Patrick Bade
Gershwin: An American Genius

Patrick Bade - Gershwin: An American Genius

- Well, we have five great musicians on the screen. These five men all help to create American popular music in the first half of the 20th century. So, top left is George Gershwin. Next in is Irving Berlin, then there’s Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, and at the bottom, Benny Goodman. And what do these five men have in common? Well, they have two things in common. Firstly, they all came from an Eastern European Jewish background. They’re all of Ashkenazi ancestry. Irving Berlin was born in Russia, and he arrived in America, aged five. The other four were all born in America, but they were all born of Russian immigrants. That’s one thing. And the other thing they have in common is that this idiom of American popular music, which conquered the world, and enormously, enormously enriched the world. This was the product, this was based on the music of another immigrant group, Afro Americans. So two groups of people who in very different ways arrived in America in boats. You can see Orthodox Jews in the hold of a ship coming over at the turn of the century, and on the right, African slaves being brought to America in the most shocking and appalling conditions in the 18th into the early 19th century. And I want to stress this because I think this is so interesting that this wonderful cultural development that I’m talking about tonight, for me, George Gershwin is the absolute flower of this development, the greatest of all these composers. But it was the creation of two groups of people who arrived in America in boats.

And I want to stress this ‘cause at the moment, there’s so much agitation and hysteria going on. I can tell you in my country, in Britain, and I think probably in America too, although at the moment, it’s not so much people coming in boats, it’s people coming over the border from the South. There’s a lot of hysteria about immigration, and I think we are looking at it the wrong way. We need to look at it in a more positive way. Immigration has always been the lifeblood of culture, and we need to accept that, and we need to manage it. So that’s my little homily. To start with, here is, of course, that this Afro American creation of jazz, which first happened in the brothels of Storyville in New Orleans. Top left is Jelly Roll Morton, who worked in these brothels, and he claimed to be the inventor of jazz. That’s probably a bit simplistic. I think there are quite a few musicians who were probably involved in the creation of jazz in the brothels of New Orleans. And then of course, 1917, those brothels, Storyville, which was the brothel area of New Orleans that was completely shut down. And there was a diaspora of Black musicians. They spread to, they moved North and they went to New York and they went to Philadelphia. And above all, they went to Chicago. And this of course, coincided with another very important development in American history and culture, which was prohibition, which was introduced in 1918 and lasted right up until the 1930s. So, you weren’t going to stop people drinking, that’s for sure. You were going to push it underground, and you had the development of speakeasies. And the speakeasies, these Black musicians who’d been dispersed from the South, they found employment in these speakeasies. And this was a way that this, essentially, Afro American music spread into the mainstream of American culture.

Now, even before the First World War, an inkling of this kind of music had arrived in Europe. 1911, Alexander’s Ragtime Band became an international hit, and it spread throughout Europe. And this was the first time that Europeans had heard these kind of syncopated rhythms. And then the first World War, when America enters at the end of 1917, the American soldiers arrived in Europe, and many Black soldiers, very Afro American soldiers arrived in Europe. And that helped to, again, introduce the idiom of jazz to European audiences. And all this, again, it goes hand in hand with technological advances, particularly 1920, well, 1922, you’ve got the beginning of commercial radio all over the world. And within a few years, pretty well every household in the western world has a radio. So, this is one way that American popular music could conquer the world. On the left, you have a microphone, the invention in 1925, of electric recording. And the microphone, that’s another big factor. And of course, the introduction in 1927 of sound in movies, the jazz singer, and so on. That’s another very big factor. And so, by the 1930s, the whole world is dancing to, “Le Rythme Americain,” as you see on the right hand side. And all all around the world, everybody, even Germans and Russians, much against the will of Hitler and Stalin, were dancing. You can see this is from a French magazine during the Second World War, of Americans learning to dance. And as I said, of course, in particular, the Nazis were very, very disapproving of American popular music, which they understood, of course, was the creation of these two races that they loathed and hated most of all, Black Africans and Jews. And you can see very clearly that equation made in this Nazi poster for decadent music, “Entartete Musik” on the left hand side, which you’ve got a horrible caricature, racist caricature of a Black American wearing a star of David.

So let’s get back to the main subject of today, which is George Gershwin. So he was born in Brooklyn in 1898. Here are his parents, his his father, Jakov Gershowitz came from Odesa in Ukraine, but he had quite a successful career and was able to move to St. Petersburg. And that’s where Moishe Gershowitz, who you see on the left hand side, was born. And then you’ve got his wife, Rose. They actually met in Vilnius before moving to America. And this is the house in Brooklyn where George Gershwin was born in 1898. As you can see, it’s not a slum. It’s a perfectly nice house. They, and their economic circumstances improved, and they moved from one house to another as their circumstances improved. So, George apparently was a very wild child, a real street child, not interested in education. But, so all that changed in 1910, so he was 12 years old. And of course, every aspiring middle class family at this time wanted to have a piano. And in 1910, they acquired a piano for George’s older brother, Ira. But it was George who immediately took to it. 12 years old is actually quite late to start for a piano virtuoso, which George certainly became later on. But, so for the first time in his life, he was really focused on something, passionate about the piano. And he was given tuition by a man called, Charles Hambitzer who lived in Brooklyn as well. And he developed a remarkable facility on the piano. Aged 16, he left school and he started to earn a living as a song plugger on Tin Pan Alley. At Pan Alley, there were these buildings where they had corridors lined by little cubicles. The noise must have been incredible, actually, each cubicle and a piano. And there’s this enormous demand for sheet music, of songs at this time, as I said, every middle class family has its piano, everybody wants these songs. They want to perform these songs.

And so, aspiring composers would come along, they’d bring their songs to try and convince publishers to take them, and George’s job was to sight read these songs. And he did this for three years before he started writing his own songs. Initially, he was rebuffed, the publisher said, “No, no, no, you are not a a song composer, you are just a song plugger, who do you think you are?” But eventually, he did manage to get a couple of songs published. And then in 1919, his great breakthrough to fame and fortune was a song called, “Swanee,” which he persuaded the great Al Jolson to take on, and it became one of Al Jolson’s biggest hits. So, my first excerpt for you is Al Jolson singing the song, “Swanee.”

♪ I’ve Been Away From You a long time ♪ ♪ I never thought I’d miss you so ♪ ♪ Somehow I feel, your love is real ♪ ♪ Near you I want to be ♪ ♪ The birds are singing it is song time ♪ ♪ The banjo’s strumming soft and low ♪ ♪ I know that you yearn for me too ♪ ♪ Swannee, you’re calling me ♪ ♪ Swanee, how I love you, how I love you ♪ ♪ My dear old Swanee ♪ ♪ I give the world to be among the folks in D-I-X-I- ♪ ♪ Even though my mammy’s waiting for me ♪ ♪ Praying for me, down by the Swanee ♪ ♪ The folks up North will see me no more ♪ ♪ When I get to that Swanee shore ♪ ♪ I love the old folks at home ♪ ♪ Swanee, how I love you, how I love you ♪ ♪ My dear old Swanee ♪ ♪ The folks up North will see me no more ♪ ♪ When I get to the Swanee shore ♪

• There followed more hit songs. And then in 1924, and think he’s only 26 years old, he has his first major hit on Broadway with the show, “Lady Be Good.” And this was his first collaboration with Fred and Estelle Astaire. They actually, of course, came from, Fred later, I suppose, in his films, he embodied Wasp and elegance. But he came actually from the same kind of Ashkenazi background, although his real name, of course, was Austerlitz, and he came from Austria, or his family came from Austria rather than from Russia. And so, in fact was Estelle who was the biggest star at this point. Everybody in New York and everybody in London was in love with the enchanting, Estelle Astaire. And here they are together, in a song from, “Lady Be Good.”

♪ Got a little rhythm, a rhythm, a rhythm ♪ ♪ That pit-a-pats through my brain ♪ ♪ So darn persistent, the day isn’t distant ♪ ♪ When it’ll drive me insane. ♪ ♪ Comes in the morning without any warning ♪ ♪ And hangs around me all day ♪ ♪ I’ll have to sneak up to it ♪ ♪ Someday I’ll speak up to it ♪ ♪ I hope it listens when I say ♪ ♪ Fascinating rhythm, you’ve got me on the go ♪ ♪ Fascinating rhythm, I’m all a-quiver ♪ ♪ When a mess you’re making ♪ ♪ The neighbours want to know ♪ ♪ Why I’m always shaking just like a flivver. ♪ ♪ Each morning I get up with the sun ♪ ♪ Start a-hopping, never stopping ♪ ♪ To find at night no work has been done ♪ ♪ I know that once it didn’t matter ♪ ♪ But now you’re doing wrong ♪ ♪ When you start to patter, I’m so unhappy ♪ ♪ Won’t you take a day off ♪ ♪ Decide to run along somewhere far away off ♪ ♪ And make it snappy ♪ ♪ Oh, how I long to be the man I used to be ♪ ♪ Fascinating rhythm, you got to stop picking on me ♪

• Now, a song that was written for Adele to sing in that show was, “The Man I love,” but they felt it didn’t really fit in very well. And it was dropped from that show and tried out in another couple of shows by Gershwin. And each time it didn’t seem to go down very well, which is very strange because it’s become one of Gershwin’s, Ira and George Gershwin’s best loved songs just as an independent song. And, “The Man I love,” it has an interesting history. Of course, everybody you can think of has recorded this song. It’s, for me, one of the really great songs of the 20th century. But it’s a song which has changed its rhythm and changed its meaning over the years. If you listen to early versions of the song, it’s quite upbeat, it’s not really a sentimental song. It’s not really a sad song, and it’s sung quite fast. But over the years, it’s got slower, and sadder, and more sentimental. So I want to play you an early version with the great Sophie Tucker, wonderful gutsy performance with nothing at all sentimental about it.

♪ When the mellow moon begins to beam ♪ ♪ Every night I dream a little dream ♪ ♪ And of course Prince Charming is the theme ♪ ♪ The he for me ♪ ♪ Although I realise as well as you ♪ ♪ It is seldom that a dream comes true ♪ ♪ To me it’s clear that he’ll appear ♪ ♪ Some day he’ll come along, the man I love ♪ ♪ And he’ll be big and strong, the man I love ♪ ♪ And when he comes my way ♪ ♪ I’ll do my best to make him stay ♪ ♪ He’ll look at me and smile, I’ll understand ♪ ♪ And in a little while he’ll take my hand ♪ ♪ And though it seems absurd ♪ ♪ I know we both won’t say a word ♪ ♪ Maybe I shall meet him Sunday ♪ ♪ Maybe Monday, maybe not ♪ ♪ Still I’m sure to meet him one day ♪ ♪ Maybe Tuesday will be my good news day ♪ ♪ He’ll build a little home just meant for two ♪ ♪ From which I’ll never roam ♪ ♪ Who would, would you ♪ ♪ And so all else above, I’m waiting for the man I love ♪ ♪ Maybe I shall meet him Sunday ♪ ♪ Maybe Monday, maybe not ♪ ♪ Still I’m sure to meet him one day ♪ ♪ Maybe Tuesday will be my good news day ♪ ♪ He’ll build a little home just meant for two ♪ ♪ From which I’ll never roam ♪ ♪ Who would, would you ♪ ♪ And so all else above, I’m waiting for the man I love ♪

• One of the remarkable things, I think, that of course was from words by Ira, music by George. And they became one of the great songwriting teams of the 20th century. Yes, but one of the remarkable things about George Gershwin was his confidence and his ambition. And so, of course, with hindsight, we know he was going to have a very short career 'cause he died very young. But in 1924, Paul Whiteman, the the band leader announced a concert with the title, “An experiment in Modern Music.” And he announced that there would be a piano concerto by George Gershwin. Well, the concert was only five weeks away and Gershwin hadn’t even begun to write anything. So in space of that five weeks, he wrote one of his greatest masterpieces, of course, the, “Rhapsody in Blue.” And this, it was a very prestigious concert. Everybody who was anybody was there, Rachmaninoff was there, Horowitz was there. And the public was completely blown away by this absolutely extraordinary piece. Here it is, with Gershwin himself at the piano. The critical response was ecstatic. And George Gershwin was proclaimed as the man who’d made an honest woman of jazz. And from there, instantly, that piece, which was written in such a short period of time. Think, this is a very young composer who has absolutely no experience of orchestrating for a major piece like that. So, in fact, he was helped out with the orchestration for, “Rhapsody in Blue” by Ferde Grofé. But the very next year in 1925, he wrote a fully fledged piano concerto, the, “Concerto in F,” which he orchestrated himself. And this was first performed at Carnegie Hall. So this was a very rapid rise, really, to the top echelons of the music industry. And here is Gershwin again in an excerpt from his, “Concerto in F.” So Virtu was writing for the piano, and playing from George himself. Now, he was always very, as I said, ambitious and very keen to improve himself.

And I think the next step was going to, obviously, a trip to Europe. And 1928, he arrived in Paris. What a wonderful time to arrive there. This is pre Wall Street crash. This is the height of what the French call, Lézan e Folies. I hope you can see the silver relief behind me on the wall by the sculptor Pico. It’s a small version of the relief on the front of the music hall of Folies-Bergère which I’m quite sure Gershwin would’ve visited when he was in Paris. So, it was, for a boy from a lower middle class background in Brooklyn, this must have been the most exciting and amazing experience. And he was lionised and introduced to everybody. Here he is standing behind the piano with Maurice Ravel at the piano. And he had a touching desire, as I said, to improve himself, he wanted to sit at the feet of great composers. He was always turning up and saying, “Will you give me lessons, what can I learn from you?” And he did this with Ravel. Ravel said, “No, no, this is not a good idea. If you study with me, you’ll end up writing bad Ravel and I prefer that you continue to write good Gershwin.” He then went to Stravinsky, he was based in Paris at the time. And typically Stravinsky said, when Gershwin said, “Can I learn from you?” And Stravinsky said, “How much do you earn a year? And when Gershwin told him, Stravinsky replied, "Well, can I learn from you?” He went on to Vienna and he made the same request and got the same kind of answer from Alban Berg. As we shall see shortly, he did actually take lessons from Arnold Schoenberg, but I’m not sure, really, how much from Schoenberg he really got. So, this is Paris in the 1920s, busy, noisy.

A city of tremendous energy as it still is. Luckily, I’ve recently installed double glazing, so you can’t actually hear the noise from the street going, but I’m just next to the Ru Lafayette, which is one of the busiest streets in Paris. So, very much like this. And so, while in Paris, he got the inspiration to write his tune poem, “An American in Paris.” For me, this is the greatest of all his serious, ambitious pieces of music. It’s a wonderful, wonderful piece. And it’s inspired by the energy that I was talking about. And, of course, Paris still has incredibly aggressive traffic. What can I say? My dear friend Ron Bernstein, who might be listening to this, he visits Paris very often. And he tells me that when he crosses the street in Paris, he always looks out to see if there’s a pregnant woman or a woman with a baby, 'cause he thinks Parisian drivers won’t drive down a pregnant woman or a woman with a baby. But they’re pretty aggressive, let me tell you. And they’re all honking their horns all the time. So, Gershwin managed to acquire a set of Paris taxi horns. You can see him here holding it in this picture, which he incorporated into the score of, “An American in Paris.” The recording I’m going to play you is the first recording ever made in the late 1920s. And this is the only recording where you can actually hear the taxi horns that you see in this image. Now, although he loved his time in Paris, and who wouldn’t? My goodness, well, I love my time in Paris, but I would love to have a time machine to take me back to Paris in the 1920s. But he was nevertheless, while he was here, he was also from time to time overcome with homesickness. And I think this was expressed in this wonderful yearning theme from, “An American in Paris.”

So he’s written a fully fledged piano concerto. He’s now written a great orchestral tune poem. What next? Well, next, inevitably had to be an opera. And this was, “Porgy and Bess” in 1935. And this was presented at the Alvin Theatre. It was directed by, Rouben Mamoulian who later went on to a great Hollywood career, and based on a play by DuBose Heyward. Now, I want to stress how brave this was and what an amazing boldness, really, to present an opera with an entirely Black cast in New York in 1935, this was something entirely new. And I want to stress that because in recent years, “Porgy and Bess” has come under quite a lot of flack. From our point of view, of course, you could say, or people do say that it is condescending, that it stereotypes Afro Americans and their experience. Yeah, there’s an element of truth in that. But I want to stress the goodwill of Gershwin and, of course, the great importance of Jewish support for civil rights in America in this period and later after the Second World War. And Gershwin, I think he should, I think we need to see this opera in its context and not judge him by modern PC standards.

♪ My man’s gone now ♪ ♪ Ain’t no use a listenin’ for his tired footsteps ♪ ♪ Climbin’ up the stairs ♪ ♪ Old man sorrow’s come to keep me company ♪ ♪ Whisperin’ beside me when I say my prayers ♪ ♪ Ain’t that I mind workin’ workin’ means travellers ♪ ♪ Journeyin’ togheter to the promised land ♪

• And I’d like to play one more excerpt from the original cast recording of 1934, 1935, this very, very moving chorus, which I suppose is based on a spiritual.

♪ Clara, Clara, don’t you be downhearted ♪ ♪ Clara, Clara, don’t you be sad and lonesome ♪ ♪ Jesus Is Walkin’ on de Water ♪ ♪ Rise up and follow him home ♪ ♪ Oh my Lord, oh my Jesus, rise up and follow him home ♪ ♪ Follow him home ♪ ♪ Jake, Jake, don’t you downhearted ♪ ♪ Jake, Jake, don’t you be sad and lonesome ♪

• Now, at the time it was hardly more than succès d'estime, it wasn’t really, it was by no means a hit. And it had a very mixed critical reception. It must have been a disappointment for Gershwin, it didn’t really take off. Ironically, I think the next production was in Copenhagen during the Second World War under German occupation. And I feel that that must have been a gesture of defiance against the German occupiers. And it wasn’t till after the Second World War that it really took off in the 1950s and ‘60s, and then became, of course, a standard repertoire even done in major opera houses of the world. I’ve seen it at Glyndebourne for instance. Now I’m showing you a letter that was sent to me by Barry Kester just two days ago. He has just published a book on the Richard Rogers musical, “Carousel.” And while he was researching that, he came across this letter. You can see it’s written on the 11th of October, 1935. So it’s the day after the premier. I hope you can all read it, perhaps I’ll read it out to you. Very moving, really. If Gershwin felt disappointment at the reception, he must have been enormously encouraged by this letter from one of his greatest rivals.

“Dear George, if you ever got a sincere letter in your life, this is it. It’s a pretty difficult one to write. There’s no sense in my telling you how beautiful your score is, you know that. But I can tell you that I sat there transfixed for three hours. I love the tunes ever since you played them for us here one night. But I never thought I’d sit in a theatre and feel my throat being stocked up time after time. Let them never say that Mr. Gershwin can’t be tender. You kicked hell out of me for one. I won’t dribble on, I just want you to know that one of us is very happy this morning over your success last night.” So, an extremely generous tribute from one great composer to another. So I think possibly the disappointment with Porgy and Bess may have contributed to the decision of George and Ira to cross America and go to Hollywood in the second part of the 1930s. They certainly had a very good time. They were paid enormous sums of money by the studio RKO. They lived a very, very lavish lifestyle. George loved, he loved women, of course, he loved beautiful women. Although I think he was probably, today you might describe him as commitment phobic. I think he was slightly nervous of relationships with women. But here he’s with Paulette Godard and I dunno how far that relationship went, but he is very enthusiastic about her in his correspondence. And he also enjoyed a flirtation with the French film star, Simone Simon. And he loved being in California and this enabled him to connect with the great Avant garde composer, Arnold Schoenberg, the creator of the 12 tone system. And here is George on the left hand side. He was quite a gifted, more than amateur painter, I would say. This is his portrait of Schoenberg. He enjoyed playing tennis and table tennis with Schoenberg. And he took lessons from Schoenberg. Here you can see Gershwin and Schoenberg on the tennis court. And he worked, he and Ira worked on two movies for RKO. And first of these was, “Shall We Dance,” which is one of the best in the series that RKO made with Fred and Ginger. Here you can see Gershwin demonstrating the songs to Fred and Ginger. And, “Shall We Dance,” what can I say? I hope you’ve all seen it. If you haven’t, then you’ve got a treat in store. It’s such a delight, this movie. And so, here is one of the loveliest songs that Gershwin wrote for, “Shall We Dance” For Fred Singing to Ginger?

• [Ginger] I didn’t know getting married was so depressing. I’m sorry, now I asked you.

• [Fred] Oh, that’s all right, I’ll get over it.

• [Ginger] Oh God.

♪ Our romance won’t end on a sorrowful note ♪ ♪ Though by tomorrow you’re gone ♪ ♪ The song is ended, but as the songwriter wrote ♪ ♪ The melody lingers on ♪ ♪ They may take you from me ♪ ♪ I’ll miss your fond caress ♪ ♪ But though they take you from me, I’ll still possess ♪ ♪ The way you wear your hat ♪ ♪ The way you sip your tea ♪ ♪ The memory of all that ♪ ♪ No, no, they can’t take that away from me ♪ ♪ The way your smile just beams ♪ ♪ The way you sing off-key ♪ ♪ The way you haunt my dreams ♪ ♪ No, no, they can’t take that away from me ♪ ♪ We may never, never meet again ♪ ♪ On the bumpy road to love ♪ ♪ But I’ll always, always keep the memory of ♪ ♪ The way you hold your knife ♪ ♪ The way we danced till three ♪ ♪ The way you changed my life ♪ ♪ No, no, they can’t take that away from me ♪ ♪ No, they can’t take that away from me ♪

• Much of the movie takes place on an ocean liner. This was of course the golden age of the Ocean Liners, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, the Île de France, the Normandy. And it was the epitome of sophistication in the '30s, the idea of crossing Atlantic on one of these palatial art deco ocean liners. And one of the delights of this movie, of course, the marvellous interiors, particularly in the engine room, this famous scene where it slapped that bass, Fred dances to the rhythm of the machines of the ship. But he is chasing after her in a way that, today, I suppose, might be regarded as sexual harassment. She’s not interested and he’s pursuing her, and she is walking her dog up and down the deck. So he borrows a dog so that he can walk up and down the deck with her. So they had a sequence in the movie lasting just over two minutes. And they said to Gershwin, “Can you please give us just a bit of music for this?” 'Cause there’s no dialogue here, they’re just walking up and down with their dogs. And he came up with, “Walking The Dog,” which is a tiny, exquisite masterpiece that is, even though it’s so short, it is a piece that still is frequently performed in the concert hall. Here, from the original soundtrack of the movie is, “Walking the Dog.”

• It was while Gershwin was working on the songs for his second movie for RKO, which was, “Damsel In Distress,” which starred Fred and sadly not Ginger, Joan Fontaine was seriously miscast in this movie opposite Fred since she couldn’t dance, she has to spend most of her time standing there while he dances around her. It was while he was working on this movie that Gershwin began to suffer from headaches and to behave bizarrely. And there were different theories about this. At the time, of course, there was a flood of psychotherapists arriving in America, North America and South America as refugees from the Nazis. And the ideas of Freud and psychoanalysis were very, very fashionable, and Gershwin was really into all of this. And everybody assumed that this strange behaviour had some kind of psychological origin. But it turned out, no, it wasn’t that, it was a galloping, what the French would call, , brain tumour. And one theory about that is that it could have been triggered, I don’t know what doctors listening in will think about this. One theory is that it was triggered by, he was very, very worried about his receding hairline. And he was taking some kind of therapy where he had this kind of electrical impulses pumped into his brain. I dunno whether there’s any science behind that or not. But anyway, when they discovered that it was a brain tumour, it was far too late.

But in fact, I think, given the state of the medical science at the time, he probably could not have been saved. In any case, this is the synagogue in Los Angeles where his funeral took place in 1937. And this is the tomb of George Gershwin. But I want to end on one of his loveliest songs that was written, 'cause it’s for, “A Damsel in Distress,” which takes place in London. And it’s the song, “A Foggy Day in London Town.” And I think I’m the first person to have noticed that the text of this song, which is by Ira Gershwin, derives directly from the autobiography of Isadora Duncan, which I strongly recommend, it’s a fabulous book. In a way, it’s her greatest legacy, her really gutsy, passionate autobiography. And there’s a chapter that begins, it was a foggy day in London Town had me, blue, had me down, the British Museum had lost its charms. And Ira takes that, and he builds a wonderful song out of it. We’ve already heard, here is Ira and George on the left. Of course Fred is wonderful in that song, but we’ve already heard him. So I’m going to finish with a very lovely version of this song sung here by Sarah Vaughan.

♪ I was a stranger in the city ♪ ♪ Out of town where the people I knew ♪ ♪ I had that feeling of self-pity ♪ ♪ What to do, what to do, what to do ♪ ♪ The outlook was decidedly blue ♪ ♪ But as I walked through the foggy streets alone ♪ ♪ It turned out to be the luckiest day I’ve known ♪ ♪ A foggy day in London town ♪ ♪ Had me low, had me down ♪ ♪ I viewed the morning with much alarm ♪ ♪ The British museum had lost its charm ♪ ♪ How long I wondered could this thing last ♪ ♪ But the age of miracles hadn’t past ♪ ♪ For suddenly I saw you there ♪ ♪ And through foggy London town ♪ ♪ The sun was shining everywhere ♪

Q&A and Comments:

• This is Michael saying, “Jazz was not played in the brothels of New Orleans. They only had a pianist apart from one where Madam played in the quote, first jazz band is considered to be led by Buddy Bolden.” But I’m not going to, I don’t know enough about it to argue with you. Right,

Q: “How come Gershwin didn’t have to fight in World War I?”

A: I don’t know.

Q: Was there General Conscription in America in 1917?

A: I do know the version, but it’s wonderful.

Thank you Barbara, and I agree with you. I would certainly say it’s absolutely wonderful, the Percy Granger piano arrangement of, “The man I love.” “

About the connection between Gershwin and Reval.” Well, I think, they obviously there was a great mutual respect, and I think, really, I think there’s some musical evidence for mutual influence between the two, that the Gershwin piano concerto, the two piano concerts, the left one, but particularly the two hand concerto, seems to me to show certainly a jazzy influence and perhaps specifically of Gershwin.

“I love Sophie Tucker.” I dunno enough about her, really. I’d have to do some research, but I think she’s such a wonderful singer. I remember my connection, incidentally, with the London Jewish Cultural Centre goes back to a charity lecture that I gave on great Jewish singers, and I ended with Sophie Tucker singing, “My Yiddish Mama,” which always reduces me to an absolute pulp.

Q: How did Gershwin become involved with Black culture?

A: Well, I think it was through, I think it was a lot of sympathy amongst liberal minded East Coast Jews for civil right movement and for Blacks in general. So, I’m sure he, he shared in that, but I think it was particularly that play that attracted him.

I’m not sure, well, that’s a very big statement. “Benny Green described, "The Man I love” as the best song ever written.“ I wouldn’t disagree with it, but that’s a huge statement. Think of all the other wonderful songs by Gershwin and other composers. Concerto, second Rhapsody for, and neither the Concerto. And the second Rhapsody, of course, has never had the immense popularity of the, "Rhapsody in Blue.” But as you say, it’s a very fine work.

There were some, I think it got mixed from the critics, the audiences certainly love, “Rhapsody in Blue.” I think it got quite mixed reviews from the critics. I wouldn’t say that they hated it. No, I don’t think, I think that would be too strong to say that.

Yes, well, you know, I’m really into historical recording, so I love to, this is Rita saying, “'Rhapsody in Blue,’ United Airlines use the music in its other advertises since the 1980s.” Yes, it’s a bit like British Airways using the duet from Lakmé. To me, well, I don’t think you can compare, “American in Paris.” “American in Paris” is actually my own favourite work by Gershwin and I listen to it very, very often. But, of course, I identify with it also because of the subject matter. But I wouldn’t, I don’t think you can say one is greater than the other, they’re two different. Thank you, Rita.

And, well, of course, I agree with you about Paris. Thank you, Rosa. You should be easily able to find that original recording of, “American in Paris.” It’s been issued on a number of CDs. I’m sure you can get it on YouTube as well.

And this is Barbara who saw a great performance of, “Porgy and Bess” at Covent Garden with Willard White and Cynthia Haymon. Yes, there’s a recording of that. It was a very famous performance.

Yes, Jolson did use blackface. I think, again, you have to see it in its context. Nowadays, blackface is seen as inexcusable. We, you wouldn’t, nobody would do it today, but I don’t think you should necessarily condemn Al Jolson. You have to see it in the context of the period. And I have seen Michael Feinstein in programmes on TV, and he’s a wonderful artist, I admire him. I don’t think Gershwin or his family were practising religious.

And Joan, who also enjoyed, “Porgy and Bess” at Covent Garden.

Oh, this is Stewart who’s saying, “It travelled to Pittsburgh and Chicago before ending in Washington.”

Todd Duncan, of course, he’s in the original cast recording.

Q: “Who wrote that letter?”

A: Oh, sorry, did I not make that clear? It’s Richard Rodgers who wrote that very beautiful letter.

This is Lena who said that, “Music songs by Jewish American composers, including Gershwin, included elements of traditional Eastern European Jewish melodies.” That is, it’s often said that, and sometimes it was said at the time in a very racist and antisemitic way. If you read, I’m trying to think of, is it Philip Heseltine who also wrote under another name? He music ho, I mean, I don’t think I even want to quote what he says about whining, Jewish melody in popular American music, very, very disagreeable.

Thank you, Susan. Gershwin’s still very much… Of course you can do so much with Gershwin, that’s true. And jazz musicians very often do.

“‘Walking The Dog’ sounds like a very…” I think, “Walking The Dog” is before, “Ain’t Misbehaving,” I think, “Ain’t Misbehaving,” comes a little bit later.

And this is Ron saying, “The song is ended, but the memory lingers on. Opening words, ‘They can’t take that away from me’ it’s a direct reference to Irving Berlin song.” Well, of course, there were quite a sort of mutual admiration society of these composers. And there’s an interview, a radio interview with Gershwin and Rudy Vallée, where he says how much he admires both Irving Berlin and Jerome Kern.

Q: “Did Gershwin do anything about helping Jews to leave Germany?”

A: I don’t know that, to tell you the truth.

And this is Barry, thank you. Thank you very much Barry, and Myrna, and Sally, and many thanks to you all for your nice comments,.

Schoenberg and Gershwin, Herbert’s talking about, and I know it’s, Hollywood was such an extraordinary place at this time with bringing people, you know, thinking, people who’d been former enemies or people think of Rachmaninoff schmoozing with Stravinsky, well, they wouldn’t have done in Europe, but they did of course, in Hollywood.

And, oops, sorry, I missed there, what was that? Yeah, yes, I mentioned that he was quite a gifted painter. And thanks again, thank you.

What Ira, of course, continued, well, I think for a while he must have been such a shock to him, so terrible. But, of course, he collaborated with for instance. He continued his career as a lyricist.

Would I say that, “Summertime?” No, I’m not, well, “Summertime,” it’s very difficult to make these kind of statements. It’s a wonderful song, “Summertime.” But if I had to choose between, “Summertime” and, “The Man I Love,” I’d go for, “The Man I Love.” Thank you.

I’m really sorry, not that I didn’t say, obviously, that it was Richard Rodgers who wrote that wonderful letter. This is Ron Stein, “Checkout, ‘Delicious,’ 1931 film with some interesting Gershwin songs.” So it’s a pre his great period with RKO.

This is Sheila, “An American music critic, When Gershwin died, ‘I heard yesterday that Gershwin had died. I don’t have to believe it if I don’t want to.’” I know, you just think, oh God, it’s one of those things like Mozart or Schubert, you just think, what? He was clearly still developing, still learning. We just have to regret what worked. I suppose it’s more important to celebrate what we have than to regret what we don’t have.

Q: “Could the tumour have been located in a certain area of the brain or?”

A: I don’t know about that, Elaine, it’s an interesting idea. Medical people listening in might know better. Thank you, Anthony.

Yes, Ira did continue writing.

Q: “Isn’t Duke Ellington?”

A: Yes, as a composer, undoubtedly. But obviously my point with those first five images was, there were five composers of Russian Jewish origin.

Oh, that’s a complicated one, Oscar Levant. That was a really weird relationship with an element of almost masochism in it because Oscar Levant adored Gershwin, but obviously was desperately jealous and felt very inferior to him. Very complicated relationship. There’s a movie in that relationship.

Oh, this is Ben who spent a day with Ira. I’d love to have met him and heard his stories. Lucky you, that is great. Thank you all, very nice comments.

Oh, it’s so great. Everybody, I know when people ask questions, there’s going to be somebody who knows the answer.

“World War draught in 1970 for men was 21 to 31.” So Yeah, actually, he was, let’s say 1898. Yes, he could have been drafted.

This is Francine saying that, “Gershwin spent lots of time,” that’s true, “was in a Black colony on the coast of Georgia studying the patois and rhythm of the area.” Oh, thank you, thank you. I don’t think so.

Is there anything else I need to answer here? Trevor Nun was not happy. I don’t know why that was with his own production.

Oh dear, yes, Ira did continue. Oh, how interesting, thank you. There is a play on Broadway now about Oscar Levant called, “Oscar.”

That will answer the earlier question we had. Thank you all very, very much. And onto another great Jewish icon next on Sunday, Ciao bene.