Irving Berlin Thesis
Rebecca McKenney
Mrs. Garnet
History and Sociology of Rock Music
7 September 2016
Irving Berlin Israel (later Irving) was born to Moses and Lena Berlin on May 11th, 1888. Together with his parents and five older siblings, Irving left his home of Mohilev, Russia for New York City in 1893. The Berlin family, like many immigrates, struggled to survive in America. In his book As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin, author Laurence Bergreen mentions that at age fourteen (when a child was no longer legally required to attend school) that “along with many other ghetto children desperate to earn money, he (Irving) turned his back on both formal education and his family.” (Bergreen 14) But he never forgot the signing training he received from his dad. After a series of short-lived jobs, Irving’s first claim to fame in the music world was that of a waiter-singer in various bars (most notably The Pelham Café.) Although a talented lyricists, he stilled needed the help of a transcriber to write the music and learn how to write music. It wasn’t until 1908, while he worked at Jimmy Kelley’s (another bar), that he started to write both the lyrics and the …show more content…
music for original (though he still was in his early stages of his career.)
Around 1909, Irving found himself in Tin Pan Alley.
While here, he would “set himself a goal of writing as many as four to five songs during his nightlong sessions, and he constantly assessed and judged his handiwork often harshly.” (Bergreen 43) With early collaborator Ted Snyder and George Whiting, Irving wrote “My Wife’s Gone to the Country (Hurrah-Hurrah!)” in 1909 which is credited with being Irving’s first hit. (In fact it was so popular that a new trade journal called Variety “placed a half-page advertisement” for the song. (Bergreen 44)) In Charles Hamm’s Irving Berlin: The Formative Years, Hamm mentions that as well as publishing music in his own right, Irving was known to “doctored” songs (meaning that he toke a song credited to someone else and changed it but “withdrew mention of his output.”.) (Hamm
7)
According to Jeffery Magee’s Irving Berlin’s Musical Theater, Irving soon become popular in the theater when Florenz Ziegfeld began to use Berlin’s work in his revenue the Ziegfeld Follies in 1910. (Magee 4) With the publication of “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” in 1911, Irving received the title of Ragtime King and secured his place in musical history. At the height of his reign, Irving married Dorothy Goetz (the daughter of friend E. Ray Goetz.) But their happiness was shot lived, as Dorothy died shortly after their honeymoon of illness. (Magee 4) In reaction to her death, Irving wrote “When I Lost You.”
Irving Berlin proved to the American public that even the poorest immigrant could become successful in their own right. (More????)
Works Cited
Bergreen, Laurence. As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irvin Berlin. New York, NY: Viking, 1990. Google Books. Web. 7 Sept. 2016. .
Hamm, Charles. Irving Berlin - Songs from the Melting Pot: The Formative Years (1907-1914). New York, NY: Oxford UP, 1997. Google Books. Web. 7 Sept. 2016. .
Magee, Jeffery. Irving Berlin's Muscial Theater. New York, NY: Oxford UP, 2012. Google Books. Web. 7 Sept. 2016. .
Mrs. Garnet
History and Sociology of Rock Music
7 September 2016
Irving Berlin Israel (later Irving) was born to Moses and Lena Berlin on May 11th, 1888. Together with his parents and five older siblings, Irving left his home of Mohilev, Russia for New York City in 1893. The Berlin family, like many immigrates, struggled to survive in America. In his book As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin, author Laurence Bergreen mentions that at age fourteen (when a child was no longer legally required to attend school) that “along with many other ghetto children desperate to earn money, he (Irving) turned his back on both formal education and his family.” (Bergreen 14) But he never forgot the signing training he received from his dad. After a series of short-lived jobs, Irving’s first claim to fame in the music world was that of a waiter-singer in various bars (most notably The Pelham Café.) Although a talented lyricists, he stilled needed the help of a transcriber to write the music and learn how to write music. It wasn’t until 1908, while he worked at Jimmy Kelley’s (another bar), that he started to write both the lyrics and the …show more content…
music for original (though he still was in his early stages of his career.)
Around 1909, Irving found himself in Tin Pan Alley.
While here, he would “set himself a goal of writing as many as four to five songs during his nightlong sessions, and he constantly assessed and judged his handiwork often harshly.” (Bergreen 43) With early collaborator Ted Snyder and George Whiting, Irving wrote “My Wife’s Gone to the Country (Hurrah-Hurrah!)” in 1909 which is credited with being Irving’s first hit. (In fact it was so popular that a new trade journal called Variety “placed a half-page advertisement” for the song. (Bergreen 44)) In Charles Hamm’s Irving Berlin: The Formative Years, Hamm mentions that as well as publishing music in his own right, Irving was known to “doctored” songs (meaning that he toke a song credited to someone else and changed it but “withdrew mention of his output.”.) (Hamm
7)
According to Jeffery Magee’s Irving Berlin’s Musical Theater, Irving soon become popular in the theater when Florenz Ziegfeld began to use Berlin’s work in his revenue the Ziegfeld Follies in 1910. (Magee 4) With the publication of “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” in 1911, Irving received the title of Ragtime King and secured his place in musical history. At the height of his reign, Irving married Dorothy Goetz (the daughter of friend E. Ray Goetz.) But their happiness was shot lived, as Dorothy died shortly after their honeymoon of illness. (Magee 4) In reaction to her death, Irving wrote “When I Lost You.”
Irving Berlin proved to the American public that even the poorest immigrant could become successful in their own right. (More????)
Works Cited
Bergreen, Laurence. As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irvin Berlin. New York, NY: Viking, 1990. Google Books. Web. 7 Sept. 2016. .
Hamm, Charles. Irving Berlin - Songs from the Melting Pot: The Formative Years (1907-1914). New York, NY: Oxford UP, 1997. Google Books. Web. 7 Sept. 2016. .
Magee, Jeffery. Irving Berlin's Muscial Theater. New York, NY: Oxford UP, 2012. Google Books. Web. 7 Sept. 2016. .