[78-L] The debut broadcast of God Bless America

[Michael Biel]

It was mentioned that Berlin was talked out of writing a patriotic song in 1916 or 1917 because the field was already crowded.  That can't be true because in 1917 Berlin co-wrote "Let's All Be Americans Now", wrote "For Your Country and My Country" which is noted on the sheet music cover "The official recruiting song", and in 1918, probably at the end of the war, "Good-bye France".  If he had written "God Bless America" in 1916 he would have been competing against mainly one song "America I Love You".  Instead he wrote "Stay Down Here Where You Belong" which was a "peace" song he conveniently didn't mention to the reporter. The narrative really fits closer to the song being written in 1918 when there WAS a lot of competition, and that this song didn't fit well into the comedy show.


>  >  C'mon, did he really use a steamer trunk???  That is such a cliche.

On 8/21/2011 5:56 PM, David Lewis wrote:
 > Berlin famously had a "steamer trunk;" he had several, in fact. He 
even referred to certain
 > of his pieces as "trunk songs." . . .   Why would you question such a 
small detail as that,
 > other than just to bicker?


Actually it was meant as a joke, as is most of the rest of this posting.  But it is also legitimately asking if you have specific authoritative info of the existence of a steamer trunk rather than a file cabinet or other normal office accommodations, such as a photograph including such a trunk in his office or home, or a contemporary account describing his office, such as the article I just came across describing the weird things in  Robert Benchley's Manhattan apartment written shortly after his death.  We know of Irving's transposing piano, and of some of his other quirks. Maybe he was old fashioned and still used a trunk, but gosh, he had an established office and staff and was still writing in the 1960s.

These postings last forever (I occasionally get a 7-year-old posting quoted back to me with a question) and you are also one of the people who are trusted by many to not pass on old wives tales or folklore without indication it as such.  If you say there were steamer trunks, by golly there were steamer trunks.  But I hope the info comes from a reliable source, not someone else merely extrapolating on the phrase "Trunk songs" to mean there were actual trunks rather than filing cabinets.  "Trunk songs" has so much more of a ring to it than "filing cabinet songs"!


> It is NOT a cliche, it was a common way for
> composers to store music -- or people to store things other than music -- early in
> the 20th century. Scott Joplin lost the score to "A Guest of Honor" in one when he
> couldn't pay the boarding fees for his touring company.


Joplin toured.  Berlin didn't.  He had an office for a publishing 
company and a large apartment.  And 1938 was no longer "early in the 
century".


> A bunch of Larry Vincent's
> scores and even test records was found in one belonging to a relative of his.
> Occasionally they come up on eBay with a treasure trove inside.

Nowadays things are found in storage warehouse compartments!  And 
trunks, suitcases, and boxes are used to transport things and not 
unpacked upon arrival.  I suppose Vincent stuffed things in a trunk to 
give to a relative -- or that  is how the relative cleared out stuff 
from Vincent;s home after his death, and why unpack it if you aren't the 
person needing it?
>>> The line "Let us all be grateful that we're far from there" is probably a leftover from the earlier form of the song, and meant as a tip of the hat to Wilson's anti-intervention
>>> policies, which would have been meaningless after April 1917.
> >  Exactly why I think that this verse dates from 1938, not 1916.  The
> >  whole verse is essentially moot after Pearl Harbor as well  -- "While
> >  the storm clouds gather"
>
>
> Whatever. It could apply to either era. That proves nothing.
> Uncle Dave Lewis

Not really.  It really seems like it was written in 1918.   If the song 
was written in 1916 it could have applied to both eras, but there is 
more evidence that the song had first been written after we entered the 
first World War, so the whole verse would have been moot. It points out 
the importance of really finding out when the song had first been 
written.  There are Berlin manuscripts in the Library of Congress that 
might answer the question, but the on-line page doesn't give enough 
details about the original writing date.
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm019.html

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com