Irving Berlin correspondence concerning This Is the Army

1943-1945

Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin), was born in Russia on May 11, 1888. His family immigrated to the United States when he was around five years old, arriving in New York on September 13, 1893. As a teenager, he became a singing waiter and gained a reputation for parodying popular songs. Although he could not read or write music at the time, he had a keen ear and collaborated on his first published song, "Marie from Sunny Italy" (1907), where his name was printed as "I. Berlin," which he adopted and later changed his first name to Irving. Later in 1909, he became a staff lyricist for the Ted Snyder Company and gained recognition on vaudeville and Broadway. In 1911, his international reputation soared with "Alexander's Ragtime Band," earning him the title "Ragtime King".

The history of the play This Is the Army is a significant part of Irving Berlin's career and played a vital role in American morale during World War II. The military was initially slow to embrace camp entertainment, but the War Department's interest grew and it culminated in an invitation to Irving Berlin, in March 1942, under General George Marshall's auspices, to revive Yip Yip Yaphank. The play premiered on July 4, 1942, in wartime New York City which was a major event. Berlin himself considered it his "most important work" and "the best thing I've ever been connected with." The show toured extensively and raised over $6 million for Army Emergency Relief. After a short run of 113 performances on Broadway, the show embarked on an extensive tour throughout the United States, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and the South Pacific, lasting almost the entire duration of U.S. involvement in World War II. It played 1,264 performances for over 2.5 million military and civilian spectators before its final show in Hawai'i in late October 1945. Despite its immense popularity and contribution to wartime morale, This Is the Army tends to be less remembered in historical accounts of musical theater. This is due to its short Broadway run, the lack of a surviving Broadway script (as Berlin constantly adapted the show), and its nature as a revue designed for a contemporary audience living through the war. Additionally, the 1943 film adaptation, while a major success, overlaid a fictional plot onto the revue format and often overshadows the original stage show in historical memory.