Irving Berlin’s Musical Revolution

HISTORY This Week

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History, Education, Society & Culture

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 5 December 2022

⏱️ 39 minutes

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Summary

December 8, 1914. Crowds pour into the New Amsterdam Theater to see the opening night of a new show, “Watch Your Step.” It’s the first full-length revue written by the popular young songwriter, Irving Berlin. His songs show off Berlin’s signature wit and simplicity, but also his musical sophistication. As his fellow composer, Jerome Kern, would later put it: "Berlin has no place in American music—he is American music.” Who was Irving Berlin? And how did he utterly transform American songwriting?

Thanks to our guests: James Kaplan, author of Irving Berlin: New York Genius; Laurence Maslon, arts professor at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and host of the radio show "Broadway to Main Street" on WLIW; and Katherine Barrett Swett, English teacher, poet, and granddaughter of Irving Berlin and Ellin Mackay.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The History Channel, Original Podcast.
0:05.1	History this week, December 8, 1914.
0:13.2	I'm Sally Helm.
0:17.7	Audience members pass beneath the grand entrance of the new Amsterdam theatre
0:22.0	near New York City's Times Square. They're there to see a musical,
0:26.7	or really it's better described as a musical review.
0:30.6	The modern musical with characters breaking into song to push the story forward,
0:35.0	that doesn't really exist yet.
0:36.7	This show is called Watch Your Step, and what it's about is not really the point.
0:42.8	The star of the show is the songs, which are written by an up-and-coming 26-year-old,
0:48.8	known for his sheet music and records.
0:51.3	But this is his first full-length review.
0:54.7	A lot is writing on it.
0:56.7	A hit show could help set him up for a long career in show business.
1:00.7	The songwriter's name is Irving Berlin.
1:06.7	The songs in Watch Your Step show off his signature style,
1:10.7	wit, simplicity, mostly up tempo.
1:13.7	But one of them reveals a musical sophistication that this audience hasn't heard before,
1:19.7	at least in popular song.
1:21.7	It starts out as a slow nostalgic number.
1:33.7	But then, another singer starts singing a whole different song
1:37.7	about how the first song is kind of a drag.
	...

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