Ira Gershwin Facts: Our Love Is Here To Stay

Ira Gershwin was simply one of the best lyricists that has ever written for the stage.  His words… urbane, his rhymes… clever, and he literally created new ways to use language in song.  His legacy lives on in the expressions he chose to set to music.

In his lifetime, those words brought him many honors, including the highest of American literary awards: The Pulitzer Prize for Drama.  Ira was the first lyricist deemed worthy enough to win the honor along with his “book” cohorts George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind for the musical Of Thee I Sing. 

Unfortunately, the Tony Awards didn’t really come about until after Ira left New York for California.  However, he was also nominated for three Oscars for his work in Hollywood.  Interestingly, each of Ira’s nominations was crafted from songs written by different composers: “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” (music by George Gershwin, 1937), “Long Ago and Far Away” (music by Jerome Kern, 1944), and “The Man that Got Away” (music by Harold Arlen, 1954).

Also in LA, George and Ira re-wrote a version of “Strike Up the Band” for UCLA in 1936.  As a Bruin myself, I would like to humbly thank the Gershwins!  I would also like to chide UCLA for no longer using the song.  However, in appreciation UCLA created the George and Ira Gershwin Lifetime Musical Achievement Award.  Past winners have included Angela Lansbury, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Burt Bacharach, and Julie Andrews.

In 1992, Ira would contribute lyrics to a Tony Award-winning show with Crazy For You, a major reworking of Girl Crazy.

In 1973, the Post Office issued an 8-cent postage stamp to honor the Gershwins in the American Art series.

In 1985, they were awarded a Congressional Gold Medal “to honor their contribution to the American Spirit.”

In 1998, the Pultizer committee finally rectified the error they had made to George with a posthumous special Pulitzer Prize to them both, awarded on the centennial of his brother's birth. 

The Library of Congress has named its Prize for Popular Song after the brothers; the award began in 2007. 

I could go on, but I won’t.  Suffice it to say our fascination with Ira Gershwin, and his brother, will live on.  They can’t take that away from me… or you.  Come celebrate Ira’s legacy with us at Nice Work If You Can Get It: An Ira Gershwin Salon, at the Alcazar Theater, 7PM tonight.  For tickets click here, or call (415) 255-8207. 

Ira Gershwin Facts: A Star Is Born

The Gershwins knew talent.

In 1916, George had met a young man looking for a song for his and his sister’s vaudeville act.  Though they did not work together at the time, they vowed they would.  In 1922, they got their first chance with For Goodness Sake.  George and Ira aided the production with two songs, and Ira helped with lyrics to a third.  The show starred the young man and his sister, Fred and Adele Astaire.  The Astaires would later star in the Gershwin’s first Broadway show Lady, Be Good! and their smash Funny Face.

In 1926, they gave Gertrude Lawrence her first Broadway book musical, with Oh, Kay!

Then in 1930, a young Ethel Merman was whisked away to the Gershwin’s apartment at 33 Riverside Drive to audition for their newest musical, Girl Crazy.  After her audition, George offered to play a few songs from Girl Crazy.

Gershwin mistook Merman’s quiet contemplation of the songs as disapproval.  After playing “I Got Rhythm,” George replied to Merman’s silence, "If there’s anything about these songs you don’t like, Miss Merman, I’ll be happy to make changes."

The fog lifted, the magnitude of Merman’s situation hit her, and she replied, "They will do very nicely, Mr. Gershwin." Though Merman’s response was made out of frightened intimidation given her current situation, her almost blasé response helped fashion her reputation as the sassy belter for which we would come to know her.

These were stars that both George and Ira helped usher into the hearts of the American public. However, much later in life Ira would become a mentor to another young singer.  In July 1977, at age 20, Michael Feinstein became Ira’s assistant for six years.  Since that mentorship, Feinstein has become one of the greatest interpreters of the Gershwin’s work and a staunch advocate to preserving the Great American Songbook.

Ira Gershwin met and made his share of stars.  To see our biggest star of the year, Tony Award Winner and Broadway legend Donna McKechnie, come to 42nd Street Moon’s Nice Work If You Can Get It: An Ira Gershwin Salon, this Thursday, January 28, 2010 at the Alcazar Theater.  For tickets click here, or call (415) 255-8207.

(photo: Fred Astaire, George, Ira)