George Gershwin

George Jacob Gershwin (1898-1934) was an American composer and pianist. He was also a brief lover of Chloe Dixon in the novel, Golden Girl. Having been one of the most influential American composers of all time, George wrote primarily for the Broadway musical theatre genre, but also was regarded for his orchestral and piano pieces in which he blended the techniques and forms of classical music with stylistic nuances of Jazz and popular music.

Early Life
George Gershwin was born on September 26, 1898 in Brooklyn, New York as the second child of Russian-Jewish immigrants Moishe Gershowitz and Rosa Brushkina. At the age of eleven, George ventured into the world of music after his parents bought a secondhand piano for his older sibling, Ira Gershwin.

From that point on, George took up music as a hobby and sought out the best tutors who could enhance his abilities. At some point, he began studying with a noted piano teacher, Charles Hambitzer, whom Gershwin impressed upon meeting him.

For the next twenty-three years of his career, Gershwin would constantly seek to expand the breadth of his influences, studying under an array of teachers from Henry Cowell to Joseph Schillinger.

Early Career
After dropping out of school at fifteen, George had started playing piano professionally. During this time, he played in several New York nightclubs and began his stint as a “song-plugger” in New York’s Tin Pan Alley.

Although his burgeoning creativity was hampered by his three-year stint in Tin Pan Alley, it was still an experience that improved his dexterity and increased his improvisation and transposing skills. While still in his teens, Gershwin was known as one of the most talented pianists in the New York area and worked as an accompanist for popular singers and as a rehearsal pianist for Broadway musicals. In 1916, he composed his first published song, “When You Want ’Em You Can’t Get ’Em (When You’ve Got ’Em You Don’t Want ’Em),” as well as his first solo piano composition, “Rialto Ripples.” As a result, he began to attract the attention of some Broadway luminaries, and the operetta composer Sigmund Romberg included one of Gershwin’s songs in  The Passing Show of 1916.

Successes
From 1920 to 1924, Gershwin composed for an annual production put on by George White. After a show titled “Blue Monday,” the bandleader in the pit, Paul Whiteman, asked Gershwin to create a jazz number that would heighten the genre’s respectability.

Legend has it that Gershwin forgot about the request until he read a newspaper article announcing the fact that Whiteman’s latest concert would feature a new Gershwin composition. Writing at a manic pace in order to meet the deadline, Gershwin composed what is perhaps his best-known work, “Rhapsody in Blue.”

During this time, and in the years that followed, Gershwin wrote numerous songs for stage and screen that quickly became standards, including “Oh, Lady Be Good!” “Someone to Watch over Me,” “Strike Up the Band,” “Embraceable You,” “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” and “They Can’t Take That Away from Me.” His lyricist for nearly all of these tunes was his older brother, Ira, whose witty lyrics and inventive wordplay received nearly as much acclaim as Gershwin’s compositions.

In the 1920s, Gershwin spent time in Paris, which inspired his jazz-influenced orchestral composition  An American in Paris. Composed in 1928,  An American in Paris  inspired the 1951 Oscar-winning movie musical by the same name, which was directed by Vincente Minnelli and starred Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron. A Broadway musical based on the film opened in 2014.

In 1935, a decade after composing “Rhapsody in Blue,” Gershwin debuted his most ambitious composition, “Porgy and Bess.” The composition, which was based on the novel “Porgy” by Dubose Heyward, drew from both popular and classical influences. Gershwin called it his “folk opera,” and it is considered to not only be Gershwin’s most complex and best-known works, but also among the most important American musical compositions of the 20th century.

Following his success with “Porgy and Bess,” Gershwin moved to Hollywood and was hired to compose the music for a film titled “Shall We Dance,” starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It was while working on a follow-up film with Astaire that Gershwin’s life would come to an abrupt end.

Illness and Death
In the beginning of 1937, Gershwin began to experience troubling symptoms such as severe headaches and noticing strange smells.Doctors would eventually discover that he had developed a malignant brain tumor. On July 11, 1937, Gershwin died during surgery to remove the tumor. He was only 38.

Golden Girl
George Gershwin meets an inebriated Chloe Dixon at a party she attends in Brooklyn in hopes of trying to spy on Marjorie Dixon. When they meet, it's been a few months since George's latest composition, "Rhapsody in Blue", premiered at the Aeolian Hall in New York City. While there, George sees Chloe stumble on her way leaving the bar and he is the person who catches her before she can fall over. He agrees to take her back to his place to help sober her up. He arranges a taxi cab and carries her to the car and also inside his apartment in Brooklyn.

While there, Chloe sleeps with him in just her lingerie to get rid of the alcohol in her system. Once she's sober enough to talk, she uses her beauty to extract information from George on Marjorie's whereabouts. He tells her that she prefers to hang out at the Manhattan nightclubs as opposed to ones in Brooklyn, which is all the information she needs. Chloe leaves the apartment, but not before making a deal that he has to help her whenever she needs it.

Physical Appearance
George is described as being a tall man, standing 5'11", and having a lanky physique. He has a slight olive complexion, dark brown hair, and chocolate-brown eyes. His face is a oblong shape with a Roman nose that is prominent when he is facing sideways. He also has ears that are pointed at the ends.

As for clothes, George has a habit of wearing pinstripe suits and silk ties that have thick diagonal stripes. He also has a square in his jacket for storing handkerchiefs.

Personality and Traits
George is described as being charming, polite, and determined to make his mark on the music scene. Chloe also describes him as charming, polite, and determined to make his mark in the music scene. Like many artists of his time, George searches for the aesthetic everywhere in his surroundings, from people to places and applied it to his compositions.