[Rarebooks] FS: SONGS FROM "THIS IS THE ARMY" by Irving Berlin INSCRIBED to a general

[Charles Agvent]

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. (#012982)        $4,500.00

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