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About Eugene register-guard. (Eugene, Or.) 1930-1983 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 1937)
No, That Isn't H oratio rvinsi Alger, Berlin ts Creator Of Jazz Now Writing Sones For Movies y w r :iVW 1 will ' ' CJ yT' fJ,"' aiJ Didowduicenc Avenue," V'SVSSSNssv. ' ' J i , . 1li'Tirr"i iV VKiAj thc Music for whicn Dcrlin Has Just Finished. ' ' f U' OTTOjj I &JS "lMm The Background is a Reproduction of Old-Time ""'"- w;s..i';l ' JW?i&ii I I NX y(jAil Atlantic City. "3 J, . ?RJ0 By Doris Lockett 11 ' A I I3Y ISC IT WAS exactly 30 years ago that a young singing waiter, still in his 'teens, thought he would put on paper the lyrical quality he had discovered in himself while entertaining and serving the half-stewed customers in Nigger Mike's saloon In New York's Chinatown. That first song which he wrote and published brought no financial returns, and no ripple In the world of popular, music but It was the be ginning of the man who was responsible for ragtime and the jazz age. It was called "Marie From Sunny Italy" but no one cared, And 30 years later, Irving Berlin is still writ ing America's greatest song hits, but through a medium which reaches a simultaneous world audience ithe movies. In a Beverly Hills home and an office in the 20th Century-Fox studio, , Berlin has completed six song hits for the pic ture, "On the Avenue," in which Dick Powell, Madeleine Carroll, Alice Faye, and the Ritz Brothers take part. That finished, he is now starting another cycle of songs for his next pic ture, "Alexander's Ragtime Band," named after his 1911 song hit which first set feet shuffling to the new rhythm which he had then discovered Despite his 30 years of activity and his posi tion as an historical pioneer in American music, Berlin is still a young man, dark, slim and dap per, with a nervous excitcability which becomes heightened whenever he is In the throes of creaUon. Another thing that has not changed about Berlin is his piano. This battered old upright instrument has, like its owner, become of his torical importance in American music. For over 25 years it has poured out thc melodies, rhythms and tempos which have been accepted by the world as the musical mirror of modern Ameri can life. Beside its ordinary wear and tear, thc piano owes much of its battering to Its well traveled existence. It has boarded many a ship plying between American, European and West Indian Ports. It has rattled its way many times across the continent between New York and Holly wood. Hundreds of moving vans have carted it between offices, mansions and apartment houses to various cities and countries. Today it reposes In thc Beverly Hills home h!ch Berlin has made his headquarters. There Jangles out Its tunes at ungodly hours of the bight and early morning. IT WAS this same piano, which composed the ong hits for "On the Avenue," which also aided Berlin in crystallizing America's nascent J Age over a quarter of a century ago with me composition of "Alexander's Ragtime Band." At the time, negro rhythms and "ragging" ere just being recognized by a few white people "welted in such things. Small negro bands, particularly n the South, were experimenting win It Berlin was the first composer to put it into concrete form in the song which he named "wr just such a negro band. The word "rag , e cught on and was used to designate j1r of muiric unU1 11 waa supplanted by Sine that time, Berlin has composed nun "reH of songs which have been played, sung, oumrned and whistled in every corner of the J"' 11 di! not take him long to become the 'Wing MUSC of American music, even though, w this day, he has never taken a music lesson lb his life. Like his general education, Irving Berlin'; jc is entirely self-taught. He began picking M . ln" tt1th one finger on the piano in Nigger it . By a hit ami miss method on the black njL ' he "n ught himself to Improvise Wla with his left hand. kW black key hRDlt 8tuck t0 nlm' ana aZ CRn only Plav ln th ky ' F-sharp. ' that la why he atlcka nli 0Bt fsvorite ' all through the year.. b-, r0" he ah,c to ffrd p'an-na t.n w uPrtRht and had the keyboard re 4"y that, with a little lever, the key. lsillB ,1 X une ot tnc foremost rV. t. " I 4J-J Sonc Writers in the Y A j a 1 1 1 1 r r world. sfesKtV Tv I 11 I (Left) Alice Fayc in a Scene ""- - ' 'J I (Above) Six Girls in a Pen- I sive Mood From thc Same I Picture. Dcrlin Wrote Six CV Songs for This Movie. L r MiKe s saioon to ue y board could be shifted to any position. With tho aid of the action of this lever he can shift to any key he desires while still actually pounding only his favorite black keys. During the years, he has taught himself to play the piano ln a very effective manner, nor does he have to be coaxed to perform, even for strangers. An Interviewer who drops In on him after he has finished one of his compositions Is bound to be made a provlcw audience for the song. While talking about "On the Avenue" which was in tho midst of production, Berlin naturally talked about the six songs he had written for it, and without any coaxing sat down at the piano and played and sang them. HE PLAYED lustily and sang In a barely audible voice such numbers as "You're Laughing At Me," "He Ain't Oot Rhythm," "The Girl On the Police Gazette," "Slumming On Park Avenue," and others. This seemed like a rare honor for the lone Irving Berlin, Who Rose From Nigger Mike's Saloon 10 Be One of die Foremost Song Writers in the World. Interviewer to have Berlin play and sing all of his new numbers. But a little Inquiring revealed thc fact that as soon as Berlin finishes a song he will press the first person he sees Into service as an audience, ln this matter of "trying It on the dog," messenger boys, servants and casual acquaintances have been thc first persons to hear many of tho greatest hlta he has written. Although his voice Is not like It was when he was a youngster earning his money by singing in Bowery SHloons, Berlin still has the flair of the performer. Unlike most composers, he is not an Introvert, but has a lot of thc qualities of the. actor who likes to display his wares. "Writing music for the movies," Berlin said, offers a different method of approach than In dtflgc revues. I am quite enthused over the six numbers I have written for 'On the Avenue," not because they happen to be my most recent but because I have been given a chance to dc something different. "Instead of writing songs which are fitted Into the picture Irrespective of what tho story Ir about, I have used definite Ideas which fit right Into thc story and thc people playing In It. "In thc Music Box revues which I did In New York, thc procedure was usually that of first writing a song and then figuring out the num ber that could be staged around it. Now the procedure takes somewhat of a reverse angle." To Illustrate what he rrujanl, Berlin sat down at his old, upright piano with the shifting key. board, and played and sang "Slumming On Park Avenue." When he was through, he said: "This song, which can become a popular num ber for singing and dance orchestras apart from the movies, has a definite bearing on tho story which we are filming. Our script deals with the richest girl In tho city, played by Madeleine Carroll, and a musical show which was written as a burlesque on her, her father, and her fiance. Thus, Instead of breaking off in the middle of our story and bursting Into song, we have something which tells our story and adds moti vation for what happens after that." To understand Berlin's enthusiasm for "idea" .longs, one must first know that his first attempts at music writing were centered around the lyrics. The writing of thc music came a llbtle later, but since then he has never needed a collaborator, but does words and music himself. He cannot work In the daytime, for ever since his night work as a singing waiter when he would always go homo to sleep when others wuro just getting up to go to work, he has stuck to these owl hours. Ho will stay up all night at the piano, and his usual rising hour is never before noon. It was this habit which was responsible for his most popular song during the World War period. Aa a private in tho United States Army at Camp Upton, his greatest hardship was getting up at bugle call In the small hours of the morning. This he translated Into the song, "Oh, How I Hate To Get Up In the Morning," which, to gcthcr with George M. Cohan's "Over There," became one of the doughboys' favorite march ing songs. PAGE THRC6
