Epsode 43 aired April 17, 1957 on NBC Radio. Irving Berlin, original name Israel Baline, (born May 11, 1888, Mogilyov, Russia [now in Belarus]—died Sept. 22, 1989, New York, N.Y., U.S.), American composer who played a leading role in the evolution of the popular song from the early ragtime and jazz eras through the golden age of musicals. His easy mastery of a wide range of song styles, for both stage and motion pictures, made him perhaps the greatest and most enduring of American songwriters.