[Rarebooks] FS: Irving Berlin: THIS IS THE ARMY Inscribed to British General

[Charles Agvent]

 From our HOLIDAY LIST of 215 great gift items now posted on our web 
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BERLIN,  Irving. SONGS FROM "THIS IS THE ARMY". n.p. [New  York]:
1942.  First  Edition.  Small  folio (9" x 12") bound  in  full  "army
khaki"  flexible  leather  with  gilt lettering on  the  front  cover.
Includes  sheet music for 19 of Berlin's songs, including "This Is the
Army,  Mr.  Jones" and "Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning"  from
the  Broadway  musical that later toured the nation and the world  and
was  made  into  a  movie  starring Ronald Reagan  with  much  of  the
proceeds  from all of its various guises donated to the U.S. Army.  At
the  time  of  the  original production, the U.S.  Armed  Forces  were
segregated;  as  a result of Berlin's insistence, the unit  performing
THIS  IS THE ARMY became the only integrated company in uniform. Which
leads  to an interesting connection with the SIGNED INSCRIPTION by the
great  composer  in  this  volume:  "To  Roy  Lord/with  gratitude/for
helping  to  make/'This  is the Army'/what it was  in/the  U.K./Irving
Berlin."  General Roy[al] Lord was the chief of staff to General  John
C.  H.  Lee, nicknamed "Jesus Christ Himself" for his  arrogance.  Lee
had  a  number  of roles in World War II including  commander  of  the
supply  services for the U.S. Army in the European Theater and General
Eisenhower's  deputy commander. It was at Lee's suggestion that  Black
troops  were allowed to serve in combat for the first time in the  war
in  the  Battle  of  the Bulge after 50,000 soldiers  were  killed  or
wounded  in  the  first week of action. He received an Honor  Roll  of
Race   Relations  from  the  New   York  Public  Library's   Schomberg
Collection  of  Negro  Literature for this action.  Light  rubbing  to
edges  and spine with slight loss at the tips. Despite the light wear,
Near Fine with a superb inscription.                          $4500.00

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CHARLES AGVENT
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