FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1998
CONTACT: STEPHEN K. PEEPLES
PHONE: 805-250-3195; FAX: 250-3187
EMAIL: 


TCM/RHINO SALUTES AMERICA'S ORIGINAL "MR. MUSIC":
NEW IRVING BERLIN IN HOLLYWOOD CD DUE FEBRUARY 15

Premieres Five Previously Unreleased Tracks;
Many More Tracks Make CD Debut

LOS ANGELES - On Tuesday, February 15, the Turner Classic Movies
Music/Rhino Movie Music audio soundtrack partnership premieres IRVING
BERLIN IN HOLLYWOOD, a new CD packed with pop classics that America's first
"Mr. Music" wrote for the big screen plus Hollywood versions of his biggest
Broadway hits.

The first comprehensive single-disc collection of the legendary
songwriter's most famous movie music, TCM/Rhino's IRVING BERLIN IN
HOLLYWOOD features show-stopping versions of standards such as "Blue
Skies," "Puttin' On The Ritz," "Anything You Can Do," "Easter Parade,"
"There's No Business Like Show Business," and "Alexander's Ragtime Band."
(See complete track list later in this release.)

The 77-minute IRVING BERLIN IN HOLLYWOOD CD gathers 25 Berlin-composed
classics performed by an all-star lineup of Hollywood legends in films
released theatrically between 1927-1954 by the 20th Century-Fox, M-G-M,
Samuel Goldwyn, Warner Bros., and RKO studios.

The featured performers include Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Ethel Merman,
Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, George Murphy, Howard
Keel, Ann Miller, Betty Hutton, Ann Sothern, Alice Faye, The Mel-Tones,
Donald O'Connor, and more.

Five tracks are previously unreleased: "Mandy" by Eddie Cantor, Ethel
Merman, and cast, from Kid Millions, 1934; "Colonel Buffalo Bill" by Howard
Keel, Keenan Wynn, and Geraldine Wall from Annie Get Your Gun, 1950; and
three from Alexander's Ragtime Band, 1938—"(We're Having A) Heatwave"
and "I'm Marching Along With Time" by Ethel Merman, and the title song by
Alice Faye.

Making their CD premiere are several tracks from the Betty Hutton version
of Annie Get Your Gun, as well as two standouts from Call Me Madam.  Many
tracks also appear in stereo for the first time.

TCM/Rhino's IRVING BERLIN IN HOLLYWOOD will be available at retail, via
RhinoDirect at 1-800-432-0020, and via the Rhino Website at
 (#75614), for a
suggested list of $16.98.

In the early years of the 20th century, he was little Izzy Baline, the
singing waiter who wrote songs yet couldn't read or write music. But by
1911, Berlin had accomplished the first worldwide hit in "Alexander's
Ragtime Band" when he'd captured a new energy in the air called "ragtime."

The hits kept coming, and soon Berlin reigned as Tin Pan Alley's hitmaker
supreme for Broadway and vaudeville. More than that, he defined, in the
words of his friendly rival Jerome Kern, "American music"—with a little
bit of Wagner thrown in.

In 1927, peak of the Jazz Age that had flowed out of ragtime and would set
up the Swing Era, Berlin scored another first when Al Jolson sang his song
"Blue Skies," already a proven smash on stage, in a key scene in The Jazz
Singer, the first movie with synchronized singing and dialog, and the
epochal film that sounded the beginning of the talkie revolution.

Over the next three decades, Berlin went on to enjoy a long and glorious
career in Hollywood, as brilliantly illustrated by the IRVING BERLIN IN
HOLLYWOOD collection, produced by TCM/Rhino's George Feltenstein, with
liner notes by Grammy-nominated Tin Pan Alley scholar Ian Whitcomb.

A new Irving Berlin Featured Artist page will be posted by mid-February on
the Rhino Website at . And more
information about Turner Classic Movies and its program schedule can be
found at .

Here's the track list for IRVING BERLIN IN HOLLYWOOD: "The Hostess With The
Mostess" performed by Ethel Merman (from Call Me Madam, 1953); "Steppin'
Out With My Baby" by Fred Astaire with The Mel-Tones (Easter Parade, 1948);
"I've Got The Sun In The Morning" by Betty Hutton (Annie Get Your Gun,
1950); "Mandy" by Eddie Cantor, Ethel Merman, George Murphy, Ann Sothern,
The Nicholas Brothers, and The Goldwyn Girls (Kid Millions, 1934); "Blue
Skies" by Al Jolson (The Jazz Singer, 1927); "Puttin' On The Ritz" by Clark
Gable (Idiot's Delight, 1939); "Isn't This A Lovely Day To Be Caught In The
Rain" by Fred Astaire (Top Hat, 1935); "Shakin' The Blues Away" by Ann
Miller (Easter Parade, 1948); "(We're Having A) Heatwave" by Ethel Merman
(Till The Clouds Roll By, 1946); "Vaudeville Montage" by Fred Astaire &
Judy Garland (Easter Parade, 1948); "Let Me Sing And I'm Happy" by Al
Jolson (Mammy, 1930); "A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody" by Allan Jones (The
Great Ziegfeld, 1936); "Top Hat, White Tie And Tails" by Fred Astaire (Top
Hat, 1935); "Colonel Buffalo Bill" (Outtake) by Howard Keel, Keenan Wynn &
Geraldine Wall and "You Can't Get A Man With A Gun" by Betty Hutton (Annie
Get Your Gun, 1950); "I'm Marching Along With Time" by Ethel Merman
(Alexander's Ragtime Band, 1938); "They Say It's Wonderful" (Outtake) by
Judy Garland (Annie Get Your Gun, 1950); "Cheek To Cheek" by Fred Astaire
(Top Hat, 1935); "After You Get What You Want You Don't Want It" by Marilyn
Monroe (There's No Business Like Show Business, 1954); "Anything You Can
Do" (Outtake) by Judy Garland (Annie Get Your Gun, 1950); "You're Just In
Love" (Outtake) by Ethel Merman & Donald O'Connor (Call Me Madam, 1953);
"Let's Face The Music And Dance" by Fred Astaire (Follow The Fleet, 1936);
"Easter Parade" by Fred Astaire & Judy Garland (Easter Parade, 1948);
"There's No Business Like Show Business" by Betty Hutton, Howard Keel,
Keenan Wynn & Louis Calhern (Annie Get Your Gun, 1950); and "Alexander's
Ragtime Band" by Alice Faye (Alexander's Ragtime Band, 1938).

For details on this and all other TCM/Rhino soundtrack releases, or to
request a review copy and/or art, contact Stephen K. Peeples. Phone
805-250-3195; fax 805-250-3187; or email  (e-mail
works best!).