The Irving Berlin Appreciation Thread

I know I know! I've broken down. The lowest of the low! But Irving Berlin doesn't get much respect and these kiddies (myself included) need more exposure to him! So please share your favorite Irving Berlin facts! (I've been watching Broadway: The American musical so I apologize if I am overly excited and optimistic today.) Favorite Broadway show or song? I didn't realize he was suspicious of the book musical until I watched the documentary last night...and I profess to be an Irving Berlin fan too!

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Does no one care?!!!!!!

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Certainly the movie THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS is required viewing for camp value alone. And Michael Feinstein's Berlin album is the most tolerable of his releases because of those beautiful early ballads. But all copies of MR. PRESIDENT must be collected and burned.

Let's all sing together:

"Meat and potatoes,
Fried Eggs and ham
That's the kind of guy I am!
Meat and potatoes
Blueberry pie
That's the kind of guy am I!
She'd be yearning for a soufflé;
I'd be longing for a stew.
The girl that I marry
Will have to be
Meat and potatoes,
Poatoes and meat,
Like me!"

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Let us all bow down and pay homage to this great man. What is everyone's favorite Berlin tune? Master already shared a few.

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Well White Christmas is almost certainly the most popular song ever so it's hard to top that one but...

From the score for the film "White Christmas" I Love "Sisters" and "Love, you didn't do right by me". I love the way even the non-holiday songs subtly reference the snow like "Love, you didn't do right by me! To send me a Joe who had winter & snow in his heart, wasn't smart...."

Oh, how I hate to get up in the moooooorning.....!

My dad woke me up with that song every morning when I was growing up, except he would get to the fast part and sing real loud:
ya gotta get up,
ya gotta get up,
ya gotta get up
it's the moooorning!

Which aren't EXACTLy the right lyrics, but ah well.
Makes me all nostalgic....*sniff*

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Irving Berlin amaziness is even in my schools history books, Alexander's Ragtime Band was one of the first songs i could play awesomly on the piano

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Am I the only one who absolutely loves Bernadette Peters's rendition of "Moonshine Lullaby" from Annie Get Your Gun?

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off the top of my head, I love the fact that Berlin owned the MUSIC BOX theater..........

I also love that this great Jewish composer wrote WHITE CHRISTMAS and GOD BLESS AMERICA.

ANNIE GET YOUR GUN is an alltime great score and CALL ME MADAM is not too shabby either.

He lived to over one hundred......and to B.B. WOLF, my mother used to wake me and my sisters up on schoolday mornings with:

YA GOTTA GET UP
YA GOTTA GET UP
YA GOTTA GET UP FOR SCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL..........

makes me hate hearing it to this day.......teeheee..........

What a masterful genius he was.

VIETgrlTerifa, I find Bernadette's rendition of MOONSHINE LULLABYE(sp?) absolutely breathtaking. :)

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I just love his songs. He should have lived for 200 years instead of 101 (and of course should have written more shows still after "Mr. President" which i find a fabulous score (well relatively) although is has book to fall asleep over it.

Anyhow, my favorite song is "Not a Thing to say" which can be found on the "Unsung Berlin" cd.

My grandma died at about 3 am today. White Christmas was one of her favorite movies. It's probably my first movie musical. Good memories. I may have to pop it in and watch it tonight now. I wouldn't have as much of an appreciation for Berlin if it wasn't for her.

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Updated On: 11/9/05 at 04:47 PM

Funny you should bring this up. Just the other day I was thinking that Michael Ball should include on a future cd Mr. Berlin's ALWAYS -- it truly is one of my all time favorite romantic songs, and I really think Michael would do it justice.

With Christmas just around the corner, I was shocked to find that I didn't have the DVD of White Christmas in my collection. Something I need to rectify ASAP!

Speaking of White Christmas, it reminds me... several years ago I was lucky enough to be asked to be part of a small choral group who were going to sing back-up for Rosemary Clooney at the Kennedy Center. As it was around the holidays, naturally the focus of the performance was Christmas music. We got to sing several of the songs from White Christmas -- Snow, We'll Follow The Old Man, and, of course, the title song. It was a wonderful experience, and since then I've always had those concerts in mind whenever I watch the film.

Updated On: 11/9/05 at 05:14 AM