Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin( born Israel Isidore Beilin;; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was an American composer and lyricist, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.
His music forms a great part of the Great American Songbook.
Born in Imperial Russia, Berlin arrived in the United States at the age of five.
He published his first song," Marie from Sunny Italy", in 1907, receiving 33 cents for the publishing rights, and had his first major international hit," Alexander's Ragtime Band" in 1911.
He also was an owner of the Music Box Theatre on Broadway.
It is commonly believed that Berlin could not read sheet music, and was such a limited piano player that he could only play in the key of F- sharp using his custom piano equipped with a transposing lever.
" Alexander's Ragtime Band" sparked an international dance craze in places as far away as Berlin's native Russia, which also" flung itself into the ragtime beat with an abandon bordering on mania."
Over the years he was known for writing music and lyrics in the American vernacular: uncomplicated, simple and direct, with his stated aim being to" reach the heart of the average American," whom he saw as the" real soul of the country."
In doing so, said Walter Cronkite, at Berlin's 100th birthday tribute, he" helped write the story of this country, capturing the best of who we are and the dreams that shape our lives."
He wrote hundreds of songs, many becoming major hits, which made him famous before he turned thirty.
During his 60- year career he wrote an estimated 1,500 songs, including the scores for 20 original Broadway shows and 15 original Hollywood films, with his songs nominated eight times for Academy Awards.
Many songs became popular themes and anthems, including" Alexander's Ragtime BandEaster ParadePuttin' on the RitzCheek to CheekWhite Christmas Happy HolidayAnything You Can Do( I Can Do Better)", and" There's No Business Like Show Business".
His Broadway musical and 1943 film" This is the Army", with Ronald Reagan, had Kate Smith singing Berlin's" God Bless America" which was first performed in 1938.
Berlin's songs have reached the top of the charts 25 times and have been extensively re-recorded by numerous singers including The Andrews Sisters, Perry Como, Eddie Fisher, Al Jolson, Fred Astaire, Ethel Merman, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Elvis Presley, Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Linda Ronstadt, Rosemary Clooney, Cher, Diana Ross, Bing Crosby, Sarah Vaughan, Ruth Etting, Fanny Brice, Marily n Miller, Rudy Vallée, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, Doris Day, Jerry Garcia, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Buble, Lady Gaga, and Christina Aguilera.
Berlin died in 1989 at the age of 101.
Composer Douglas Moore sets Berlin apart from all other contemporary songwriters, and includes him instead with Stephen Foster, Walt Whitman, and Carl Sandburg, as a" great American minstrel" — someone who has" caught and immortalized in his songs what we say, what we think about, and what we believe."
Composer George Gershwin called him" the greatest songwriter that has ever lived", and composer Jerome Kern concluded that" Irving Berlin has no" place" in American music—he" is" American music."
King Watzke
Alex" King" Watzke( 1872- 1919) was a violinist and bandleader in New Orleans, Louisiana.
His band enjoyed fair popularity ca. 1900- 1911 or later.
The band played ragtime, popular music, and possibly an early or ancestral version of what later became known as jazz.
By 1904 Watzke's band's repertory included an early version of what later became known as" Tiger Rag" or a similar melody; he and his band called it" Number 2" as Watzke's practice was to refer to his compositions by number.
As this appears to be the earliest dated reference to" Tiger Rag", many believe Watzke's claim to have been its composer.
Alexander Constantin Watzke, Junior(" King") was the youngest child of Alexander Constantin Watzke( Senior), a member of the Louisiana State Legislature, and a leader of New Orleans' German community, who died in 1914.
He had several siblings.
" King" Watzke was one of the first white bandleaders to take up ragtime and jazz, what had hitherto been primarily African- American musical genres, and thus was responsible for more widely popularizing these musical styles.
Watzke decided to bill himself as" King" after the example of Buddy Bolden.
It was reported that he gave coins to children in New Orleans' French Quarter to announce his coming," Here comes King Watzke".
Refer to the article:
Jazz Royalty
It is believed by some that Watzke and his band," Alexander's Ragtime Band", were the real- life inspiration for Irving Berlin's 1911 song," Alexander's Ragtime Band", and the 1938 movie of the same name, Alexander's Ragtime Band( Movie).
Even though, for the motion picture, the name and city were changed, the basics of the story appear to ring true, according to family members, and New Orleans jazz history aficionados.
The band has also been described as" King Watzke's Band" or" Dixieland Band" in the written accounts cited as references.
King Watzke and his band are referred to in a scholarly book by Daniel Hardie, about the history of New Orleans jazz.
The following were reported to have been members of the band: Violin or Bass Viol- King Watzke( leader); Trumpet- Jimmy Kendall; Clarinet- Freddie Burns; String Bass- Buzz Harvey, Emile Bigard; Guitar- Jimmy Ruth, Pat Shields.
Sometimes Larry Shields( clarinetist) and Ray Lopez( from about 1903- 08) played with this band.
Because sound recordings were new in that era, no recordings of Watzke or his band are known to have survived.
However, one unlabeled not commercially released" demo" or sample 78 rpm record was known to have been in the hands of surviving family; though it is believed forever lost due to a Gulf Coast hurricane.
Also, no photos appear to have survived, even in his family, despite diligent searches.
His father, Alexander Constantin Watzke, Senior, was a successful businessman, in the hide and fur trade, who immigrated to New Orleans from Germany circa 1851; he had served one term in the Louisiana State Legislature and was a leader in the German community of New Orleans; he and his family resided in a large mansion, since demolished, on South Rampart Street.
Many family members continue to live in Louisiana and elsewhere in USA, although Alex Jr. is not known to have married, nor left any direct descendants.
Although there had been some uncertainty or controversy about when he died, it has now been established that King Watzke died in 1919, in the Spanish flu pandemic.
An obituary was published in" The New York Times", and his inscription on the family tombstone in New Orleans suggests a date of death on January 14, 1919.
There had been some confusion, however, as an obituary published in the" New Orleans Times- Picayune" referred to the death of another Alexander Watzke almost a decade later, on June 2, 1928, but that person has now been established to have been the nephew of" King" the jazz musician.
Alex( King) Watzke is buried in the family grave in the St. Joseph Cemetery in New Orleans.
Jazz afficionados in New Orleans and elsewhere, and the Watzke family worldwide are commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of King Watzke, the nearly forgotten jazz great of the early days of the genre, in January 2019.
Henry King (director)
Henry King( January 24, 1886 June 29, 1982) was an American actor and film director.
Seven films directed by King were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Bernard Purdie
Bernard Lee" Pretty" Purdie( born June 11, 1939) is an American drummer, and an influential R&B, soul and funk musician.
He is known for his precise musical time keeping and his signature use of triplets against a half- time backbeat: the" Purdie Shuffle."
He was inducted into the" Modern Drummer" Hall of Fame in 2013.
Purdie recorded" Soul Drums"( 1968) as a band leader and although he went on to record" Alexander's Ragtime Band", the album remained unreleased until" Soul Drums" was reissued on CD in 2009 with the" Alexander's Ragtime Band" sessions.
Other solo albums include" Purdie Good"( 1971)," Soul Is ... Pretty Purdie"( 1972) and the soundtrack for the blaxploitation film" Lialeh"( 1973).
In the mid-1990s he was a member of The 3B's, with Bross Townsend and Bob Cunningham.
Alexander's Ragtime Band (film)
Alexander's Ragtime Band is a 1938 musical film released by 20th Century Fox that takes its name from the 1911 Irving Berlin song" Alexander's Ragtime Band" to tell a story of a society boy who scandalizes his family by pursuing a career in ragtime instead of in" serious" music.
The film generally traces the history of jazz music from the popularization of Ragtime in the early years of the 20th century to the acceptance of swing as an art form in the late 1930s using music composed by Berlin.
The story spans more than two decades from the 1911 release of its name- sake song to some point in time after the 1933 release of" Heat Wave", presumably 1938.
It stars Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Ethel Merman, Jack Haley and Jean Hersholt.
Several actual events in the history of jazz are fictionalized and adapted to the story including the tour of Europe by Original Dixieland Jass Band, the global spread of jazz by U.S. soldiers during World War I, and the 1938 Carnegie Hall performance by The Benny Goodman Orchestra.
There are no mentions of the primary importance of blacks in creating and playing jazz anywhere in the film.
The story was written by Berlin himself, with Kathryn Scola, Richard Sherman( 1905 – 1962) and Lamar Trotti.
It was directed by Henry King
It is believed by some that both the song and the movie were inspired by a real bandleader, Alexander Constantin Jr. of New Orleans( also known as" King" Watzke), and his band, Alexander's Ragtime Band, which was popular c. 1904- 11.
Alexander of Cyprus
Alexander of Cyprus or Alexander Cyprius, perhaps also known as Alexander the Monk or Alexander Monachus, was apparently a 6th- century Cypriot monk active in the cloister near the sanctuary of St. Barnabas in Salaminia or Constantina.
He also had as one of his aims the authentication of the ecclesiastical independence of Cyprus.
Hobart Henley
Hobart Henley( born Hess Manassah Henle; November 23, 1887 – May 22, 1964) was an American silent film actor, director, screenwriter and producer.
He was involved in over 60 films either as an actor or director or both in his twenty- year career, between 1914 and 1934 when he retired from filmmaking.
Roadhouse Nights
Roadhouse Nights is a 1930 American Pre-Code gangster film.
A number of sources including Sally Cline in her book" Dashiell Hammett Man of Mystery" claim it is based on the classic novel" Red Harvest" written by Dashiell Hammett( author of" The Maltese Falcon The Thin Man", and" The Glass Key").
However the credits of the film itself say only" An Original Screenplay by Ben Hecht."
Hammett receives no mention at all( and the plots are not similar).
The movie, an unusual amalgam of musical comedy and gangster melodrama, was directed by Hobart Henley, stars Helen Morgan, Charles Ruggles, and Fred Kohler, and features a rare screen musical comedy performance by Jimmy Durante, in his screen debut, with his vaudeville partners Lou Clayton and Eddie Jackson(" Clayton, Jackson, and Durante").
Helen Morgan also sings" It Ca n't Go On Like This."
Bernard Herzbrun
Bernard Herzbrun( January 10, 1891 – January 7, 1964) was an American art director.
He was nominated an Academy Award in the category Best Art Direction for the film" Alexander's Ragtime Band".
He worked on 275 films between 1930 and 1955.
He was born in New York City, New York and died in Los Angeles, California.
Ben Palmer
Ben Palmer is a British film and television director who is known for being the director of" Bo' Selecta" and" The Inbetweeners".

Question: Which film has the director who died earlier, Roadhouse Nights or Alexander'S Ragtime Band (Film)?
Answer: Roadhouse Nights