50 Fun Facts About George Gershwin

Which song was the hit of Gershwin's 1935 opera Porgy and Bess?

The lyric was written by the librettist rather than Ira, and the song has become one of the most recorded in the American songbook.

Rhapsody in Blue blends classical music with effects drawn from which genre?

The piece is credited with defining the Jazz Age and inaugurating a new era in American concert music.

In which US state did Gershwin spend the summer of 1934 gathering material for his opera?

He was invited to Folly Island by the author of Porgy, and soaked up the local music before writing the opera.

In which year was George Gershwin born?

He was born on September 26, 1898, two years after his brother Ira, and had no middle name.

In which New York borough was Gershwin born?

The family lived at 242 Snediker Avenue in East New York, and moved constantly as his father changed businesses.

Which of Gershwin's brothers was his main lyricist?

Ira was the elder brother; younger brother Arthur also became a composer, and sister Frances was the first in the family to earn a living from music.

Which Broadway star heard Gershwin play 'Swanee' at a party and put it in his show?

Jolson turned the 1919 song into Gershwin's first big national hit.

Which unusual instruments did Gershwin bring back from France for An American in Paris?

The four horns were labelled A, B, C and D, which later caused decades of confusion about which pitches he actually wanted.

In which city is the opera Porgy and Bess set?

Gershwin spent the summer of 1934 on nearby Folly Island soaking up the locale and its music.

How old was Gershwin when he died in 1937?

He collapsed while working on the score of The Goldwyn Follies and died two days later.

What caused Gershwin's death in July 1937?

Doctors only suspected the tumor after he fell into a coma; a glioblastoma was removed hours before he died.

Which Woody Allen film has a soundtrack made entirely of Gershwin compositions?

The 1979 film opens with a monologue about a town that 'pulsated to the great tunes of George Gershwin'.

What job did 15-year-old Gershwin take on Tin Pan Alley after leaving school?

He demonstrated sheet music for Jerome H. Remick and Company, a Detroit publisher with a New York office.

Which instrument plays the famous opening glissando of Rhapsody in Blue?

American Heritage called the wail as instantly recognisable as the opening of Beethoven's Fifth.

Gershwin went to Hollywood in 1936 to score a film starring which dance partners?

The RKO score runs over an hour and took him months to compose and orchestrate.

Which European capital inspired Gershwin's 1928 tone poem?

He wrote it to portray an American visitor strolling the city and absorbing its street noises.

Who orchestrated the original 1924 scoring of Rhapsody in Blue?

Whiteman's arranger scored it in ten days and later produced the 1926 pit and 1942 symphonic versions too.

Which bandleader commissioned Rhapsody in Blue?

He later adopted the piece as his theme and opened radio shows with 'Everything new but the Rhapsody in Blue.'

What was the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama?

The 1931 prize went to the writers and Ira; as composer, George was not part of the award.

Porgy and Bess was adapted from a 1925 novel by which author?

He and his wife Dorothy first turned the novel into a play before Gershwin proposed an opera in 1926.

In which city did Porgy and Bess have its world premiere in 1935?

The Colonial Theatre try-out ran four hours; Gershwin cut it heavily before the Alvin Theatre opening on Broadway ten days later.

Which Porgy and Bess song had lyrics by Ira rather than the librettist?

Most of the other lyrics came from the author of the original novel, who also wrote the libretto.

In which New York venue did An American in Paris premiere in December 1928?

Gershwin disliked the conductor's dragging tempo so much that he walked out of a later matinee.

In which year did Gershwin write his Concerto in F?

It followed Rhapsody in Blue by a year and was commissioned by Walter Damrosch of the New York Philharmonic.

Which Paris teacher told Gershwin 'What could I give you that you haven't already got?'

She gave the same answer to all her accomplished master students; Gershwin used the trip to finish his French tone poem instead.

Which future film star sang 'Embraceable You' in the 1930 musical that introduced it?

Girl Crazy also introduced 'I Got Rhythm' in the same season.

Gershwin gave 'Strike Up the Band' to which university as a football fight song?

The school later created the George and Ira Gershwin Lifetime Musical Achievement Award in thanks.

Gershwin's only Oscar nomination was for a song from which 1937 film?

The nominated song was 'They Can't Take That Away from Me'; the nomination came two months after he died.

Who was the first recipient of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize in 2007?

The prize honours a lifetime of popular songwriting in the spirit of George and Ira.

Who wrote the words to Gershwin's 1919 hit 'Swanee'?

It was Gershwin's first national hit and the subject of his own first recording, with the Fred Van Eps Trio.

Which composer, told how much Gershwin earned, replied 'You should give me lessons'?

Stravinsky is sometimes credited with the line, but he confirmed he first heard the story from the Frenchman.

Which composer played tennis with Gershwin in Hollywood?

He also turned down Gershwin's request for lessons, saying he would only make him a bad Schoenberg.

Paintings by which artist inspired Ira to suggest the title Rhapsody in Blue?

The working title had been American Rhapsody until Ira saw canvases titled like Nocturne in Black and Gold.

Which clarinetist's rehearsal joke created the opening wail of Rhapsody in Blue?

He stretched the scale as a gag; Gershwin liked it and asked for as much wail as possible.

Who sang Porgy in the original 1935 Broadway production?

He later led the cast in a protest that won the first integrated audience at Washington's National Theatre.

Which Juilliard student, the first Black vocalist admitted there, created the role of Bess?

Gershwin was so impressed that he expanded what had been a secondary role and renamed the opera Porgy and Bess.

Which company's 1976 staging restored the complete original score of Porgy and Bess?

It moved to Broadway, won a Tony Award (the only opera ever to do so) and turned opinion of the work around.

Who directed the 1959 film adaptation of Porgy and Bess?

He replaced the original stage director after a falling-out with producer Samuel Goldwyn; Dorothy Dandridge and Sidney Poitier starred.

What did Gershwin earn per week as a teenager at publisher Jerome H. Remick?

He plugged songs for the Detroit publisher's New York office; his first published song three years later paid a pittance.

The 1926 musical Oh, Kay! was named for which composer, Gershwin's partner of ten years?

She divorced banker James Warburg for him; after his death she transcribed his recordings and worked with Ira.

Gershwin's reported last words were the name of which performer?

He collapsed at lyricist Yip Harburg's house on July 9, 1937, while working on The Goldwyn Follies.

Which phantom smell did Gershwin repeatedly report in the months before he died?

The olfactory hallucinations and blinding headaches were symptoms of the undiagnosed tumor.

How many performances did the original 1935 Broadway run of Porgy and Bess last?

It was a commercial failure; the 2012 revival with Audra McDonald ran 322 performances, the longest to date.

Which vaudeville star created the role of Sportin' Life in 1935?

Avon Long took over the part in the 1938 West Coast revival and played it for decades.

Whose score adaptation won the 1959 Porgy and Bess film its only Academy Award?

Sammy Davis Jr., Brock Peters and Pearl Bailey were the only principals who did their own singing.

How much did Gershwin's first published song earn him in 1916?

The song was 'When You Want 'Em, You Can't Get 'Em, When You've Got 'Em, You Don't Want 'Em'.

Under which pseudonym did Gershwin issue some of his early piano rolls?

Fred Murtha was another alias; the rolls were cut for the Aeolian Company and Standard Music Rolls.

Which neurosurgeon was fetched by Coast Guard cutter from a fishing trip to try to save Gershwin?

He was on a yacht in Chesapeake Bay with Maryland's governor; Gershwin died before he could reach Los Angeles.

Gershwin's Second Rhapsody was originally called 'Rhapsody in' what?

An early version was written for the 1931 film Delicious; the Cuban Overture was likewise first called Rumba.

Where did Rhapsody in Blue receive its first British performance in 1925?

The BBC relayed it live, with Debroy Somers conducting the Savoy Orpheans and Gershwin at the piano.