IRVING BERLIN - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 05/27/1968 - HFSID 227154

IRVING BERLIN
Composer Irving Berlin signed this typed letter on his personalized stationery in 1968, thanking the recipient for a birthday card and briefly mentioning his school days.
Typed letter signed "Irv" in blue ink.1 page, 6¾x10 (visible), on Berlin's personalized stationery. Matted to 24½x19½ in a blue marble and gold-colored matte with a 9x12¼ sheet music copy of Irving Berlin's Remember from Irving Berlin, Inc. of New York City and a 4¼x1½ (visible) nameplate. May 27, 1968. Addressed to Mr. Ben Litter, Astoria, New York. In full: "Dear Ben: Many thanks for your birthday card. It was thoughtful of you and I appreciate it. I'm still hoping that we can get together sometime. You are the only man who knows anything about my very thin school days. I don't recall very much of those days and I'm, naturally, anxious to be filled in. I do remember P. S. 147 and I think the principal's name was Benjamin. Of course, I may be wrong. Again my thanks and with best wishes to you, I am, Sincerely". Berlin (1888-1989, born Israel Isidore Baline in Tumen, Siberia, Russia) was such a force in American music that in 1924, when Berlin was just 37, songwriter Jerome Kern gave this assessment: "Irving Berlin has no place in American music. He is American music." If the only song he ever wrote was God Bless America, made famous by Kate Smith, Berlin would be an important part of American music. But Berlin wrote more than 900 songs, including the classics A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody, There's No Business Like Show Business, Always, Easter Parade and Blue Skies, 19 musicals, including Annie Get Your Gun and Call Me Madam, and the scores of 18 movies, including Holiday Inn, which featured his 1942 Academy Award-winning song White Christmas. Not matted in Gallery of History style. Items were not evaluated outside matte. "As is" matting purchase. Letter is lightly creased. Folded twice and unfolded. Sheet music is lightly toned, soiled, scuffed and creased with lightly rounded and worn corners. Matte is lightly creased with lightly rounded and worn corners. Otherwise in fine condition.