George and Ira Gershwin Collection [finding aid ... - American Memory

1954 Sept. A Star is Born (with music by Harold Arlen, produced by Transconia-Warner Brothers and
starring Judy Garland) is released. Garland's performance of The Man That Got Away is one of
the most iconic scenes in the history of American cinematography.
1954 Dec. The Country Girl (with music by Harold Arlen, produced by Paramount Pictures, and starring
Grace Kelly and Bing Crosby) is released. It is nominated for seven Academy Awards, and
wins two. It is Ira’s last significant film project.
1955 Ira begins work on his memoirs, titled Lyrics on Several Occasions, published in 1959 by Alfred
A. Knopf.
1966, June 4 Ira receives an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Maryland.
1981, Nov. 20 Arthur Gershwin dies in New York, aged 81.
1983, May 1 My One and Only, Ira's last project, opens at the St. James Theatre in New York, running for 762
performances.
1983, Aug. 17 Ira Gershwin dies in Beverly Hills, aged 86.
1985, Aug. 9 Congress approves awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to George and Ira for their
"outstanding and invaluable contributions to American music, theatre and culture."
1991, Aug. 20 Lee Gershwin dies in Beverly Hills, aged 90.
1998 A Pulitzer Prize Special Citation is awarded posthumously to George for his "enduring and
distinguished contributions to American music."
1999, Jan. 18 Frances Gershwin Godowsky dies in New York, aged 92.
Scope and Content Note
The materials in the George and Ira Gershwin Collection document many aspects of the lives and careers of composer
George Gershwin (1898-1937) and his lyricist brother, Ira Gershwin (1896-1983). They span the years 1895-2008, with the
bulk of the material dating from 1920 to 1960.
The music materials consist of manuscript and printed scores, sketches, and instrumental parts, as well as manuscript and
typescript lyric sheets. These range from George's first hit, Swanee (1919), through the end of George and Ira’s career and
form the centerpiece of the collection. The first and largest series of music materials is that relating to stage and screen
musical shows: revues, book musicals, operettas, Porgy and Bess, film musicals, and films with musical numbers. The
compositional and production processes are documented with musical sketches, lyric sheets, short scores, piano-vocal
scores, full scores, and orchestral parts. Many of the music manuscripts are in George's hand, with others in the hand of
orchestrators, arrangers, editors, copyists and, in some instances, other composers. Most of the lyric sheets are Ira's work,
holograph and/or typescript. Some shows are considerably more extensively documented than others, with the earlier works
(particularly those prior to 1923) less well represented. Smaller in quantity, but of great interest nonetheless are the music
materials for George's concert works, chiefly sketches, short scores, and full scores. Also present are musical sketchbooks,
many of which contain material relating to the musicals and/or concert music, as well as the famous so-called "Song File"
and an assortment of miscellaneous musical material.
The correspondence series contains chiefly correspondence of George (much of it written by him), with a lesser quantity to
and by Ira, and a small amount with other members of the Gershwin family. Particularly extensive are George's letters to
Mabel Schirmer and Aileen Pringle, and his letters to and from Rosamond Walling Tirana and Julia Van Norman. In
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