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<DIV>Emmy-Winning Filmmaker Lands Rights to Irving Berlin Story; Prepping for TV
Series</DIV>
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<DIV>by Denise Petski</DIV>
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<DIV>Deadline.com, July 12, 2016</DIV>
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<DIV>Emmy winner Max Lewkowicz (Morgenthau) and his New York-based Dog Green
Productions have acquired the rights to legendary songwriter Irving Berlin’s
life and music to develop a scripted TV series. The rights agreement was reached
with the Berlin family and the Irving Berlin Music Company.</DIV>
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<DIV>Lewkowicz, Dog Green’s Valerie Thomas, and Elena Berger Melman will produce
the series, which is not attached to a network. Lewkowicz also will executive
produce with Theodore Chapin, president and executive director of Rodgers and
Hammerstein: An Imagem Company. The hourlong series, tentatively titled Irving,
is being developed with an eye toward pilot production in 2018.</DIV>
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<DIV>“My sisters and I are delighted that Max and Dog Green Productions plan to
produce this television series based on our father’s life and songs and have
given the production company the rights to do so,” said Elizabeth Irving Peters,
the daughter of Irving Berlin. “We are particularly happy that a new generation
will come to know his story and hear his songs that are so much a part of this
country’s heritage.”</DIV>
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<DIV>Born in Russia in 1888, Berlin sailed to America and settled on Manhattan’s
Lower East Side. He worked his way up from a singing waiter in Chinatown to
creating songs for hit shows on the stages of Broadway and Hollywood. He was one
of the founders of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers
(ASCAP), and built The Music Box Theater on Broadway, still standing today. The
library of Berlin’s music includes more than 1,200 songs, including the iconic
“White Christmas”, “Blue Skies”, “Cheek to Cheek” and “God Bless America”.
Berlin died in 1989.</DIV>
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<DIV>“The time seems especially right to tell the Irving Berlin story,” Chapin
said. “With television dramas being so well done today, and with a story that
has been in front of us all along, this series has the potential to strike many
a chord in audiences. It will depict a slice of American ambition, talent,
humanity, struggle, and yes, luck. Irving Berlin lived at an extraordinary time
in our history, and his story reflects the best of the American dream.”</DIV>
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<DIV>“This is a remarkable story that stretches across sinews of American and
world history throughout the 20th century. Yet, it particularly resonates today
with stories of immigrants and upheaval, war and peace, wealth and poverty and,
through it all, man’s unbroken desire to produce great art for all of us,” added
Lewkowicz.</DIV>
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<DIV> The Irving Berlin Music Company is repped by Rodgers and
Hammerstein: An Imagen Company.</DIV>
<DIV>-30-</DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000"><BR><BR>Bob
Ringwald piano, Solo, Duo, Trio, Quartet, Quintet <BR>Fulton Street Jazz Band
(Dixieland/Swing)<BR>916/ 806-9551<BR>Amateur (ham) Radio Station
K6YBV<BR><BR>"The most terrifying words In the English language are:<BR>I'm from
the government and I'm here to help."<BR>-Ronald Reagan
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