Irving Berlin, whose real name is Ignatz or Isadore Baline, is one of the most successful of these Jewish song controllers. He was born in Russia and early became a singer and entertainer. With the rise of “ragtime,” which was the predecessor of “jazz,” he found a new field for his nimble talents, and his first big success was “Alexander’s ragtime Band”—a popular piece which by comparison with what has followed it, is a blushing, modest thing.
It was worth noting, in view of the organized eagerness of the Jew to make an alliance with the Negro, that it was Jewish “jazz” that rode in upon the wave of Negro “ragtime” popularity, and eventually displaced the “ragtime.”
Berlin has steadily gone the road from mere interestingness to unashamed erotic suggestion. He is the “headliner” in homes as well as in the not-too-particular music halls, but his stuff without its music sometimes savors of vile suggestion.
The motif of this business can be clearly seen in the “Berlin Big Hits.” There are the so-called “vamp” songs, such as