George Gershwin: An Intimate Portrait

Notes

notes Chapter 1. From Street Kid to Wunderkind 1. Isaac Goldberg, George Gershwin: A Study in American Music (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1958), 56. 2. Ibid., 61. 3. Howard Pollack, George Gershwin: His Life and Work (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006), 32. 4. Goldberg, George Gershwin, 121. 5. William G. Hyland, George Gershwin (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2003), 158. 6. Edward Jablonski, Gershwin (New York: Doubleday, 1987), 53. 7. David Ewen, George Gershwin: His Journey to Greatness (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1970), 75. 8. “Tales of Tin Pan Alley,” Edison Musical Magazine, October 20, 1920, 9. Chapter 2. Falling in Love With Kay 1. Isaac Goldberg, “In Memoriam: George Gershwin,” B’Nai B’rith Magazine, August-September 1937, 2. 2. Alexander Woollcott, Long, Long Ago (New York: Viking Press, 1943), 100. 3. Pollack, George Gershwin: His Life and Work, 100. 4. Kay Swift, interview by Vivian Perlis, May 1, 1975. Oral History American Music, Yale University. 5. Woollcott, Long, Long Ago, 100. 6. Robert Payne, Gershwin (New York: Pyramid, 1960), 74. 7. James Warburg, The Long Road Home (New York: Doubleday & Company, 1964), 44. 8. Kay Swift, interview, May 1, 1975. 9. Jablonski, Gershwin, 121. Chapter 3. A Piano Concerto 1. Gregory R. Suriano, ed., Gershwin in His Time (New York: Random House, 1998), 47. 2. Except for the trombones and tuba. 3. Pollack, George Gershwin: His Life and Work, 52. 4. Olin Downes, “Music,” New York Times, December 4, 1925. 5. Hyland, George Gershwin, 95. 180 notes฀to฀pages฀15–30 6. Charles Schwartz, Gershwin: His Life and Music (Indianapolis: The BobbsMerrill Company, Inc., 1973), 190. 7. James P. Warburg, in his autobiography, The Long Road Home, says the year of purchase was 1925, but Ron Chernow, in The Warburgs (see chap. 11, n. 3), 69, and Vicki Ohl in her biography of Kay Swift, Fine and Dandy (see chap. 10, n. 12), put it in 1924. 8. Kay Swift, February 1966 speech, box 15, the Kay Swift Papers in the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library of Yale University. Chapter 4. Ira Takes a Wife 1. Ira Gershwin, letter to Benjamin Botkin, August 18, 1966, box 64, Library of Congress Gershwin Collection. 2. Robert Kimball and Alfred Simon, The Gershwins (New York: Atheneum, 1973), 136. 3. Michael Feinstein, Nice Work If You Can Get It (New York: Hyperion, 1995), 103. 4. Michael Strunsky and Jean Strunsky, in-person interview by the author, March 11, 2005. 5. Ibid. 6. Feinstein, Nice Work If You Can Get It, 114. 7. Ibid., 101. Chapter 5. Porgy 1. Olin Downes, “Music,” New York Times, January 2, 1926. 2. Pollack, George Gershwin: His Life and Work, 399–400. 3. Ibid., 401. 4. Warburg, The Long Road Home, 69. 5. Kay Swift, letter to Mary Lasker, December 30, [1948], Mary Lasker Papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University. 6. Frances Gershwin Godowsky, interview by Vivian Perlis, June 3, 1983. Oral History American Music, Yale University. 7. Ibid. 8. Kay Swift, letter to Mary Lasker, August 2, [1942], Mary Lasker Papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University. 9. In a 1972 interview, George’s valet, Paul Mueller, told Gershwin biographers Edward Jablonski and Lawrence D. Stewart that “George hated her” (Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin). 10. Michael and Jean Strunsky, interview, March 11, 2005. 11. Kimball and Simon, The Gershwins, 138. Chapter 6. Paris 1. Pollack, George Gershwin: His Life and Work, 120. 2. This encounter with Braggiotti and Fray may have actually occurred two 181 notes฀to฀pages฀31–42 years earlier, when Gershwin spent a week in Paris, staying with Mabel and Robert Schirmer. Braggiotti remembered that after his and Fray’s meeting with Gershwin; the latter got them a job playing in the orchestra in the 1928 London production of Funny Face. However, other information indicates that they were duo pianists in the orchestra of the 1926 London production of Lady, Be Good! 3. Mario Braggiotti, interview by Al Simon, Oral History American Music, Yale University. 4. Pollack, George Gershwin: His Life and Work, 138. 5. Ibid., 139. 6. Ibid., 142. 7. Ibid., 143. 8. Jablonski, Gershwin, 167. 9. Rosamond Walling Tirana, speech entitled “George Gershwin, American Composer,” January 6, 1950, Library of Congress Gershwin Collection. Chapter 7. “That Long Drip of Human Tears” 1. Hyland, George Gershwin, 127. 2. Schwartz, Gershwin: His Life and Music, 170. 3...