1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:13,680 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. This is 4 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:21,000 Speaker 1: part two of our episode on Irving Berlin, which I 5 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:23,400 Speaker 1: did not intend to have as a two partner, but 6 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:26,720 Speaker 1: that's what happened. If you start with this episode and 7 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 1: you skip the first one, you're gonna be missing more 8 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:32,120 Speaker 1: than three decades of his life, plus just a lot 9 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:35,479 Speaker 1: of context about the music industry in the United States 10 00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 1: in the first half of the twentieth century. Also, Irving 11 00:00:39,159 --> 00:00:43,160 Speaker 1: Berlin was really prolific, and so we cannot possibly mention 12 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:46,199 Speaker 1: every single song or even every single show that he 13 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:49,279 Speaker 1: worked on. So if you have a favorite that just 14 00:00:49,479 --> 00:00:55,240 Speaker 1: doesn't come up, we're sorry, just not possible to do 15 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:58,160 Speaker 1: all of it. Also, as a heads up, we are 16 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:00,800 Speaker 1: going to talk about the death of an infant in 17 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:05,200 Speaker 1: this episode in more than just a passing reference to 18 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:10,800 Speaker 1: a baby who died in Irving Berlin met Ellen Mackie. 19 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:13,160 Speaker 1: He was thirty six and she was the twenty one 20 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:18,000 Speaker 1: year old daughter of financier Clarence Mackie. Clarence did not 21 00:01:18,160 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: approve of this relationship. In addition to the gap in 22 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:25,399 Speaker 1: their ages, Irving was Jewish and the Mackis were Catholic. 23 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:30,360 Speaker 1: When Irving sought their blessing to propose, Ellen's mother gave it, 24 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:33,920 Speaker 1: but her father arranged for Ellen to take a prolonged 25 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:38,240 Speaker 1: trip in an effort to separate them. Berlin was famous 26 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:40,200 Speaker 1: and the Mackies were rich, so all of this was 27 00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:44,040 Speaker 1: kind of big news, with reporters focused on their seemingly 28 00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 1: star cross relationship and Clarence's objection to it. As all 29 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 1: of this was going on, Berlin wrote a musical for 30 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 1: the Marx brothers that was The Coconuts. Berlin wrote the 31 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:59,240 Speaker 1: music and the lyrics, while George S. Kaufman wrote the book. 32 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:02,720 Speaker 1: This show was set in a hotel in Florida during 33 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:06,760 Speaker 1: its nineteen twenties land boom. Groucho Marx played the role 34 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 1: of the hotel proprietor with Zeppo, his assistant, Chico, and 35 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:14,320 Speaker 1: Harpoh were conmen trying to rob the place. There were 36 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:19,120 Speaker 1: also other characters, including another con man. Although this show 37 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: was really a lot more about the comedic sort of 38 00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 1: chaos that the Marx brothers were known for more than 39 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:31,040 Speaker 1: for the actual plot. It's kind of any Marks Brothers property. Right, 40 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: this is a movie, but really it's about poking each 41 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:37,800 Speaker 1: other in the eyes, that's correct. The Coconuts ran for 42 00:02:37,919 --> 00:02:40,639 Speaker 1: two years on Broadway, followed by a tour and then 43 00:02:40,639 --> 00:02:44,120 Speaker 1: a film. Although the Marx Brothers hated the film so 44 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:46,040 Speaker 1: much when they saw it that they tried to buy 45 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: it back and keep it from being released, it was 46 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:53,360 Speaker 1: released over their objections and was generally well reviewed, and 47 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:58,920 Speaker 1: it was a big financial success. On January four, Irving 48 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:01,920 Speaker 1: Berlin and Ellen mack he got married at City Hall 49 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: in New York. Ellen's family did not know this was happening. 50 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:10,519 Speaker 1: The witnesses for the couple were Irving's longtime friend and colleague, 51 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:14,720 Speaker 1: Max Winslow and his wife, as well as Irving's publicity manager. 52 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:19,359 Speaker 1: When Ellen's father found out about this, he was furious. 53 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:22,080 Speaker 1: He cut her out of her inheritance except for a 54 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:26,000 Speaker 1: trust that he could not legally touch. Ellen and her 55 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:28,720 Speaker 1: father did not speak to one another for the next 56 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:33,280 Speaker 1: three years. Irving and Ellen's first child was born on November. 57 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 1: They named her Mary Ellen, and how to raise her 58 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: and any other children they might have was the first 59 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:46,280 Speaker 1: big fight of Irving and Ellen's marriage. Specifically, they argued 60 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 1: about whether to raise the children Jewish or Catholic. Ultimately, 61 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 1: they decided on raising them as Jewish, but teaching them 62 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:56,680 Speaker 1: about Catholicism when they got a little older, and then 63 00:03:57,040 --> 00:03:59,800 Speaker 1: allowing them to decide for themselves how they wanted to. 64 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:04,760 Speaker 1: Of various accounts of their home life, describing corporating elements 65 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: from both traditions, like having both a Hanakah manora and 66 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:12,960 Speaker 1: a Christmas tree around those holidays. Yeah, Mary Ellen, I 67 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:15,040 Speaker 1: think is the one who wrote a memoir later on 68 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:18,760 Speaker 1: uh and described all of the holidays as being very 69 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:23,400 Speaker 1: important in their household. Christmas, though, quickly became a sad 70 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:26,680 Speaker 1: holiday for the family. Irving and Ellen had a son, 71 00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:30,760 Speaker 1: Irving Berlin Jr. But he died at the age of 72 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:34,320 Speaker 1: only four weeks. He was found dead in his crib 73 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:38,719 Speaker 1: on Christmas morning. The term sudden infant death syndrome was 74 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:42,680 Speaker 1: not coined until nineteen sixte but it really describes what 75 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:46,640 Speaker 1: happened to Irving Junior. He died unexpectedly with no other 76 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:51,400 Speaker 1: explanation for what happened. The tragic loss of Irving Jr. 77 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:55,360 Speaker 1: Is what finally led Clarence Mackie to reconcile with his daughter. 78 00:04:56,480 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: Aside from their grief over the loss of their son, 79 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:02,000 Speaker 1: Irving and Ellen's struggled in some other ways as well. 80 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:05,320 Speaker 1: It's very very clear that they loved each other deeply, 81 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:10,240 Speaker 1: but Irving had trouble writing music with newborns and toddlers 82 00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:13,520 Speaker 1: in the house, and his nighttime hours did not line 83 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:17,279 Speaker 1: up with his family's needs. And also, while he considered 84 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:20,760 Speaker 1: himself to be pretty active, he quickly got a sense 85 00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:23,880 Speaker 1: that becoming a parent at forty was a lot different 86 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:26,640 Speaker 1: from becoming a parent at twenty or even thirty would 87 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:31,920 Speaker 1: have been. The film The Jazz Singer debuted in which 88 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:35,200 Speaker 1: marked the start of the shift in the film industry 89 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:39,240 Speaker 1: from silent films to talkies, and Irving started doing more 90 00:05:39,279 --> 00:05:42,560 Speaker 1: work for movies. That meant that he often needed to 91 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:45,320 Speaker 1: be in Hollywood, and he and Ellen had to figure 92 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 1: out whether to move the family back and forth, or 93 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:51,080 Speaker 1: whether to keep the children in New York, where, in 94 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:55,400 Speaker 1: the Berlin's opinion, they had better schools and a stronger community. 95 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:58,160 Speaker 1: They made it work, though, and over the years they 96 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:01,240 Speaker 1: had two more children, Linda Louis in nineteen thirty two 97 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:05,600 Speaker 1: and Elizabeth Irving in nineteen thirty six. Of course, this 98 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:08,919 Speaker 1: also means that their family was growing during the Great Depression, 99 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:11,599 Speaker 1: which was at its worst from ninety nine to nineteen 100 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:15,160 Speaker 1: thirty three, but it continued to have economic effects for 101 00:06:15,279 --> 00:06:19,640 Speaker 1: years afterwards. By starting his own publishing house and owning 102 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:21,719 Speaker 1: the rights to a lot of the music he'd written, 103 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:25,520 Speaker 1: Berlin's income was protected in the long term, but in 104 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:28,120 Speaker 1: the short term he lost a lot of his savings 105 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:32,360 Speaker 1: and investments. Ellen's trust was not invested in the stock 106 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:35,360 Speaker 1: market and was mostly protected, so the family still had 107 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:38,400 Speaker 1: enough money to live on, but Irving really hated the 108 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:41,360 Speaker 1: fact that they were having to rely almost entirely on 109 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:45,400 Speaker 1: his wife's money. Ellen's father also lost most of his 110 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:50,280 Speaker 1: fortune in the stock market collapse. The depression also affected 111 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:54,000 Speaker 1: all the industries that he was trying to work in. Waterson, Berlin, 112 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 1: and Snyder went bankrupt in nineteen nine. In nineteen thirty, 113 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 1: Berlin wrote a score for a film called Reaching for 114 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:05,280 Speaker 1: the Moon, but in the face of spiraling financial costs 115 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:09,440 Speaker 1: and personality conflicts and the financial impact of the Great Depression, 116 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:13,960 Speaker 1: United Artists made big changes to this movie that included 117 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:18,360 Speaker 1: cutting out most of Berlin's work. Berlin tended to take 118 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:22,320 Speaker 1: criticism and rejection pretty personally for his whole career, and 119 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:25,600 Speaker 1: that was the case here. Even though these cuts really 120 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: do seem to have been more about money, maybe a 121 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:33,040 Speaker 1: little more about personality conflicts, not about the quality of 122 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:35,840 Speaker 1: the work that he had written. He became really depressed 123 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 1: and he struggled to regain his confidence afterward. Although times 124 00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:44,280 Speaker 1: were tight, Berlin did have some success during the Great Depression. 125 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:48,559 Speaker 1: In three he wrote a review called as Thousands Cheer. 126 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:52,520 Speaker 1: Two of his better known songs were written for this show, 127 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:57,200 Speaker 1: Easter Parade and heat Wave. There were also satirical sketches 128 00:07:57,240 --> 00:07:59,960 Speaker 1: based on real world figures, many of whom have been 129 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:04,800 Speaker 1: covered on our podcast, including Amy Simple, McPherson, John d. Rockefeller, 130 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:09,680 Speaker 1: and Josephine Baker. Act two of this show began with 131 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:14,360 Speaker 1: an anti lynching song called supper Time, sung by Ethel Waters, 132 00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:17,920 Speaker 1: who also sang three other songs in the show. This 133 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:20,720 Speaker 1: was the first time on Broadway that a black performer 134 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:24,440 Speaker 1: was given equal billing with white co stars, and there 135 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:27,200 Speaker 1: were people who saw this as a problem, both the 136 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:31,280 Speaker 1: content of the song supper Time and the expectations that 137 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:35,880 Speaker 1: white performers treat Waters as their equal. Three of her 138 00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:38,360 Speaker 1: white co stars refused to take a bow with her 139 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:41,720 Speaker 1: at the end of the show, and Irving Berlin's response 140 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:44,360 Speaker 1: to that was, in that case, there need be no 141 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:49,240 Speaker 1: bows at all. They did have bows. He basically forced 142 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:52,360 Speaker 1: her colleagues to treat her as equal to them. I 143 00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:54,360 Speaker 1: would love it if she got the only one, but 144 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:57,280 Speaker 1: that's just me. That also sure would have been great. 145 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:01,880 Speaker 1: This show wasn't a normal success, Running for four hundred 146 00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:05,679 Speaker 1: performances at Berlin's Music Box Theater, followed by a tour 147 00:09:05,920 --> 00:09:09,080 Speaker 1: and Easter Parade, was a big seller as sheet music. 148 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:13,040 Speaker 1: This really helped Irving Berlin start to recover financially in 149 00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:17,640 Speaker 1: the later years of the depression. On thirty four, Irving 150 00:09:17,679 --> 00:09:20,920 Speaker 1: Berlin was on the cover of Time magazine with the 151 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:26,440 Speaker 1: descriptor quote, Jerome Kern was reminded of Wagner. So Jerome 152 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:29,760 Speaker 1: Kern was a composer and a songwriter whose work included 153 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:32,520 Speaker 1: Oldman River and The Way You Look Tonight and the 154 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:36,360 Speaker 1: music for the musical show Boat. Kern had made this 155 00:09:36,520 --> 00:09:41,280 Speaker 1: comment about Irving Berlin reminding him of Wagner a decade prior, 156 00:09:41,760 --> 00:09:44,160 Speaker 1: but by nine thirty four this had become a pretty 157 00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:50,000 Speaker 1: jarring comparison. Wagner was deeply anti Semitic, and Wagner had 158 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:53,880 Speaker 1: earned vocal praise from Adolf Hitler, who by this point 159 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:57,800 Speaker 1: was ruling Germany as a dictator. We are coming up 160 00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:00,720 Speaker 1: on one of Irving Berlin's most famou his songs, and 161 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:02,880 Speaker 1: eventually to World War Two, and we will get to 162 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:15,480 Speaker 1: all of that after a sponsor break. In the nineteen thirties, 163 00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:18,520 Speaker 1: a lot of Irving Berlin's work was in film, including 164 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:21,800 Speaker 1: the movie Top Hat with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers 165 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:25,440 Speaker 1: in five. This was the start of a long friendship 166 00:10:25,520 --> 00:10:28,760 Speaker 1: between Irving and a Stare, and in nineteen thirty six, 167 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:32,240 Speaker 1: Irving was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song 168 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:35,520 Speaker 1: for the song Cheek to Cheek. This oscar wound up 169 00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:38,880 Speaker 1: going to Lullaby of Broadway from the movie Gold Diggers, 170 00:10:39,120 --> 00:10:41,920 Speaker 1: and Irving Berlin thought that was a pretty big insult. 171 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:48,320 Speaker 1: In ninety seven, the Berlin family planned a vacation to Alaska. 172 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:51,679 Speaker 1: This was a trip that involved a cruise. This trip 173 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:53,839 Speaker 1: was long enough that Berlin needed to be able to 174 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:56,880 Speaker 1: keep working, so he planned to take his transposing piano 175 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:00,520 Speaker 1: with him. This presented a problem when I turned out 176 00:11:00,559 --> 00:11:04,400 Speaker 1: that his transposing piano would not fit on the ship. 177 00:11:05,240 --> 00:11:08,200 Speaker 1: He was informed that any size grand piano would work 178 00:11:08,280 --> 00:11:10,560 Speaker 1: as long as the legs were removed to get it 179 00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:14,320 Speaker 1: on board, so he may do with that. I just 180 00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:22,920 Speaker 1: find that story just delightful, like wild. The musical film 181 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:26,640 Speaker 1: Alexander's Ragtime Band came out in y eight and it 182 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:29,960 Speaker 1: was named after Berlin's hit song from nineteen eleven that 183 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:33,240 Speaker 1: we talked about in part one. Berlin wrote the script 184 00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:37,400 Speaker 1: in collaboration with Catherine scola At, Lamar Trotty and Richard Sherman, 185 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:41,679 Speaker 1: and it included several of his most popular songs. In 186 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:44,960 Speaker 1: this film, Alexander is a band leader who wants to 187 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:47,839 Speaker 1: make people think of ragtime as a more legitimate style 188 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:51,040 Speaker 1: of music, and through his story, the music gives a 189 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:54,679 Speaker 1: general history of the musical styles of ragtime and jazz. 190 00:11:55,559 --> 00:11:58,800 Speaker 1: This movie was pretty well reviewed, but this is also 191 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:02,559 Speaker 1: a movie was about the history of ragtime and jazz, 192 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:05,600 Speaker 1: which are two musical styles that were developed by black 193 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:09,880 Speaker 1: people that did not include any black people. I haven't 194 00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:13,040 Speaker 1: seen this movie, but looking at castless like, I don't 195 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:16,120 Speaker 1: I think, not at all, like not even in like 196 00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:19,640 Speaker 1: a background role. None. Yeah, I haven't seen it either. 197 00:12:20,679 --> 00:12:25,440 Speaker 1: This film also faced allegations of plagiarism. Marie Cooper diyke 198 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:29,120 Speaker 1: House filed suit against both Berlin and twentieth Century Fox, 199 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:32,080 Speaker 1: alleging that the plot was the same as her unpublished 200 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:36,560 Speaker 1: novel Love Girl. She had submitted this novel to agents 201 00:12:36,559 --> 00:12:39,560 Speaker 1: and filmmakers in Hollywood the year before the movie was made. 202 00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:43,360 Speaker 1: This legal case went on for years, with a judge 203 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:45,800 Speaker 1: ruling that the movie's plot was the same as the 204 00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:50,680 Speaker 1: book in but two years later this was overturned because 205 00:12:50,679 --> 00:12:53,520 Speaker 1: there was no evidence that Berlin or any of the 206 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:57,000 Speaker 1: other screenwriters involved had ever seen the novel, and that 207 00:12:57,120 --> 00:12:59,520 Speaker 1: none of them knew any of the literary agents that 208 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:03,679 Speaker 1: the book had been submitted to. While the earlier ruling 209 00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:06,800 Speaker 1: had focused on similarities between the book and the movie, 210 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:10,680 Speaker 1: the ruling in the appeal noted some key differences. Quote 211 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:13,679 Speaker 1: the book is late in part in the same period 212 00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:17,040 Speaker 1: as the picture, but it is about the loves of 213 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:20,040 Speaker 1: the love girl and her several lovers, and there is 214 00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:24,280 Speaker 1: no note of music in it. The pictures real interest 215 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:27,080 Speaker 1: and value as to every scene and action in it, 216 00:13:27,240 --> 00:13:31,520 Speaker 1: are in the music. Its presentation requires an hour and 217 00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:35,680 Speaker 1: three quarters, and each minute is filled with action attuned 218 00:13:35,880 --> 00:13:41,520 Speaker 1: to the music to return to. One of Irving Berlin's 219 00:13:41,559 --> 00:13:45,320 Speaker 1: most famous songs made its debut that Armistice Day that year, 220 00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:48,760 Speaker 1: that was November eleven, commemorating the armistice at the end 221 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:52,640 Speaker 1: of World War One. Of course, by this point parts 222 00:13:52,679 --> 00:13:55,160 Speaker 1: of the world were at war again and tensions were 223 00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:59,480 Speaker 1: escalating in others. The Second Sino Japanese War had started 224 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:03,480 Speaker 1: in July of nineteen seven, and Germany had annexed Austria 225 00:14:03,559 --> 00:14:08,439 Speaker 1: in March of ninety eight. That September, Germany, Italy, Great Britain, 226 00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:12,440 Speaker 1: and France had signed the Munich Agreement, forcing Czechoslovakia to 227 00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:17,240 Speaker 1: see it it's predominantly German speaking border region to Germany. 228 00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:20,280 Speaker 1: This was done under threat of war with Germany and 229 00:14:20,400 --> 00:14:24,840 Speaker 1: without the involvement of Czechoslovakia. In the face of all 230 00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:28,360 Speaker 1: of this, Kate Smith had asked Irving Berlin for a 231 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:32,240 Speaker 1: new song for her Armistice Day performance, one that wound 232 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:35,960 Speaker 1: up taking place the day after the November program also 233 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:38,840 Speaker 1: known as Crystal Knocked, which took place over November ninth 234 00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:42,160 Speaker 1: and tenth of nineteen thirty eight. We covered this program 235 00:14:42,320 --> 00:14:46,960 Speaker 1: on the podcast. In the song that Berlin gave her 236 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:50,160 Speaker 1: was God Bless America, which he had originally worked on 237 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:52,800 Speaker 1: to include in Yip Yip yap Haank, but had not 238 00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:56,160 Speaker 1: been satisfied with at that time. One lyric that he 239 00:14:56,280 --> 00:14:58,640 Speaker 1: changed as he was working on this for Kate Smith 240 00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:01,560 Speaker 1: was stand beside her and guide her through the night 241 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:05,359 Speaker 1: with the light from above through the night. Was originally 242 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:09,080 Speaker 1: to the right meaning toward what was right, but he 243 00:15:09,200 --> 00:15:11,680 Speaker 1: made the change out of concerns that people would interpret 244 00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:16,040 Speaker 1: right as instead having a political meaning. This song was 245 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:19,760 Speaker 1: an immediate hit, becoming one of Kate Smith's signature songs. 246 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:22,800 Speaker 1: It got huge amounts of radio play, and its sheet 247 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:27,000 Speaker 1: music became a bestseller. People called for God Bless America 248 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:29,760 Speaker 1: to be made the national anthem and replaced the star 249 00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:33,120 Speaker 1: spangled banner that had been adopted just seven years prior. 250 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:37,240 Speaker 1: Among other things. Like many of Berlin's songs, God Bless 251 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:41,960 Speaker 1: America was much easier to sing. But this song also 252 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:46,480 Speaker 1: faced an anti Semitic xenophobic backlash as people question how 253 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:48,960 Speaker 1: a Jewish immigrant had the right to call on God 254 00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:53,320 Speaker 1: to bless the United States. The ku Klux Klan called 255 00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:57,120 Speaker 1: for a boycott. Others disliked this song for different reasons, 256 00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:01,640 Speaker 1: including folk singer and songwriter Woody Guthrie. Guthrie found the 257 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:06,480 Speaker 1: song to be too uncritically patriotic and too optimistic, especially 258 00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:08,880 Speaker 1: given the state of the world and how many people 259 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:11,600 Speaker 1: were still financially really struggling in the wake of the 260 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:14,920 Speaker 1: Great Depression. This is also one of those songs that 261 00:16:15,040 --> 00:16:18,520 Speaker 1: was just on the radio constantly. I know we've all 262 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:20,800 Speaker 1: had that song to sign the radio constantly. We just 263 00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:23,680 Speaker 1: are so sick of it. Guthrie felt like it was 264 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:26,320 Speaker 1: impossible to get away from God Bless America, so in 265 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:29,200 Speaker 1: nineteen forty he wrote a song of his own, and 266 00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:32,480 Speaker 1: that song was This Land Is Your Land, which followed 267 00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:35,640 Speaker 1: the same basic tune as two different Carter Family songs. 268 00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:38,280 Speaker 1: Those songs were When the World's On Fire, which came 269 00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:41,040 Speaker 1: out in nineteen thirty, and Little Darling Palamine, which came 270 00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:45,960 Speaker 1: out in five Guthrie performed this song a lot, as 271 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:48,600 Speaker 1: did Pete Seeger, who has come up on the show recently. 272 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:51,920 Speaker 1: One of the ironies about all of this is that 273 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:56,360 Speaker 1: Guthrie's criticism of God Bless America included what he saw 274 00:16:56,480 --> 00:17:00,480 Speaker 1: as its uncritical elevation of the United States, but he 275 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:03,560 Speaker 1: wound up cutting out the most critical verses of this 276 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:07,040 Speaker 1: land is Your Land. In most early recordings and sheet 277 00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:11,160 Speaker 1: music printings, one verse that was usually cut was as 278 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:13,840 Speaker 1: I went walking, I saw a sign there, and on 279 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:16,640 Speaker 1: the sign that said no trespassing. But on the other 280 00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:19,840 Speaker 1: side it didn't say nothing. That side was made for 281 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:23,720 Speaker 1: you and me. Another was in the squares of the city, 282 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:26,800 Speaker 1: in the shadow of the steeple by the relief office. 283 00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:29,720 Speaker 1: I seen my people as they stood there, hungry. I 284 00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:32,880 Speaker 1: stood there asking is this land made for you and me? 285 00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:36,800 Speaker 1: The verses that were left meeting, the ones that people 286 00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:40,399 Speaker 1: became most familiar with, were mostly the happier ones about 287 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:44,840 Speaker 1: endless skyways and golden valleys and diamond deserts and wheat 288 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:50,520 Speaker 1: fields waving not especially critical. Also, Woody Guthrie was a 289 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:53,680 Speaker 1: white man from Oklahoma writing a song about this land 290 00:17:53,800 --> 00:17:57,720 Speaker 1: is My Land. So sure, Godless America can come across 291 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:01,679 Speaker 1: as a glorification of American optionalism. That's a fair point, 292 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:05,240 Speaker 1: Woody Guthrie. But also, this land is Your Land can 293 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:11,600 Speaker 1: really read like a tribute to settler colonialism. But your 294 00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:14,880 Speaker 1: return to Irving Berlin towards the end of the nineteen thirties, 295 00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:17,000 Speaker 1: he bought a place in the cat skills that needed 296 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:19,520 Speaker 1: a lot of fixing up, and he had it renovated 297 00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:23,200 Speaker 1: so the family could spend their summers there. In nineteen forty, 298 00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:25,359 Speaker 1: he set up a trust to divert all of the 299 00:18:25,480 --> 00:18:28,800 Speaker 1: royalties from God Bless America to the Girl Scouts and 300 00:18:28,840 --> 00:18:33,280 Speaker 1: the Boy Scouts. In nineteen forty, Irving Berlin finished writing 301 00:18:33,359 --> 00:18:35,600 Speaker 1: one of his biggest hits, and that was the song 302 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:39,080 Speaker 1: White Christmas. Soon he was also working on a movie 303 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:42,200 Speaker 1: to put it in. That movie was Holiday in When 304 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:45,119 Speaker 1: he talked to producers and executives about this movie in 305 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:47,120 Speaker 1: the works, he said he already had a big song 306 00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:49,760 Speaker 1: for it, which needed to be included in the contract 307 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:53,920 Speaker 1: for the film. The first public radio broadcast of White 308 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:58,199 Speaker 1: Christmas was on Christmas Eve ninety one on Bing Crosby's 309 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:01,320 Speaker 1: weekly radio program, and us was just weeks after the 310 00:19:01,359 --> 00:19:05,399 Speaker 1: attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. White Christmas can sound like 311 00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:09,400 Speaker 1: a really wistful or even sad song, depending on how 312 00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:12,879 Speaker 1: it's performed, and that's been interpreted as tracing back to 313 00:19:12,960 --> 00:19:18,240 Speaker 1: the death of his infant son on Christmas of The 314 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:22,360 Speaker 1: movie Holiday m came out in nineteen two, starring Bing Crosby, 315 00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:27,320 Speaker 1: Fred Astaire Marjorie Reynolds, Virginia Dale, and Walter Abel. In 316 00:19:27,359 --> 00:19:30,639 Speaker 1: addition to making sure White Christmas was included in plans 317 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:33,440 Speaker 1: for the film, Berlin had also worked to make sure 318 00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:37,159 Speaker 1: Bing Crosby was cast in it. In ninety three, the 319 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:40,920 Speaker 1: song White Christmas won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. 320 00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:44,800 Speaker 1: This movie came out in August, and Berlin had planned 321 00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:48,080 Speaker 1: to start marketing the sheet music for White Christmas closer 322 00:19:48,119 --> 00:19:51,720 Speaker 1: to Christmas, but it became an immediate bestseller, with six 323 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:56,320 Speaker 1: hundred thousand copies sold by November of that year. Holiday 324 00:19:56,320 --> 00:20:00,320 Speaker 1: Inn also caused some controversy. One of its musical umbers 325 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:03,280 Speaker 1: is called Abraham and in the context of the movie, 326 00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:06,160 Speaker 1: it's a song that's meant to be performed on Abraham 327 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:09,960 Speaker 1: Lincoln's birthday, and it is also a black faced menstrual number. 328 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:14,960 Speaker 1: Berlin was also criticized for some of this song's lyrics, 329 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:19,879 Speaker 1: specifically the use of one adjective that black audiences found offensive. 330 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:21,760 Speaker 1: I don't feel like we need to repeat with that 331 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:25,280 Speaker 1: adjective was in the show. A Baltimore newspaper called The 332 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:29,480 Speaker 1: African American called Berlin out on this, and in response, 333 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:33,240 Speaker 1: he changed the lyric in future printings of the sheet music, 334 00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:36,879 Speaker 1: saying quote, no song is important enough to offend a 335 00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:39,760 Speaker 1: whole race. I should never have released it had I 336 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:45,080 Speaker 1: known the epithet was objectionable. This was not Irving Berlin's 337 00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:48,440 Speaker 1: last controversy about how he approached race in his work, 338 00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:50,919 Speaker 1: and we're going to talk more about that after we 339 00:20:50,960 --> 00:21:03,920 Speaker 1: take a quick little sponsor break. In December of ninety one, 340 00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:07,080 Speaker 1: the War Department asked Irving Berlin to work on a 341 00:21:07,119 --> 00:21:11,000 Speaker 1: patriotic military musical along the same lines of Yip Hip 342 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:14,200 Speaker 1: Yap Hank during World War One that would be performed 343 00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:17,560 Speaker 1: to raise funds and also to raise the morale of 344 00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:20,680 Speaker 1: the troops. And the results of that request was This 345 00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:24,720 Speaker 1: is the Army. That is an effort that was simultaneously 346 00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:29,600 Speaker 1: progressive and regressive in terms of race. In terms of 347 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:33,959 Speaker 1: its progressiveness, Berlin insisted on casting black performers for this 348 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:36,399 Speaker 1: show at a time when the U. S. Army was 349 00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:40,919 Speaker 1: racially segregated. The Army would continue to be racially segregated 350 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:45,640 Speaker 1: until President Harry Truman issued Executive Order one in nine. 351 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:51,159 Speaker 1: This was the only racially integrated uniformed Army unit in 352 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:54,399 Speaker 1: the Second World War, and that was because Irving Berlin 353 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:58,280 Speaker 1: had demanded it. Berlin also pressured theaters where the show 354 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:01,960 Speaker 1: was being performed to integrate. The same newspaper that had 355 00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:05,840 Speaker 1: criticized his language and holiday In published a piece titled 356 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:09,879 Speaker 1: Irving Berlin cracks DC's Jim Crow Law after he forced 357 00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:13,080 Speaker 1: a Washington, d c. Theater to admit a black woman 358 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:17,560 Speaker 1: who bought a ticket. However, he also had a huge 359 00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:21,840 Speaker 1: argument with director Ezra Stone about the show's opener, which 360 00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:26,080 Speaker 1: Berlin envisioned as involving the entire cast of a hundred 361 00:22:26,119 --> 00:22:29,560 Speaker 1: and ten men in black face. Stone told him, quote, 362 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:32,680 Speaker 1: I know the heritage of the Menstrul show, those days 363 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:37,440 Speaker 1: are gone. People don't do that anymore, but Berlin continued 364 00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:40,359 Speaker 1: to insist that this was how the show should start. 365 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:44,159 Speaker 1: Stone only got him to change his plans by pointing 366 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:47,359 Speaker 1: out the practical issue of getting a hundred and ten 367 00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:50,440 Speaker 1: performers out of their black face makeup for the rest 368 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:54,439 Speaker 1: of the show, but Berlin still insisted on having a 369 00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:58,080 Speaker 1: different number with a smaller group of performers in black face. 370 00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:02,919 Speaker 1: Later on, Berlin's conflicts with Stone and others during this 371 00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:05,520 Speaker 1: show did not end. There there was a lot of 372 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:10,560 Speaker 1: haggling over money, with Berlin's financial manager, Saul Bornstein, horrified 373 00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:13,479 Speaker 1: at Berlin's plans to donate all of his proceeds from 374 00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:17,320 Speaker 1: the music sales. There was some unfortunate back and forth 375 00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:20,520 Speaker 1: between Berlin, Stone, and others about whether there were too 376 00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:24,280 Speaker 1: many Jewish people in the cast, something that seems particularly 377 00:23:24,359 --> 00:23:28,520 Speaker 1: jarring considering that Berlin himself was Jewish. But there were 378 00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:33,760 Speaker 1: several overlapping factors here. Berlin was concerned about increasing anti 379 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:37,040 Speaker 1: Semitism in the US and abroad, and about whether having 380 00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:40,280 Speaker 1: a predominantly Jewish cast would lead to rumors that they 381 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:41,960 Speaker 1: were in the show to try to get out of 382 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:47,080 Speaker 1: combat duty. One particular tour performance left Berlin feeling like 383 00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:51,399 Speaker 1: Stone had intentionally insulted him. Normally, at the end of 384 00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:54,000 Speaker 1: the show, Berlin would come out from the wings and 385 00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:57,359 Speaker 1: Stone would order the cast to face left where Berlin 386 00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:00,359 Speaker 1: was standing. But when they performed in Washington, d see, 387 00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:03,280 Speaker 1: President Roosevelt was in a box to the right, so 388 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:06,520 Speaker 1: Stone ordered them to face that way. That meant that 389 00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:10,040 Speaker 1: the entire cast turned their backs to Berlin in front 390 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:12,919 Speaker 1: of the President. It was very upset about this, but 391 00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:15,440 Speaker 1: it also seems like if they had done the opposite 392 00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:18,720 Speaker 1: that would have involved a whole bunch of military men 393 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:21,959 Speaker 1: and uniform simultaneously turning their backs on the president, and 394 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:24,040 Speaker 1: that seems like it would have caused a different problem. 395 00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:27,840 Speaker 1: Like the only correct thing to do with the show 396 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:29,480 Speaker 1: would have been to realize what was going on and 397 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:32,000 Speaker 1: changed the blocking totally differently ahead of Diamond, that's not 398 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:35,800 Speaker 1: what happened, or either just say hey, we have to 399 00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:38,199 Speaker 1: turn this way. Make it look like you're joining the 400 00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:44,000 Speaker 1: cast to face the president their solutives here. Yeah, that's yeah. 401 00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:46,440 Speaker 1: This is the Army tour to the US as well 402 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:48,920 Speaker 1: as in Europe and North Africa, and it was eventually 403 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:52,240 Speaker 1: made into a movie. Berlin was with the touring cast 404 00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:54,920 Speaker 1: whenever he could be. At various points he had to 405 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:59,160 Speaker 1: leave for both personal reasons and for other commitments. While 406 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:02,000 Speaker 1: they were in London, he met Prime Minister Winston Churchill, 407 00:25:02,119 --> 00:25:05,719 Speaker 1: although there is an oft repeated story that this invitation 408 00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:08,359 Speaker 1: was an error and that Churchill thought he would be 409 00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:13,720 Speaker 1: meeting philosopher and historian Isaiah Berlin. Irving Berlin rejoined the 410 00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:17,000 Speaker 1: tour for its final performance in nineteen forty five. Gave 411 00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:19,639 Speaker 1: a final stage performance of Oh How I Hate to 412 00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:21,840 Speaker 1: Get Up in the morning and said that he hoped 413 00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:25,399 Speaker 1: he'd never have to write another war song. This is 414 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:28,520 Speaker 1: the Army raised more than six million dollars for the 415 00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:31,640 Speaker 1: Army Emergency Relief Fund. I saw some numbers that were 416 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:35,320 Speaker 1: even higher than that, and in ninety five President Harry 417 00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:38,720 Speaker 1: Truman awarded Berlin the Medal of Merit for his efforts 418 00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:41,800 Speaker 1: on it. In nineteen forty four, the National Conference of 419 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:45,840 Speaker 1: Christians and Jews honored Berlin for quote advancing the aims 420 00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:50,359 Speaker 1: of the conference to eliminate religious and racial conflict. I 421 00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:55,000 Speaker 1: feel like the idea of racial conflict here, it's like 422 00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:58,119 Speaker 1: very He seems to have been all over the place 423 00:25:58,119 --> 00:26:00,760 Speaker 1: on this issue and generally much better at how he 424 00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:05,240 Speaker 1: worked with individual performers than like broad issues like not 425 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:08,680 Speaker 1: doing black base anymore. Yeah, it seems like some part 426 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:11,080 Speaker 1: of him wanted to do the correct thing, but he 427 00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:15,320 Speaker 1: just kept stepping in it like problematic um. Towards the 428 00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:18,320 Speaker 1: end of the war, Berlin ended his business relationship with 429 00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:22,160 Speaker 1: Saul Bornstein. It wasn't just because of the conflict over 430 00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:25,640 Speaker 1: Berlin wanting to donate his royalties, but also because they're 431 00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:30,080 Speaker 1: working relationship had really been deteriorating for years and Berlin 432 00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:34,320 Speaker 1: had evidence that Bornstein had been stealing from him. Berlin 433 00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:37,520 Speaker 1: never discussed this publicly, and he never pressed any charges. 434 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:41,639 Speaker 1: It seems like he had clear evidence of wrongdoing, but 435 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:45,080 Speaker 1: since Bornstein's actions hadn't caused the business to fail or 436 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:49,919 Speaker 1: meaningfully harmed Berlin, he had still become wealthy through its songwriting. 437 00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:52,600 Speaker 1: He just wanted this whole incident to be over with 438 00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:56,679 Speaker 1: and quietly. During and after World War Two, there was 439 00:26:56,760 --> 00:26:59,520 Speaker 1: a shift in the kind of shows that were popular 440 00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:03,800 Speaker 1: on Oadway, moving from things like musical reviews and vaudeville 441 00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:07,840 Speaker 1: shows that had at most a very thin suggestion of 442 00:27:07,840 --> 00:27:10,200 Speaker 1: a plot, kind of holding a bunch of songs together, 443 00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:15,440 Speaker 1: to instead a more narrative form of musical storytelling. These 444 00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:19,199 Speaker 1: kinds of narrative musicals definitely existed before the war, but 445 00:27:19,359 --> 00:27:23,000 Speaker 1: they became a lot popular afterward, and this was especially 446 00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:26,960 Speaker 1: true following the success of Oklahoma, which was the first 447 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:31,040 Speaker 1: musical written by the duo of Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein. 448 00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:34,760 Speaker 1: The second Berlin's first foray into rating for this kind 449 00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:38,439 Speaker 1: of musical was Annie Get Your Gun In, which was 450 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:42,479 Speaker 1: about Annie Oakley. This was something Dorothy Fields had been 451 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:46,800 Speaker 1: working on with Rogerson Hammerstein as producers. The plan was 452 00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:49,440 Speaker 1: for Fields to write the lyrics and for Jerome Kern 453 00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:53,520 Speaker 1: to write the music, with the spectacular that's my interjection 454 00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:57,600 Speaker 1: ethel Verman in the lead role. But then Kern unexpectedly 455 00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:01,600 Speaker 1: died of a stroke. This was a personal and professional 456 00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:05,840 Speaker 1: loss for many, including Irvan Berlin, who was also upset 457 00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:09,040 Speaker 1: by the realization that Kern was only three years older 458 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:12,919 Speaker 1: than he was when he died. The team approached Berlin 459 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:15,720 Speaker 1: about taking Kern's place, which he was willing to do 460 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:20,160 Speaker 1: only if he also took fields place as lyricist. Fields 461 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:22,359 Speaker 1: seems to have felt like she had enough to do 462 00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:25,720 Speaker 1: on the show without doing the lyrics. It doesn't seem 463 00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:28,240 Speaker 1: like she felt she was being forced out in this change. 464 00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:32,200 Speaker 1: But even after she had stepped aside, Berlin still really 465 00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:34,920 Speaker 1: had to be convinced to take the job. He had 466 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:38,320 Speaker 1: some trepidation about joining the show that he hadn't been 467 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:41,960 Speaker 1: part of from the start. By this point, a lot 468 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:44,680 Speaker 1: of his other shows were basically marketed with his name 469 00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:50,200 Speaker 1: at the beginning, like Irving Berlin's Whatever Uh. He also 470 00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:53,760 Speaker 1: just wasn't sure how well he would do at writing 471 00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:57,920 Speaker 1: this kind of material, As many creative ventures are. This 472 00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:00,959 Speaker 1: seems to have been chaotic and stress full, but it 473 00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:04,640 Speaker 1: was also another success. The show opened in May of 474 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:07,520 Speaker 1: nineteen forty six and it ran for one thousand, one 475 00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:12,440 Speaker 1: hundty seven performances, and it was later made into a film. 476 00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:15,400 Speaker 1: Berlin would later say of writing for Ethel Merman quote, 477 00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:18,320 Speaker 1: I love to write songs for Ethel. It's a little 478 00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:21,040 Speaker 1: like a dress designer getting an extra kick when he 479 00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:23,240 Speaker 1: dreams of a gown for a beautiful woman with a 480 00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:27,920 Speaker 1: perfect figure. Irving Berlin continued to do both creative and 481 00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:32,760 Speaker 1: philanthropic work from there. In ninety eight, during the Berlin Airlift, 482 00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:36,800 Speaker 1: Irving Berlin traveled to West Berlin with past podcast subject 483 00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:39,520 Speaker 1: Bob Hope to perform for the troops who were involved 484 00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:42,800 Speaker 1: with that effort. In nineteen forty nine, he wrote the 485 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:45,840 Speaker 1: music and lyrics for a musical called Miss Liberty, which 486 00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:49,960 Speaker 1: included setting Emma Lazarus's poem The New Colossus to music. 487 00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:52,960 Speaker 1: Emma Lazarus and that poem also a past episode of 488 00:29:52,960 --> 00:29:56,640 Speaker 1: the podcast. This musical was not a success, though it 489 00:29:56,760 --> 00:29:59,240 Speaker 1: ran for three d and eight performances, but it was 490 00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:03,880 Speaker 1: badly reviewed and a touring show lost money after this 491 00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:08,640 Speaker 1: Irving Berlin became increasingly depressed. His oldest daughter got a 492 00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:11,760 Speaker 1: divorce that year, something that was widely covered in the press, 493 00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:15,440 Speaker 1: and she blamed herself for her father's mental illness, feeling 494 00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:18,320 Speaker 1: like it was because she had let him down. He 495 00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:21,200 Speaker 1: started to recover someone when he started working on another 496 00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:24,000 Speaker 1: show for ethel Merman, this one called Call Me Madam, 497 00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:28,400 Speaker 1: which opened in nineteen fifty, but he continued to experience 498 00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:31,840 Speaker 1: periods of depression and anxiety, and at times he had 499 00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:36,040 Speaker 1: to be hospitalized for treatment. In nineteen fifty four, President 500 00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:40,400 Speaker 1: Dwight Eisenhower presented Irving Berlin with a Congressional Gold Medal 501 00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:44,120 Speaker 1: for God Bless America and other patriotic songs he had written. 502 00:30:44,960 --> 00:30:49,000 Speaker 1: That same year, White Christmas became a movie starring Bing Crosby, 503 00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:53,440 Speaker 1: Danny Kay, Rosemary Clooney, and Barrett Ellen. White Christmas is 504 00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:57,320 Speaker 1: often described as a spiritual successor to Holiday Inn, although 505 00:30:57,400 --> 00:31:00,640 Speaker 1: unlike Holiday Inn, it does not include a black face number. 506 00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:05,320 Speaker 1: It does, however, include a medley that sings about how 507 00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:09,760 Speaker 1: much they love going to menstrual shows. Yeah, you know 508 00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:12,840 Speaker 1: you gotta take the goodness the bed when you look 509 00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:16,560 Speaker 1: at classic films, for sure, um, and I think critically 510 00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:20,400 Speaker 1: about what they're saying. In nineteen sixty two, Berlin wrote 511 00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:23,720 Speaker 1: his last full length musical, that was Mr President, about 512 00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:27,560 Speaker 1: a fictional US president's personal and political life, and like 513 00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:31,280 Speaker 1: Miss Liberty, it was not a success overall. It was 514 00:31:31,320 --> 00:31:34,200 Speaker 1: poorly reviewed, and it closed after a little more than 515 00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:38,320 Speaker 1: two performances. Yeah. I think they basically got through all 516 00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:40,880 Speaker 1: of their advanced ticket sales and then that was the end. 517 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:44,360 Speaker 1: This was not the note that Irving Berlin wanted to 518 00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:47,520 Speaker 1: end his career on. He kept wanting to just write 519 00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:51,240 Speaker 1: one more successful musical, or put together one last review 520 00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:54,680 Speaker 1: at the music box theater, or write one more hit song. 521 00:31:55,440 --> 00:31:58,520 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty three, he received a Tony Award for 522 00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:02,480 Speaker 1: quote his distinguished contribution to the musical theater for these 523 00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:05,280 Speaker 1: many years. But this did not really lift his spirits. 524 00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:09,960 Speaker 1: He increasingly felt obsolete and out of touch with changing 525 00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:15,320 Speaker 1: musical tastes and probably social morays. Towards the end of 526 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:17,640 Speaker 1: his life, he said, quote, it was as if I 527 00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:20,400 Speaker 1: owned a store and people no longer wanted to buy 528 00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:24,560 Speaker 1: what I had to sell. Music changed to the Beatles 529 00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:27,600 Speaker 1: and other groups reached audiences I couldn't. It was time 530 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:30,560 Speaker 1: to close up shop, and since he was in his 531 00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:33,160 Speaker 1: seventies with a career that had started at the turn 532 00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:37,520 Speaker 1: of the twentieth century, many of his longtime friends, colleagues, 533 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:42,200 Speaker 1: and collaborators had died. He also outlived all of his siblings, 534 00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:45,760 Speaker 1: the last of whom died in night. He had taken 535 00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:47,880 Speaker 1: up painting, and he spent more of his time on 536 00:32:47,920 --> 00:32:52,400 Speaker 1: that while becoming more reclusive and generally withdrawing from public life. 537 00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:55,960 Speaker 1: In nine seventy r Ving Berlin was inducted into the 538 00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:58,680 Speaker 1: Songwriter's Hall of Fame, and in nineteen seventy three he 539 00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:02,160 Speaker 1: gave his last public formants. This was at the White House, 540 00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:05,280 Speaker 1: singing God Bless America for more than five hundred American 541 00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:11,000 Speaker 1: POWs from the Vietnam War. After retiring from writing and performing, 542 00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:15,240 Speaker 1: Irving Berlin donated his transposing piano to the Smithsonian, and 543 00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:18,280 Speaker 1: he donated his World War One military uniform to the 544 00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:23,080 Speaker 1: Museum of American Jewish Military History. In nineteen seventy seven, 545 00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:27,600 Speaker 1: President Gerald Ford awarded Irving Berlin the Presidential Medal of Freedom, 546 00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:29,720 Speaker 1: but he was not at the ceremony and no one 547 00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:33,840 Speaker 1: represented him there. The same was true of two other honorees. 548 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:36,480 Speaker 1: One of those was Georgia O'Keefe and the other was 549 00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:41,080 Speaker 1: Alexander Calder, who was awarded the medal posthumously. When Irving 550 00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:45,880 Speaker 1: Berlin turned a hundred on May eleventh, a tribute concert 551 00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:48,880 Speaker 1: was held in his honor at Carnegie Hall, Although he 552 00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:52,680 Speaker 1: did not personally attend. This concert was later aired as 553 00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:57,080 Speaker 1: a television broadcast that won two Emmy Awards. This concert 554 00:33:57,160 --> 00:34:02,800 Speaker 1: had a star studded cast, including Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Leonard Bernstein, 555 00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:09,480 Speaker 1: Natalie Cole, Nell Carter, Jerry Orbach, Madeleine con Willie Nelson, Ray, Charles, 556 00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:14,040 Speaker 1: and be Arthur, among many others. Shirley McLean made a 557 00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:17,080 Speaker 1: joke that they couldn't sing Happy Birthday because that was 558 00:34:17,200 --> 00:34:20,720 Speaker 1: the one song he didn't Right before, she sang There's 559 00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:23,879 Speaker 1: No Business Like show Business. That was another song from 560 00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:26,080 Speaker 1: the musical, and to Get Your Gun and There's No 561 00:34:26,160 --> 00:34:29,480 Speaker 1: Business Like Show Business also later became part of a 562 00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:33,520 Speaker 1: movie musical by the same name. A couple of months later, 563 00:34:33,640 --> 00:34:39,520 Speaker 1: on July, Irving Berlin's wife, Ellen Mackie Berlynn, died. They 564 00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:42,840 Speaker 1: had been married for sixty two years. Irving had a 565 00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:45,480 Speaker 1: stroke the day after Christmas that year, and he was 566 00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:49,160 Speaker 1: not expected to survive, but he did recover. He died 567 00:34:49,160 --> 00:34:52,160 Speaker 1: on September twenty two, nine eight nine, at the age 568 00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:55,760 Speaker 1: of a hundred and one. Over the course of his career, 569 00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:58,600 Speaker 1: he had written more than nine hundred songs. I saw 570 00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:01,600 Speaker 1: some totals that were much greater than that, and that 571 00:35:01,719 --> 00:35:05,160 Speaker 1: seems a little low to me, honestly. He also wrote 572 00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:08,640 Speaker 1: the music and lyrics for nineteen musicals and scores for 573 00:35:08,719 --> 00:35:12,080 Speaker 1: eighteen movies. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, 574 00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:15,640 Speaker 1: Bing Crosby's recording of White Christmas is still the best 575 00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:20,000 Speaker 1: selling album of all time. One quote that comes up 576 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:23,640 Speaker 1: a lot and discussions of Irving Berlin's life and work 577 00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:26,600 Speaker 1: is from Jerome Kern, who wrote it in a letter 578 00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:31,520 Speaker 1: to biographer Alexander Wolcott. In so this quote does not 579 00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:35,239 Speaker 1: really reflect the complexities of his work that we've talked 580 00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:37,680 Speaker 1: about in this episode, but it does really show how 581 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:41,800 Speaker 1: people regarded him in the early twentieth century, Kern wrote, quote, 582 00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:46,000 Speaker 1: Irving Berlin has no place in American music. He is 583 00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:49,920 Speaker 1: American music. As part of the same letter, he also 584 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:54,600 Speaker 1: said quote, he honestly absorbs the vibrations emanating from the 585 00:35:54,680 --> 00:35:58,120 Speaker 1: people manners and life of his time, and in turn 586 00:35:58,239 --> 00:36:06,280 Speaker 1: gives these impressions back to the world simplified, clarified, glorified. Uh. 587 00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:08,640 Speaker 1: I have a lot of feelings about Irving Berlin. He 588 00:36:08,719 --> 00:36:11,640 Speaker 1: has a lot of songs that I love. I enjoy 589 00:36:11,719 --> 00:36:15,720 Speaker 1: watching White Christmas at Christmas Time, even though that movie 590 00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:20,000 Speaker 1: has simultaneously aged beautifully and terribly. Like, yeah, I tend 591 00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:22,080 Speaker 1: to focus a lot on the clothes, and I'm like, 592 00:36:23,239 --> 00:36:25,640 Speaker 1: I acknowledge that that part's there, but that is not 593 00:36:25,719 --> 00:36:28,200 Speaker 1: what this movie is about for me. Yeah. Yeah, I 594 00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:29,719 Speaker 1: knew we were going to have to talk a lot 595 00:36:29,719 --> 00:36:32,839 Speaker 1: about black face in these two episodes, but I did 596 00:36:32,840 --> 00:36:35,080 Speaker 1: not really realize that there was going to be a 597 00:36:35,080 --> 00:36:38,360 Speaker 1: part where he was stridently defending the use of black 598 00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:41,640 Speaker 1: face and the people telling him like, no, seriously, dude, 599 00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:46,440 Speaker 1: we don't do this anymore. So anyway, we'll talk some 600 00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:50,520 Speaker 1: more about personal stuff and behind the scenes. On Friday, 601 00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:55,760 Speaker 1: I have listener mail from Jennifer Uh and Jennifer wrote, Hey, 602 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:58,239 Speaker 1: Holly and Tracy, I love the podcast and have my 603 00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:01,919 Speaker 1: PhD and s Y M HC and have a shart 604 00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:04,719 Speaker 1: to prove it. I just finished listening to the episode 605 00:37:04,719 --> 00:37:06,920 Speaker 1: on Charles Drew, which was great. At the end of 606 00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:10,160 Speaker 1: the podcast, talking about the American Red Cross band on 607 00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:12,960 Speaker 1: donated blood from men who have sex with men triggered 608 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:16,640 Speaker 1: the memory for me that the Canadian Blood Services recently 609 00:37:16,760 --> 00:37:20,280 Speaker 1: in April lifted the ban on these men from donating. 610 00:37:20,800 --> 00:37:24,080 Speaker 1: They have instituted protocols to have this blood closely tested 611 00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:26,640 Speaker 1: for HIV and other blood borne illnesses. This is a 612 00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:30,000 Speaker 1: great move forward for blood collection in Canada. And then 613 00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:32,520 Speaker 1: there's a link to an article on this. Included with 614 00:37:32,560 --> 00:37:35,400 Speaker 1: this email is a picture of my house panther Batman 615 00:37:35,920 --> 00:37:38,160 Speaker 1: being a diva at having his picture taken. He is 616 00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:41,319 Speaker 1: both handsome and very snugly. Thank you for all the 617 00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:45,839 Speaker 1: entertainment you provide, Jennifer, so that that's correct. I did 618 00:37:45,880 --> 00:37:48,239 Speaker 1: not know this, but the Canadian Blood Services did just 619 00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:51,839 Speaker 1: change their policy in April on this. Their policy has 620 00:37:51,920 --> 00:37:58,080 Speaker 1: still gotten some some criticism. Um like we were talking 621 00:37:58,120 --> 00:38:00,239 Speaker 1: about in the behind the scenes on our chart also 622 00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:06,600 Speaker 1: Drew episode, it is focused on behaviors instead of broadly 623 00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:10,960 Speaker 1: banning all like all men who have sex with men 624 00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:14,600 Speaker 1: and all people who may have had sex with a 625 00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:16,600 Speaker 1: man who has had sex with a man, And instead 626 00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:20,839 Speaker 1: of looking at behaviors that people have criticized that some 627 00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:26,120 Speaker 1: of these behaviors still could be discriminatory. So, um, while 628 00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:29,120 Speaker 1: that's definitely a change that seems to be generally favorable, 629 00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:31,920 Speaker 1: it is still one that people have had criticisms of. 630 00:38:32,160 --> 00:38:34,600 Speaker 1: But thank you for letting us know about that, Jennifer 631 00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:37,080 Speaker 1: Uh if you would like to send us a note 632 00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:40,080 Speaker 1: about this or any other podcasts were at history podcasts 633 00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:42,239 Speaker 1: that I heart radio dot com. And we're all over 634 00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:45,600 Speaker 1: social media at miss in History. Um, that'ster. We'll find 635 00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:49,239 Speaker 1: our Facebook, Twitter, interest in Instagram, and you can subscribe 636 00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:52,080 Speaker 1: to our show on I heart radio app or where 637 00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:59,399 Speaker 1: ever you like to get your podcasts. Stuff you missed 638 00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:02,120 Speaker 1: in History Class is the production of I heart Radio. 639 00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:05,000 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the iHeart 640 00:39:05,080 --> 00:39:08,200 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 641 00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:09,840 Speaker 1: favorite shows. H