| Abstract |
George Gershwin began his short but exciting career as a teen-age piano pounder in Tin Pan Alley, at the same time composing a few unsuccessful tunes of his own. He had a brief, one-day career as a movie theatre pianist, and put in a slightly longer stint as a rehearsal pianist. He then wrote the score for an ill-fated Broadway show that lasted only five performances. His career seemed finished before it had begun, until shortly afterward, he wrote a little song called "Swanee." Soon the entire country was singing it, and George Gershwin had more Broadway shows on his hands than he could handle. Always fascinated with American folk themes and the blues of New Orleans, Gershwin made an early attempt at incorporating them into a short operetta, Blue Monday, which appeared in George White's Scandals (and was removed one day after the opening of the show). The author follows George Gershwin's interest in the negro blues to its logical conclusion, in the composition of Porgy and Bess. Many memorable scenes from Gershwin's career are here, including the famous Aeolian Hall concert "An Experiment in Modern Music," when Paul Whiteman conducted the first performance of Rhapsody in Blue; the first performance of Concerto in F, and staging of some of the more famous Gershwin shows - Lady, Be Good; Girl Crazy; Strike up the Band; Of Thee I Sing, etc. The author writes with understanding of the Gershwin - DuBose Heyward collaboration on Porgy and Bess, of Gershwin's friendships with other outstanding people in the musical world, including Oscar Levant, Harold Arlen, Irving Caesar, and of his brother Ira's development as a talented lyricist in his own right. George Gershwin has been called the first important American composer, and because he mixed popular forms with so-called serious music, Gershwin served to define a special kind of music of wide influence. Although he died an early death at the age of thirty-nine, Gershwin's career was an exciting one. This is the story of not only the life and music of George Gershwin, but a lively and absorbing view of the Jazz Age as well, from the corner nickelodeons and Tin Pan Alley to Carnegie Hall and the musicals of the 20s and 30s. |
