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Essay on Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin, popular songwriter was born Israel Baline in Russia, Berlin came to the United States in 1893 and received his first music lessons from his father, a cantor. The young Berlin performed on the streets of New York's Lower East Side and as a singing waiter in Chinatown before taking a job as a song plugger. His first published song was "Marie from Sunny Italy" (1907), and it was a printer's error on the cover of the sheet music that gave him the "nom de musique" of Berlin.
Berlin achieved success as a performer in musical revues, which were a popular form of theatrical and musical entertainment in the United States during the years around World War I. He sang his own songs in Up and Down Broadway (1910) and composed the music for the Ziegfeld Follies of 1911, 1919, 1920, and 1927. "Alexander's Ragtime Band," for which Berlin wrote both words and music, became an instant hit, and he composed the music for Watch Your Step (1914), a show that featured popular dancers Vernon and Irene Castle. He continued to compose musical revues, some of which were performed in New York's Music Box Theater, which he helped build. His famous song "Easter Parade" was composed for the revue As Thousands Cheer in 1933. World Wars I and II gave Berlin the inspiration for two of his most popular revues, Yip, Yip, Yaphank! (1918), which included the song "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning," and This Is the Army (1942).
A self-taught pianist and composer, Berlin published more than fifteen hundred songs. Many were written for musical films that showcased such entertainers as Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. He wrote the scores for Top Hat (1935) and Holiday Inn (1942), which includes "White Christmas,".....
