Editing Irving Berlin (section)

===1941 to 1962===

====World War II patriotism—"This is the Army" (1943)====
[[File:Irving Berlin aboard the USS Arkansas, 944.jpg|thumb|Irving Berlin singing and conducting aboard [[USS Arkansas (BB-33)|USS ''Arkansas'']], 1944]]
Berlin loved his country, and wrote many songs reflecting his patriotism. Treasury Secretary [[Henry Morgenthau Jr.|Henry Morgenthau]] requested a song to inspire Americans to buy [[war bond]]s, for which he wrote "Any Bonds Today?"<ref name=":0" /> He assigned all royalties to the [[United States Treasury Department]]. He then wrote songs for various government agencies and likewise assigned all profits to them: "Angels of Mercy" for the [[American Red Cross]]; "Arms for the Love of America", for the [[United States Army Ordnance Corps|U.S. Army Ordnance Department]]; and "I Paid My Income Tax Today",<ref>[http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/57008.html Danny Kaye's Musical Tribute to the Income Tax] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110826080052/http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/57008.html |date=August 26, 2011 }}, George Mason's History News Network, November 14, 2008, retrieved April 17, 2012</ref> again to Treasury.<ref name=Corliss/>

When the United States joined [[World War II]] after the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] in December 1941, Berlin immediately began composing a number of patriotic songs. His most notable and valuable contribution to the war effort was a stage show he wrote called "[[This Is The Army (musical)|This Is The Army]]". It was taken to [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] and then on to Washington, D.C. (where President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] attended). It was eventually shown at military bases throughout the world, including London, North Africa, Italy, Middle East, and Pacific countries, sometimes in close proximity to battle zones. Berlin wrote nearly three dozen songs for the show which contained a cast of 300 men. He supervised the production and traveled with it, always singing "[[Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning]]". The show kept him away from his family for three and a half years, during which time he took neither salary nor expenses, and turned over all profits to the Army Emergency Relief Fund.<ref name=McCorkle/>{{rp|81}}

The play was adapted into a movie of the same name in 1943, directed by [[Michael Curtiz]], co-starring [[Joan Leslie]] and [[Ronald Reagan]], who was then an army lieutenant. [[Kate Smith]] also sang "God Bless America" in the film with a backdrop showing families anxious over the coming war. The show became a hit movie and a morale-boosting road show that toured the battlefronts of Europe.<ref name=NYT-Barrett/> The shows and movie combined raised more than $10 million for the Army,<ref name=Corliss/> and in recognition of his contributions to troop morale, Berlin was awarded the [[Medal for Merit]] by President [[Harry S. Truman]]. Berlin's daughter, [[Mary Ellin Barrett]], who was 15 when she was at the opening-night performance of "[[This is the Army]]" on Broadway, remembered that when her father, who normally shunned the spotlight, appeared in the second act in soldier's garb to sing "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning", he was greeted with a standing ovation that lasted 10 minutes. She adds that he was in his mid-50s at the time, and later declared those years with the show were the "most thrilling time of his life".<ref name=NYT-Barrett>[https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/20/books/books-of-the-times-recalling-the-somber-man-behind-so-many-happy-songs.html "BOOKS OF THE TIMES; Recalling the Somber Man Behind So Many Happy Songs"], ''[[The New York Times]]'' (book review), January 20, 1995</ref>

====''Annie Get Your Gun'' (1946)====
The grueling tours Berlin did performing "This Is The Army" left him exhausted, but when his longtime close friend [[Jerome Kern]], who was the composer for ''[[Annie Get Your Gun (musical)|Annie Get Your Gun]]'', died suddenly, producers [[Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II]] persuaded Berlin to take over composing the score.

{{quote box|align=left|width=25em|bgcolor = MistyRose|quote=What distinguishes Berlin is the brilliance of his lyrics. 'You Can't Get a Man With a Gun'—that's as good a comic song as has ever been written by anybody. You look at the jokes and how quickly they're told, and it still has a plot to it. It's sophisticated and very underrated.|source= — composer-lyricist [[Stephen Sondheim]]<ref>Rich, Frank.[https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/12/magazine/conversations-with-sondheim.html "Conversations With Sondheim"], ''[[The New York Times]],'' March 12, 2000</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGB7yTZEZE4| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/hGB7yTZEZE4| archive-date=2021-10-30|title=Betty Hutton sings "You Can't Get A Man With A Gun"| date=March 6, 2009|publisher=YouTube|access-date=October 17, 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref>}}

Loosely based on the life of sharpshooter [[Annie Oakley]], the music and lyrics were written by Berlin, with a book by [[Herbert Fields]] and his sister [[Dorothy Fields]], and directed by [[Joshua Logan]]. At first Berlin refused to take on the job, claiming that he knew nothing about "[[hillbilly]] music", but the show ran for 1,147 performances and became his most successful score and biggest box office success.<ref name=":1" /> It is said that the showstopper song "[[There's No Business Like Show Business]]" was almost left out of the show altogether because Berlin mistakenly thought that Rodgers and Hammerstein didn't like it. However, it became the "ultimate uptempo show tune".

On the origin of another of the play's leading songs, Logan described how he and Hammerstein privately discussed wanting another duet between Annie and Frank. Berlin overheard their conversation, and although the show was to go into rehearsal within days, he wrote the song [[Anything You Can Do (song)|"Anything You Can Do"]] a few hours later.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kudOp3XGZNA| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/kudOp3XGZNA| archive-date=October 30, 2021| title=Ethel Merman, Joshua Logan, 90th Birthday Tribute to Irving Berlin| date=June 3, 2015| publisher=YouTube| access-date=October 17, 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

One reviewer commented about the play's score, that "its tough wisecracking lyrics are as tersely all-knowing as its melody, which is nailed down in brassy syncopated lines that have been copied—but never equaled in sheer melodic memorability—by hundreds of theater composers ever since."<ref name=NYT-87/> Singer and musicologist Susannah McCorkle writes that the score "meant more to me than ever, now that I knew that he wrote it after a grueling world tour and years of separation from his wife and daughters."<ref name=McCorkle>{{cite magazine |last=McCorkle |first=Susannah |title=Always: A Singer's Journey Through the Life of Irving Berlin |magazine=American Heritage |date=November 1998 |volume=49 |pages=74–84}}</ref>{{rp|81}} Historian and composer [[Alec Wilder]] says that the perfection of the score, when compared to his earlier works, was "a profound shock".<ref name=Wilder/>{{rp|94}}

Apparently the "creative spurt" in which Berlin turned out several songs for the score in a single weekend was an anomaly. According to his daughter, he usually "sweated blood" to write his songs.<ref name=NYT-Barrett/> ''Annie Get Your Gun'' is considered to be Berlin's best musical theatre score not only because of the number of hits it contains, but because its songs successfully combine character and plot development. The song "There's No Business Like Show Business" became "[[Ethel Merman]]'s trademark".<ref name=NYT-87/>

====Final shows====
Berlin's next show, ''[[Miss Liberty]]'' (1949), was disappointing, but ''[[Call Me Madam]]'' (1950), starring [[Ethel Merman]] as Sally Adams, a Washington, D.C., socialite, loosely based on the famous Washington hostess [[Perle Mesta]], fared better, giving him his second-greatest success. Berlin made two attempts to write a musical about his friend, the colorful [[Addison Mizner]], and Addison's [[con-man]] brother [[Wilson Mizner|Wilson]]. The first was the uncompleted ''The Last Resorts'' (1952); a manuscript of Act I is in the [[Library of Congress]]. ''[[Wise Guy (musical)|Wise Guy]]'' (1956) was completed but never produced, although songs have been published and recorded on ''The Unsung Irving Berlin'' (1995). After a failed attempt at retirement, in 1962, at the age of 74, he returned to Broadway with ''[[Mr. President (musical)|Mr. President]]''. Although it ran for eight months, (with the premiere attended by President [[John F. Kennedy]]), it was not one of his successful plays.<ref name=Corliss/>

Afterwards, Berlin officially announced his retirement and spent his remaining years in New York. He did, however, write one new song, "An Old-Fashioned Wedding", for the 1966 [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] revival of ''Annie Get Your Gun'' starring Ethel Merman. Though he lived 23 more years, this would be one of Berlin's final published compositions.

Berlin maintained a low profile through the last decades of his life, almost never appearing in public after the late 1960s, even for events held in his honor. However, he continued to maintain control of his songs through his own music publishing company, which remained in operation for the rest of his life.