Word: easterlies
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...songs are not remembered as having the romance of Jerome Kern's, the wit of Cole Porter's, the lilt of Richard Rodgers', the sophistication of George Gershwin's. But his songs are surely remembered - and as more than exhibits in the museum of old tunes. "God Bless America," "Easter Parade" and "White Christmas" and a couple dozen others run through the mental juke boxes of people who don't care who wrote them or how long ago they were first popular. Like a pretty girl (in another Berlin lyric), his melodies haunt you night and day. They...
...wasn't stuck long. Another 1930 movie tune, "Puttin' On the Ritz," went to #1, and within two years Berlin was hot on Broadway, with hit shows ("Face the Music" and "As Thousands Cheer") that birthed "Heat Wave," "Easter Parade" and that perk-me-up Depression cheer, "Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee." Ethan Mordden's analysis of the song, in his book "Broadway Babies," gets to the heart of Berlin's staying power: "Part of being essential to pop culture is staying adaptable. In days of rag, the jazz age, and now in hard times, Berlin not only...
...They've Got Me Doin' It Now." If a number wasn't a memorable hit the first time, he would rewrite it into one. Thus the 1918 "That Sterling Silver Moon" became "Mandy" a year later; "Smile and Show Your Dimple," a top ten tune in 1918, morphed into "Easter Parade" in 1933. He appropriated four lines of the chorus of "To My Mammy" (1920) for "How Deep Is the Ocean" (1932). He rescued the pushcart plaint "Any Love Today" (written in 1931 but not recorded), tweaked it into "Any Yams Today" for Ginger Rogers in the 1938 "Carefree," then...
...Anathema to snooty WASPs, Berlin was the anthemist of Christian holy days ("White Christmas," "Easter Parade") and had a lot to do with turning them into secular holidays. The wandering Jew had embraced middle-America in his songs and his life, agreeing that his and Ellin's three daughters should be raised as Protestants. Whatever temptations celebrity and chorines might offer, Berlin was a doting and apparently faithful husband for 62 years; Ellin died in 1988, he a year later. Yet, when their first child Irving Jr., died after only 25 days - on Christmas - some of Ellin's friends supposedly...
...Even Berlin could not assume that every song he offered the fickle masses would be received with rapture. So he kept his old music in the public ear through revivals and movie knapsacks - the five Greatest Hits films "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Blue Skies," "Easter Parade," "White Christmas" and "There's No Business Like Show Business." All this perpetuated "Irving Berlin" as a product with no expiration date. He was second only to Walt Disney at branding, and extending the brand. Both men were media visionaries; they saw that such seemingly ephemeral items as cartoons and pop songs...