IN SEARCH OF LOST IRVING BERLIN THEATER SONGS…
Berlin, incidentally, could not write music. He could play piano—not too well, and in only one key. He would play, sing, and hum songs that he created, which a musical secretary would then take down and put into written form for him. The typed lyrics that Shaw saved (with the words “you’re a dumb kop”) may have been typed by Berlin himself or may have been dictated by Berlin to a musical secretary. In any event, the songs “Angelo” and “It Can’t Be Did” have survived only because Lillian Shaw happened to be a “saver.” By contrast, Shaw’s good friend, Fanny Brice, for whom Berlin also wrote special material, was not a “saver.” [more]
