As Thousands Cheer: The Life Of Irving Berlin (Paperback)

by Laurence Bergreen (Author) "On the morning of September 13, 1893, the SS Rhynland, a four transatlantic passenger ship, arrived at the port of New York, where it was..." (more)
Key Phrases: trick piano, transposing piano, musical secretary, New York, Irving Berlin, Music Box (more...)

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.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 702 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (March 21, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306806754
• ISBN-13: 978-0306806759
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #156,943 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	A Reader "tja" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

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.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	ALAIN ROBERT (ST-HUBERT,QUEBEC) - See all my reviews

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars rich, serious but cheerful history of I. Berlin and his era, May 22, 1996

By A Customer

This book is so much fun, filed with intelligent analysis of what made the genius Berlin tick, why he was a genius, how he fit and didn't fit into his time and culture, etc. Berlin emerges both larger and clearer than his public image, a charming, busy, character. I am off, immediately, to get Bergreen's life of Capone. I understand he also wrote a biography of James Agee, but I don't see it on Amazon's data base. Does anyone know if that is still available anywhere