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The most practical way of biographically illustrating George Gershwin is to begin by briefly discussing his genealogical origins, making reference to events prior to his birth.
“The only creative ancestry that I have seems to have been my father’s father who, he tells me, was an inventor. His ingenuity had something to do with Czar’s guns.” - George Gershwin
Yahov Gershovitz’s inventive and creative qualities allowed him and his family to move around Russia frequently. He had served a compulsary twenty-five year military service for Czarist Russia, and that is thought to be related to his apparent ingenuity. But his clever and creative nature is hardly what one might call a composer’s musical blood. Gershwin was somewhat of an exception.
Gershwin’s other grandfather was a St. Petersburg furrier. Little is known of him other than he caried the surname Bruskin. He is certainly not claimed to potray obvious signs of musical talent.
Mr Bruskin had a daughter named Rose Bruskin. When she was 15 years old she met a young man of 19 years, named Morris Geshovitz. Being the son of Yahov he had a great deal of freedom and had found work in St. Petersburg. I could imagine she was jealous of that freedom that had allowed him to work in St. Petersburg yet have originated elsewhere.
Soon after they met Mr Bruskin moved his furrier business to New York, following trends of many Russian Jews of the time He settling in Lower East Side with family and friends. Morris could have remained behind free to explore Russia but the thought of spending twenty-five years compulsary military training caused him to follow Rose to the United States.
In the latter part of 1892 he left St. Petersburg to propose to Rose, so George Gershwin said. On July 21, 1895, they married. George Gershwin had thought the bride was only aged sixteen. He was poorly mistaken. She was, infact, 19 years old, and the 23-year-old groom had earnt the title ‘Designer of Fancy Uppers’ in the women’s shoe department of a local shoe factory.
They lived above Simpson’s Pawnshop at the corner of Hester Street and Eldrige Street when they had their frist child, Israel Gershovitz, on December 6, 1896.. He was also named Izzy and Isadore, but his variety of names was not as large as his list of places of residences throughout his childhood.
The reason for their constant occupation of moving was because Morris always liked to be close to the place he worked, or, later on, near the location of his business. They often stayed in flats
because they cheap, economical, plentiful and often included a bonus of a month’s free rent.
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They were in residence at a two-story Brooklyn brick house in a Jewish suburb, at the address 242 Snedicker Avenue, when Jacob Gershovitz was delivered into the world by a Dr Ratner, who remembered Morris as a ‘leather worker’ and Rose as ‘Rosa Brushkin.’
The change of name form Gershovitz to Gershwin was somewhat of a complex matter to explain; ‘it is possible that by the time he (Morris) married he had streamlined his name to Gershwin’ (Jablonski, 1987), and it is also a mystery how George Gershwin was never named Jacob or Jake, yet registered on his birth certificate as Jacob Gershwin. Many sources I researched in preparation for compiling this report informed me that ‘George Gershwin’ was infact the American alternative to ‘Jacob Gershovitz.’ This causes the truth to be concealed, but I would suggest an errror in the birth registry, and Morris’s change of surname simply a shortened Jewish version of the original name.
George Gershwin was named in memory of his grandfather; this would mean that Yahov Gershovitz, the artistic talent of one of the greatest people in American musical history, had already died.
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Six months old and Gershwin had already experienced the madness of moving house. Manhattan is the second of many suburbs he finds himself in; their residence is a flat on the second floor of Saul Birn’s Phonograph Shop, 91 Second Avenue. Arthur is born on March 4, 1900, the third male sibling in the family. Then 6 years later, on the day Izzy turns 10, out of some strange coincedence, George’s sister Frances is born. Both grew up with little to do with the older two siblings.
By this time George was eight years old, and becoming a bit mischievous. It was no surprise; parental supervision was minimal. George was not very self-deciplined and acted in ignorance and stupidity. He wasn’t aspirable, nor well-behaved at school. The problem was that George’s father was always owning businesses, often restaurants, and George’s mother often helped with the financial and accounting operations of business. While the younger two siblings experienced infancy and until they matured to such an age that allowed them to take responsiblity for themselves, they were looked after by a maid. The older siblings were given the resopsonsibility of taking care of themselves.
His inappropriate behaviours were not all down to his neglection, or morerather the scale of his freedom. They appeared almost an instinct; a character; some unique undesirable quality; an
aspect of his personality. It seems impossible to consider that one of, or perhaps the greatest American composer of all time derived from an irresponsible child who roamed the streets and created trouble. His time was well-occupied; ‘He played, scuffled, pilfered, skated (he was champion roller-skater of Seventh Street during the family’s residence on Second avenue) and grew up in the streets. (Jablonski, 1987); he had little time to excel or even consider school work and academic success.
“There is nothing I can really tell . . . except that music never really interested me, and that I spent most of my time with the boys in the streets, skating and, in general, making a nuisance of myself.” George Gershwin on pre-piano days
It was a great and lively contrast: Izzy and George. George, as you have already been informed, was somewhat of a mischevious and non-ambitious boy, and Izzy was the predicted scholar of the family. With an instinctive character of effort, ambition, aim and success, he was an ultimate contrast to his younger brother. His responsible and formal personality would never justify roaming New York streets. He performed in acacemic work, largely down to study, and was always on his best behaviour. Unlike George, he strove for academic excellent and success. Meanwhile Gershwin and his cheeky followers stole bagels, fruit and other foods in the hope of arousing
trouble.
While Jews flooded to New York from Europe and Russia, his family moved residence around Manhattan, Coney Island, Harlem and Brooklyn as Morris Gershwin found new enterprises and trades to find success and overcome the depressive states of the New York economy, all eased and supported by Morris’s artisan status. They totalled almost thirty changes of address, compared to a reasonably static Jewish population in Lower East Side, the largest Jewish population in the world, which cradled Jewish traditions, language and beliefs. A simple family structure ran within this community: a working father and a mother to raise the children, cook and run the household.
This structure was ignored in the Gershwin famly. George’s parents were a successful, hard-going business couple who cared for the children and there desires and aspirations, but didn’t watch over there shoulder along the way, or pop up around every corner. Instead Rose kept a close eye on Morris’s business matters. He moved from a bakery, to a Turkish bath, to a small chain of restaurants, to a pool parlour, to...
“...book-making at the Brighton Beach Race Track for three disastorous weeks.” Ira/Izzy Gershwin
And if they suffered too heavily Rose was willing to say goodbye to her diamond ring for a short while, in her normal manner of support for her husband. She did not believe that George should have a career in music; in a manner of obvious self-respect she strongly expressed her views on George’s future. But George and her mother were similar, as was Ira and their father.
A description of his mother and frequent discussion of eduction and the success following it: ‘She was conserned , but not ffectionate.’ (Jablonski, 1987). The lack of authority and religious faith in the Gershwin family is represented by the fact only Ira recieved the bar mitzvah at thirteen.
George escaped from schools, with his only real talent being potrayed with a ‘flashing revelation of beauty’ at PS 25. This somehow began a life that would set him into American musical fame.
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His new interest in music began when he heard the music of a chubby, dark-haired eight-year-old boy by the name of Max Rosenzweig, and wanted to meet him and express how much he admired his performance. They became close friends, sharing a love of music: Max’s was obvious and lengthy; George’s a fresh new interest he preferred to keep secret. Max later came to be well-known as the vituoso Max Rosen.
George and Max had wrestling matches whenever they met, but George usually won, which he later described as proof of his great strength and co-ordination, which contrasted to the small problems he had with his physical health.
“I’ve always been very strong, but I can’t remember when I’ve been without some small ailment. When I was young I had a lot of trouble with my tonsils and with my nose- having once been kicked on the bridge of my nose by a horse.” George Gershwin
This problem was almost as frustrating as the scar over his right eye was deep.
Max may have inspired Gershwin, but not everything he said was encouraging. When Gershwin once expressed hopes of being Max’s accompanist, Max replied, “You haven’t got it in you, Georgie, take my word for it, I can tell.” These words were thought to have collapsed their
friendship, but Gershwin’s interest and determination to succeed in music remained.
Gershwin impressed his family with popular tunes on the friend’s piano. Ira observed the brilliant talents of George’s left hand, while Rose thought it would add culture to the family and entertain family friends, but saw his future after his training in a ‘serious occupation’ away from music. His training began under local teacher Miss Green, but exceeded both her and two other teachers, passing through the intrustion books almost unchallenged. He was sent to a Hungarian band leader who Ira remembered for being generously mustached. In George’s words:
“He played the piano with great gusto and a barrel of gesturues.”
He then moved onwards to Jack Miller of the Beethoven Society Orchestra at fourteen, who
introduced him to Charles Hambitzer. Gershwin was, by then, playing in numerous concerts and mastering many pieces. His words on Habitzer:
“I was crazy for that man. I went out, in fact, and drummed up ten pupils for him.”
A friend, Ben Bloom, who worked in Tin Pan Alley, informed Gershwin of a job available there. Tin Pan Alley was the centre of the New York musical industry, with sheet music a big business at the absence of radio, sound film and television.
George Gershwin successfully got a job as a song-pluggger for the new company Remick’s. His job required him to be a salesperson to potential customers, playing selected pieces in cubicles
that were not sound-proof. After being discouraged from composing and trying to publish his own music, he went to work at other publishing companies.
His first published song was ‘When you want ‘em,’ with lyrics by Murray Roth. They sold their song to Von Tilzer, but Gershwin only received $5 royalties from Tilzer, and only after he went and requested money for it. The successful combination then went on to produce their second and final song ‘My Runaway Girl.’ They talked to Shuberts composer Sigmund Romberg, who showed more interest in Gershwin than the song itself and asked him to stay to help produce the next production at the Winter Garden, The Passing Show of 1916. He had lost Roth.
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