September 26, 2023 | 6 Movies
When it comes to the Great American Songbook, composer and songwriter George Gershwin is one of the most revered artists. Born on Sept. 26, 1898, his music remains relevant and referenced in pop culture 125 years later.
Gershwin songs can still be found on recent film soundtracks, including versions of “I Got Rhythm” in The Fabelmans (2022), “Someone to Watch Over Me” in Don’t Worry Darling (2022) and event “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” in Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021).
Some of Gershwin’s projects have seen new life, including the 2018 Broadway musical “An American in Paris,” inspired by the 1951 film that exclusively uses George Gershwin's songs and his “An American in Paris” suite. And in 1996, the band Sublime sampled Gerswhin’s song “Summertime” from the stage musical “Porgy and Bess” in their song “Doin’ Time.” The song still gets radio play and was covered by Lana Del Rey in 2019.
Gershwin saw great success in his lifetime and is best remembered for his groundbreaking 1924 musical jazz composition, “Rhapsody in Blue.” But his life was cut short when he died of a brain tumor at age 38 in 1937, not seeing how his work continued being performed or that his song “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” was nominated for an Academy Award from the film Shall We Dance (1937) showed that he was a musical genius by his 20s — he was only 26 when “Rhapsody in Blue” was performed for the first time by Paul Whiteman and his band. Gershwin’s creativity was enhanced when he and his brother Ira began collaborating exclusively on music in 1924.
While Gershwin is considered the pinnacle of music composition today, some of his classical music contemporaries — including Aaron Copland — didn’t take him seriously. They thought of his music as simply fun, crowd pleasers, according to Gershwin’s biographer.
“The lines were more sharply drawn between popular and classical musics,” Copland wrote in his 1984 autobiography. In contrast, composer Oscar Straus said, “Gershwin’s music is not my music, but he is a genuine artist.”
As Gershwin began to succeed on stage, he collaborated for the first time with performers he would later work with in Hollywood.
Gershwin’s first big stage hit was “Lady, Be Good” (1924), with music by George and Ira and co-starring the brother-and-sister dance act Fred and Adele Astaire. Fred Astaire already knew Gershwin, and they had always wanted to work together. They finally had the opportunity to work together on this show, according to Astaire’s memoir. The show introduced songs like “Fascinating Rhythm” and “Oh, Lady Be Good.”
In 1930, the stage musical “Girl Crazy” starred Ginger Rogers in her first Broadway show and was Ethel Merman’s stage debut. The orchestra pit even included future big band and jazz stars Red Nichols, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa, according to Rogers’s memoir. The show introduced audiences to Gershwin standards like “I Got Rhythm,” “But Not for Me” and “Embraceable You.” The show was later adapted for the screen three times.
Hollywood bound
After success on the stage, George and Ira Gershwin acquired film work. Their first film was Delicious (1931), starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell. The brothers found the experience disappointing, though the film received favorable reviews.
The Motion Picture Herald hailed George Gershwin’s “New York Rhapsody” written for the film as “one of the finest if not the finest musical composition originally conceived for motion pictures,” according to his biographer.
The two wouldn’t work again in Hollywood until 1937 and found the experience more agreeable.
“This place has shown tremendous improvement since we were here six years ago,” George wrote in a letter to financier Emil Mosbacher. “The studios are really going out for the best talent in all fields, and they have learned a great deal about making musical pictures since last time.”
The Gershwins worked again with Astaire and Rogers, but this time on film for the musical, Shall We Dance. The project was the seventh musical film Astaire and Rogers co-starred in, and it includes the famous roller skating tap number set to the song “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off.”
As the Gershwin's names appear in the credits before the film, a few bars of “Rhapsody in Blue” are played.
“Who could ask for anything more” Rogers quoted lyrics from ‘I Got Rhythm’ in her memoir when recalling working in a film with music by George and Ira Gershwin.
Other songs in the film include “They Can’t Take That Away from Me,” “Shall We Dance” and “They All Laughed.\\"
“Gerswhin was with me a lot through the making of Shall We Dance,” Astaire wrote in his memoir. “We enjoyed reminiscing about our past associations on stage … George was very keen about the progress of the entertainment world. He was very impressed by the growing numbers of talented young people and their ideas.”
The next film the Gershwins worked on together, and the last George worked on in his lifetime, was A Damsel in Distress (1937). This was Astaire’s first film without Ginger Rogers since 1933. Ruby Keeler was initially considered for his leading lady, but they needed an English actress, so newcomer Joan Fontaine was cast. His true dance partners in the film were George Burns and Gracie Allen.
“Joan was not a dancer, but she had studied some, and it was assumed that she could do whatever was necessary in that line, should we need it,” Astaire wrote in his memoir. “Her role did not require much dancing. Any girl following Ginger at this point was on the spot anyway. We hoped to avoid unfair comparisons, if possible, by not asking too much of our leading lady in dance. Joan and I only did one dance together and she handled it beautifully.”
The most notable songs by the Gershwins in the film were “A Foggy Day (In London Town)” and “Nice Work if You Can Get It.” However, while George Gershwin was often with Astaire during Shall We Dance, he was notably absent on set during A Damsel in Distress, according to Astaire’s memoir.
“I noticed, at this point, that George Gershwin had not been around to use us as often as usual during the shooting of the picture,” Astaire wrote in his memoir. “I called him on the phone, saying we missed him and asked why we hadn’t seen him. He explained that he had been painting at home that he was getting more and more interested in it and asked me to come to his house to see some of his work. It was that day I first heard of his being ill. It seemed incredible. Only a few weeks later, he died shortly after an operation. That was some months before Damsel was released.”
While Astaire said the film was “goodish,” he also wrote that the film included some of the best work written by George and Ira Gershwin.
Before George’s death, the Gershwin brothers were also working on songs for the film, The Goldwyn Follies (1938). After George died, Vernon Duke stepped in to help complete the music, according to Gershwin’s biographer.
Living on through his work
Though George Gershwin died in 1937, he has never been out of the public consciousness since.
In 1943, Girl Crazy was brought to the screen with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney, the last feature film starring the pair. Rooney and Garland would appear together in Words and Music (1948) but as a specialty appearance. Girl Crazy was changed in this film version, making Danny Churchill (played by Rooney) a woman-crazy college student rather than a city playboy. This adaptation was the second time the musical was brought to the screen. The first film version was released in 1932, starring Dorothy Lee and the comedic team Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey.
The film “proved one of the more musically satisfying film adaptations for a Gershwin show,” with Garland singing most of the songs, according to his biographer.
The story of “Girl Crazy” was remade again, retitled When the Boys Meet the Girls (1965) and starring Connie Francis, Harve Presnell and the Herman’s Hermits.
George Gershwin was immortalized on screen when Warner Bros. produced a biographical film on his life titled Rhapsody in Blue (1945). Newcomer Robert Alda played George in his first film role with Herbert Rudley in the part of Ira. Structured around 20 of his songs, the film shows George Gershwin’s rise to fame to his death in 1937.
Several real-life performances were recreated for the film, such as:
- Actress and soprano singer Anne Brown recreated her role of Bess from the original Broadway production of “Porgy and Bess” for the “Summertime” number.
- Al Jolson performed “Swanee,” a song he made famous.
- Tom Patricola performs “Somebody Loves Me” as he did in “Scandals.”
- Paul Whiteman re-creates the Gershwin numbers he performed.
Producer George White, bandleader Paul Whiteman and pianist Oscar Levant all play themselves in the film as a tribute to Gershwin.
While several films throughout the 1940s and 1950s featured Gershwin’s music, none celebrated his hits and orchestral pieces like An American in Paris (1951). Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer producer Arthur Freed knew George Gershwin and was still friends with Ira Gershwin. Inspired by their music, Freed created a story about two Americans living in Paris, with Gershwin music helping tell the story, according to Gershwin’s biographer.
“MGM paid the Gershwin estate about three hundred thousand for the use of An American in Paris and various songs as needed, and an additional 50 thousand to Ira for his help selecting songs and revising lyrics,” according to George Gershwin’s biographer, Howard Pollack.
Gershwin’s 1928 orchestral piece “An American in Paris” was used for a ballet finale in the film. Six other Gershwin songs were used in the film: “By Strauss,” “I Got Rhythm,” “Tra-La-La,” “Stairway to Paradise,” “Love Is Here to Stay” and “S’Wonderful.”
The film won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Pianist and actor Oscar Levant, who co-starred in the film with Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron, was friends with George Gershwin in real life.
While friends, music lovers and publications memorialized Gershwin by saying he lived on through his music, Levant was not satisfied, and often annoyed, by this sentiment about his friend.
“‘But his music lives on’… I detest this self-derived omniscience,” Levant wrote in his memoir, according to Gershwin’s biographer. Levant said nothing “could compensate the loss of his corporeal presence, the cessation of his creative being—especially when we could have had both.”
