Irving Berlin: An American Institution

Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook.  According to Jerome Kern “Irving Berlin has no place in American music; he is American music.”

When his father died, Berlin, who had just turned 14, took to the streets working as a busker singing for pennies, then as a singing waiter in a Chinatown cafe.

In 1907 he published his first song, “Marie From Sunny Italy,” that earned him 37 cents, and by 1911 he had his first major international hit “Alexander’s Ragtime Band.” During Irving Berlin’s career he published an  estimated 1,500 songs.  

Sit down and listen to the story of one of the greatest songwriters of popular songs, songs like Alexander’s Ragtime Band, God Bless America, White Christmas, A Pretty Girls is like a Melody, Puttin on The Ritz and Three is No Business Like Show Business.  Speaker Marty Schneit will discuss how the immigrant boy from Russia became the classic ragtime to riches story.

Marty, a born and bred New Yorker, has lectured at various venues including the New York Public Library, JCC, The 92nd Street Y, The Health Outreach Program of New York Presbyterian Hospital, Central Synagogue, Hebrew Home for the Aged at Riverdale, The Ziegfeld Society of New York, and the Lincoln Center Campus of Fordham University. The Jewish Braille Institute has recorded Marty's lectures for their audio magazine and lecture series.

The program is open to all and no registration is required.

It is made possible with the support of The Friends of the Livingston Public Library.