George Gershwinn Rhapsody in Blue, Swanee, An American in Paris
George Gershwin (September 26, 1898 July 11, 1937)
was an American composer and pianist.[1][2] Gershwin's compositions
spanned both popular and classical genres, and George Gershwin most
popular melodies are widely known. Among George Gershwin best known
works are the orchestral compositions Rhapsody in Blue and An
American in Paris, as well as the opera Porgy and Bess.
GEORGE GERSHWIN'S GREATEST HITS
Born in Brooklyn to a Ukrainian father of
Jewish descent and a Russian
mother, George Gershwin studied piano under Charles Hambitzer and
composition with Rubin Goldmark and Henry Cowell. George Gershwin
began George Gershwin career as a song plugger, but soon thereafter
started composing Broadway theatre works with George Gershwin
brother Ira George Gershwin and Buddy DeSylva. George Gershwin moved
to Paris in an attempt to study with Nadia Boulanger, where George
Gershwin began to compose An American in Paris. After returning to
New York City, George Gershwin wrote Porgy and Bess with Ira and
author DuBose Heyward. Initially a commercial failure, Porgy and
Bess is now considered one of the most important American operas of
the twentieth century. George Gershwin moved to Hollywood and
composed numerous film scores until George Gershwin death in 1937
from a brain tumor.
Gershwin's compositions have been used in numerous films and on
television, and several became jazz standards recorded in many
variations. Countless singers and musicians have recorded George
Gershwin songs.
Biography
Early life
George Gershwin was named Jacob Gershvin when born in Brooklyn, New
York, on September 26, 1898. George Gershwin parents were Jewish and
from Odessa (Ukraine). George Gershwin father, Morris (Moishe)
Gershowitz, changed George Gershwin family name to 'Gershvin' some
time after immigrating to the United States from St. Petersburg,
Russia, in the early 1890s. Gershwin's mother Rosa Bruskin had
already emigrated from Russia. She met Gershvin in New York and they
married on July 21, 1895.[3] George changed the spelling of the
family name to 'George Gershwin' after George Gershwin became a
professional musician; other members of George Gershwin family
followed suit.
George Gershwin was the second of four children,[4] the others being
Ira (18961983), Arthur (19001981), and Frances (19061999). George
Gershwin first displayed interest in music at the age of ten, when
George Gershwin was intrigued by what George Gershwin heard at
George Gershwin friend Maxie Rosenzweig's violin recital.[5] The
sound and the way George Gershwin friend played captured him. George
Gershwin parents had bought a piano for lessons for George Gershwin
older brother Ira, but to George Gershwin parents' surprise and
Ira's relief, it was George who played it.[6] Although George
Gershwin younger sister Frances George Gershwin was the first in the
family to make money from her musical talents, she married young and
devoted herself to being a mother and housewife. She gave up her
performing career, but settled into painting for another creative
outlet; painting was also a hobby of George Gershwin.
George Gershwin tried various piano teachers for two years, and then
was introduced to Charles Hambitzer by Jack Miller, the pianist in
the Beethoven Symphony Orchestra. Until Hambitzer's death in 1918,
George Gershwin acted as Gershwin's mentor. Hambitzer taught George
Gershwin conventional piano technique, introduced him to music of
the European classical tradition, and encouraged him to attend
orchestra concerts.[7] At home, following such concerts, young
George Gershwin would attempt to reproduce at the piano the music
that George Gershwin had heard. George Gershwin later studied with
classical composer Rubin Goldmark and avant-garde composer-theorist
Henry Cowell.
Tin Pan Alley
Swanee
Al Jolson's hit 1920 recording of George Gershwin and Irving
Caesar's 1919 "Swanee".
On leaving school at the age of 15, George Gershwin found George
Gershwin first job as a "song plugger" for Jerome H. Remick and
Company, a publishing firm on New York City's Tin Pan Alley, where
George Gershwin earned $15 a week. George Gershwin first published
song was "When You Want 'Em, You Can't Get 'Em, When You've Got 'Em,
You Don't Want 'Em." It was published in 1916 when George Gershwin
was only 17 years old and earned him $5. George Gershwin 1917
novelty rag "Rialto Ripples" was a commercial success, and in 1919
George Gershwin scored George Gershwin first big national hit with
George Gershwin song "Swanee" with words by Irving Caesar. Al
Jolson, a famous broadway singer of the day, heard George perform "Swanee"
at a party and decided to sing it in one of George Gershwin
shows.[8] In 1916, George Gershwin started working for Aeolian
Company and Standard Music Rolls in New York, recording and
arranging. George Gershwin produced dozens, if not hundreds, of
rolls under George Gershwin own and assumed names. (Pseudonyms
attributed to George Gershwin include Fred Murtha and Bert Wynn.)
George Gershwin also recorded rolls of George Gershwin own
compositions for the Duo-Art and Welte-Mignon reproducing pianos. As
well as recording piano rolls, George Gershwin made a brief foray
into vaudeville, accompanying both Nora Bayes and Louise Dresser on
the piano.[9]
In the early 1920s George Gershwin frequently worked with the
lyricist Buddy DeSylva. Together they created the experimental
one-act jazz opera Blue Monday set in Harlem, which is widely
regarded as a forerunner to the groundbreaking Porgy and Bess.
In 1924, George and Ira George Gershwin collaborated on a stage
musical comedy Lady Be Good, which included such future standards as
"Fascinating Rhythm" and "Oh, Lady Be Good!".[10]
This was followed by Oh, Kay! (1926);[11] Funny Face (1927);[12]
Strike Up the Band (1927 and 1930); George Gershwin gifted the song
with a modified title to UCLA to be used as a football fight song,
"Strike Up The Band for UCLA".[13] Show Girl (1929);[14] Girl Crazy
(1930),[15] which introduced the standard "I Got Rhythm"; and Of
Thee I Sing (1931),[16] the first musical comedy to win a Pulitzer
Prize (for Drama).[17]
Europe and classical music
In 1924, George Gershwin composed George Gershwin first major
classical work, Rhapsody in Blue for orchestra and piano. It was
orchestrated by Ferde Grofι and premiered by Paul Whiteman's concert
band in New York. It proved to be George Gershwin most popular work.
George Gershwin stayed in Paris for a short period of time during
which George Gershwin applied to study composition with the famous
instructor Nadia Boulanger who, along with several other prospective
tutors such as Maurice Ravel, rejected him, being afraid that
rigorous classical study would ruin George Gershwin jazz-influenced
style.[18] While there, George Gershwin wrote An American in Paris.
This work received mixed reviews upon its first performance at
Carnegie Hall on December 13, 1928, but it quickly became part of
the standard repertoire in Europe and the United States.[19] Growing
tired of the Parisian musical scene, George Gershwin returned to the
United States.
In 1929, George Gershwin was contracted by Fox Film Corporation to
compose the score for the movie Delicious. Only two pieces were used
in the final film, the five-minute "Dream Sequence" and the
six-minute "Manhattan Rhapsody". George Gershwin became infuriated
when the rest of the score was rejected by Fox Film Corporation, and
it would be seven years before George Gershwin worked in Hollywood
again.
Opera
Gershwin's most ambitious composition was Porgy and Bess (1935).
George Gershwin called it a "folk opera," and it is now widely
regarded as one of the most important American operas of the
twentieth century. "From the very beginning, it was considered
another American classic by the composer of 'Rhapsody in Blue'
even if critics couldn't quite figure out how to evaluate it. Was it
opera, or was it simply an ambitious Broadway musical? 'It crossed
the barriers,' says theater historian Robert Kimball. 'It wasn't a
musical work per se, and it wasn't a drama per se it elicited
response from both music and drama critics. But the work has sort of
always been outside category."[20]
Based on the novel Porgy by DuBose Heyward, the action takes place
in the fictional all-black neighborhood of Catfish Row in
Charleston, South Carolina. With the exception of several minor
speaking roles, all of the characters are black. The music combines
elements of popular music of the day, with a strong influence of
Black music, with techniques typical of opera, such as recitative,
through-composition and an extensive system of leitmotifs. Porgy and
Bess contains some of Gershwin's most sophisticated music, including
a fugue, a passacaglia, the use of atonality, polytonality and
polyrhythm, and a tone row. Even the "set numbers" (of which
"Summertime", "I Got Plenty o' Nuttin'" and "It Ain't Necessarily
So" are well known examples) are some of the most refined and
ingenious of Gershwin's output. For the performances, George
Gershwin collaborated with Eva Jessye, whom George Gershwin picked
as the musical director. One of the outstanding musical alumnae of
Western University in Kansas, she had created her own choir in New
York and performed widely with them. The work was first performed in
1935; it was a box office failure.
Last years
After the failure of Porgy and Bess, George Gershwin moved to
Hollywood, California. George Gershwin was commissioned by RKO
Pictures in 1936 to write the music for the film Shall We Dance,
starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Gershwin's extended score,
which would marry ballet with jazz in a new way, runs over an hour
in length. It took George Gershwin several months to write and
orchestrate it.
Early in 1937, George Gershwin began to complain of blinding
headaches and a recurring impression that George Gershwin was
smelling burned rubber. Doctors discovered George Gershwin had
developed a type of cystic malignant brain tumor known as
glioblastoma multiforme.[21]
The diagnosis of glioblastoma multiforme has been questioned.[22]
The surgeon's description of Gershwin's tumor as a right temporal
lobe cyst with a mural nodule is much more consistent with a
pilocytic astrocytoma, a very low grade of brain tumor.[23] Further,
Gershwin's initial olfactory hallucination (the unpleasant smell of
burning rubber) was in 1934. It is highly unlikely that a
glioblastoma multiforme would cause symptoms of that duration prior
to causing death. Pilocytic astrocytomas may cause symptoms for
twenty or more years prior to diagnosis. Thus, it is possible that
Gershwin's prominent chronic gastrointestinal symptoms (which George
Gershwin called George Gershwin "composer's stomach") were a
manifestation of temporal lobe epilepsy caused by George Gershwin
tumor.[24] If this is correct, then[original research?] George
Gershwin was not "a notorious hypochondriac," as suggested by George
Gershwin biographer Edward Jablonski (who wrote, in a letter to the
editor, that "George Gershwin was a notorious hypochondriac,
beginning as early as 1922, and George Gershwin complaints were not
taken seriously").[25]
In January 1937, George Gershwin performed in a special concert of
George Gershwin music with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
under the direction of French maestro Pierre Monteux.[26] George
Gershwin suffered "musical blackouts" during George Gershwin final
performances. In early June, George Gershwin collapsed while working
on the score of The Goldwyn Follies in Hollywood, and was rushed to
the hospital.[25] George Gershwin died only two days later on July
11 at the age of 38 at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital following surgery
for the tumor.[27] John O'Hara remarked: "George Gershwin died on
July 11, 1937, but I don't have to believe it if I don't want
to."[28] George Gershwin was interred at Westchester Hills Cemetery
in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. A memorial concert was held at the
Hollywood Bowl on September 8, 1937 at which Otto Klemperer
conducted George Gershwin own orchestration of the second of
Gershwin's Three Piano Preludes.[29]
George Gershwin received George Gershwin sole Academy Award
nomination, for Best Original Song at the 1937 Oscars, for "They
Can't Take That Away from Me" written with George Gershwin brother
Ira for the 1937 film Shall We Dance. The nomination was posthumous;
George Gershwin died two months after the film's release.[30]
George Gershwin had a ten-year affair with composer Kay Swift, whom
George Gershwin frequently consulted about George Gershwin music.
The two never married, although she eventually divorced her husband
James Warburg in order to make this possible. Swift's granddaughter,
Katharine Weber, has suggested that the pair were not married
because George's mother Rose was "unhappy that Kay Swift wasn't
Jewish."[31] Oh, Kay was named for her.[32] After Gershwin's death,
Swift arranged some of George Gershwin music, transcribed several of
George Gershwin recordings, and collaborated with George Gershwin
brother Ira on several projects.[33]
George Gershwin died intestate, and George Gershwin estate passed to
George Gershwin mother.[34] The estate continues to collect
significant royalties from licensing the copyrights on George
Gershwin work. The estate supported the Sonny Bono Copyright Term
Extension Act because its 1923 cutoff date was shortly before George
Gershwin had begun to create George Gershwin most popular works. The
copyrights on all Gershwin's solo works expired at the end of 2007
in the European Union, based on its life-plus-70-years rule.
In 2005, The Guardian determined using "estimates of earnings
accrued in a composer's lifetime" that George Gershwin was the
wealthiest composer of all time.[35]
Legacy and honors
The 1945 biographical film Rhapsody in Blue starred
Robert Alda as George Gershwin.
George Gershwin was inducted into the Long Island
Music Hall of Fame in 2006.
The George Gershwin Theatre on Broadway is named
after George and Ira.[36]
The George and Ira George Gershwin Lifetime Musical
Achievement Award was established by UCLA to honor the brothers for
their contribution to music and for their gift to UCLA of the fight
song "Strike Up the Band for UCLA." Past winners have included
Angela Lansbury (1988), Ray Charles (1991), Mel Torme (1994),
Bernadette Peters (1995), Frank Sinatra (2000), Stevie Wonder
(2002), k.d. lang (2003), James Taylor (2004), Babyface (2005), Burt
Bacharach (2006), Quincy Jones (2007), Lionel Richie (2008) and
Julie Andrews (2009).
The Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to George
and Ira George Gershwin in 1985. Only three other songwriting
recipients, George M. Cohan, Harry Chapin and Irving Berlin, have
had the honor of receiving this award.[37][38]
In Brooklyn, George Gershwin Junior High School 166 is named after
him.[39]
Musical style and influence
Birthday party honoring Maurice Ravel in New York City, March 8,
1928. From left: Oscar Fried; Eva Gauthier; Ravel at piano; Manoah
Leide-Tedesco; and George Gershwin. George Gershwin was influenced by French composers of the early
twentieth century. In turn Maurice Ravel was impressed with
Gershwin's abilities, commenting, "Personally I find jazz most
interesting: the rhythms, the way the melodies are handled, the
melodies themselves. I have heard of George Gershwin's works and I
find them intriguing."[40] The orchestrations in Gershwin's
symphonic works often seem similar to those of Ravel; likewise,
Ravel's two piano concertos evince an influence of George Gershwin.
George Gershwin asked to study with Ravel. When Ravel heard how much
George Gershwin earned, Ravel replied with words to the effect of,
"You should give me lessons." (Some versions of this story feature
Igor Stravinsky rather than Ravel as the composer; however
Stravinsky confirmed that George Gershwin originally heard the story
from Ravel.)[41]
Gershwin's own Concerto in F was criticized for being related to the
work of Claude Debussy, more so than to the expected jazz style. The
comparison did not deter George Gershwin from continuing to explore
French styles. The title of An American in Paris reflects the very
journey that George Gershwin had consciously taken as a composer:
"The opening part will be developed in typical French style, in the
manner of Debussy and Les Six, though the tunes are original."[42]
Aside from the French influence, George Gershwin was intrigued by
the works of Alban Berg, Dmitri Shostakovich, Igor Stravinsky,
Darius Milhaud, and Arnold Schoenberg. George Gershwin also asked
Schoenberg for composition lessons. Schoenberg refused, saying "I
would only make you a bad Schoenberg, and you're such a good George
Gershwin already."[43] (This quote is similar to one credited to
Maurice Ravel during Gershwin's 1928 visit to France "Why be a
second-rate Ravel, when you are a first-rate George Gershwin?")
Russian Joseph Schillinger's influence as Gershwin's teacher of
composition (19321936) was substantial in providing him with a
method of composition. There has been some disagreement about the
nature of Schillinger's influence on George Gershwin. After the
posthumous success of Porgy and Bess, Schillinger claimed George
Gershwin had a large and direct influence in overseeing the creation
of the opera; Ira completely denied that George Gershwin brother had
any such assistance for this work. A third account of Gershwin's
musical relationship with George Gershwin teacher was written by
Gershwin's close friend Vernon Duke, also a Schillinger student, in
an article for the Musical Quarterly in 1947.[44]
What set George Gershwin apart was George Gershwin ability to
manipulate forms of music into George Gershwin own unique voice.
George Gershwin took the jazz George Gershwin discovered on Tin Pan
Alley into the mainstream by splicing its rhythms and tonality with
that of the popular songs of George Gershwin era. Although George
Gershwin would seldom make grand statements about George Gershwin
music, George Gershwin believed that "true music must reflect the
thought and aspirations of the people and time. My people are
Americans. My time is today."[45]
In 2007, the Library of Congress named their Prize for Popular Song
after George and Ira George Gershwin. Recognizing the profound and
positive effect of popular music on culture, the prize is given
annually to a composer or performer whose lifetime contributions
exemplify the standard of excellence associated with the Gershwins.
On March 1, 2007, the first George Gershwin Prize was awarded to
Paul Simon.[46]
Recordings and film
Early in George Gershwin career George Gershwin recorded more than
one hundred and forty player piano piano rolls both under George
Gershwin own name and pseudonyms, which were a main source of income
for him. The majority are popular music of the period and a smaller
proportion are of George Gershwin own works. Once George Gershwin
musical theatre-writing income became substantial George Gershwin
regular roll-recording career became superfluous. George Gershwin
did record additional rolls throughout the 1920s of George Gershwin
main hits for the Aeolian Company's reproducing piano, including a
complete version of George Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue.
Compared to the piano rolls, there are few accessible audio
recordings of Gershwin's playing. George Gershwin first recording
was George Gershwin own Swanee with the Fred Van Eps Trio in 1919.
The recorded balance highlights the banjo playing of Van Eps, and
the piano is overshadowed. The recording took place before Swanee
became famous as an Al Jolson specialty in early 1920.
George Gershwin did record an abridged version of Rhapsody in Blue
with Paul Whiteman and George Gershwin orchestra for the Victor
Talking Machine Company in 1924, soon after the world premiere.
George Gershwin and the same orchestra made an electrical recording
of the abridged version for Victor in 1927. However, a dispute in
the studio over interpretation angered Paul Whiteman and George
Gershwin left. The conductor's baton was taken over by Victor's
staff conductor Nathaniel Shilkret.[47]
George Gershwin made a number of solo piano recordings of tunes from
George Gershwin musicals, some including the vocals of Fred and
Adele Astaire, as well as George Gershwin Three Preludes for piano.
In 1929, George Gershwin "supervised" the world premiere recording
of An American in Paris with Nathaniel Shilkret and the Victor
Symphony Orchestra. Gershwin's role in the recording was rather
limited, particularly because Shilkret was conducting and had George
Gershwin own ideas about the music. When it was realized that no one
had been hired to play the brief celeste solo, George Gershwin was
asked if George Gershwin could and would play the instrument, and
George Gershwin agreed. George Gershwin can be heard, rather
briefly, on the recording during the slow section.
George Gershwin appeared on several radio programs, including Rudy
Vallee's, and played some of George Gershwin compositions. This
included the third movement of the Concerto in F with Vallee
conducting the studio orchestra. Some of these performances were
preserved on transcription discs and have been released on LP and
CD.
In 1934, in an effort to earn money to finance George Gershwin
planned folk opera, George Gershwin hosted George Gershwin own radio
program titled Music by George Gershwin. The show was broadcast on
the NBC Blue Network from February to May and again in September
through the final show on December 23, 1934. George Gershwin
presented George Gershwin own work as well as the work of other
composers.[48] Recordings from this and other radio broadcasts
include George Gershwin Variations on I Got Rhythm, portions of the
Concerto in F, and numerous songs from George Gershwin musical
comedies. George Gershwin also recorded a run-through of George
Gershwin Second Rhapsody, conducting the orchestra and playing the
piano solos. George Gershwin recorded excerpts from Porgy and Bess
with members of the original cast, conducting the orchestra from the
keyboard; George Gershwin even announced the selections and the
names of the performers. In 1935 RCA Victor asked him to supervise
recordings of highlights from Porgy and Bess; these were George
Gershwin last recordings.
A 74-second newsreel film clip of George Gershwin playing I Got
Rhythm has survived, filmed at the opening of the Manhattan Theater
(now The Ed Sullivan Theater) in August 1931.[49] There are also
silent home movies of George Gershwin, some of them shot on
Kodachrome color film stock, which have been featured in tributes to
the composer. In addition, there is newsreel footage of George
Gershwin playing "Mademoiselle from New Rochelle" and "Strike Up the
Band" on the piano during a Broadway rehearsal of the 1930
production of Strike Up the Band. In the mid-30s, "Strike Up The
Band" was gifted to UCLA to be used as a football fight song,
"Strike Up The Band for UCLA". The comedy team of Clark and
McCullough are seen conversing with George Gershwin, then singing as
George Gershwin plays.
In 1965, Movietone Records released an album MTM 1009 featuring
Gershwin's piano rolls of the titled George Gerswhin plays RHAPSODY
IN BLUE and George Gershwin other favorite compositions. The flip
side of the LP featured 9 other recordings.
In 1975, Columbia Records released an album featuring Gershwin's
piano rolls of the Rhapsody In Blue, accompanied by the Columbia
Jazz Band playing the original jazz-band accompaniment, conducted by
Michael Tilson Thomas. The flip side of the Columbia Masterworks
release features Tilson Thomas leading the New York Philharmonic in
An American In Paris. In 1976, RCA Records, as part of their "Victrola
Americana" line released a collection of George Gershwin recordings,
taken from 78s recorded in the 1920s and called the LP "George
Gershwin plays George Gershwin, Historic First Recordings" (RCA
Victrola AVM1-1740) and included recordings of "Rhapsody in Blue"
with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra and George Gershwin on piano, "An
American in Paris", from 1927 with George Gershwin on celesta;
"Three Preludes", "Clap Yo' Hands" and Someone to Watch Over Me",
among others. There are a total of 10 recordings on the album.
In 1998, two audio CDs featuring piano rolls recorded George
Gershwin [50] were issued by Nonesuch Records through the efforts of
Artis Woodhouse. It is entitled George Gershwin Plays George
Gershwin: The Piano Rolls.[51]
Countless singers and musicians have recorded George Gershwin songs,
including Fred Astaire, Louis Armstrong, Dean Martin, Al Jolson,
Bobby Darin, Percy Grainger, Art Tatum, Yehudi Menuhin, Bing Crosby,
The Moody Blues, Janis Joplin, John Coltrane, Frank Sinatra, Mel
Tormι, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sam Cooke, Diana Ross, Miles
Davis, Herbie Hancock, Hiromi Uehara, Madonna, Judy Garland, Julie
Andrews, Barbra Streisand, Marni Nixon, Natalie Cole, Patti Austin,
Nina Simone, Maureen McGovern, John Fahey, The Residents, Kate Bush,
Sublime, Sting, Amy Winehouse, and Liquid Tension Experiment.
In October 2009, it was reported by Rolling Stone that Brian Wilson
is completing at least two unfinished compositions by George
Gershwin for possible release in 2010.[52] According to Wilson's
Facebook page, the album is scheduled to be released on August 17,
2010.
Brian Wilson Reimagines George Gershwin was released on 17 August
2010. The album consists of covers of ten George and Ira George
Gershwin songs, bookended by passages from Rhapsody in Blue, along
with two new songs completed from unfinished George Gershwin
fragments by Wilson and band member Scott Bennett.
Baseline Studio Systems announced in January 2010 that Steven
Spielberg may direct a biopic about the composer's life, which is
scheduled for release in 2012; 32-year-old American actor Zachary
Quinto has been named for the leading role of George
Gershwin.[53][54]
Rhapsody in Blue (for piano and orchestra, 1924)
Piano Concerto in F (1925)
An American in Paris (for orchestra, 1928)
Dream Sequence (for orchestra, 1929)
Second Rhapsody, originally titled Rhapsody in Rivets (for piano and
orchestra, 1931)
Cuban Overture (for orchestra, 1932), originally entitled Rumba
March from Strike Up the Band (for orchestra, 1934)
Variations on "I Got Rhythm" (for piano and orchestra) (1934)
Catfish Row (for orchestra, 1936) a suite based on music from Porgy
and Bess
Shall We Dance (1937 film) a movie score feature-length ballet
Solo Piano
Preludes For Piano (1926) George Gershwin's Songbook (1932) (piano arrangements of eighteen
songs)
Operas
Blue Monday, (1922) one-act opera
Porgy and Bess (1935) at the Colonial Theatre in Boston[55]
London Musicals
Primrose (1924)
Broadway Musicals
George White's Scandals (19201924) (featuring, at
one point, the 1922 one-act opera Blue Monday)
Lady, Be Good (1924)
Tip-Toes (1925)
Tell Me More! (1925)
Oh, Kay! (1926)
Strike Up the Band (1927)
Funny Face (1927)
Rosalie (1928)
Show Girl (1929)
Girl Crazy (1930)
Of Thee I Sing (1931)
Pardon My English (1933)
Let 'Em Eat Cake (1933)
My One and Only (1983) (an original 1983 musical using previously
written George Gershwin songs)
Crazy for You (1992), a revised version of Girl Crazy, written and
compiled without the participation of either George or Ira George
Gershwin.
Delicious (1931) (an early version of the Second
Rhapsody and one other musical sequence was used in this film, the
rest were rejected by the studio)
Shall We Dance (1937) (original orchestral score by George Gershwin,
no recordings available in modern stereo, some sections have never
been recorded)
A Damsel in Distress (1937)
The Goldwyn Follies (1938) (posthumously released)
The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947) (uses songs previously unpublished)
Notes
1. Obituary Variety, July 14, 1937, page 70.
2. "George Gershwin, Composer, Is Dead; Master of Jazz Succumbs in
Hollywood at 38 After Operation for Brain Tumor" The New York Times,
(abstract), July 12, 1937, p. 1
3. Hyland, pp.13
4. Hyland, p.3
5. Schwartz, Charles (1973). George Gershwin, George Gershwin Life
and Music. Da Capo Press, Inc.. p. 14. ISBN 0-306-80096-9.
6. Hyland, p.13
7. Hyland, p.14
8. Venezia, Mike (1994). Getting to Know the World's Greatest
Composers: George Gerswhin. Chicago IL: Childrens Press.
9. Slide, Anthony. The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville, Westport,
Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1994. p. 111.
10. Lady, Be Good at the Internet Broadway Database, accessed August
22, 2011
11. Oh, Kay! at the Internet Broadway Database, accessed August 22,
2011
12. Funny Face at the Internet Broadway Database, accessed August
22, 2011
13. Strike Up the Band at the Internet Broadway Database, accessed
August 22, 2011
14. Show Girl at the Internet Broadway Database, accessed August 22,
2011
15. Girl Crazy at the Internet Broadway Database, accessed August
22, 2011
16. Of Thee I Sing at the Internet Broadway Database, accessed
August 22, 2011
17. "The Pulitzer Prizes, Drama" pulitzer.org, accessed August 22,
2011
18. Jablonski pp.155170
19. Jablonski, pp.178180
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References
Hyland, William G. George Gershwin : A New Biography
(2003), Praeger Publishers, ISBN 0-275-98111-8
Jablonski, Edward George Gershwin (1987), Doubleday, ISBN
0-385-19431-5
Kimball, Robert & Alfred Simon. The Gershwins (1973), Athenium, New
York, ISBN 0-689-10569-X
Mawer, Deborah (Editor). Cross, Jonathan (Series Editor). The
Cambridge Companion to Ravel (Cambridge Companions to Music) (2000),
Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-64856-4
Peyser, Joan. The Memory of All That:The Life of George Gershwin
(2007), Hal Leonard Corporation, ISBN 1-4234-1025-4
Pollack, Howard. George Gershwin. George Gershwin Life and Work
(2006), University of California Press, ISBN 978-0-520-24864-9
Rimler, Walter. A George Gershwin Companion (1991), Popular Culture
ISBN 1-56075-019-7
Rimler, Walter George Gershwin : An Intimate Portrait (2009),
University of Illinois Press, ISBN 0-252-03444-9
Sloop, Gregory. "What Caused George Gershwin's Untimely Death?"
Journal of Medical Biography 9 (February 2001): 2830
Further reading
Carnovale, Norbert. George Gershwin: a
Bio-Bibliography (2000. ) Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-26003-2
ISBN 0-313-26003-6
Alpert, Hollis. The Life and Times of Porgy and Bess: The Story of
an American Classic (1991). Nick Hern Books. ISBN 1-85459-054-5
Feinstein, Michael. Nice Work If You Can Get It: My Life in Rhythm
and Rhyme (1995), Hyperion Books. ISBN 0-7868-8220-4
Jablonski, Edward. George Gershwin Remembered (2003). Amadeus Press.
ISBN 0-931340-43-8
Rosenberg, Deena Ruth. Fascinating Rhythm: The Collaboration of
George and Ira George Gershwin (1991). University of Michigan Press
ISBN 978-0-472-08469-2
Sheed, Wilfred. The House That George Built: With a Little Help from
Irving, Cole, and a Crew of About Fifty (2007). Random House. ISBN
0-8129-7018-7
Suriano, Gregory R. (Editor). George Gershwin in George Gershwin
Time: A Biographical Scrapbook, 19191937 (1998). Diane Pub Co. ISBN
0-7567-5660-X
Wyatt, Robert and John Andrew Johnson (Editors). The George Gershwin
Reader (2004). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513019-7
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