Irving Berlin
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Dressed up like a million-dollar trooper --"Puttin' On the Ritz" (1928) by Irving Berlin |
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Irving Berlin (May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.
- "Puttin' On the Ritz" (1928)
An instant standard with one of Berlin's most "intricately syncopated choruses", this song is associated with Fred Astaire, who sang and danced to it in the 1946 film Blue Skies. The song was written in 1928 with a separate set of lyrics and was introduced by Harry Richman in a 1930 film of the same name. In 1939, Clark Gable sang it in the movie Idiot's Delight. In 1974 it was featured in the movie Young Frankenstein by Mel Brooks, and was a no. 4 hit for synth-pop artist Taco in 1983. In 2012 it was used for a flash mob wedding event in Moscow.
