BERLIN, IRVING ), adopted name of Israel Baline, American song writer, was born in Russia, May i 1888, and was brought to the United States in 1893. He left home at 14 to earn his living, finding employment as a singing waiter in various Chinatown and Bowery cabarets in New York. There he began to write song lyrics and compose melodies. The increasing popularity of his songs enabled him in 1919 to open a music pub lishing business. In 192o, in partnership with Sam Harris, he built the Music Box theatre in New York city, for which he wrote a number of highly successful revues. "Alexander's Ragtime Band" (191i), "Everybody's Doin' It" (191 I) and several other compositions gave him international renown as the pioneer of rag time music. Its subsequent evolution into jazz owes much to his later work, such as "Pack Up Your Sins" (19 2 2) and "Everybody Step" (1921), characterized by complex work, rhythms and in tricate melody. His songs "Always," "All Alone," "Remember," "What'll I Do?" (all 1925) and "Russian Lullaby," "What Does It Matter?" (both 1926) were universally popular. In 1933 he composed the musical score for Moss Hart's lively satirical revue, As Thousands Cheer.