Evening star., 1925-09-01
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
/. C.. NJ.
THE STORY OF IRVING BERLIN.
Alexander Woollcott, G.. p. Put
| MANS Sons

tereSting book on the ''lively arts
the movie, the revue, jazz with it's
| brutally shattered measures bringing
quick response in songs of weird ca
dence and dances of sudden cataIeptic
seizures. Now, since the very day of
| their birth, these lively arts have stood
as high in the favor of the great hoi
polloi as they have sunk beneath even
| the contempt of fastidious culture.
Mr.. Seldes, arguing that where there
Is so dense d smoke of popular ap-
proval there must be at least a few
sparks of sustaining fire, set himself
TO the study of these lively arts. Seri-
Gus and sincere, he betook himself
back to their beginnings. Out of what
kind of soil did they spring? What
contributed to their growth, so lusty
and teeming? What the tang and sa-
vor that gained them so eager an ac-
iceptance, SO wide a spread? What
their effect? What the promise of
their endurance? Questions these
such as other scholars put to themes
of accepted standing Mr.. Seldes put TO
| these wayside growths of the lively
arts.
| Out of the study certain names
emerge-Charlie Chaplin, Florenz
iZeigfeld, Irving Berlin, Paul White.
man, George Cohan and other names
and other. Under the seeing eye and
lphilosophic mind of Seldes it turns out
that these, under the extravaganza.
under even the absurdity and gro
tesquerie of their work, are ali in quest
of the elusive and kaleidoscope forms
of beauty. Here Chaplin proves to be
much more than the catastrophe art.
list of custard pie and buckets of
whitewash. Zeigfeld is trying to spell
out the lesson of beauty by way of
twjnkling feet and beauteous bodies
and charming graces of face and pos.
ture, all set 10 light and harmonious
mea sures. And the others who stand
for the lively arts, each in his own
way is trying TO touch the common
heart Of common men with the beauty
of JOY and elation and laughter.
Under Gilbert Seldes and one or
two others of his kind the lively arts
are growing respecta BILE. Let us hope
not too respectable. Culture itself
is, nowadays. taking a tentative step
in their direction. Only the other
| week over In London a Hamlet in
golf toggery and an Ophelia in fiapper
undress relieved the immortal bard
of the impedimenta of ancient long
clothes and by that little much
| brought him closer in more gen.
eral acceptance of his SURPRISING hold
on the naked human heart that is
common to all men. And the people
liked it-so the papers say. They
would. They will And the other
day, out in st. Louis, stronghold of
| German classicism in music, there
was sung to jazz measure an opera
which in theme and lyric and orches-
tration comes clearly under the head
of grand opera" A greatly en-
thusiastic audiences, 900 strong
greeted this opera in the vernacu-
lar" 1t is clear from these signs,
and others, that however much the
! |dyed-in-the-wool classicist may shiver
away from the fact, there is move
ment toward each other between the
lively arts and those Of static and
traditioned implication.
**
! Alexander aNoollcotts story OF
| Irving Berlin is, in effect. il not in
intent, a corroboration of this move
nent, as it is also an eminently worth
| while addition to the stories of per-
| sonal achievement with which the
| life of America Is enriched From
canal driver or rail splitter to Presi
| dent, from newsboy to head of a. rail.
| way system or great mercantile en-.
terprise--this is purely an American
| formula of fact, the basis of more
| than one true story of American life.
And the story of Irving Berlin be
longs with these. 4 Russian immi.
grant of the New York Ghetto, q
| childish troubadour of the Bowery, a
| busker at Niger Mikes, and the gift
of melody-this, the equipment of
Izzy Baline, Irving Berlin. ITO him,
| above all others of his day, q young.
ster carried out of Russia in the hold
of a ship and pitched into the swarm
of struggling life in the lower East
| Side, il was given SO to catch the
rhythm of his land and time that the
| whole world has logged along to the
measures of his songs" This Is bis
story. AS it IS written here, il will
be. left to you to guess by what
alchemy he transmitted into music
the jumbled sounds of his life-the
wash of the river against the black
ened piers, the alarums of the street
cars, the roar of the elevated, the
frightening scream of the fire engines
the polyglot hubbub of the curbs and
doorsteps of his own East Side. the
brassy jangle of the hurdygurdies,
4 the cries of the fruit venders and
push cart peddlers, the chants in the
synagogue, the whines and squeals
of Chinatown. the clink of glass and
the crack of revoIvers in saloons
along the Bowery-above all, the
plaintive race notes, the wall of his
sorrowing tribe, the lamentation OF
a people harried and self -pitying
since time out of mind" Read for
Yourself the story of the strange al.
chemy that worked this medley OF
4 life into the music of Irving Berlin
into the life of Irving Berlin. And
some time, should you achieve worth.
lily in any direction, even should you
only be worthy in some way, try to
have Alexander Woollcott tell the
world about it. An understanding
man and a sympathetic one, a human
1 man obviously endowed by nature
and equipped by both training and ex
/ perience. he will do for you In a, way
to satisfy your sense of fair dealing
and in a way also to carry you and
other readers along in a constant and
deepening satisfaction over the sim
plicity and beauty of his art of ap
preciative and honest writing.
TWENTY YEARS ON BROADWAY
George NJ. Cohan. Harper & Bros
"And the Years 1t Took to Gel
1 There" George Coi1an adds as he takes
up the story OF his life for the enter
tainment of his friends and readers in
/ general Another promoter of the
'sliveiy arts" is George Cohan, and q
Ilively promoter as well. In perfect
buoyancy OF spirit he goes back over
the hard road, his elation appearing tc
increase as hopes of success flicker
away into one vanishing point after
another. A sort of psychological sur
vey taking into account his various
| states of mind and the behaviors in
cident thereto. AS one reads this utter
| hnnAEfu 6 a mr. Hirac
I effect is that George NJ. Cohan must
have been daily trial and a nightly
grief to those related to him by either
the ties of business or those of blood