- Person
- Irving Berlin
- Lived
- 1888–1989
- Field
- Songwriting
- From
- Russian-born American
The story
Irving Berlin was born Israel Beilin in the Russian Empire in 1888 and reached New York in 1893 after his family fled antisemitic violence. He grew up poor on the Lower East Side and never had a music lesson. He taught himself piano, played almost entirely in one key, and dictated his melodies to a musical secretary, yet over a 60-year career he wrote an estimated 1,500 songs, including scores for 20 Broadway shows and 15 Hollywood films.
Accounts differ on exactly when and where he wrote "White Christmas", but Guinness World Records dates it to 1940. Berlin was certain of its worth, telling his secretary it was the best song he, or anybody, had ever written. Bing Crosby first sang it on his radio show on Christmas Day 1941, weeks after Pearl Harbor, and recorded it in just 18 minutes on 29 May 1942 for the film Holiday Inn.
At first the song was overshadowed by another number from the film, but by late October 1942 it topped the charts and stayed at number one for 11 weeks. Its mix of longing and images of home spoke to soldiers spending their first winters away, and the Armed Forces Network was flooded with requests. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and Crosby's recording returned to the top of the charts in later holiday seasons. Guinness World Records lists it as the best-selling single of all time, with an estimated 50 million copies sold, and counting all versions the song has sold more than 100 million.
"White Christmas" also showed that a secular Christmas song could be a huge commercial success, and it set the pattern of home and nostalgia for the holiday songs that followed.
Berlin was also generous with his success. He assigned all royalties from "God Bless America" to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, earning them millions over the decades. During the Second World War he wrote and toured the show This Is the Army for three and a half years, taking neither salary nor expenses and turning over all its profits to the Army Emergency Relief Fund.
Why it matters
Berlin's songs became part of shared holiday and national life, and his royalties and wartime show raised millions for young people and soldiers' families.
About Irving Berlin
Cantor’s son and refugee from the Russian Empire who never learned to read music, yet wrote “White Christmas” “God Bless America” and well over a thousand other songs.
More about Irving Berlin
- Alexander's Ragtime Band made Irving Berlin a starIrving Berlin's 1911 hit "Alexander's Ragtime Band" made him a star, revived ragtime and sparked a national dance craze.
- Irving Berlin wrote the score for Annie Get Your GunAfter Jerome Kern's sudden death, Irving Berlin took over Annie Get Your Gun and wrote what is considered his finest Broadway score, including "There's No Business Like Show Business".
- Berlin's Blue Skies was sung in the first feature talkieIrving Berlin's song "Blue Skies" was featured in The Jazz Singer (1927), the first feature-length talking picture, sung by Al Jolson.
- Irving Berlin helped found ASCAP to protect songwritersIn 1914 Irving Berlin became a charter member of ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, which has protected songwriters' royalties ever since.
- Irving Berlin set Emma Lazarus's sonnet to musicFor his 1949 musical Miss Liberty, Irving Berlin set the closing lines of Emma Lazarus's "The New Colossus" to music as "Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor".
Sources
- Irving Berlin Wikipedia
- White Christmas (song) Wikipedia
- Best-selling single Guinness World Records
Another act of tikkun olam. This is part of tikkun olam, the Jewish idea of repairing the world, and every one of us can add to it.