Call Me Madam (1950) Mr President (1962)

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following decades, but Annie Get Your Gun is widely regarded as Berlin’s greatest musical and was

arguably his biggest musical success, despite his later work Call Me Madame winning the Tony

award for best score. Berlin also highly concerned with the protection of his fellow artists, he was

one of the first members of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP),

with Morton Gould commenting that Berlin had “always shown a deep concern for the writers of

publishers”21 both of film and theatre. He was also politically and socially active, with patriotism, as

with his songs, being the inspiration for his activity. He wrote songs in support of Dwight

Eisenhower’s presidential campaign and to aid the government in the collection of taxes. His

daughter, Marry Ellin Barret said, “he was consumed by patriotism”22, claiming Berlin often

himself said “I owe all my success to my adopted country”23.

In 1912 he married Dorothy Goetz, who tragically died six months later of typhoid fever. Although

Berlin was devastated by this lost, he managed to convert his grief into artistic and financial

success, with his song “When I Lost You” dedicated to her, selling over a million copies. In the mid

to late 1920s he met and fell in love with young, catholic heiress Ellin Mackay, the daughter of the

head of the Postal Telegraph Cable Company, prominent socialite Clarence Mackay. Mackay

forbade the marriage on account of Berlin’s religion. The couple eloped and eventually won her

father’s approval when Berlin bailed him out of financial ruin during the depression. The couple

had four children, with Irving junior sadly dying in infancy. Despite his success, Berlin kept a

relatively low profile and seemed to be relatively unaffected by the extent of his fame, George M

Cohan commented, that although Berlin “made lots of money, it hasn’t turned his head. He hasn’t

forgotten his friends, he doesn’t wear funny clothes”24.

21 Op Cit. Broadway: The American Musical (2004 PBS documentary) found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNgE085lJZU22 McCorkle, Susanna. ‘Always: A Singer’s Journey Through The Life Of Irving Berlin’ American Heritage (November 1998)23 Ibid. 24 The Story of Irving Berlin (New York Times, January 2, 1916)

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Irving Berlin is one of the single most important figures in the history of American musical theater.

His songs defined musical theatre, or musical comedy, as a distinctly American art form. He

managed to imbue his works with an infectious American sentimentality. Through his songs he

clarified what it was to be American, as Isaac Stern said: “we were a hodgepodge of nationalities

and noises, but he heard nothing but melody”25. The sheer amount of work he produced was

unprecedented and has gone unmatched since. He remains a source on inspirations for budding

composers and performers alike, and a constant reminder that you not necessarily need to be able to

read music, and have all the formalized training to make a significant impact in the world of

musical theatre.

ANNOTATED BIBILOGRAPHY

25 Irving Berlin’s 100th Birthday Celebration (27 May 1988) found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uV4frZIkIQ

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Books

1. Brantley, Ben, Broadway Musicals from the Pages of the New York Time (Abrams Books, New

York 2012)

- Incredibly useful source. It contains the thoughts of the critics in regards to Berlin at the time

his shows were written. It was also useful to compare how his shows were viewed against

shows written by other composers and how his style of show changed over time.

2. Shaw, John. This Land That I Love: Irving Berlin, Woody Guthrie, and the story of Two

American Anthems (PublicAffairs, New York, 2013)

- Incredibly useful source for the history of the beginning of Berlin’s life. It explained a lot

about his Jewish heritage and his early life.

Journals

3. Hamm, Charles, ‘Genre, Performance and Ideology in the Early Songs of Irving Berlin’

Cambridge University Press Vol.13, No 2 (May 1994)

- Not a particular useful source, but that is likely due to the nature of the source. As many

journal articles utilize hyper technical language and have a narrow focus they are not the best

sources for constructing an obituary.

Newspaper Articles

4. Berger, Marilyn, ‘Irving Berlin, Nation’s songwriter, Dies’ New York Times (September 23,

1989)

- Great source. Summarised his life succinctly and poignantly whole providing the necessary

facts to demonstrate his incredible achievements.

5. Holden, Stephen, ‘Pop View; Irving Berlin’s American Landscape’ New York Times (May 10,

1987)

- Very useful source. Gave great insight into the way context in which Berlin was composing

and how hit fit in with that society and his contemporaries.

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6. Millstein, Gilbert. ‘Words Anent Music by Cole Porter; The Composer of 500 Songs, a good

many of them hits, confesses his sole inspiration is a telephone call from a producer’ New York

Times (February 20, 1955)

- Great course, mainly useful for getting Cole Porter’s opinion on Berlin.

7. McCorkle, Susanna. ‘Always: A Singer’s Journey Through The Life Of Irving Berlin’ American

Heritage (November 1998)

- Brilliant source with great detail and facts. Gives lots of personal accounts of individual

opinion about and reactions to Berlin, a good source for the construction of a obituary.

8. ‘The Story of Irving Berlin’ New York Times (January 2, 1916)

- Great source, particularly because it is a source from that time. Was particularly useful in

getting George M Cohan’s opinion on Berlin.

Websites

9. Broadway: The American Musical (2004 PBS documentary) found at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNgE085lJZU

- Incredible source. Goes into wonderful detail about Berlin’s life, the time, his context in

musical theatre.

10. Irving Berlin’s 100th Birthday Celebration (27 May 1988) found at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uV4frZIkIQ

- A good source, but focus more on the celebrity aspect of performing as opposed to giving a

detailed account of Berlin’s life. It was, however, a testament to his enduring relevance and

popularity.

11. The Song Writers Hall Of Fame, Irving Berlin found at

http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/bio/C3

- Great Source, a succinct summary of Irving Berlin’s life. Good for getting a quick overview of

the time she lived in and his achievements.

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Documents

Irving Berlin - Obituary