Today would have been Irving Berlin’s 127th birthday. He was born Israel Baline on May 11th 1888 in an unknown location in Eastern Russia. Israel was one of eight children in a religious Jewish household, which immigrated to the United States in 1893 to escape the religious persecution in Russia brought on by violent pogroms. His father was a ritual slaughter as well as a synagogue cantor, a trait shared by the fathers of Al Jolson, Harold Arlen and Kurt Weill. Like these talents, Berlin did not follow in the footsteps of his father, but he did embrace the musical gift he inherited.
Berlin never learned how to read music and played exclusively in the key of F-sharp, yet he went on to write over 15,000 songs in his short 101 years on earth. Many of those songs have become iconic parts of American pop culture such as “White Christmas,” “God Bless America,” “There’s No Business like Show Business,” and many more!
These songs tell a story of a man who loved his country, his industry, and the freedom he had to celebrate it all. There is a less well-known side to this American icon, one of great love, great loss, and great emotional expression.
Berlin married Dorothy Goetz, an aspiring twenty-year-old singer and sister of fellow songwriter E. Ray Goetz, in February of 1912. On their honeymoon to Cuba she contracted typhoid fever and passed away five months later. Berlin published "When I Lost You" in November 1912. This was the first song written after the tragic death of his young bride. Berlin wrote “And I lost the angel who gave me summer/ the whole winter too/ I lost the gladness that turned into sadness/ When I lost you." He accompanied these words with a simple waltz and a bittersweet harmony. It was Berlin’s first hit ballad and certainly not Berlin’s last.
“What’ll I Do” was published in March 1924. It was said to be written while Berlin was on vacation in Palm Beach with his former brother-in-law, Ray Goetz. There is no doubt that Berlin was thinking of his wife Dorothy as he wrote the tune, but she was not the only loss in Berlin’s life. His father died when Berlin was the young age of thirteen, and his mother passed away a few years before “What’ll I Do” was written in July of 1922. Twelve years after “When I Lost You,” Berlin’s newest ballad described a more sophisticated sense of loss and longing; “What'll I do/ With just a photograph/ To tell my troubles to?/ When I'm alone/ With only dreams of you/ That won't come true/ What'll I do?”
What Irving Berlin did do, was find a new love. Her name was Ellin Mackay, daughter of a successful Telegraph tycoon, who strongly opposed their marriage that took place in January 1926. Though estranged from their families, the couple remained happily married with three daughters until Ellin’s death in 1988. This love inspired many more Berlin ballads such as “Always” (1925), “Blue Skies” (1927), “How Deep is the Ocean” (1932), “Change Partners” (1938) “They Say It’s Wonderful” (1946), and many more!
Berlin said in 1919: "It is much more difficult for me to write successes now, because people expect so much from me on account of my previous hits." Little did he know how much more he had ahead, more life, love, loss, inspiration, and music.