50 Fun Facts About Irving Berlin

Irving Berlin was born in 1888 in which country?

His family came from the shtetl of Tolochin, now in Belarus, though he was probably born in Tyumen, Siberia, where his cantor father was working.

What was Irving Berlin's birth name?

Immigration officials changed Beilin to Baline; the sheet music of his first song credited "I. Berlin" and the name stuck.

How old was Berlin when his family arrived at Ellis Island in 1893?

They had sailed from Antwerp on the Red Star Line's SS Rhynland after fleeing pogroms.

What was Berlin's father's profession in the old country?

In New York he could only find work at a kosher meat market and died when Irving was thirteen.

How much did Berlin get for the rights to his first song, "Marie from Sunny Italy", in 1907?

He was working as a singing waiter at the Pelham Cafe in Chinatown and wrote it with the house pianist Mike Nicholson.

What was Berlin's job at the Pelham Cafe in Chinatown when he was 18?

Between drinks he sang made-up "blue" parodies of hit songs and taught himself piano after closing time.

In which single musical key could Berlin play the piano?

Staying on the black keys, he used pianos with a transposing lever to shift into other keys, and dictated songs to a musical secretary.

Roughly how many songs is Berlin estimated to have written in his 60-year career?

They included the scores for 20 original Broadway shows and 15 original Hollywood films.

Which 1911 song was Berlin's first world-famous hit?

Introduced by vaudeville contralto Emma Carus in Chicago, it revived the ragtime craze; Time's Richard Corliss noted it is really a march, not a rag.

Which husband-and-wife dance team starred in Berlin's 1914 revue Watch Your Step?

Variety called it the "first syncopated musical", and it contained his first counterpoint "double" song, Play a Simple Melody.

Berlin's first ballad, "When I Lost You", was written in response to what personal tragedy in 1912?

Dorothy Goetz caught the fever in Havana and died six months into the marriage; the song sold more than a million copies.

Which song written for the Ziegfeld Follies of 1919 became the theme for all of Ziegfeld's revues?

It later served as the theme of the 1936 film The Great Ziegfeld.

What was the name of the all-soldier revue Berlin wrote at Camp Upton in 1918?

One newspaper announced his draft with the headline "Army Takes Berlin!"; the show raised $150,000 for a camp service centre.

Which song about hating reveille did Berlin perform in his 1918 revue and This Is the Army?

His daughter recalled a ten-minute standing ovation when he appeared in soldier's uniform to sing it on Broadway in 1942, aged in his mid-fifties.

Which famous song did Berlin write for his 1918 soldier revue but file away for twenty years?

Kate Smith finally introduced it on an Armistice Day broadcast in 1938, and it became a second national anthem.

Which singer introduced Berlin's patriotic anthem in 1938 and made it her signature song?

Woody Guthrie disliked the song so much that he wrote This Land Is Your Land in response.

To whom did Berlin assign all royalties from his patriotic anthem of 1938?

President Eisenhower gave him a special Congressional Gold Medal for the song in 1954.

Which folk singer wrote This Land Is Your Land in 1940 as a response to Berlin's anthem?

His song was originally titled "God Blessed America for Me".

Which Broadway house did Berlin build with producer Sam Harris in 1921?

It was reportedly the only Broadway house built to showcase a songwriter's work, and its lobby now holds a Berlin exhibition.

Berlin wrote the song "Always" in 1925 when he fell in love with which heiress?

Her father, telegraph magnate Clarence Mackay, opposed the match, so the couple eloped and married at the Municipal Building.

What did Berlin give Ellin as a wedding present after her father reportedly disowned her?

It guaranteed her an income for life; her father did not speak to them for nearly three years.

Berlin's song "Blue Skies" was performed by Al Jolson in which landmark 1927 film?

Written after the birth of his first daughter, the song became a number one country hit for Willie Nelson 52 years later.

Which country singer took "Blue Skies" to number one in 1978, 52 years after it was written?

Count Basie and Benny Goodman had returned it to the top ten in 1946.

Which synth-pop artist took Puttin' on the Ritz to number 4 in 1982, when Berlin was 95?

The 1928 song had already been sung by Harry Richman, Clark Gable and Fred Astaire and used in Mel Brooks's Young Frankenstein.

Easter Parade began life in 1917 under what title?

Berlin reworked the melody with new Easter words for the 1933 revue As Thousands Cheer, where Marilyn Miller and Clifton Webb sang it.

In As Thousands Cheer (1933), each number was presented as what?

"Heat Wave" was the weather forecast, and Ethel Waters sang "Supper Time", inspired by a headline about a lynching.

Which comedy team starred in Berlin's 1929 film musical The Cocoanuts?

His 1940 show Louisiana Purchase satirised a Southern politician clearly modelled on Huey Long.

Berlin wrote "Cheek to Cheek" specifically for which star of the 1935 film Top Hat?

It spent five weeks at number one on Your Hit Parade and lost the Best Song Oscar to "Lullaby of Broadway".

Which 1942 film introduced White Christmas?

Bing Crosby had first sung it on his Kraft Music Hall radio show on Christmas Day 1941, weeks after Pearl Harbor.

Whose recording of White Christmas is regarded as the best-selling single of all time?

Guinness credits it with at least 50 million copies; it stayed at number one for ten weeks.

What awkward Oscar moment involved Berlin and White Christmas?

The Academy changed its rules the next year so no presenter would again have to hand an Oscar to himself.

Which future president appeared as an army lieutenant in the 1943 film This Is the Army?

Michael Curtiz directed, Kate Smith sang God Bless America, and the show and film raised more than $10 million for Army relief.

What did Berlin earn personally from three and a half years touring with This Is the Army?

President Truman awarded him the Medal for Merit for his contribution to troop morale.

Whose sudden death led Rodgers and Hammerstein to ask Berlin to write the score for Annie Get Your Gun?

Berlin at first refused, saying he knew nothing about "hillbilly music"; the show ran 1,147 performances and became his biggest success.

Berlin nearly cut which Annie Get Your Gun song, thinking Rodgers and Hammerstein disliked it?

It became Ethel Merman's trademark and "the ultimate uptempo show tune".

Berlin wrote "Anything You Can Do" in a few hours after doing what?

The show went into rehearsal within days; his daughter said he normally "sweated blood" over songs.

Berlin's 1950 musical Call Me Madam, starring Ethel Merman, was based on which Washington hostess?

Merman's character Sally Adams becomes ambassador to the fictional Lichtenburg; Merman's reaction to the idea was "Who's Perle Mesta?"

Which president attended the premiere of Berlin's final Broadway show, Mr. President, in 1962?

Berlin was 74; the show ran eight months and he then retired, writing only "An Old-Fashioned Wedding" for a 1966 revival.

Which presidential campaign featured Berlin's song "I Like Ike"?

Berlin voted for candidates of both parties and once told his lawyers, "I want to pay taxes. I love this country."

Which songwriter advised the young Berlin not to study composition, lest it cramp his style?

Herbert later drove the creation of ASCAP, which Berlin joined as a charter member in 1914.

Which composer said, "Irving Berlin has no place in American music—he is American music"?

Gershwin, for his part, called Berlin the greatest songwriter that ever lived.

How old was Irving Berlin when he died in 1989?

He died in his sleep at 17 Beekman Place, and Broadway dimmed its marquee lights in his memory.

Which president gave Berlin the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977?

Walter Cronkite said he "helped write the story of this country".

How many times have Berlin's songs reached number one on the US charts?

White Christmas was the last of his songs to reach number one on its original release.

Which government department received the royalties from Berlin's wartime song "Any Bonds Today?"

He also wrote "Angels of Mercy" for the Red Cross and "I Paid My Income Tax Today", again for Treasury.

Berlin's daughter said he usually did what to write his songs?

He wrote after dinner until 4 or 5 in the morning and did not believe in inspiration, only work.

Berlin's 1940 musical Louisiana Purchase satirised a Southern politician clearly based on whom?

Berlin wrote several book shows as well as revues, including Face the Music (1932) with Moss Hart.

Who introduced 'Puttin' On the Ritz' in the 1930 film of the same name?

Clark Gable sang it in Idiot's Delight in 1939, and Mel Brooks revived it in Young Frankenstein in 1974.

Which president gave Berlin a special Congressional Gold Medal in 1954 for 'God Bless America'?

Senators and congressmen sang the song on the Capitol steps after the September 11 attacks.

Which singer performed 'Supper Time', Berlin's song about a lynching, in As Thousands Cheer?

She later said that if one song could tell the whole tragic history of a race, this was that song.