Renowned Irving Berlin scholar Robert Kimball opens our 2006 Festival Lecture Series with a talk on Irving Berlin's prodigious catalog of songs. Mr. Kimball's several Complete Lyrics books are treasures of American popular culture and his Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin, edited with the assistance of Berlin's daughter, Linda Berlin Emmet, is absolutely superb. It's scholarly presentation of Berlin's entire output, from the 1910s to the years of retirement, is rich in anecdote and insight. This talk will be the first of 3 public lectures Robert will present during the festival based upon that work and his 20-year relationship with the great songwriter.