play guide: hershey felder as irving berlin
DESCRIPTION
ÂTRANSCRIPT
PLAY GUIDE
2015 2016
About ATC .................................................................................................................................................
Introduction to the Play ............................................................................................................................
Meet the Playwright and Performer ..........................................................................................................
Meet the Composer .................................................................................................................................
Who’s Who ................................................................................................................................................
World Context: 20th Century ......................................................................................................................
The Works of Irving Berlin .........................................................................................................................
Glossary ...................................................................................................................................................
Discussion Questions and Activities .........................................................................................................
Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin Play Guide written and designed by Katherine Monberg, ATC Literary Associate, with assistance from April Jackson, Learning & Education Manager; Bryanna Patrick and Luke Young, Learning & Education Associates.
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INTRODUCTION TO THE PLAY
Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin
Lyrics & Music by Irving Berlin
Book by Hershey Felder
Directed by Trevor Hay
From the depths of Czarist Russia to New York’s Lower East Side,
Irving Berlin’s story embodies the American dream. Hershey
Felder, the bravura performer, compelling storyteller, and superb
concert pianist who thrilled us with George Gershwin Alone
returns to ATC in another not-to-be-missed musical. Felder’s Hershey Felder in ATC’s production of Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin. Photo by Eighty-Eight Entertainment, LLC.
latest brings to vibrant life the remarkable story of “America’s Composer,” Irving Berlin, who wrote such classics as “White
Christmas” and “God Bless America”. Hershey Felder’s performance makes this evening an unforgettable journey.
MEET THE PLAYWRIGHT AND PERFORMER
Hershey Felder (Irving Berlin/Playwright) created and performed George Gershwin
Alone, which played on Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theatre, in the West End at the
Duchess Theatre, and in theatres around the country. His Composers Sonata—George
Gershwin Alone; Monsieur Chopin; Beethoven, As I Knew Him; Maestro Bernstein;
Hershey Felder as Franz Liszt in Musik; Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin—has been
presented at dozens of theatres across the U.S. and around the world. His compositions
and recordings include Aliyah, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra; Fairytale, a musical;
Les Anges de Paris, Suite for Violin and Piano; Song Settings; Saltimbanques for
Piano and Orchestra; Etudes Thematiques for Piano; and An American Story for
Actor and Orchestra. As director, he premiered Mona Golabek in The Pianist of
Willesden Lane at the Geffen Playhouse in 2012 and, earlier this year, produced and
created scenic design for Taylor Hackford’s Louis Hackford’s Louis and Keely ‘Live’ at
Playwright and performer Hershey Felder.
the Sahara. Mr. Felder has been a scholar-in-residence at Harvard University’s Department of Music and is married to Kim
Campbell, the first female Prime Minister of Canada.
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MEET THE COMPOSER
Alexander III, ruler of Imperial Russia from 1881 until 1894.
Journey to the New World
Irving Berlin was born Israel Baline on May 11, 1888, one of eight children to Moses
and Lena Lipkin Beilin. There is some contention regarding the actual city of his
birth, but it was in or near what was then the Russian Empire. His father was a
cantor in a synagogue, and in 1893 the Balines joined thousands of other Jewish
families in a mass exodus to America in response to the anti-Jewish sentiment of
Tsar Alexander III.
The Beginnings
The Balines made their way through Ellis Island to the Yiddish Theater District on
the Lower East Side of New York City. Unable to find employment as a cantor, Moses
worked at a kosher meat market and taught Hebrew on the side, but the income was not enough to support his young family. Young Israel “Izzy” became a newspaper boy, selling The Evening Journal on the streets. He discovered that singing popular
songs of the day, heard through the doors of the saloons and restaurants near which he sold his papers, increased his daily
income. He later quit selling papers to become an itinerant singer, visiting saloons to earn pennies from customers, earning
his musical education in partnership to his poverty and simultaneously discovering that his greatest profits came from “well-
known tunes expressing simple sentiments.”
At age 18, Izzy realized his ambition to become a singing waiter,
taking a job at the Pelham Café in Chinatown. Proprietor Mike
Saulter was a colorful character of the underworld, operating a bar
on the ground floor with a whorehouse upstairs. Eager to overshadow
his competitors, Saulter encouraged Izzy toward ambitions as a
songwriter, hoping to capitalize on his talents. Israel teamed up
with the Pelham’s resident pianist and knocked out his first complete
song, “Marie from Sunny Italy”, which was met with acclaim from
the local immigrant population. Along with his first copyright fee of
37 cents, through a printing error on the score young Izzy also
acquired a new name: Irving Berlin.
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Mulberry Street on New York City’s Lower East Side, 1900, at the center of “Little Italy.”
Serving as both composer and lyricist, one of only a few composers of
the era to do so, Berlin took up residence in Tin Pan Alley and began to
experiment with ragtime, a fast, rowdy style popularized by Scott
Joplin. Berlin authored his first major hit, “Alexander’s Ragtime
Band”, in 1911. The song sparked a music and dance sensation, both
in America and abroad, earning him the nickname, “The Ragtime
King”.
Berlin soon made his way to an uptown nightclub, Jimmy Kelly’s at Union Square, a show business hangout owned by an ex-
prize fighter. It was there that Berlin made his first contacts in the music business, composing and selling songs to the local
clientele. With the first appearance of one of his songs in the annual Ziegfeld Follies – “Good-bye, Becky Cohen”, performed
by vaudeville star Fanny Brice – Irving began his rise through the industry to fame.
Buildings of Tin Pan Alley, 1910.
In 1912, Berlin married Dorothy Goetz, the sister of fellow songwriter
E. Ray Goetz. However, their happiness would be short lived, as
Dorothy died a mere six months later of typhoid fever, contracted while
on their honeymoon to Havana. Berlin expressed his anguish in a
dramatic change of his musical style and authored the first of many
ballads for which he would come to be known: “When I Lost
You” (1912).
Berlin continued to rule as the “King of Tin Pan Alley” through the early 1900s, becoming a charter member of the American
Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1914, along with his Broadway partner Victor Herbert, and
founding the Irving Berlin Music Corporation to control his many copyrights in 1919. He composed prolifically for the Follies
and Broadway until the rhythm of the world was interrupted with the outbreak of World War I, which would plunge the U.S.
into an international conflict of unprecedented scale and destruction.
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World War I
Berlin, fiercely patriotic and grateful to the United States for his own journey to success, energetically joined the war effort
through the production of patriotic songs to engender support and a sense of American nationalism. When the U.S. officially
joined the war in April 1917, Berlin made headline news as one of nearly three million men drafted into military service. While stationed at Camp Upton with the 152nd Depot Brigade, Berlin drew upon his show business background and
developed the musical Yip! Yip! Yaphank!, written as a patriotic tribute to the U.S. Army. The show transferred to Broadway
the following summer, where it was met with wild success during a limited run.
1920 to 1940
After his discharge from the U.S. Army following the war, Berlin returned to Tin Pan Alley and forged a partnership with Sam
H. Harris to build the Music Box Theater, which would serve as the home of his Music Box Revue from 1921 until 1925 and
would produce the premiere of his later work As Thousands Cheer (1933); the Music Box remains the only Broadway house
built to accommodate the work of a singular songwriter.
Ellin Mackay and Irving Berlin, 1925.
In 1925, Berlin met and fell in love with Ellin Mackay, daughter
and heiress to Clarence Mackay, head of the Postal Telegraph
Cable Company and responsible for laying the first cable across
the Atlantic Ocean. The press was intensely interested in the love
affair between a Jewish immigrant and the Catholic socialite,
further propelled by Clarence Mackay’s intense disapproval. The
couple eloped, had four children, and remained together until
Ellin’s death in 1988 at the age of 85.
Over the next two decades, Berlin continued to oversee operations
at the Music Box as theater owner, producer and composer, and
penned many of the iconic standards of American music, with the
Irving Berlin Music Corporation successfully weathering the storm
of the Great Depression. Some notable musical hits include
“What’ll I Do” (1924), known for numerous famous renditions
including those by Nat Cole and Frank Sinatra; “Always” (1925)
which would top the charts with renditions by Vincent Lopez and
George Olsen and later become known as Patsy Cline’s
postmortem anthem; “Blue Skies” (1926) which would become the
first song performed by Al Jolson in the first feature sound film,
The Jazz Singer, the following year; “Marie” (1929), which would
reach Number 2 with Rudy Vallee and Number 1 with Tommy
Exterior of Berlin’s Music Box Theatre as it looked in 1958.
Dorsey in 1937; “Puttin’ on the Ritz” (1930), which would become an instant hit and known for accompanying dancer Fred
Astaire in the 1946 film Blue Skies; “Say It Isn’t So” (1932), originally performed by Rudy Vallee, and later by George Olsen
and Aretha Franklin; “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” (1937), performed by Dick Powell in the 1937 film On the Avenue
and go on to top-twelve versions performed by Billie Holiday and Les Brown.
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In 1938, singer Kate Smith’s management approached Berlin for a patriotic song she could perform as part of the 20th
anniversary celebration of Armistice Day and the end of World War I. Berlin dusted off an old tune, composed decades earlier
but removed from the program of Yip! Yip! Yankhap!, providing the music and lyrics to “God Bless America,” which would
grow into an unofficial national anthem with the outbreak of World War II in just a few short years. Berlin donated the
copyright and royalties to the Boy Scouts of America and the Girl Scouts of the USA, for whom it has earned millions, and
which earned Berlin a special Congressional Gold Medal from President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Woody Guthrie’s later song
“This Land is Your Land” (1940) was composed in response, and was originally titled “God Blessed America for Me.”
World War II
When the United States entered World War II in 1941 after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Berlin immediately began composing
patriotic songs for a number of government agencies in support of the war effort. The royalties for “Any Bonds Today?”, “I
Paid My Income Tax Today”, and “Arms for the Love of America” were assigned to the U.S. Treasury Department; “Angels of
Mercy” was assigned to the American Red Cross; and the proceeds from “Arms for the Love America” was donated to the
Army Ordinance Department.
Scene from This is the Army on Broadway, 1942.
Berlin followed up with the composition of an entire show, This Is
the Army, which premiered on Broadway before moving on to
Washington, D.C., and then continued to tour military bases the
world over for the next three and a half years. The show included
nearly three dozen original songs and a cast of nearly 300
conscripted men; Berlin toured with the show, taking no salary
and donating all proceeds to the Army Emergency Relief fund. This Is the Army was adapted into a film in 1943 starring Joan
Leslie and Ronald Reagan, and evolved into a road show that
toured European battlefields throughout the war. The adaptationscombined to raise more than $10 million for the U.S. Army, for which Berlin was awarded the Medal of Merit by President
Harry S. Truman.
After World War II, Berlin returned home, exhausted. In 1946, Berlin’s old friend and colleague and composer for the
developing Broadway show Annie Get Your Gun, Jerome Kern, died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage, and producers
Rodgers and Hammerstein persuaded Berlin to finish composing the score. Running for 1,147 performances, the show
would become Berlin’s most successful, and included the famous “There’s No Business Like Show Business”, which would
also become known as the trademark of performer Ethel Merman.
In 1949, Berlin composed the Broadway show Miss Liberty, which opened to disappointing acclaim, but reclaimed his fame
with the film Call Me Madam starring Ethel Merman the following year. After a brief, failed attempt at retirement, Berlin
composed his final Broadway show, Mr. President, in 1962.
On Film
The 1920s brought with it a theatrical departure from the light comedies and
minstrel shows of Berlin and his contemporaries, leading Berlin to a temporary
foray into film with an adaptation of The Cocoanuts, originally created with George
S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind and starring the Marx Brothers. He followed with
Reaching for the Moon, directed by Edmund Goulding, originally intended to
feature a complete Berlin Score. However, creative clashes between composer and
director resulted in the excising of all but one Berlin song, “How Deep is the
Ocean?” which became a 1933 hit even as the film itself failed.
Original film poster for The Cocoanuts, 1929, starring the Marx Brothers.
In the 1930s, Berlin returned again to film, signing with RKO pictures, generally
regarded as the oddball studio derivative of the Albee theater chain of vaudeville
fame. Just emerging from bankruptcy, RKO offered Berlin an incredible deal,
including ten percent of the gross and the retention of all his copyrights. The
partnership flourished with the production of Top Hat (1935), which ambitiously
paired Broadway performer Fred Astaire with a new young dancer from Texas:
Ginger Rogers. The film was a massive success, and led to another collaboration
in Follow the Fleet (1936).
Original film poster for Top Hat (1935), starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
The 1938 film Alexander’s Ragtime Band featured such Berlin hits as “Easter
Parade” and the 1914 hit “When That Midnight Choo Choo Leaves for Alabam”. Both “Easter Parade” and “White Christmas” would be developed into the films of
the same names in 1948 and 1954, respectively.
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Berlin’s Legacy
As the 1950s faded into the 60s, Berlin faded from public life, spending more and
more time at his Beekman Street townhouse until his death in his sleep on
September 22, 1989. His life represents the consummate self-made man of the
American Dream, leading him to become one of the most iconic composers of
American musical history, despite never learning to read music and
composing in only one key (he used a customized piano that could transpose
for him as needed). Berlin is known for the creation of hundreds of songs and
numerous American standards that “reach[ed] the heart of the average
American” with his uncomplicated, simple, and direct musical style, designed
to speak to “the real soul of the country.” Known as a musical legend before
the age of 30 and with a career spanning more than 60 years, Irving Berlin
composed an estimated 1,500 songs, wrote the scores for 19 Broadway shows
and 18 Hollywood films, and was nominated for eight Academy Awards. His Irving Berlin.
Berlin interestingly also had an inadvertent influence on music copyright when he sued Mad Magazine in 1961 for parodies
of his songs published in “Sing Along with MAD,” which provided new lyrics to classic songs. However, the trial and circuit
courts both ruled on the magazine’s behalf. When the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal, the precedent was
officially set and the legal right to song parody was incorporated into U.S. law.
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WHO’S WHO
Fred Astaire (1899-1987) and Ginger Rogers (1911-1995): American dancers, singers, and
actors, perhaps best known for their ten collaborations for RKO Pictures, which elevated the duo
to stardom. Famous film collaborations include Top Hat and Follow the Fleet, both with scores
by Irving Berlin.
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
songs have reached number one on the charts 25 times and have been recorded and re-recorded by some of the greatest
American singers of all time, including Ethel Merman, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Linda Ronstadt, Diana
Ross, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan and Ella Fitzgerald, among many others. Composer George
Gershwin called Irving Berlin “the greatest composer that ever lived,” and he is perhaps best immortalized by the words of
fellow composer Jerome Kern: “Irving Berlin has no place in American music – he is American music.”
The Music
Fanny Brice (1891-1951): American singer, actress and comedian of stage, radio and film fame,
known as the star and creator of the popular radio comedy series, The Baby Snooks Show.
Fanny Brice as Baby Snooks, 1940.
George M. Cohan (1878-1942): American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, performer
and producer, known for such musical standards as “The Yankee Doodle Boy”, “You’re a Grand Old
Flag”, and “Give My Regards to Broadway.” Known prior to World War I as “the man who owned
Broadway,” he continued to perform until 1940 and is commemorated by a statue in Times Square,
New York City, for his contributions to musical theatre.
George M. Cohan.
Bing Crosby.
Bing Crosby (1903-1977): American singer and actor who became one of the best-selling musical
artists of the 20th century with his trademark bass-baritone voice. Crosby’s biggest career hit
was his recording of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas,” first heard on a radio broadcast on
Christmas Day in 1941, and which remains the best-selling single of all time.
Stephen Foster.
Stephen Foster (1826-1864): American songwriter of parlor and minstrel music, sometimes
referred to as “the father of American music” and reportedly one of Berlin’s favorite composers.
Foster is known for such songs as “Oh! Susanna”, “Camptown Races”, and “My Old Kentucky
Home,” among others, noted as cornerstones of American musical identity.
George Gershwin.
George Gershwin (1898-1937): American pianist and composer of both popular and classical
music, whose best-known works include Rhapsody in Blue (1924) , An American in Paris
(1929), and the opera Porgy and Bess (1935). Like Berlin, Gershwin’s family immigrated to
America in the 1890s, fearful of increasing anti-Jewish sentiment in Russia under Tsar Nicholas II
and resulting pogroms. The classically-trained Gershwin also made his name in Tin Pan Alley and
on Broadway stages, and became a revered cornerstone of American music and composition.
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Edmund Goulding.
Edmund Goulding (1891-1959): British film writer and director of Reaching for the Moon,
Berlin’s film depicting his relationship with Ellin Mackay. Originally intended to be a complete
Berlin score, the querulous relationship between director and composer resulted in only one Berlin
song in the score: “How Deep Is the Ocean?” (1930), which became a hit, nevertheless.
Oscar Hammerstein II.
Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960): American librettist, theatre producer, and director, many of
whose songs remain current as standard repertoire for singers and jazz musicians, and was best-
known for his longtime collaboration with Richard Rodgers whose partnership produced such
works as Oklahoma! (1943), Carousel (1945), South Pacific (1949), The King and I (1951),
and The Sound of Music (1959).
Sam H. Harris (1872-1941): Broadway producer and theater owner, with whom Irving Berlin
partnered in 1921 at the conclusion of World War I to build the Music Box Theater for Berlin’s
Music Box Revue. Upon Harris’s death in 1941, his shares in the theater were sold primarily to
Berlin and to former competitor, the Shubert Organization, with whom Berlin and, later, his estate,
retained a partnership until 2007.
Sam H. Harris.
Moss Hart (1904-1961): American playwright and theatre director, particularly known for his
partnership with George S. Kaufman, which resulted in You Can’t Take It with You (1936) and
The Man Who Came to Dinner (1939).
Moss Hart.
Victor Herbert (1859-1924): American cellist, conductor, and composer of many successful
Broadway operettas between the 1890s and World War I. He was a prominent product of Tin Pan
Alley and worked closely with Irving Berlin, John Philip Sousa, and others to found the American
Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1914. He was also a composer for
numerous Broadway revues including the shows of Irving Berlin and Jerome Kern, and was a
contributor to the annual Ziegfeld Follies from 1917 to 1924. Victor Herbert.
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J. Edgar Hoover.
J. Edgar Hoover (1935-1972): First Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Hoover
reportedly investigated Irving Berlin for the composer’s political involvement. Berlin frequently
donated rights to his songs to serve as rallying points for causes, including support of Al Smith
and Dwight Eisenhower as presidential candidates (“I Like Ike”), as well as songs opposing
prohibition, defending the gold standard, helping the war against Hitler, and a 1950 anthem for
the state of Israel.
Scott Joplin (1867/68 - 1917): African-American composer and pianist known as the “King of
Ragtime Writers” during his brief career, who popularized the ragtime genre prior to World War I.
Scott Joplin.
George S. Kaufman (1889-1961): American playwright, theatre director and producer, drama
critic and humorist. Kaufman is best known as the winner of the 1937 Pulitizer Prize for Drama
for You Can’t Take it With You, written with Moss Hart; Of Thee I Sing, with Morrie Ryskind and
Ira Gershwin; and director of the Tony Award-winning Guys and Dolls.
George S. Kaufman.
Jimmy Kelly: An ex-prize fighter and proprietor of Jimmy Kelly’s, a popular show business hangout,
where young Berlin wrote and sold songs until Fanny Brice performed his “Good-bye, Becky
Cohen” in the annual Ziegfeld Follies in 1910, sparking Berlin’s prolific rise through the industry.
Jerome Kern (1885-1945): American composer specializing in popular music and musical
theatre, best-known for such classics as “Ol’ Man River”, “The Way You Look Tonight”, and
numerous collaborations with leading lyricists and librettists of the era. He was a close friend
and contemporary of Irving Berlin, and his musical innovation included 4/4 dance rhythms,
syncopation, and jazz progressions building out of the ragtime and musical theatre traditions.
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Irving Berlin, age 18.
Jerome Kern.
Ethel Merman (1908-1984): American actress and singer primarily known for musical theatre,
designated the “First Lady of the musical comedy stage”. Merman originated the role of Annie
Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun (1946), from which the song “No Business Like Show Business”
would become her personal theme song.
Ethel Merman. Cole Porter (1891-1964): American composer and songwriter, known as one of the major
Broadway songwriters of the 1930s. Like Berlin, Porter was one of the few composers of the era
who also wrote his own lyrics, though his witty, loftier style is sometimes described in contrast to
Berlin’s more direct musical approach. Some of Cole Porter’s notable hits include the musicals
Kiss Me, Kate and Anything Goes, and songs such as “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”, “I Get a
Kick Out of You”, and “You’re the Top”, which contains a reference to his contemporary, Irving
Berlin: “You’re the top! You’re a Waldorf salad. You’re the top! You’re a Berlin ballad.” Cole Porter.
Richard Rodgers (1902-1979): Prolific American composer of Broadway musicals, as well as
scores for film and television, and best known for his partnerships with Lorenz Hart and Oscar
Hammerstein II. Some of his best known credits include compositions for Carousel (1945),
South Pacific (1949), The King and I (1951), The Sound of Music (1959) and songs such as
“Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’”, “If I Loved You”, “Some Enchanted Evening”, “Getting to Know
You”, and “My Favorite Things.” Richard Rodgers.
Morrie Ryskind (1895-1985): American dramatist, lyricist, and writer of theatrical shows and
films, known for his collaborations with George S. Kaufman, and winner of the 1932 Pulitzer Prize
for Drama for Of Thee I Sing. At left, Ryskind is pictured with Kaufman (bottom left), and Ira
and George Gershwin (top).
Morrie Ryskind (bottom right).
Mike Saulter (1868-1922): Underworld figure and proprietor of the Pelham Café in New York
City’s Chinatown, where 18-year-old Irving Berlin (then known as Israel Baline) found his first
employment as a singing waiter. Eager to combat his competitors, Saulter pressed young Berlin
toward ambitions as a songwriter. Teaming up with the resident pianist at the Pelham Café,
Berlin wrote his first song, “Marie from Sunny Italy,” in 1907 for which he earned 37 cents and,
due to a printing error on the score, a new name: Irving Berlin.The Pelham Café, New York City, early 1900s.
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Ezra Stone (1917-1994): Young stage director chosen by Irving Berlin to direct the stage show
This Is the Army, intended as a large-scale fundraiser for the Army during World War II. Berlin
selected only enlisted men for the company of 300 performers, eventually removing Stone from
the project. This Is the Army went on to tour American bases and camps overseas, and was
made into a film in 1943. Ezra Stone served out the remainder of World War II overseas, returning
afterward to become a successful New York stage director.Ezra Stone.
Moses Beilin: The father of Irving Berlin, a cantor, who emigrated with his family from Russia in
1893 to flee the Cossack pogroms of Russia and the anti-Jewish violence under Alexander III. The
family name was altered to Baline by the 1900 census, perhaps during their journey through Ellis
Island. Unable to find work as a cantor, he found work in a kosher meat market and teaching
Hebrew to support his family, until his death when Irving Berlin was just 13 years old.
Irving Berlin, New York City, 1911.
Dorothy Goetz (1892-1912): The first wife of Irving Berlin, whom she married in 1912. She died
a mere six months later of typhoid fever, contracted during the couple’s honeymoon in Havana. Upon her death, Irving Berlin composed his first ballad, “When I Lost You,” as an expression of
his grief, and which marked a significant transition in his musical style.
Irving Berlin and Dorothy Goetz.
Kate Smith (1907-1986): American singer known as The First Lady of Radio, and for her rendition
of Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America.” Seeking a song in 1938 to perform for the 20th
anniversary of Armistice Day celebrating the end of World War I, Berlin provided the song written
twenty years earlier and filed away ever since. “God Bless America” would grow to immense
popularity as a second national anthem when the United States entered World War II a few years
later.Kate Smith.
Personal Life
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Ellin Mackay (1903-1988): Second wife of Irving Berlin, as well as daughter and heiress to
Clarence Mackay, head of the Postal Telegraph Cable Company, responsible for laying the first
cable across the Atlantic Ocean. Clarence Mackay was strongly opposed to the match between
his Catholic socialite daughter and the Jewish rags-to-riches composer, forcing the two to elope
in 1926. Ellin’s father disowned her and rescinded her inheritance; Berlin then bequeathed the
rights to several of his songs to his wife, to secure her personal financial future. Irving and Ellin
remained happily married until her death in 1988.Ellin Mackay and Irving Berlin.
WORLD CONTEXT: 20TH CENTURY
Immigrants arriving at Ellis Island, visible in the background, 1892.
Tzarist Russia and Jewish Persecution
The assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881 by members of the
Narodnaya Volya, a Russian left-wing revolutionary organization, sparked
a huge wave of anti-Jewish riots in the southwest region of Imperial
Russia, resulting in the destruction of thousands of Jewish homes and
livelihoods from 1881-1884. The next successor to the Russian throne,
Tsar Alexander III, further persecuted the Jewish population with the issue
of the May Laws in 1882, a series of harsh restrictions on Jewish civil and
workers rights. The tacit governmental support of Jewish persecution initiated large-scale emigration from the region, with many Jews choosing to build new lives in the United States. Berlin’s
family left Russia for the U.S. in 1893, a mere decade before a more brutal wave of pogroms swept the region under Tsar
Nicholas II from 1903-1906.
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Ellis Island and the Immigrant Experience
Ellis Island in the Upper New York Bay served as the landing point and gateway to the United States for over 12 million
immigrants as America’s first Federal immigration inspection station from 1892-1954; approximately one-third of the
current U.S. population can trace their roots to the immigrants who passed through Ellis Island during its operation. New
arrivals at the immigration station were asked a total of 29 questions, primarily regarding their name, occupation, family
status, and the amount of money they carried, followed by a physical examination by the army surgeons who staffed the
Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital. Entrance to the U.S. could be denied to those with observable diseases or health problems,
or those deemed likely to become a public burden such as unskilled workers, those with a criminal record, or those who
demonstrated symptoms of mental illness or insanity. The medical
inspection in particular came to be regarded as an intimidating admission
exam: unusual techniques were employed, such as the use of a buttonhook
to flip up the eyelid to examine immigrants for symptoms of eye diseases,
and a chalk mark code placed on clothing to identify potential physical
ailments observed by examiners while the applicants candidly climbed the
stairs from the baggage area to the rest of the facility.
New arrivals awaiting inspection at Ellis Island.
Once through Ellis Island, new immigrants found themselves in the midst
of New York City, a major metropolitan melting pot rife with burgeoning
industry and large communities of immigrants striving toward the
American dream. Many found themselves working long hours in dangerous
work environments for wages that couldn’t stretch far enough to feed a
family, and crowded into dingy tenements in which sanitation was low and poverty was high. The early 1900s brought
Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Era to the country, largely in response to the economic and social hardships
endured by the lower and middle classes as modernization encroached, and the political and economic infrastructure
struggled to keep pace with the capitalism and corruption induced by the previous Gilded Age.
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The Statue of Liberty
An icon of the “land of opportunity” and the American dream, the Statue of
Liberty was dedicated on October 28, 1886, a gift from the people of France
to the United States. The neoclassical “Lady Liberty” stands on Liberty
Island in New York Harbor, serving as the visual confirmation of arrival to
the New World for the more than 12 million immigrants that passed through
Ellis Island. Designed in copper by French sculptor Frederic Auguste
Bartholdi and built by Gustave Eiffel, the statue is a robed effigy of
Libertas, the roman goddess of liberty, bearing a torch and a tabula ansata
inscribed with the date of the American Declaration of Independence: July 4,
1776. Inside the lower level of Lady Liberty’s pedestal is a plaque engraved
with the sonnet “A New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, written and donated to
raise money for the construction of the pedestal:
The Statue of Liberty, dedicated in 1886.
“The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Plaque of “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, inside the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.
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World War I
On June 28, 1914, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria sparked an international diplomatic crisis that
drew in all the great economic powers of the world, divided into two opposing alliances: the Entente Powers or Allies, and
the Central Powers. The Allies initially consisted of the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire (united by the
Triple Entente alliance of 1907), and were eventually joined by Italy, Japan, and the United States. The Central Powers
consisted of Germany and Austria-Hungary, and were eventually joined by the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria.
The Allies claimed victory in the global conflict on November 11, 1918, though a formal state of war continued until the
implementation of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919. By its end, World War I had escalated into one of the largest
and most destructive wars in history, aided by new technologies such as chemical warfare, and resulting in more than 16
million casualties worldwide, including seven million civilians. Major international changes were initiated upon its
conclusion, including the dissolution of the
German, Russian, Austro-Hungarian and
Ottoman Empires, and a series of treaties
imposed during the Paris Peace conference
of 1919 which included the formation of the
League of Nations, to prevent any such
conflict from happening again.
Map depicting the Allied (green) and Central Powers (orange) in World War I.
and excess of the Roaring Twenties poured profits into American cities and
created widespread financial hardship for American farmers, coupled with wild
speculation in the stock market. After the crash, business uncertainty led to
massive layoffs, declining consumption, bankruptcies and bank failures;
unemployment in the U.S. rose to 25%, and the economic effects were felt
internationally as worldwide GDP fell 15% from 1929 to 1932. In the early
1930s, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal domestic programs
sought to stimulate demand and provide work and relief from impoverishment
through increased government spending and financial reform. By 1936, many
economic indicators had recovered to their pre-Crash levels, though
unemployment remained high and rising at approximately 11%. Some world
economies improved throughout the 1930s, but many did not recover until the
outbreak of World War II, when wartime economies provided military employment
and necessitated increased industrial production.Crowd gathering outside the New York Stock Exchange after the Stock Market Crash of 1929.
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The Great Depression
The Stock Market Crash of 1929 began on October 24, also known as Black Tuesday, and marks the most devastating stock
market crash in the history of the United States that fueled the subsequent ten-year-long Great Depression. The wealth
Map depicting the Allied (light green) and Axis (blue) alliances of World War II.
World War II
After World War I, the weakened economic and political state of much of Europe combined with a renewed sense of
nationalism and resentment, which fused with the economic hardship of the Great Depression to fuel the rise of Nazi
Germany under Adolf Hitler. World War II is generally thought to have begun with the German invasion of Poland on
September 1, 1939, and subsequent declarations of war by France and the United Kingdom. Germany conquered much of
Europe from 1939 until early 1941, forming the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan, and countered by the primary Allied forces
of the United Kingdom, the British Commonwealth, and the Soviet Union (after its invasion by Germany in June, 1941). China, already at war with Japan since 1937, joined the Allies in 1941 along with the U.S., who escalated from a financial to
physical alliance with the Allies after the Japanese attack upon Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The Second World War
became the most widespread war in history, with fronts in South-East Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and across Europe
and involving more than 100 million military personnel from over 30 countries. The use of nuclear weapons, strategic
bombing of population centers, and mass killings of civilians, including the 11 million deaths of the Holocaust, resulted in
an estimated 50-85 million fatalities worldwide, marking it as the deadliest conflict in history.
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THE WORKS OF IRVING BERLIN
“Marie From Sunny Italy” (1907)
“A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody” (1919)
“Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning” (1910)
“Alexander’s Ragtime Band” (1911)
“When I Lost You” (1912)
“When the Midnight Choo Choo Leaves for Alabam” (1912)
“Daddy, Come Home” (1912-1916)
“Down in Chattanooga” (1912-1916)
“Down in My Heart” (1912-1916)
“Follow the Crowd” (1912-1916)
“Ragtime Soldier Man” (1912-1916)
“That Hula Hula” (1912-1916)
“Watch Your Step” (1912-1916)
“I Love a Piano” (1915)
“For Your Country and My Country” (1917)
“Mandy” (1919)
“What’ll I Do?” (1924)
“Always” (1925)
“Blue Skies” (1926)
“Marie” (1929)
“Puttin’ on the Ritz” (1930)
“Say it Isn’t So” (1932)
“How Deep is the Ocean?” (1932-1936)
“Cheek to Cheek” (1932-1936)
“Harlem on My Mind” (1933)
“Heat Wave” (1933)
“Easter Parade” (1933)
“Supper Time” (1933)
“I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” (1937)
“He Ain’t Got Rhythm” (1937-1941)
“God Bless America” (1938)
“White Christmas” (1942)
“This Is the Army, Mister Jones” (1942)
“Happy Holiday” (1942-1946)
“There’s No Business Like Show Business” (1946)
“Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better” (1946)
“You’re Just in Love” (1947-1951)
“An Old-Fashioned Wedding” (1966)
**A complete list of Irving Berlin’s songs is available at https://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_written_by_Irving_Berlin
Notable Songs
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Hershey Felder in ATC’s production of Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin. Photo by Eighty-Eight Entertainment, LLC.
Watch Your Step (1914)
Stop! Look! Listen! (1915)
The Century Girl (1916)
Yip! Yip! Yaphank! (1918)
Ziegfeld Follies (1919)
Music Box Revue (1921)
Music Box Revue (1922)
Music Box Revue (1923)
Music Box Revue (1924)
The Cocoanuts (1925)
Face the Music (1932)
As Thousands Cheer (1933)
Louisiana Purchase (1940)
This Is the Army (1942)
Annie Get Your Gun (1946)
Miss Liberty (1949)
Call Me Madam (1950)
Mr. President (1962)
White Christmas (2004, post-mortem production)
Top Hat (2012, post-mortem production)
Stage Works Film Scores
The Cocoanuts (1929)
Puttin' on the Ritz (1930)
Top Hat (1935)
Follow the Fleet (1936)
On the Avenue (1937)
Carefree (1938)
Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)
Second Fiddle (1939)
Holiday Inn (1942)
This Is the Army (1943)
Blue Skies (1946)
Easter Parade (1948)
Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
Call Me Madam (1953)
There’s No Business Like Show Business (1954)
White Christmas (1954)
Hershey Felder in ATC’s production of Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin. Photo by Eighty-Eight Entertainment, LLC.
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ASCAP: The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, formed in 1914 as a non-
profit performance rights organization that protects members’ copyrights by monitoring public
performances, and compensating the copyright holders appropriately.
ASCAP logo.
Broadway: A coalition of 40 professional theatres located in the Theatre District and Lincoln
Center along Broadway, in the New York City borough of Manhattan, widely considered to
represent one of the greatest commercially successful level of theatre in the English speaking
world.
The corner of 45th and Broadway, 1936.
Great American Songbook: The recognized canon of the most important and influential
American popular songs and jazz standards of the early 20th century, also known as “American
Standards.”
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GLOSSARY
Composer: A person who writes music, especially as a professional occupation.
Lyricist: A person who writes the words or lyrics to a song or musical.
Congressional Medal of Honor: The highest decoration in the U.S. military, awarded by Congress
to a member of the armed forces for gallantry and bravery in combat, at great risk of life above
and beyond the call of duty.
Chinatown: A region in Lower Manhattan, New York City that is home to the largest group of
Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, located between the Lower East Side, Little Italy, Civic
Center and Tribeca. Manhattan’s Chinatown is one of nine Chinatown neighborhoods in New York
City, and one of twelve in the greater New York metropolitan area.
Copyright: The exclusive legal right to print, publish, perform, film or record literary, artistic, or
musical material, given to an originator, who may assign it to another person or organization.
The Congressional Medal of Honor, U.S. Army.
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Tin Pan Alley: The collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters that drove
popular music production of the U.S. in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, originally referring
to West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in Manhattan.
Vaudeville: A type of entertainment especially popular in the U.S. during the early 20th century,
which featured a mixture of specialty acts such as song, dance, burlesque and comedy.
Pelham Cafe: Located at 12 Pell Street in New York City, the Pelham Cafe was the early 1900s
headquarters of Russian-Jewish gangster Mike Salter, who was involved in numerous illegal
enterprises including prize fights, dice games, opium parlors, and voting fraud. Salter was
arrested in 1907 on charges of false voter registration; he skipped bail and fled to Canada for
the next three years. Berlin wouldn’t see his old boss again until Salter’s funeral in 1922.
Ragtime: Music characterized by a syncopated melody with regularly accented accompaniment,
especially as played on a piano, evolved via the works of black musicians in the 1890s.
RKO: The film studio which evolved from the Albee chain of vaudeville theatres in the 1920s,
known in the 1930s for signing oddballs and outcasts. Berlin signed with RKO in the 1930s, just
as the studio was emerging from bankruptcy; he accepted a generous contract that allowed him
copyright retention and 10% of the gross.
Music Box Theater: The theatrical home of Berlin’s Music Box Revue, built by Berlin and
partner Sam H. Harris in 1921 upon Berlin’s return from World War I. In 1925 the theatre
presented its first play, and was often the home of playwriting team George S. Kaufman and
Moss Hart, as well as Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, and playwright William Inge. The
theatre was co-owned by Berlin’s estate until 2007, when the Shubert Organization assumed full
ownership.
C r o w d i n B r o a d w a y Square, outside the Music Box Theater in 1935.
Plaque designating the origin of Tin Pan Alley.
Today’s 12 Pell Street, former home of the Pelham Cafe.
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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES
Discussion Questions
1. Why does Irving Berlin make a good subject for a musical? What events in his life make an interesting story?
2. Irving Berlin discovered his talent and passion for music at a young age. What talents have you discovered about
yourself? Do you think those abilities could lead to a future career? List three possible careers your talents and interests
could lead to.
3. What challenges do you think Irving Berlin and his family faced being immigrants to the United States during this
period? What challenges exist for immigrants today who come to this country looking for new opportunities?
4. As a self-made man, Irving Berlin embodies the classic “American dream”. Does that dream still exist for people in our
country today? How has it changed over time? Are there any self-made men or women working today that you admire?
5. Irving Berlin was a composer AND a lyricist which was not common during this time, yet this combination provided him
with many opportunities. What skills do you have that would compliment each other? How can those skills be used in a
future job or career?
ZIEGFELD FOLLIES: An annual series of Broadway theatrical productions from 1907 to 1931,
known for sparking the careers of many great American performers, songwriters, musicians and
composers.
Artwork for the 1912 ZIEGFELD FOLLIES.
Yiddish Theater District: The center of New York City’s thriving Yiddish theatre scene in the early
20th century, located primarily on Second Avenue. By the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the
Yiddish Theatre District rivaled Broadway in quality and scale, but began to decline in the 1940s
and had all but disappeared by the mid-1950s as NYC’s Yiddish-speaking population grew
older.
6. Irving Berlin lost his court case against Mad Magazine for creating parodies of his songs. Do you agree with the court’s
decision? Why or why not? List any other musical parodies you have heard.
7. How many of Irving Berlin’s songs were you familiar with before you saw the show? Even if you were familiar with some of
the songs, did you know that they were written by Berlin?
8. How did the production elements (set, lighting, costumes, sound design, etc.) support this one-man show? What special
considerations do you think designers keep in mind when creating a show like this one?
Activities
1. Create a timeline for the major events in Irving Berlin's life. Provide details for each event you list and describe why you
felt it was important to include in your timeline.
2. Imagine you are Irving Berlin arriving at Ellis Island. Create a fictional narrative describing your experience
immigrating to America.
3. What other musicians would make interesting musical stories? Write a proposal to a Broadway producer describing
which musician's life you would like to turn into a musical and include at least four songs you would include in the story.
4. Composer Improv: Ask students to think of a line or phrase from one of their favorite songs (try to keep them short, just
a few words if possible). Have five students stand at the front of the class. Each will say or sing their phrase as
dramatically as possible with accompanying gestures. The chosen “composer” will point to each student in turn; each
student will have to repeat their phrase and gesture exactly the same way. Now the “composer” can point in any order, as
fast as they want to, to create an improvised song. Switch out students and repeat, or see if the whole class can compose
a new song together.
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