A fast-moving, musically astute portrait of arguably the greatest composer of American popular music. Irving Berlin (1888-1989) has been called--by George Gershwin, among others--the greatest songwriter of the golden age of the American popular song. "Berlin has no place in American music," legendary composer Jerome Kern wrote; "he is American music." In a career that spanned an astonishing nine decades, Berlin wrote some fifteen hundred tunes, including...

"Escaping persecution for being Jewish, the Baline family flee Russia and arrive by ship in New York Harbor in September 1893. Little Israel Isidore Baline is only five years old. After arriving at Ellis Island, the first stop for all immigrants, Israel and his family are ready to begin a new life in America. His family settles on the Lower East Side and soon Israel (now nicknamed Izzy) starts school. And while he learns English, he is not a very...

Near the end of the Great Depression and the beginning of World War II, a homeless Dust Bowl refugee named Woody Guthrie originally drafted "This Land Is Your Land" as an anthem that encompassed the tough realities of those dark times--and as a rebuttal to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America." But the song that Guthrie despised had its own complexities. Irving Berlin had risen from homelessness before becoming America's most successful songwriter,...

Presents a biography of the Russian immigrant who came to America as a boy, and grew to become a celebrated songwriter who gave America one of its most beloved patriotic songs.

Describes the life of the famous composer of popular musicals and songs, including "God Bless America."