Jeffrey Magee
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780252042706
- eISBN:
- 9780252051562
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252042706.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Irving Berlin’s all-soldier World War I revue, Yip Yip Yaphank, made a unique impact on Broadway in 1918 and in Berlin’s work for decades to come. The show forged a compelling and comic connection ...
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Irving Berlin’s all-soldier World War I revue, Yip Yip Yaphank, made a unique impact on Broadway in 1918 and in Berlin’s work for decades to come. The show forged a compelling and comic connection between theatrical conventions and military protocols, using elements from minstrelsy, the Ziegfeld Follies, and Berlin’s distinctive songs. Featuring such Berlin standards as “Sterling Silver Moon” (later revised as “Mandy”) and “Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning,” it was revised for World War II as This Is the Army, and scenes from it reappear, transformed, in Berlin’s films Alexander’s Ragtime Band and White Christmas.Less
Irving Berlin’s all-soldier World War I revue, Yip Yip Yaphank, made a unique impact on Broadway in 1918 and in Berlin’s work for decades to come. The show forged a compelling and comic connection between theatrical conventions and military protocols, using elements from minstrelsy, the Ziegfeld Follies, and Berlin’s distinctive songs. Featuring such Berlin standards as “Sterling Silver Moon” (later revised as “Mandy”) and “Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning,” it was revised for World War II as This Is the Army, and scenes from it reappear, transformed, in Berlin’s films Alexander’s Ragtime Band and White Christmas.
Sheryl Kaskowitz
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199919772
- eISBN:
- 9780199345595
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199919772.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, Popular
The song’s story begins during World War I, when Irving Berlin first sketched “God Bless America” for use in the all-soldier musical revue Yip Yip Yaphank, then leaps forward to 1938, when Kate Smith ...
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The song’s story begins during World War I, when Irving Berlin first sketched “God Bless America” for use in the all-soldier musical revue Yip Yip Yaphank, then leaps forward to 1938, when Kate Smith premiered it on her radio show. Chapter 1 explores the stories and myths surrounding the song’s origins, introduces the main characters, and goes behind the scenes to expose the struggle between Irving Berlin and Smith’s manager Ted Collins for control of the song and its legacy. The purpose is not only to understand the historical context surrounding the song’s creation and first performances, but to examine the underlying tensions between composer and performer in American popular music.Less
The song’s story begins during World War I, when Irving Berlin first sketched “God Bless America” for use in the all-soldier musical revue Yip Yip Yaphank, then leaps forward to 1938, when Kate Smith premiered it on her radio show. Chapter 1 explores the stories and myths surrounding the song’s origins, introduces the main characters, and goes behind the scenes to expose the struggle between Irving Berlin and Smith’s manager Ted Collins for control of the song and its legacy. The purpose is not only to understand the historical context surrounding the song’s creation and first performances, but to examine the underlying tensions between composer and performer in American popular music.
