As Thousands Cheer: The Life Of Irving Berlin [Paperback]

Laurence Bergreen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 22, 1996

Irving Berlin (1888–1989) was unable to read or write music and could only play the piano in the key of F-sharp major; yet, for the first half of the twentieth century he was America's most successful and most representative songwriter, composing such hits as "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Cheek to Cheek," "Let's Face the Music and Dance," "Puttin' on the Ritz," "White Christmas," "Anything You Can Do," "There's No Business Like Show Business," and "God Bless America." As Thousands Cheer, winner of the Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award, explores with precision and sensitivity Berlin's long, prolific career; his self-doubt and late-blooming misanthropy; and the tyrannical control he exerted over his legacy of song. From his immigrant beginnings through Tin Pan Alley, Broadway, and Hollywood to his reclusive and bitter final years, this definitive biography reveals the man who wrote 1500 songs but could never quash the fear that, for all his success, he wasn't quite good enough.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Alexander's Ragtime Band," "God Bless America" and "White Christmas" are among some 1500 songs written by Berlin, a Hollywood tycoon who remained reclusive and insecure despite his popularity. "Berlin's story, richly and skillfully told here, is not only the story of popular American music . . . but approaches being the story of 20th-century America," said PW. Photos.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Irving Berlin has long been recognized as one of this century's greatest popular composers, yet no book until this one has brought to life every level of this complicated man's personality. Bergreen, author of the acclaimed James Agee: A Life ( LJ 6/15/84), begins with an evocative description of the 1893 immigration of Berlin's family from Russia to the lively Jewish neighborhood of New York's Lower East Side. Berlin went on to write some of the great anthems of his generation. Though Bergreen has tremendous admiration for his subject, he is hard-hitting and explicit about Berlin's failings. Indeed, some readers may be uncomfortable with the author's portrayal of the composer as the tormented show business near-equivalent of Howard Hughes. Yet Bergreen never loses sight of Berlin's basic genius. Recommended for most collections, this compelling book will remain the standard for many years.
- Daniel J. Lombardo, Jones Lib., Inc., Amherst, Mass.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 702 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press; First Edition edition (March 22, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306806754
• ISBN-13: 978-0306806759
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 1.8 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #498,572 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great musical biography February 21, 2002

By A Reader

Format:Paperback

This is a terrific show-biz bio that focuses on Berlin's career and tells enough about his personal life to satisfy those of us who remember how complex he was. There are many details of his projects on Broadway and in Hollywood, his publishing company, his early career as a singing waiter, and his tormented retirement. Anyone who likes the kind of anecdotes Moss Hart recounts in "Act One," anyone who is interested in the process of putting on shows and developing movies, will be fascinated by this. The book overflows with the larger-than-life personalities you expect from show business, and there are choice revelations (to me, at least), like his first encounter with George Gershwin, who as a very young man wanted to be Berlin's musical secretary but was rejected for being too talented (i.e., threatening).

The psychology (or psychosis?) of Berlin's genius is presented in a straightforward, non-babbling way. His complexity comes through in his ambivalence towards colleagues, with examples of generosity (an anecdote about the young Burton Lane), avuncularity (Harold Arlen), and rivalry (Richard Rodgers), all contrasted with the almost comical hostility he showed towards some "civilians," especially the scholarly types ("f***ing longhairs") who wanted to dissect him late in his career. His most famous paradox -- the fact that without being able to read music or play an instrument well or even sing decently, he was able to create works of matchless intricacy and depth -- is discussed thoroughly, although it will forever remain mysterious.

There are two dimensions I would like to have seen more fully explored. First, his relations with his original family are almost non-existent after his childhood. While this must be a reflection of reality, I was left curious about what went on between him and his sisters, nephews, and nieces. It's obvious that a major part of his assimilation was to reject all vestiges of his childhood, but it would have been nice to have more detail about encounters with those inconvenient relations. One of the few stories Bergreen includes -- about a sister dying of cancer -- is so painful that maybe he couldn't bring himself to pile on more.

Another aspect that could have been more developed was Berlin's technique. Although no one will ever be able to explain exactly why he's the greatest American songwriter, I would have liked more analysis about how he was able to achieve his unique combination of simplicity and sophistication. There is a total absence of musical examples, which might have two reasons: that publishers of musical bios tell their authors to leave notation out the same way authors of popular science books are prohibited from using equations, or that Berlin's estate forbids the quoting of even the smallest snippets of his songs. Or maybe the author isn't as much of a "longhair" as he seems to be from the precision and insight of his observations.

But even though I would have enjoyed reading more of the above, the book is totally splendid as is. The best compliment I can think of is that it does justice to one of the great artists of the 20th century.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A WELL RESEARCHED BIOGRAPHY October 24, 2000

By ALAIN ROBERT

Format:Paperback

LAURENCE BERGREEN has done a terrific job in all departments. When you finish the book, you have a good idea of who IRVING BERLIN was, and what a life he had from singing waiter to AMERICAN's first great composer with JEROME KERN. Anyone interested in the story of AMERICAN music should read that book.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars From Izzy Baline to Irving Berlin - fabulous story! December 5, 2008

By Jim Berg

Format:Paperback

When I casually mentioned to a friend's mother about a certain Russian Jew who had written "White Christmas" which was being sung to us, she challenged me to speak to her group about this American paradox.

To do so, I needed to re-read this biography purchased before Amazon.com's birth. So, having just finished this great biography (again), I am ready to introduce her group to one of America's most compelling, complex musical geniuses.

But, I had another compelling and selfish reason for the re-read. My grandfather was also a Russian Jew who naturalized signing and renouncing a Czar in the same paperwork as Irving at almost precisely the same time. The discussion of his name change - ditto my father. The bigotted nature of Americans in the twentieth century drove many Jews in that direction. I got to share some of Berlin's experience in a vicarious manner through As Thousands Cheer.

Most important to the reader, though, is Bergreen's recurring biographical message: Irving Berlin was always Izzy Baline just under the surface...a tough to satisfy and never scared, precocious, multi-talented, inferiority-complex laddened genius whose musical tastes infected and permanently changed the nature of American popular music forever.

The biography is a long but very deeply interesting read about a life that spanned across two centuries and times...pre-Berlin and post Berlin.

Enjoy - you will!