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IMDbPro

Irving Berlin(1888-1989)

  • Music Department
  • Writer
  • Composer
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin was born Israel Isidor Baline on May 11, 1888 in Mogilev, Belarus, Russian Empire. Towering composer, songwriter, ("God Bless America", "Always", "Blue Skies", "White Christmas") author and publisher, he came to the United States at age 5 and was educated in New York's public schools. His earliest musical education was from his father, a cantor. He earned Honorary degrees from Bucknell University and Temple University. Beginning his career as a song-plugger for publisher Harry von Tilzer, Berlin worked as a singing waiter in Chinatown. In 1909, he was hired as a staff lyricist by the Ted Snyder Company, and became a partner to that firm four years later.

In 1910, he began doing vaudeville appearances in the United States and abroad, and also appeared with Snyder in the Broadway musical "Up and Down Broadway", that ran for 72 performances. He joined ASCAP as a charter member in 1914, and served on its first board of directors between 1914-1918. Berlin enlisted the United States Army infantry in World War I, and was a sergeant at Camp Upton, New York. After the war, he established his own public-relations firm, and in 1921, he built the 1025-seat Music Box Theatre (at 239 W. 45th Street, New York) with Sam H. Harris. After Harris' death in 1941, Berlin assumed full ownership and the theatre remains a Broadway institution to this day.

Among his many awards was the Medal for Merit for his 1942 all-soldier show "This Is the Army", which toured the United States, Europe and South Pacific battle zones; all proceeds were assigned to Army Emergency Relief and other service agencies. Berlin was also a member of the French Legion of Honor and held the Congressional Medal of Honor for "God Bless America", the proceeds from which went to the God Bless America Fund. His songs were sung by Fred Astaire, Al Jolson, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, Dick Powell, Alice Faye and many others. Irving Berlin died at the age of 101 of natural causes on September 22, 1989 in New York City.
BornMay 11, 1888
DiedSeptember 22, 1989(101)
BornMay 11, 1888
DiedSeptember 22, 1989(101)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Won 1 Oscar

Photos13

Irving Berlin and Ed Sullivan in The Ed Sullivan Show (1948)
Irving Berlin and Frank Tours
Marlene Dietrich & Irving Berlin in Europe May 29, 1944
Marlene Dietrich & Irving Berlin in Europe May 29, 1944
Irving Berlin C.1930
Irving Berlin C. 1926
Irving Berlin a composer, 1915.
Tyrone Power and Irving Berlin in Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)
"Screen Producers Guild Awards" 1963 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel / Irving Berlin, George Jessel, Rosalind Russell, Groucho Marx, Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore, Dean Martin, Danny Kaye **I.V.
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin in Follow the Fleet (1936)
Irving Berlin, Al Jolson, and Lois Moran in Mammy (1930)

Known for

Tyrone Power, Don Ameche, and Alice Faye in Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)
Alexander's Ragtime Band
6.9
  • Music Department
  • 1938
Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Joan Caulfield, and Billy De Wolfe in Blue Skies (1946)
Blue Skies
6.4
  • Writer
  • 1946
Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Virginia Dale, and Marjorie Reynolds in Holiday Inn (1942)
Holiday Inn
7.3
  • Music Department
  • 1942
This Is the Army (1943)
This Is the Army
5.8
  • Writer(uncredited)
  • 1943

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Music Department

  • Tereza feat. DeJaVu: White Christmas (Party Edition) (2022)
    Tereza feat. DeJaVu: White Christmas (Party Edition)
  • Chilly Gonzales: White Christmas
  • Jefferson West and Joh in You Can't Get a Man with a Gun (2021)
    You Can't Get a Man with a Gun
  • Christmas in Vienna (1992)
    Christmas in Vienna
  • Bing Crosby: White Christmas (2020)
    Bing Crosby: White Christmas
  • Hope@Home (2020)
    Hope@Home
  • Ni tanto ni tan poco (2019)
    Ni tanto ni tan poco
  • Birth Pangs (2018)
    Birth Pangs
  • Hello! Ma Baby/Play a Simple Melody
  • Lesley Joseph, Pauline Quirke, and Linda Robson in Birds of a Feather (1989)
    Birds of a Feather
  • Say It with Music (2017)
    Say It with Music
  • Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn The Broadway Musical (2017)
    Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn The Broadway Musical
  • Berklee College of Music: Holiday Medley (2015)
    Berklee College of Music: Holiday Medley
  • New World Symphony Wallcast(TM) Concert 11
  • New World Symphony Wallcast Tm Concert 13

Writer

  • Irving Berlin and Gary Revel in White Christmas (2023)
    White Christmas
  • Jefferson West and Joh in You Can't Get a Man with a Gun (2021)
    You Can't Get a Man with a Gun
  • Say It with Music (2017)
    Say It with Music
  • Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn The Broadway Musical (2017)
    Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn The Broadway Musical
  • Gaby Stenberg in Mit navn er ... (1963)
    Mit navn er ...
  • Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Joan Caulfield, and Billy De Wolfe in Blue Skies (1946)
    Blue Skies
  • This Is the Army (1943)
    This Is the Army
    • (uncredited)
  • Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Virginia Dale, and Marjorie Reynolds in Holiday Inn (1942)
    Holiday Inn
  • Tyrone Power, Don Ameche, and Alice Faye in Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)
    Alexander's Ragtime Band
    • (uncredited)
  • Irving Berlin, Madeleine Carroll, Alice Faye, Stepin Fetchit, Alan Mowbray, Dick Powell, Sig Ruman, Cora Witherspoon, and The Ritz Brothers in On the Avenue (1937)
    On the Avenue
    • (uncredited)
  • Reaching for the Moon (1930)
    Reaching for the Moon
  • Al Jolson in Mammy (1930)
    Mammy
  • Stop, Look and Listen (1926)
    Stop, Look and Listen

Composer

  • Irving Berlin and Gary Revel in White Christmas (2023)
    White Christmas
  • Tereza feat. DeJaVu: White Christmas (Party Edition) (2022)
    Tereza feat. DeJaVu: White Christmas (Party Edition)
  • Laura Pausini: Noël blanc
  • Cruise Into Christmas
  • Tony Bennett: Steppin' Out with My Baby
  • Ethel Merman, Rufus Smith, and Bruce Yarnell in Annie Get Your Gun (1967)
    Annie Get Your Gun
  • Annie Get Your Gun
  • Gaby Stenberg in Mit navn er ... (1963)
    Mit navn er ...
    • (musical score)
  • Annie Get Your Gun (1957)
    Annie Get Your Gun
  • Hello Pop (1933)
    Hello Pop
  • Oh How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning
  • Alexander's Ragtime Band

Personal details

Edit
    • Irving Berlin Official Website
    • May 11, 1888
    • Mogilev, Russian Empire [now Belarus]
    • September 22, 1989
    • New York City, New York, USA(heart attack)
    • January 4, 1926 - July 29, 1988 (her death, 4 children)
  • Other works
    Stage: Co-wrote additional lyrics for "The Jolly Bachelors" on Broadway (earliest Broadway credit). Musical. Music by Raymond Hubbell. Book / lyrics by Glen MacDonough. Music orchestrated by Frank Saddler. Additional music by Albert von Tilzer, C.W. Murphy, Will Letters, Ted Snyder, Jack Norworth and Nora Bayes. Additional lyrics by Jack Norworth, Nora Bayes, William McKenna and Earle C. Jones. Scenic Design by Arthur Voegtlin. Costume Design by Melville Ellis. Conducted by George A. Nichols. Directed by Ned Wayburn. Broadway Theatre: 6 Jan 1910-28 May 1910 (165 performances). Cast: Gladys Alexander, Daisy Anderson, Sidney Atcherson, Harold Atkinson, Lester Baker, Blanche Barnes, Nora Bayes (as "Astarita Vandergould"), Grace Benedict, Victor Boenea, Wilmer Bradley, Elizabeth Brice (as "Carola Gayley"), Edward Brown, Margaret Brown, Eva Burnett, Florence Cable, Sara Carr, Emma Carus (as "Mrs. De Foe Parr"), Alice Chase, Austin Clark, Thomas Connors, Martin Culhane, Robert L. Dailey (as "Harold McCann"), Edward Davies, Roger Davis, John Dewey, William Downs, Virginia Earle, Bernice Elsler, Thomas Everett, Nat Fields (as "Ludwig"), Alice Fitch, Victor Franco, Lottie Franklyn, Lew Fullerton (as "Pudge Wilson" / "Chorus"), Arthur Gros, Octavia Hague, Frank Hardy, William Hart (as "Chorus"), Arria Hathaway, Clay Hill, Herman Hirschhorn, Thomas Hughes, Anna Kellar, Ethel Kelly, Marie Lachere, Arline LaCrosse, Madeline LeBoeuf, Al Leech (as "Chase Payne"), Henry Lehman (as "Hardy Hyde"), Herman Lehr, Ruby Lewis, Harry Lowry, Nellie Lynch (as "Fannie Faintwell"), Anitra Mactavish, Adele Marie, Edna Marsh, Flo May, Stella Mayhew (as "Veronica Verdigris Jackson"), Sheldon McCloy, Charles McNally, Beth McNown, Joe McShane, Addison Mead, James Monahan, Emily Monte, Robert Mulligan, Robert Nevins, Jack Norworth (as "Howson Lott"), Lucille Oakley, Ralph O'Brien, John O'Donnell, Lester Ostrander, Madge Parsells, Nina Pastorelli, Walter Percival (as "Dr. Launcelot Lightfoot"), Etta Pillard, John Pillard, Leslie Powers, Sophia Ralph, Belle Robinson, Daisy Rudd, Josie Sadler (as "Lily Kraus"), Ernest Schnaps, Gladys Seymour, Van Sheldon, Topsy Siegrist (as "Perdita Pears"), Clara Stanton, Mabel Stewart, Billie Taylor (as "Guy Vandergould"), Gertrude Thurston, Blanche Turner, Gertrude Vanderbilt (as "Notta Sound"), Lionel Walsh (as "Bunbury Tankerville"), Frank Ward, Arthur Wells, Harry Wilde. Produced by Lew Fields [credited as Lew M. Fields].
  • Publicity listings
    • 3 Biographical Movies
    • 13 Print Biographies
    • 3 Portrayals
    • 7 Articles

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    When Berlin married Ellin Mackay, the Comstock Lode heiress, the bride's father wrote her out of his will for marrying a Jew. Berlin then assigned the copyright of his popular song, "Always", to her, which yielded very handsome royalties as the years went by. And true to the sentiments of the song, Berlin devoted himself to his lovely wife for the rest of her long life.
  • Quotes
    Never hate a song that's sold a half million copies

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