The commanding officer at Camp Upton had wanted to build a community building on the grounds of the army base, and thought that Sgt. Berlin could help raise the
$35,000 needed for its construction. Berlin's song, "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning," an everyman song for soldiers, was the basis of a revue full of army recruits—a source of manpower available for him to use. He called his friend and co-worker
Harry Ruby to join him in writing down the flurry of songs that Berlin created, including "
God Bless America", which Berlin eventually omitted from the play for being too sticky. In July 1918,
Yip Yip Yaphank had a tryout run at Camp Upton's little Liberty Theatre, before moving on to
Central Park West's
Century Theatre in August. The show was typical of revues and follies, featuring acrobatics, dancers, jugglers, and featured a demonstration by Lightweight Boxing Champion
Benny Leonard. Included with the performances were military drills choreographed to music by Berlin. The show had comedy, including males dressed as
Ziegfeld girls, and Sgt. Berlin as the reluctant soldier not wanting to join in reveille during the "Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning" skit. The finale, "We're On Our Way to France", was the replacement for "God Bless America". During this act, the whole company wore their full gear, and marched out of the theater, down the aisles and out to the street. During the Century Theatre run, the "performers" stayed at an armory downtown, and usually marched right back to the armory after the evening show. In September 1918, the production had to move to the Lexington Theatre, where it eventually ended its run. On that night, the audience saw the usual ending, with the battle-ready men marching off to "war" but with a slight diversion. After the main performers marched through the aisles, Sgt. Irving Berlin and the rest of the crew were similarly dressed and marched out of the theater. This time, the men
were going off to war, actually heading to France. ==After the curtain==