George Gershwin

George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn in 1898 to Russian Jewish immigrants and grew up in New York's bustling neighborhoods. He left school at fifteen to work as a song plugger in Tin Pan Alley and soon had a hit of his own with "Swanee," made famous by Al Jolson. With his brother Ira as lyricist, he wrote a string of Broadway musicals and standards such as "Fascinating Rhythm," "The Man I Love" and "I Got Rhythm."

Gershwin's ambition reached beyond popular song. Rhapsody in Blue (1924), commissioned by bandleader Paul Whiteman, brought jazz into the concert hall, and it was followed by the Concerto in F and the folk opera Porgy and Bess (1935). An American in Paris (1928) was inspired by his travels in France; its bustling street scenes, complete with taxi horns, and its homesick blues capture an American's delight and longing in the City of Light.

Gershwin wrote for Hollywood late in his short life, with songs for the Fred Astaire films Shall We Dance and A Damsel in Distress. He died suddenly of a brain tumor in 1937, at only 38.

His music lived on in film. MGM's An American in Paris (1951), produced by Arthur Freed and directed by Vincente Minnelli, was built entirely around Gershwin songs and climaxed with a 17-minute ballet set to the tone poem, danced by Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron. The film won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, with the scoring Oscar going to Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin for their arrangements of Gershwin's music.