When pudgy, pugnacious Oscar Levant went to Manhattan from his native Pittsburgh in 1922 with a copy of Romain Holland's Jean Christophe under his arm, he expected to start a heavyweight musical career. Earning a living playing the piano in speakeasies and theatres, he spent his leisure studying with famed Music Teacher Sigismund Stojowski.
As the years went by and Pianist Levant showed no signs of becoming another Paderewski, he drifted off to Hollywood. As a friend of the late George Gershwin, he became successively a: 1) cinemactor, 2) assistant to a producer...
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