Party Honors Composer Berlin at 101

It was the everyday, garden-variety birthday party: a buffet dinner followed by a group sing-along.

But there were a few differences. The guest of honor wasn’t there. The birthday boy is composer Irving Berlin, who had celebrated his 101st birthday days before at his home in New York. The party and buffet dinner were at the Beverly Hills home of Ginny and Henry Mancini. And who could help but be intimidated at a sing-along with Mel Torme sitting 10 feet away on the sofa?

Saturday night was the sixth time the Mancinis have hosted the birthday party for Berlin, celebrated annually by the Foundation for New American Music. One hundred guests, who donated $500 a couple, gathered to remember Berlin by singing some of his classic tunes: “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” “Easter Parade,” “White Christmas” and, of course, “God Bless America.”

“Irving Berlin is something to celebrate,” said Ginny Mancini, in between greeting guests at the door. As in previous years, the party was being videotaped for the songwriter. “He says that this is his favorite way to celebrate his birthday every year,” she said.

Jack Elliott, one of the foundation members, quoted songwriter Jerome Kern’s statement about Irving Berlin. When Kern was asked what influence Irving had on American music, Kern said: “He is American music.”

Guests had cocktails in the Mancinis’ open-beamed living room and had the opportunity to check out Henry’s 19 Grammy statuettes, displayed and lighted above a large-screen TV in one corner. Among the crowd were Donna and Lalo Schifrin; Kim and Jack Jones; Aime and Kenny Rankin; Bobbi and Jack Elliott; Sam Denoff; Ava and Chuck Fries; and Estelle and Carl Reiner.

The Bobby Walters Trio entertained before dinner, while Lynn Cicalo, executive director of the foundation, explained the group’s goals. “Since our founding in 1978, we’ve commissioned 82 contemporary symphonic jazz pieces from composers around the country,” she said, as Hal Linden (who was a musical comedy star years before he starred in “Barney Miller”) joined the trio for an impromptu set on clarinet.

Dinner tables were marked not by numbers, but by Berlin sheet music. Guests sat down with plates filled with lamb, eggplant Parmesan, couscous, chicken and other comestibles from Rococo (whose workers were busy cooking in the Mancini kitchen and garage).

Over dessert and coffee, Mel Torme reflected on Irving Berlin. The two, surprisingly, have never met. “When I made ‘Good News’ at MGM,” remembered Torme, “Irving Berlin went to a preview of the movie and sent me a wire saying that I was the best thing in it. Well, then he had a marker on me. And I’ve sung his songs ever since until they came out my ears.”

‘Night Court’ Appearance

The Velvet Fog also had a thing or two to say about the current vogue in old-style crooners among the 20-something generation: Tony Bennett does ads for MTV, while Torme himself is frequently referred to and, indeed, recently appeared, on the sitcom “Night Court.”

Torme also cropped up on one cut of “Born to Laugh at Tornados,” the album by the ultra-trendy funk group Was (Not Was). He sang a ballad called “Zaz Turned Blue.”

“I’m overwhelmed,” he said. “I owe a lot to ‘Night Court.’ And I had known David Weiss, the leader of Was (Not Was), when he was a music critic for the Herald Examiner. When he asked me to record, he said, ‘Mel, we’re getting Ozzie Osbourne to sing on the album too,’ and I told him that I didn’t care. ‘Zaz Turned Blue’ was a good song.”

Inside the house, meanwhile, the Mancinis’ housekeeper, Millie, was passing out sheet music so the guests would know the words.

“Do you sing too?” asked one inquisitive guest. “Sure,” Millie replied. “Don’t worry, be happy.”

Folding chairs were set up to accommodate everyone, the song books were duly opened, and some of BMI’s and ASCAP’s most elite singers and songwriters sang Irving Berlin into his 102nd year.