"White Christmas," one of the best-selling songs of all time, was written by a man named Israel Baline, aka Irving Berlin. Born on this date in 1888, Berlin didn't even know how to read or write music, but he picked out tunes on the piano -- on the black keys only -- and became one of America's most prolific songwriters.

Of his some 1,000 songs, Berlin has said that his own favorite was "God Bless America." He donated all proceeds from that song to the Boy Scouts of America.

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