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Lawrence Bergreen

Lawrence Bergreen

Laurence Bergreen is an award-winning American biographer and historian of exploration, author of Columbus: The Four Voyages, Over the Edge of the World, and a celebrated Louis Armstrong biography.

Jul 21, 2026

7:32
His father
7:33
was a In other words, a singer of sacred music in a synagogue.
7:38
Here again is Irving Berlin biographer Lawrence Burgreen.
7:42
But in the New World, his father had a difficult time finding work like that that paid and became a kosher butcher.
7:51
He was one of five children, Irving Berlin.
7:54
He grew up on the Lower East Side of New York City in a tenement.
7:59
His father died when he was young, and so from the time he was a teenager, because nobody was able to provide for the family, Berlin grew up on the streets.
8:56
Can you talk about how he worked?

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