THE PRESS MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1989. Irving Berlin

Press, 25 September 1989, Page 22

THE PRESS MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1989. Irving Berlin

Irving Berlin’s death, at the age of 101, ends a famous and effective life; it does not end a tradition to which he has made an immense contribution. When the film “This is the Army” showed much of the world the man himself in 1943, Irving Berlin, a lean, wiry figure, already seemed frail. That was nearly half a century ago. Since July, 1942, he had been performing in this show on Broadway, a show which urgently captured a need and spirit in the years after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour at the end of 1941. Timeliness and aptness are essential skills for a folk musician, though Berlin has to be rated as more than that. In the early years of this century Berlin introduced himself to Tin Pan Alley, the corner of New York that was a centre for popular music. Tin Pan Alley soon moved uptown from 14th Street, and across the world. Berlin’s rise to fame was a classic illustration of the American rags-to-riches legend. He was an infant immigrant from eastern Russia; his father, a synagogue cantor, died when Irving was eight; as a boy he was a guide to singing beggars in New York; he sang in Bowery hangouts and became a singing waiter. Then, in that role, he produced his first song for publication in 1907. Later in life, his work earned millions of dollars, and not all for himself because many of the royalties went to charities. Purposely avoiding the kind of formal musical training that might have cramped his style, Berlin was not an accomplished musician in the usual sense. When he sang in the Broadway run of “This is the Army" for three years, and in the film version, his voice was high-pitched, rather thin and tremolo; yet he was utterly compelling. He was, quite simply, a great creator of music and lyrics. Berlin’s name has to be coupled with those of Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer,

George Gershwin, Victor Herbert, and the rediscovered Scott Joplin; and, in the sense that he was in a powerful way the generator of American folk song, with that of Stephen Foster. The fact that his musical shows, films, and a thousand songs over more than half a century have embedded melodies and phrases in American culture and far beyond, means that his work was more than opportunistic or a thing only of its time. “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” in 1911, launched Berlin internationally and made him the foremost among pioneers of ragtime. He has to his credit such songs as “A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody,” “Blue Skies,” “White Christmas,” “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” and “Say It With Music.” This kind of output, lastingly entrenched in much of the world’s music, commands a very special place among artists. His patriotic bent was expressed in “God Bless America,” written for a World War I show. It almost supplanted the American National Anthem after Kate Smith sang it on Armistice Day, 1939; it was one of a long list of sentimental, flag-waving songs. His morale-building work might have been risky for an artist. He acknowledged this: “A patriotic song is an emotion, and you must not embarrass an audience with it, or they’ll hate your guts ... It has to be right, and the time for it has to be right.” His sensitivity to what was needed and acceptable was always acute; and that is evident in such shows as “This is the Army” and “Annie Get Your Gun,” his greatest success on stage, and “Easter Parade.” His music propelled many singers to great or greater prominence; and they helped to bring him fame and permanence on the American musical scene, and helped to establish a completely distinct style in music. His songs had to come first. ,