Irving Berlin
Easter Parade
To most people, Easter is about Easter baskets, gifts and gift baskets . Children look forward to receiving a chocolate Easter gift, and even newborns may get a baby Easter basket. At least as a secular holiday, Easter is not nearly as big as Christmas. Unlike Christmas, we don’t have a lot of secular songs that are associated with Easter, nor does the holiday have a movie like It’s A Wonderful Life. Two songs do come to mind, however, and they’re both written by the same person. One is Happy Easter, and the other is Easter Parade. Both are from the same 1948 Hollywood musical, and both were written by the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, who is known as Irving Berlin.
Irving Berlin is also known for God Bless America and White Christmas as well as Alexander’s Ragtime Band, Blue Skies and Puttin’ On The Ritz, to name but a few of the 3,000 songs he penned over the course of his 101-year lifetime.
Berlin started life as Israel Baline. Born to Rabbi Moses Baline and his wife Leah in a small Russian village in 1888, the family fled that country in 1891 to escape the frequent pogroms and persecutions suffered by the Ashkenazi Jews. In New York, Rabbi Baline went to work certifying kosher meat. When his father died in 1896, eight-year-old Israel wound up having to go to work in order to survive. It was some years later while working as a singing waiter that his first song, Marie From Sunny Italy started him on his songwriting career. It also resulted in a name change; on the published sheet music, I. Baline was misprinted as I.Berlin.
Irving Berlin was almost sixty years old when he penned the score for MGM’s Easter Parade in the late 1940’s. The film was set to star Judy Garland, Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse. Just before production was to begin, Gene Kelly suffered an injury and Cyd Charisse backed out. Fred Astaire was coaxed out of “retirement” and a new face, Ann Miller, was cast to replace Charisse. The cast also included Peter Lawford, who would go on to become one of the “Ratpack” that included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Joey Bishop.
The plot of Easter Parade is nothing remarkable. The music on the other hand won an Oscar for Best Scoring of a Musical as well as a Writer’s Guild of America Award. is packed with numerous Berlin’s songs that represent some of his best work – several of which were written especially for the film.
Perhaps the significance of Easter Parade – aside from its Easter related songs – is that new, brilliant, creative work can be produced by people of any age, not just young “up-and-comers.” Considering that Easter is about renewal and new beginnings, that’s something to think about.
About the Author
Anne Harvester is a homemaker extraordinaire with years of experience creating spectacular events and gifts. See her favorite Gift baskets, Easter gift baskets, Childrens Easter gifts.
IRVING BERLIN – Cheek to cheek
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The SONG IS ENDED But Melody Lingers On – Irving Berlin $12.00 |
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Irving Berlin: A Daughter’s Memoir by Mary Ellin Barret $10.95 |
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Various – The Songs of Irving Berlin – 20 Track CD 1991 $17.99 |
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ANNIE GET YOUR GUN LP Broadway Soundtrack IRVING BERLIN $9.99 |
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Let’s All Be Americans Now, Irving Berlin, Barbelle $8.09 |
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1942 WW II SHEET MUSIC – THIS IS THE ARMY IRVING BERLIN $8.46 |
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IRVING BERLIN record 100th Anniversary STILL SEALED $14.95 |
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IRVING BERLIN & Andre KOSTELANETZ Columbia CL 768 Ex $79.99 |
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Irving Berlin 100th Anniversary Collection-Various (CD) $0.75 |
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Vintage 1945 ALL OF MY LIFE Sheet Music IRVING BERLIN $14.99 |
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1960 Irving Berlin Songs Various Artists MG-20813 MONO $14.49 |
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NEWS PHOTO: IRVING BERLIN WELCOMES BRITISH ROYALTY 1943 $29.95 |
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1924 Sheet Music “OH MABEL!” Irving Berlin, Inc Vintage $5.95 |
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Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Song Book 2CD $9.99 |
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1910 Music Irving Berlin Call Me Some Rainy Afternoon $3.00 |
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Biography – Irving Berlin: An American Song [VHS] [V.. $2.39 |
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KATE IRVING BERLIN 1947 KATE SMITH SHEET MUSIC $9.99 |
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EASTER PARADE IRVING BERLIN 1933 SHEET MUSIC $9.99 |
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Vintage 1927 Sheet Music Irving Berlin Russian Lullaby $2.77 |
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Tell Me Little Gypsy Sheet Music Irving Berlin 1920 $8.99 |
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Berlin, Irving Goodbye France 1918 Sheet Music Signed Autograph World War I ... |
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Berlin, Irving Now It Can Be Told 1938 Sheet Music Signed Autograph ... |
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Blue Skies Musical Movie Poster - 12x16 $2.95 Blue Skies Musical Movie Poster - 12x16... |
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Broadway Greatest Hits $4.98 ... |
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Let Yourself Go $6.99 Kristin Chenoweth won a Tony for the supporting role of Sally Brown in the 1999 revival of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, made a memorably vampy Lily in the 1999 television film of Annie, and had an NBC sitcom created for her, Kristin! Now she grabs the spotlight in Let Yourself Go, her first solo recording. She mixes torchy standards ("My Funny Valentine," "How Long Has This Been Going On?") w... |
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Somewhere over the Rainbow: The Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals $14.10 The "Golden Age" referred to here spans The Jazz Singer and the advent of the talkies to the death throes of the old studio system in the 1960s. So vast was the era's musical landscape that even this 42-track, double-disc anthology can't encompass all its peaks. Not surprisingly, the bulk of this collection originated with the Tiffany's of the screen musical, M-G-M, a body of work whose riches her... |
