Down Memory Lane: 17 December 2008

Dec 19 2008 by Mae McEwan, Irvine Herald

I HOPE every one of you are well and truly organised for Christmas.

If you are, you are better than me, I’m still struggling to get there!

But, as I struggle along, I’ve really got the festive cheer as I write because on Monday this week I found the most beautiful calender waiting for me in the Herald office, it had come from our friend from Australia, Mr Anonymous, and, as this is the only way I can say thank you to him is in this page because, obviously, I don’t have his address, this I do - most sincerely.

The calender is titled, would you believe? Down Memory Lane, and every picture is a story.

But I’m going to leave that to the New Year before I tell you all about it. The reason I’m keeping it until then is because, not only did I get this calendar, he enclosed quite a lot of cuttings for me. One was so topical that I’m going to share it with you this week.

Remember some months ago he sent me a cutting Famous Masons Series he had taken from a magazine and I wrote about Sir Alexander Fleming who discovered penicillin? He was a mason.

So, too I’ve discovered is Irving Berlin, the famous American composer and if you are singing White Christmas as you are putting your Christmas cards on display, you’ll also be remembering this wonderful composer.

We were at a Christmas Get Together yesterday afternoon and we had a fantastic keyboard player there to entertain us, of course he played White Christmas in his selections. It really does bring you the Christmas spirit, doesn’t it?

So, folks, let’s go down memory lane this week remembering, amongst everyone else we especially remember at Christmastime, Irving Berlin, who was born Israel Isidore Baline (or Beilin).

He was born on May 11, 1888, to a Jewish family and he was the youngest of eight children. In 1893 his family emigrated to the United States from Russia, and his father, Moses, who was a Jewish cantor, worked as a cantor in local synagogues and others certifying kosher meat.

Berlin’s family was too poor to provide piano lessons for him, let alone a piano, however Moses, his father, gave him a love of melody and a quick wit. Following the death of his father in 1896, Irving found himself having to work to survive. The poor wee sole, that was him only eight years of age.

He managed to get various jobs in the street, including selling newspapers and busking.

Eventually he was hired as a singing waiter at Pelham Cafe. Berlin became well known and when two waiters at a rival cafe wrote a song and had it published, Pelham asked Berlin and the resident pianist, Nick Nicholson, to write a song.

The two wrote Marie fro Sunny Italy and it was soon published.

Although it earned him only 35 cents, it gave Berlin a new career and a new name. Israel Beilin was misprinted as I. Berlin on the sheet music.

In 1908 Berlin ended up ‘accidently’ writing a melody to go with some lyrics he had written for a potential song about an Italian marathoner named Dorando. When Berlin tried to sell the lyrics, they assumed he also had a tune to go with the words. Though he had a sense of melody, at this time, Berlin could not play the piano. Not wanting to lose the opportunity to make a sale, Berlin found an arranger to whom he dictated a potential melody.

Berlin had his first complete song Dorando. Later Berlin became a self-taught pianist, reputedly restricting himself to the black keys on the piano. He bought a special piano, enabling him to transpose his music mechanically. He once explained his compositional method saying - “I get an idea, either a title or a phrase or a melody and then hum it out to something definite. When I have completed a song and memorised it, I dictate it to an arranger.” Throughout his career the arrangers were never credited as being co-composers.

Berlin was married twice. His first wife, singer Dorothy Goety, contracted typhoid fever on their honeymoon to Cuba, and died five months after their wedding in 1912. Her death inspired Berlin’s song, When I Lost You, which became one of his earliest hits.

His second wife was Ellin Mackay, a devout Irish-American Catholic and heiress to the Comstock Lode Mining fortune. They were married in 1926 against the wishes of both their families on account of religious intermarriage, her father Clarence Mackay, a prominent Roman Catholic layman, actually disinherited her.

Finances were not a problem, however, as Berlin assigned her the rights of Always which yielded her a huge and steady income. The couple had three daughters, Mary Ellin, Linda, and Elizabeth, also a son Irving Berlin Jnr, who died as an infant on Christmas Day - what a terrible tragedy for the family.

Over the span of his career Irving Berlin produced an outpouring of ballads, dance numbers, novelty tunes and love songs that defined American popular songs for much of the century.

A sampling of just some of his standards included, How Deep Is The Ocean?, White Christmas, Always, Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better, There’s No Business Like Show Business, Cheek to Cheek, Putting On the Ritz, A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody, and an all-time favourite, Easter Parade.

But he will never be forgotten at Christmas because his White Christmas is always being sung.

Last December a friend and I went to Edinburgh to see that show, Jason Donovan starred in it and also one of Judy Garland’s daughters.

It didn’t come up to the standard of the film,I have to say. Remember what a great hit it was? Bing Crosby, the legend and I’m trying to remember if Danny Kaye was in it as well.

For the girls in it, I’m still wondering about them too - Vera Ellen I think was one of them and perhaps Gloria De Haven? I’m certainly not sure who was in it - after all, it was filmed in 1942.

He also wrote 17 complete scores for Broadway musical and revues and contributed material for six more. Among these were- the all Berlin ones, The Coconuts, never heard of that one – As Thousands Cheer, Louisiana Purchase, Miss Liberty and Mr President – never heard of them either! But we all know Call Me Madam and I write that I will remember Irvine New Town Operatic Society producing that one in the Magnum, my friend and co-worker at the time, Moira Rule, as the brilliant Madam. And Everyone knows Annie Get Your Gun.

Among the Hollywood musicals which were filmed were Top Hat, Follow The Fleet, On the Avenue, Alexander’s Rag Time Band, Holiday Inn, This is the Army, Blue Skies, Easter Parade, White Christmas and There’s No Business Like Show Business.

If you are anything like me you’ll be puzzling who were the stars in those films.

Those were the days of great actors and actresses such as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Howard Keel and many more. Isn’t it easy to give your age away?

I was pleased to see that among his many awards he received a special Tony Award for Best Song of the Year (1963) and of course his Academy Award for the best song also -White Christmas. (1942)

Irving was a co-founder of ASCAP (it doesn’t say what this is), founder of his own music publishing company, and with producer Sam Harris, built his own Broadway Theatre, the Music Box. An unAbashed patriot, his love for and his generosity to, his country is legendary.

Through many of his foundations, including the God Bless America Fund and This Is The Army Inc. he donated millions of dollars in royalties to Army Emergency Relief, the Boy and Girl Scouts and many more organisations.

His centennial in 1988 was celebrated world wide, culminating in an all star tribute at Carnegie Hall featuring Frank Sinatra, Leonard Bernstein, Isaac Stem, Natalie Cole and Willie Nelson.

On September 22, 1989 at the age of 101, Irving died in his sleep in New York City.

What a man! I noticed among his early hits were, Oh, How I Hate to Get Up In The Morning, and I remember my father singing it to us when we were a bit dreich getting up in the mornings.

Another early one listed is What Will I Do-When You Are Far Away, and I am Blue, What will I do? Anyone remember that one?

Then there are some I’ve never heard of, such as - Oh, How That German Could Love, Stay Down Where You Belong and Colour Blend, to mention just a few of them.

But, going to the Kyle back in the late 40s and all through the 50s at least, it was always a great night out if you were going to see a musical with the songs by Irving Berlin.

The screen was by far the best in the town but, of course, it was the newest picture house as well. Happy days, right enough.

How many of you Auld Irvineites remember the Kyle during the war years when the shops built at the left hand side of the entrance were still unoccupied and the interiors were all one big empty shell?

When the weather was really awful in the winter nights the manager used to open the door that led to them to let the Saturday nigh queues go in there to shelter.

I have to admit being there seemed to fall a bit flat compared to the fun that went on when the Saturday night queue stretched all around what was built as a car park at the left side of the cinema. During those days no one had petrol for pleasure use so there were never any cars there, just queues of teenagers waiting to get into the second house, particularly on a Saturday night.

Years ago I wrote a wee verse, the following lines were in it – “Oh, that’s not the same, poor, poor Irvine, No even the Kyle wi’ its Saturday queue, Oh, those Saturday night young romances, - I know, for I stood in it too.”

Incase any of you think I may have forgotten I said at the start that Irving was a Mason and my source came form the Famous Mason Series, I haven't, I am just coming to them.

He was Initiated: May 12, 1910 - Passed: May 26, 1910: Raised: June 3, 1910: Life Member: December, 12 1935: Lodge No. 190, New York. He wrote at least one pop tune with Masonic reference: Call Me Up Some Rainy Afternoon, I am sure any members of the Masonic Lodge will know about the association.

Just by the by, the cutting also refers to “Membership subscriptions for the New Wales Masonic Club” were due by the end of 2008, if you wished to renew your’s the prices were “Masonic (lodge member) Type 1 $40, Masonic (Unattached) Type 2 $50 and Associate Type 3 $50,” you could pay on line.

I’ll finish this week by relaying you some of Irving’s quotes.

Perhaps you have heard some of them before and may or may not know who said them. Anyway, he said - “After You Get What You Want You don’t Want it, Everybody ought to have a lower East Side in their life”,”I got lost but look what I found”, “Listen kid, take my advice, never hate a song that has sold half a million copies”, “Our attitudes control our lives. Attitudes are a secret power working 24 hours a day, for good or bad. It is of paramount importance that we know how to handle and control this great force”, “Talent is only a starting point”, “The toughest thing about success is that you’ve got to keep on being a success”, “There is an element of truth in every idea that lasts long enough to be called corny”, “There is no business like show business”, “You’re not sick - you’re just in love”.

So, once again my sincere thanks to our Mr Anon who is so faithful to his Irvine roots and to every one of you, especially those folks who are kind enough to contact me.

Merry Christmas, Everyone.