Irving Berlin: American Troubadour (Irving Berlin) (Hardcover)

Irving Berlin: A Life in Song by Philip Furia  (3)

› Explore similar items : Books (1)

From Publishers Weekly
JablonskiAbiographer of the Gershwins, Harold Arlen and Alan Jay LernerAhas written a vibrant, royally entertaining, song-drenched biography of Irving Berlin. Jablonski fleshes out the familiar saga of elementary school dropout Izzy (Israel) Baline's metamorphosis from singing waiter in Manhattan's Chinatown to fabulously wealthy, endlessly prolific songwriter, Broadway producer, Algonquin Round Table wit and creator of such classics as "White Christmas," "God Bless America" and "There's No Business like Show Business." Chock-full of little-known Berlin lyrics, peppered with gemlike anecdotes and cameos of George M. Cohan, Victor Herbert, Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire, the Marx Brothers, George Gershwin and many others, this whirlwind portrait cuts a broad swath through the history of Broadway musical theater, Tin Pan Alley and Hollywood. Jablonski doesn't disguise his enthusiasm for his subject, though his preferences are debatable. He ranks Berlin's score for the 1940 show Louisiana Purchase (inspired by Senator Huey Long's antics) as a very close second to that for Annie Get Your Gun, and is at pains to defend the corny Mr. President (1962). Although Berlin (who died in 1989 at age 101) is portrayed as a kindly, edgy, astute lifelong insomniac and less reclusive in his later years than critics contend, the inner man remains somewhat elusive. Jablonski, who interviewed Berlin, has produced a labor of love, a moving tribute to a streetwise Broadway bard who seemingly instinctively created great popular art. Valuable appendixes include a year-by-year compilation of all of Berlin's songs, an annotated discography and films on videocassette.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Jablonski, the author of biographies of several greats of American popular music (Harold Arlen: Rhythm, Rainbows, and Blues, LJ 6/1/96; Alan Jay Lerner, LJ 2/15/96; Gershwin, LJ 9/15/87), offers this new look at perhaps the most "American" of composers, Irving Berlin. Jablonski draws here on his many years of experience in the music world with Berlin's contemporaries and with Berlin himself (though little of this shows in the text). He covers much the same ground as Philip Furia did in his recent Irving Berlin: A Life in Song (LJ 12/98), which, like Jablonski's book, draws material from previous Berlin biographies. Furia has good illustrations and presents perhaps a bit more musical analysis in a work emphasizing Berlin's movie musicals, but both writers are good storytellers who recount Berlin's life from a contemporary perspective. Both books are recommended, but only large music collections will want both.AJames E. Ross, WLN, Seattle
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews