Derivative biography of an incredibly interesting dude, a man with a buoyant spirit, a glorious sense of fun and an interesting mix of humility and arrogance. Oh, and a total, total cad around the ladies, banging them left and right while he wrote some of the 20th century's greatest music.
In other words, this biography should have been much more interesting than it was, and one can't help thinking: what is it that makes a biography interesting? Why do some biographies feel like work to read, while others enthrall? Gershwin lived a fascinating life, yet this biography sputters, limps and frequently bores the reader. In fact it was more "work" for me to read this 180-page book than it was to read Emil Ludwig's entire 600-page Napoleon biography.
Note that author Walter Rimler deliberately narrows his focus in this book, mostly portraying Gershwin's personal and emotional life, leaving out many aspects of his professional life, and directing readers to Gershwin biographies by Edward Jablonski, William Hyland and Howard Pollack, citing all three as "essential reading." I'd recommend readers start with any of those and skip this one.
Notes:
* Gershwin was clearly very talented from a young age; he practiced music without his family knowing; when the family finally got a piano (it was primarily intended for his brother Ira), George quickly showed he was the one with the real talent in the family.
* GG as an uttlerly affectless, guileless guy who would exclaim "Say, isn't that good!" when he heard a good song or melody from someone else.
* Got relatively wealthy early on in his life, in his early twenties, from writing the song Swanee, which sold in the millions (Al Jolson recorded it). Also, he wrote Rhapsody in Blue in his mid-20s. It's of course interesting to think about how much more music this guy would have produced if he had survived, instead of dying at 38 from a glioblastoma.
* Everybody seemed like they were on the prowl in this 1920s-1930s NYC era. Gershwin carried on an open affair with Kay Swift Warburg while she was married to James Warburg, the son of the head of the Warburg Bank and one of the key founders of the US Federal Reserve System (which is well-, if conspiratorily, chronicled in The Creature from Jekyll Island).
* Also some of GGs' work was hit-or-miss, when George and Ira wrote the Broadway musical Strike Up the Band in 1927 it was subpar "with only one outstanding tune, the title march." That same year though they wrote Funny Face to more success. Some of his shows/musicals were terrible: 1928's Treasure Girl written with Ira, and Showgirl (1929); no plot, hackneyed, unsuccessful.
* On meeting Maurice Ravel: Ravel wrote "a letter of introduction to the highly regarded Parisian piano and composition teacher Nadia Boulanger: 'Dear friend,' Ravel wrote to Boulanger, 'there is a musician here endowed with the most brilliant, most enchanting, and perhaps the most profound talent: George Gershwin. His worldwide success no longer satisfies him, for he is aiming higher. He knows that he lacks the technical means to achieve his goal. In teaching those means, one might ruin his talent. Would you have the courage, which I wouldn't dare have, to undertake this awesome responsibility?'"
* "...in truth he was really just a slenderfellow with thinning hair who fretted continuously that he was not doing the best work he could do, and who, whenever he tried to live up to his potential, received calumny from the appraisers of high culture."
* See GG Second Rhapsody: his worst work came when he attempted to give the critics what they wanted...
* Rumba, later named Cuban Rhapsody... nobody understood it.
* More "crabs in a bucket" behavior from less popular and less successful competitors in the world of music composition; even from Aaron Copland.
* Duke Ellington with an interesting quote about Gershwin's unpretentiousness, he remembered him at rehearsals for one of his musicals, "dressed like a stagehand, who could get in the front or back stage door. In a sports shirt, with no tie, he would humbly take his place in the standing-room area. If you didn't know him, you would never guess that he was the great George Gershwin."
* The story of Kay Swift Warburg and her therapist Dr. Gregory Zilboorg is creepy and gross, and it shows the 1970s and '80s Woody Allen era preoccupation with therapy/therapists is nothing new: this stuff was long going on in the 20s and 30s. Zilboorg as a gross-looking guy who played his patients against each other... and somehow managed to convince Kay Swift to have sex with him during office visits as part of their therapy.
* "To the end of my days I shall never forget the exciting and thrilling period of Porgy and Bess. George had not only a great respect for you, but also a deep affection, and I assure you, though I believe you must have known, I felt the same way about you and considered it a great honor to be associated with you, however small my contribution." Ira Gershwin in a letter to Porgy novelist Dubose Hayward, after George Gershwin's death.
* Reviewing the premiere of Porgy and Bess in New York City, the New York Times assigned two reviewers to write about it: both totally missed the point, missed the plot and failed to understand the importance of this work. Given the Times' recent performance covering narrative rather than news these days I guess I'm not surprised, just disappointed.
* Also hilarious to hear how George Gershwin literally renamed a wide range of Jews who had come to New York to write music. He had a real knack for it: he renamed Vladimir Dukelsky "Vernon Duke" (Vernon Duke was a sometime collaborator with his brother Ira who went on to write April in Paris and Autumn in New York). He suggested Ann Rosenblatt change her name to Anne Ronell, a more felicitous name for sure (she went on to write the standards Willow Weep for Me, and Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf). He renamed Radio City Music Hall staff lyricist Alfred Silverman into Al Stillman (Stillman went on to collaborate with Gershwin's mistress Kay Swift), as well as other examples.
* Porgy and Bess was unsuccessful initially: opera-goers weren't going because they thought it was a Broadway show, Broadway show-goers weren't going because they thought it was opera. Performances of it inevitably lost money, but royalties from the songs in other domains made up the difference.
* One other real joy I'm getting while "working" through this book is keeping a YouTube tab open on my phone and looking up a lot of these songs and performances, see below for some examples.
* Hollywood hesitant to hire George and Ira for work on movie musicals because they thought he was too highbrow. Gershwin telegrams back "rumors about highbrow music ridiculous stop am out to write hits."
* George and Ira's experience in Hollywood was not what they expected; the vibe felt phony to them, the studio system didn't understand or like their work, etc. The key film they worked on was Shall We Dance with Fred Astaire.
* 1937, the final year of his life, GG started having increasing pain and symptoms from the glioblastoma that would quickly kill him.
* Interesting (if depressing) also to learn about the power struggles that occurred around GG during his life and after. See for example Leonore Gershwin, Ira's wife, who was sort of an interloper, a dragon lady, who played a role in power struggles between the brothers, and interfered in some of Gershwin's relationships. Also Gershwin died intestate, and there was a power struggle between brother Ira and the family's mother Rose for control of his estate.
* Kay Swift went on to be a real cougar, at age 42 marrying a rancher nine years her junior, then eight or nine years later marrying another man twelve years younger. Good for her! Also there's a cute story about her very late in her life when she was suffering from Alzheimer's: "One day when she returned to her room after a walk, she looked at the two nameplates on her door, hers above and her roommate's below, and exclaimed, 'Look! Top billing!'"
To Read:
Thomas Hardy: On an Invitation to the United States
Walter Simmons: Voices in the Wilderness
James P. Warburg: The Long Road Home
Duke Ellington: Music Is My Mistress
Ron Chernow: The Warburgs
Vicki Ohl: Fine and Dandy (biography of Kay Swift)
Ginger Rogers: Ginger: My StoryMichael Feinstein: Nice Work if You Can Get It
Ira Gershwin: Lyrics on Several Occasions
Kay swift: Who Could Ask For Anything More
Edward Jablonsky: Gershwin
Media:
* 1931 film version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, starring Frederick March
* The Half of It, Dearie Blues, with George Gershwin at the piano and Fred Astaire singing and tap dancing (see at 2:14 where Astaire calls out "How's that George?" and Gershwin yells back "That's great Freddie, do it again!"
* Let's Call the Whole Thing Off, one of George and Ira Gershwin's great songs, in the famous rollerskating scene from the movie Shall We Dance, performed by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
* Our Love Is Here to Stay, George and Ira's final song they ever wrote together, performed by Ella Fitzgerald