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January 8, 1999/ 20 Tevet 5759, Vol. 51, No. 15
Gershwin's life, work subject of celebrations
DIMITRI DROBATSCHEWSKY
Special to Jewish News
The 100th anniversary of the birth of George Gershwin last month has been and is still being celebrated throughout the music world. And well it should be, as Gershwin was one of America's most amazing composers.
Without an extensive academic background, he created masterworks in the popular and symphonic genres, and in the musical theater of Broadway. But above all, collaborating with his older brother Ira, the lyricist, he was an unparalleled songsmith. Tragically, Gershwin died prematurely in 1937 of a brain tumor, just a few weeks short of his 39th birthday.
Because of his innumerable songs and other similarities, Gershwin is considered by many as a peer of Franz Schubert, the 19th century Viennese melodist and the composer of nearly 700 songs, who also died prematurely, at the age of 31.
Included in the numerous Gershwin centenary homages is Arizona Theatre Company's current production of "The Gershwins' Fascinating Rhythm," a song-and-dance revue featuring dozens of the Gershwins' most unforgettable songs, danced and acted out in a number of connected scenes. The show, now playing at the Herberger Theater Center, will run here through Jan. 24, before wending its way to Broadway.
George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants of modest means. He began to work at age 16, demonstrating on the piano new popular songs in New York music stores such as Remick's, to promote the sale of their records and sheet music. Over the years, he made several attempts at acquiring musical knowledge through serious academic studies, but these efforts turned out to be desultory. It was his natural talent for composing pleasant music in "fascinating rhythms," enhanced by his brother Ira's clever lyrics, that brought him early and lasting fame.
One of the significant anecdotes illustrating this aspect of Gershwin's life tells of a meeting between Gershwin and the French composer Maurice Ravel, during which Gershwin asked the Frenchman to teach him musical composition. "How much money do you make?" Ravel asked Gershwin. "Oh, about $300,000 a year," he answered. "In that case," Ravel said, "you teach me."
Along with his success, Gershwin did indeed acquire heaps of money. For example, one of his earliest songs, "Swanee," written when he was 19, sold more than 1 million printed copies and almost 2.5 million phonograph records. He and Ira went on to write songs by the hundreds, including such all-time favorites as "I Got Rhythm," "It Ain't Necessarily So," "Strike Up the Band," "They Can't Take That Away from Me," "Embraceable You," "Nice Work If You Can Get It," and "Love Is Here to Stay." Many of these songs are incorporated in Arizona Theatre Company's production.
Could Gershwin have been a prophet ? More than 60 years before the White House scandals of Bill and Monica became fodder for a presidential impeachment, Gershwin wrote the music - and brother Ira the lyrics - to a Broadway musical dealing with impeachment of an American president. If their "Of Thee I Sing" had been produced today instead of in 1932, its current topicality would have made the show an even greater financial success than it was at the time. In it, Gershwin captured the spirit and color of an American election perfectly, better than any other American composer with genuine American roots, such as Charles Ives or Roy Harris, could have done.
Gershwin always wanted to write an opera, and at long last (in 1935), he succeeded with "Porgy and Bess." The work is a slice of the life of poor southern blacks, and it sounds so genuine that the composer, his Jewish and Russian heritage notwithstanding, mandated that "for authenticity's sake" the work should be performed only by black people.
Gershwin, however, seemingly indiscriminately jumped from one musical style to another. His "Rhapsody in Blue" was a combination of symphonic and jazz tunes, first performed in 1924 by the Paul Whiteman orchestra at New York's Aeolian Hall, and immediately thereafter at Carnegie Hall, with clarinetist Ross Gorman playing the famous "wail" at the beginning of the piece, and with Gershwin performing brilliantly at the piano. "Rhapsody" has remained a concert hall staple, and royalties from it afforded Gershwin (and, later, his estate) millions of dollars in revenue. Also very successful was Gershwin's symphonic "An American in Paris," but his "Second Rhapsody" for piano and orchestra was considerably less successful, and the "Piano Concerto in F," although musically more valuable than either of the rhapsodies, also has not fared too well in today's concert repertoire.
The versatile Gershwin visited Cuba more than once and specifically in July of 1932, when he wrote an orchestral piece called "Rumba," which later became the popular and often-performed "A Cuban Overture." This music had such an authentically Latin rhythm that Gershwin, already known as "Mr. Music," immediately after the overture's first performance was given another nickname: the "Latin from Manhattan."
With his considerable fame and good looks, Gershwin developed a keen sense of self-worth. He never married, but he was very popular with all the women he met, including chorus girls from his shows, singers and actresses, and even a number of would-be musical collaborators.
Why didn't George ever marry? "He was too involved with himself and his music to consider that," according to English Strunsky, the 90-something brother of Ira's wife, Leonore. Speaking in a telephone interview from his home in the Bay Area, he added: "But (George) had a strong sexual appetite and he had many sexual affairs. Every chorus girl was after him, perhaps thinking she would get a better part that way. But there also were two or three women he was really serious about, including actresses Paulette Goddard, Simone Simon, Kitty Carlisle, and above all Kay Swift, whose marriage with the banker James Warburg broke up over Gershwin's attentions to her."
Kay Swift, Strunsky said, was the real love of Gershwin's life. She was a talented musician since childhood and wrote the hit song "Can't We Be Friends," among others. Their affair, his last before he died, endured for years. At one of their break-ups, Gershwin accepted her suggestion and went into a brief spell of psychotherapy.
But not all women swooned over him. There is the story of an ego-inflated Gershwin being stood up on a dinner date with a popular blonde. George was annoyed and went with a couple of friends to another chic restaurant, where he ran into the culprit, who was in the company of another man. "What happened to our date?" George asked her when he cornered her alone. "Oh," she said, batting her eyelids, "I know we had a date, and I was going to call you to cancel. But I just could not remember your name." Gershwin was crushed for weeks.
Naturally, Gershwin was immensely popular at numerous parties, either given by friends and colleagues or, as happened frequently, given by himself. These parties usually became lively once George sat down at the piano to play the music he had just written, or music he was about to compose. His guests, who loved to listen to him at the piano, thus had the advantage of always knowing what George would come out with next. And once George sat at the piano, he would be there for the rest of the evening, making this another "George Gershwin party."
The tragedy of George Gershwin's life is that he died too young, leaving the world to wonder how much more he would have given of his talent if he had lived longer. In the meantime, all we can do now is enjoy the legacy that Gershwin, with his immortal melodies and fascinating rhythms, has left us, and to make sure that we do not overlook the cool and clever lyrics that his brother provided for him during most of his life.
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