George and Ira

Gershwin
Early Life
Ira Gershwin was born on December 6
th
1896
George was born on September 26
th
, 1898
Grew up in New York City
George started playing piano at age 12
Ira was wrote for newspapers and magazines in school
George without Ira
Dropped out of high school at 15, became song plugger on
Tin Pan Alley
First song to be a big hit Swanee made famous by Al
Jolson
Wrote for 5 of George Whites Scandals and Broadway
shows such as La, La, Lucille, The Rainbow and Blue
Monday
Wrote many orchestral pieces such as Rhapsody in Blue, An
American in Paris, Second Rhapsody, and Variations on I
Got Rhythm
Ira Without George
Used a penname so as not to ride on the fame of his
brother: Arthur Francis
Wrote Two Little Girls In Blue with Vincent Youmans in
1921
Wrote Be Yourself with Lew Gensler in 1924

Lady, Be Good
Opened December 1
st
, 1924 and
ran 330 performances
Starred Fred and Adele Astaire
Book by Guy Bolton and Fred
Thompson
Fascinating Rhythm, Oh, Lady
Be Good, Hang Onto Me
Tell Me More
Opened April 13
th
, 1925 and ran for 100 performances
Worked with Buddy DeSylva on lyrics
No star vehicle to push it forward
Love I Never Knew, My Fair Lady, Why Do I Love You
Tip Toes
Opened on December 28
th
,
1925 and ran for 194
performances
Starred Queenie Smith as Tip
Toes
That Certain Feeling, Nice
Baby, Waiting for the Train
Oh, Kay!
Opened November 8
th
, 1926
and ran 256 performances
Star vehicle for Gertrude
Lawrence
Someone To Watch Over
Me, Do, Do Do, Clap Yo
Hands
Earned back initial $100,000
investment in 10 weeks
Funny Face
Opened on November 14
th
, 1927
and ran for 244 performances
Starred Fred and Adele Astaire
S Wonderful, He Loves and
She Loves, My One and Only
First top hat and tails number for
Fred Astaire
Girl Crazy
Opened on October 14
th
, 1930
and ran for 272 performances
Starred Ginger Rodgers and
Ethel Merman
Embraceable You, But Not
For Me, I Got Rhythm
Last distinctly twenties style
musical
Strike Up The Band
Originally worked on in 1927
with George Kaufman but
failed out of town
Revised with Morrie Ryskind
and Opened on January 14
th
,
1930 and ran for 191
performances
Ive Got A Crush On You,
Soon, Strike Up The Band
1
st
of three satirical operettas
Of Thee I Sing
Opened December 26
th
, 1931
and ran for 441 performances
Who Cares, Wintergreen for
President, Of Thee I Sing
Won Pulitzer Prize for drama.
Most successful of their
satirical pieces
Let Em Eat Cake
Opened on October 21
st
, 1933
and ran for 90 performances
Took a darker tone than
previous 2 shows
Mine, Down With Everyone
Whos Up, Tweedledee for
President
These 3 operettas helped push
shows to be more plot driven
Porgy and Bess
Based on Porgy by DuBose
Heyward
Opened October 10
th
, 1935 and ran
124 performances
George considered this his life-
work
Groundbreaking in its use of jazz
styling in opera
Shall We Dance
First of 3 movies contracted
for 1936-1937
Released in May 1937
Starred Fred Astaire and
Ginger Rodgers
They Cant Take That Away
From Me, Lets Call The
Whole Thing Off, Shall We
Dance
A Damsel In Distress
Released in November 1937
Starred Fred Astaire, George
Burn and Gracie Allen
Nice Work If You Can Get It,
A Foggy Day (In London
Town), I Cant Be Bothered
Now
The Goldwyn Follies
Released in February 1938
George only completed some
of the music
Love Walked In, I Was
Doing Alright, Love Is Here
To Stay, which would be the
last song the brothers wrote
together
Georges Death
Had painful headaches in 1937 but no one thought it was a
serious problem
Fell into a coma on July 9
th
, 1937
Went into immediate surgery for an undiagnosed brain
tumor
Died on July 11
th
, 1937 at 38
Ira After George
Took a 3 year hiatus before writing again
Worked on Broadway with Kurt Weill (Lady In the Dark in
1941 and The Firebrand of Florence in 1945) and Arthur
Schwartz (Park Avenue in 1946)
Worked in Hollywood with Jerome Kern (Cover Girl in
1944), Kurt Weill (Where Do We Go From Here? in 1945)
and Harold Arlen (A Star Is Born and Country Girl both in
1954)
Iras Later Years
After 1954 spent the rest of his life archiving he and his
brothers work
Donated it to the Library of Congress
Died on August 17
th
1983
Their Legacy Lives On
3 Broadway Shows since their death that have used their
music and been successful:
My One and Only (1983)
Crazy For You (1992)
Nice Work If You Can Get It (2012)