Irving Berlin

Jablonski--biographer of the Gershwins, Harold Arlen and Alan Jay Lerner--has written a vibrant, royally entertaining, song-drenched biography of Irving Berlin. Jablonski fleshes out the familiar saga of elementary school dropout Izzy (Israel) Baline's metamorphosis from singing waiter in Manhattan's Chinatown to fabulously wealthy, endlessly prolific songwriter, Broadway producer, Algonquin Round Table wit and creator of such classics as ""White Christmas,"" ""God Bless America"" and ""There's No Business like Show Business."" Chock-full of little-known Berlin lyrics, peppered with gemlike anecdotes and cameos of George M. Cohan, Victor Herbert, Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire, the Marx Brothers, George Gershwin and many others, this whirlwind portrait cuts a broad swath through the history of Broadway musical theater, Tin Pan Alley and Hollywood. Jablonski doesn't disguise his enthusiasm for his subject, though his preferences are debatable. He ranks Berlin's score for the 1940 show Louisiana Purchase (inspired by Senator Huey Long's antics) as a very close second to that for Annie Get Your Gun, and is at pains to defend the corny Mr. President (1962). Although Berlin (who died in 1989 at age 101) is portrayed as a kindly, edgy, astute lifelong insomniac and less reclusive in his later years than critics contend, the inner man remains somewhat elusive. Jablonski, who interviewed Berlin, has produced a labor of love, a moving tribute to a streetwise Broadway bard who seemingly instinctively created great popular art. Valuable appendixes include a year-by-year compilation of all of Berlin's songs, an annotated discography and films on videocassette. (Apr.)