From the author of the uneven James Agee: A Life (1984): a long,
detailed, yet dullish and superficial biography of "the greatest
songwriter in our nation's history." Bergreen brings little that's
new to the oft-told tale of Berlin's rise to international fame:
the poor immigrant kid who became a nervy, popular singing waiter,
then a hack deviser of parodies, then a rich celebrity - with the
super, success of "Alexander's Ragtime Band." Familiar, too, is the
domestic history: the death, soon after their honeymoon, of
Berlin's first wife; his headline-making courtship, a decade later,
of an upper-crust heiress with an anti-Semitic father. New
interview material does fill out some of Berlin's later career:
Hollywood projects in the Thirties and Forties; the
B'way-and-world-tour of This Is the Army, his WW II morale booster;
his disastrous B'way swan song, Mr. President. But the fresh
anecdotes and details (some quite unflattering) are often given
undue weight - perhaps because Berlin's family and closest
associates (in accord with IB's wishes) declined to give Bergreen
any assistance. With iffy evidence, then, Bergreen portrays Berlin
as an insecure workaholic, a slave to popular tastes, a
trigger-tempered tyrant, a sometime miser (though vastly generous
too), and - especially in later years - a reclusive, depressed man
without "the gift of friendship." (The tone is frequently
patronizing: "Poor driven Irving," etc.) On the songs themselves,
Bergreen is even shakier: most are barely mentioned; important,
lesser-known songs are ignored; and the few stabs at critical
analysis are obvious, unconvincing, or (on musical matters
especially) muddled. Too shallow for aficionados, too long and flat
for casual readers (who might enjoy the thrice-told anecdotes): a
competent gathering of materials, delivered without style, wit, or
passion. (Kirkus Reviews)
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.
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