(2 of 2)
On that score he seldom failed. With Ira as lyricist, George composed the up tunes that seemed the antidote to depression, financial or psychological. Composer Alec Wilder remarked, "Since Gershwin was rarely given to sad songs, what could have been a more welcome palliative for the natural gloom of the times than the insistently cheery sound of his music?" The sound never fades. This year there have been TV specials, new recordings and productions like the Glyndebourne Opera Festival's sellout Porgy. Next season a musical will be fashioned from the old melodies, with a new book by Neil Simon.
Jablonski bolsters the romantic tale of the young composer brilliantly burning out before his time. But in this case the story is true, and the question of what Gershwin might have accomplished remains. As Kay Swift conjectures, "We'll never know, will we? But it would have been important."