Talk and Music: The Early Life of Irving Berlin

Composer and musician Irving Berlin was born in 1888 in Belarus, the son of a synagogue cantor. With his family he fled to New York via Antwerp’s Red Star Line to escape the anti-semitic pogroms. Like so many other immigrant families in the late 19th century, they settled on the Lower East Side. Ted Chapin, President of Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Red Star Line historian Bram Breelaert explore Berlin’s early life and work. Cast members from Holiday Inn, the new Irving Berlin musical opening on Broadway this fall, present Berlin’s vaudeville and Yiddish compositions influenced by his experience growing up on the Lower East Side. Songs include “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” “When I Lost You,” “Yiddisha Eskimo” — an unpublished Berlin song written for Fanny Brice — and “God Bless America” in Yiddish.