Montville "U": Irving Berlin - A Lecture in Song Program

A Lecture in Song Program by Lecturer/Pianist/Vocalist Fred Miller 

Irving Berlin´s life is the stuff of legend: the child of Russian immigrants who rose from the squalor of the Lower East Side to the heady heights of Broadway and Hollywood by writing songs every American could and did sing.  A Berlin song is simplicity itself, a handful of one syllable words sitting effortlessly astride an irresistibly catchy tune. “Alexander´s Ragtime Band” swept the world in 1911 and was followed over the next 40 years by at least 25 Number One hits: “Say It With Music,” “Blue Skies,” “Puttin´ On The Ritz,” “Cheek to Cheek,” “Easter Parade,” the hit-packed scores written for Ethel Merman, ANNIE GET YOUR GUN and CALL ME MADAM, the impeccable film scores tailored to the black tie/evening gown glamour of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers (TOP HAT, FOLLOW THE FLEET, CAREFREE)-a song catalogue that truly chronicles the mores and basic feelings of the twentieth century American. “God Bless America”, introduced in an historic 1938 radio broadcast by Kate Smith, is our unofficial national anthem; “White Christmas,” commercially the most popular song ever written in America, defines, like no other song, our basic longing for home and family.  Irving Berlin was, is, and always will be the quintessential American songwriter.

Adults only.  Registration required.