Monday, May 20, 2019

Who performed George Gershwin ; Irving Caesar "Swanee" 🏞️🌴best?








































Oscar Levant : Hmmmm... Diminished 9th. If I had your talent, I'd be a pretty obnoxious fellow.  What do you call yourself?



Gershwin: George Gershwin. It's my real name.  Mine's Oscar Levant.  I'm thinking of changing it.  [talking the woman eavesdropping] Do you mind?

Secretary: Mr. Dreyfus will see you now.  

Levant: It's about time. I knew he'd come my way.  

Secretary: Not you. Mr. Gershwin. 

Gershwin: Thanks for your advice, Levant.

Levant: Hey, George! Tell Max I saw you first.

Gershwin: I will

Secretary: Are you still here?

Levant: How would you like to sponsor me through college?

Secretary: Fresh!

Levant: [to the woman who had been eavesdropping] You loathe me, don't you? [whistles]




Dreyfus: [humming "Swanee"] 

Gershwin: Mr. Drefyus, sir, may I please make a correction?  It's more like this. May I?  ♫ DA DA DA DA, DA DA DA DA  ♪ 



Dreyfus: Oh. Yeah, it has bounce...A Diminished Ninth, too.  A little unusual for popular music, isn't it?  

Gershwin: Oh, I guess it is, Mr. Dreyfus.  But that's the way I hear it in my mind.  

Dreyfus: Oh, you hear it in your mind, do you?

Gershwin: Yes, sir.  We got to have something different.  

Dreyfus: Something different, eh? Have a cigar? 

Gershwin: No, thanks.  I don;t smoke yet.  It my hurt my wind.  

Dreyfus: Oh, well, you don't know what you're missing.  Especially if you're going to be a musician.  Now watch.  



Dreyfus: There's your whole note image of Unicode Character 'MUSICAL SYMBOL WHOLE NOTE' (U+1D15D)









Dreyfus: Those are half notes image of Unicode Character 'MUSICAL SYMBOL HALF NOTE' (U+1D15E)


Dreyfus: Now, if you could learnt to do that, Mr. Gershwin, you could compose without a pencil.  

Gershwin: You're making fun of me.  

Dreyfus:  Oh, heaven forbid. I was just trying to get acquainted.  

Gershwin: Well--well, how do you like my music?

Dreyfus: Well, how do you like it?


Gershwin: Me?

Dreyfus: Yes, you

Gershwin: But I wrote it. Of course I like it.  

Dreyfus:  Don't say, "Of course."  I've written plenty I don't like at all.  What about other music?  Who tickles your palate most?  

Gershwin: What kind of music?  

Dreyfus: Oh, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Berlin, Jerry Kern -- 

Gershwin: Well, I like them all, Mr. Dreyfus, especially Kern.  

Dreyfus:  Kern, eh?  You know, I think we're going to get on very well, Mr. Gershwin.  


























Narrator: Soon [Irving] Caesar and Gershwin were plotting to write another hit.




Caesar: We were walking down Broadway and heard a song that was a very big hit at the time: "Hindustan", a one step.  I said to George, "Why don't we write an American one step? Why must it be a Hindustan, George?" And very quietly we wrote "Swanee" in ten minutes....TEN MINUTES!!!! I started out and picked it up and BOOM! We were off to the races. [singing lyrics] "I've been away from you a long time ...dah dah dah"

















Narrator: Al Jolson , one of the most magnetic stars of Broadway introduced "Swanee" at the Winter Garden.  When sixty girls with light bulbs in their shoes sang the chorus, the house came down.




Narrator:  Within a year, a million copies of sheet music were sold. The lyricist and composer each earned $10,000 in royalties.











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Posted by adagioforstrings at 2:20:00 PM
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