Posted on 12/17/2004 10:13:17 PM PST by SmithL
They trekked to the apartment in weather that dropped to 6 below on the coldest Christmas Eve ever recorded in New York City to sing "White Christmas" to Izzy Baline, a 95-year-old Jewish man.
Izzy was so touched that he had his maid invite them in for cocoa. Once his serenaders were safely inside, Izzy hugged each male caroler and kissed each female.
Izzy knew cold. He was born in Siberia.
He grew up poor on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the youngest of six children. He would rise to dine with Sir Winston Churchill at the height of World War II.
Izzy's father, a cantor, died when Izzy was 13. So poor was the family that he had to sing on the streets to earn a few coins.
He also hawked newspapers. Once a loading crane knocked the little newsie into the East River. When they fished him out of the drink, he was not breathing.
But they resuscitated the kid and sent him to the hospital. There a nurse finally opened his little clenched fist and found five coppers. A lad that tight-fisted surely was bound to become a millionaire.
Izzy did not make his living in newspapers or as a singer. He made his fortune through sheet music, Broadway productions and later, moving pictures.
The son of a cantor fell in love with his opposite, Ellin, a Catholic girl whose father was a pillar of New York society.
Her father did not like that Izzy was Jewish, from the slums and in show biz. Her father tried to break up the romance by sending her on a lengthy trip around the world.
But absence made the heart grow fonder. She returned to New York and married Izzy. Their marriage lasted until her death 62 years later.
Her father disowned her. Some of her in-laws called her a shiksa. Religious intolerance was not invented by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court.
Izzy and Ellin raised their children as Protestants. Perhaps like my Jewish grandmother and my Catholic grandfather, they chose the Protestant church because their children would not have to cross the streetcar tracks to get to Sunday school.
At least, that was Grandma's story.
Izzy Baline is better known as Irving Berlin, the 20th century's greatest songwriter.
From "Alexander's Ragtime Band" to "God Bless America," his songbook reflected a big nation with humor and warmth, elements sadly missing today. He had an immigrant's love for freedoms that natives take for granted.
In Russia, he faced pogroms. Here, he became a star.
The tight-fisted ex-newsie also gave back. He signed the royalties from "God Bless America" over to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. He gave the nearly $10 million he made from his production of "This Is The Army" in 1944 to the Army Emergency Relief Fund.
Those New Yorkers sang "White Christmas" to Irving Berlin on Christmas Eve 1983 because he wrote it and they loved him.
Now children cannot sing songs about Christmas in some schools because uptight bureaucrats fear someone might sue.
The school board told the brass ensemble at Columbia High in New Jersey that it cannot play any music with references to Christmas or Chanukah at its holiday concert this year.
Oh? Just what is that holiday we celebrate on Dec. 25th? The birth of Jimmy Buffett?
At Lake Washington High School in Washington state, the principal canceled a production of "A Christmas Carol" because Tiny Tim says, "God bless us every one."
Maybe they can stage an adaptation of "Heather Has Two Mommies" instead.
All this overreaction amuses me. Singing "White Christmas" can establish an official state religion? One little song can do all that? It must be a helluva tune.
And it is. Sing it for Izzy.
Fabulous writing, I love it. I'm popping this one into the mill...
Berlin signed up at the ripe old age of 30 to help his country win WW1.
White Christmas Bump
I want to hear both Hanukah Song AND Domenic the Christmas Donkey without being persecuted.
Merry Christmas Ping.
Merry Christmas to you too, Smithy.
Merry Christmas to y'all. ;-)
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