Great Escapes Ira Gershwin along with his wife and sister accompanied George Gershwin on a European holiday in 1928. That trip was the inspiration for George Gershwin's orchestral, "An American in Paris." The four travelers departed on March 11 and followed an itinerary through London, Paris, and Vienna. Upon their return to the United States the Gershwin brothers prepared a new Broadway musical, "Treasure Girl," for Gertrude Lawrence, including such quality Gershwin tunes as "I've Got a Crush on You," a favorite of many popular singers. In 1929, the Gershwins reprised "Strike Up the Band" for Boston's Schubert Theatre. The production opened on Broadway at Times Square Theater on January 14, 1930. In 1932, Gershwin shared a Pulitzer Prize with writers George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind for the satirical score of the musical comedy "Of Thee I Sing." It was the first time that a Pulitzer Prize went to a songwriter, and it was the first time that a musical comedy was honored by an award of such magnitude. The award brought new respect to the musical comedy as an art form. The Gershwin brothers rented a residence on Fire Island in 1935, along with Vernon Duke, Joseph Schillinger, and Moss Hart. There they wrote much of the opera "Porgy and Bess," based on a DuBose Heyward novel set in Charleston's Catfish Row. Gershwin worked closely with Heyward on the libretto for that production which opened in Boston that same year. Following the Broadway production of "Porgy and Bess," Gershwin began to spend most of his time in Hollywood, working on motion pictures. The Gershwin brothers were under contract to complete another musical, THE GOLDWYN FOLLIES, when George Gershwin became ill. After his death in July 1937, Ira Gershwin completed the final song for FOLLIES in collaboration with Duke. Family Matters Ira Gershwin was a retiring person by nature and shunned the limelight. Jablonski and Stewart quoted Gershwin's sentiment, "I always felt that if George hadn't been my brother and pushed me, I'd have been contented to be a bookkeeper." Indeed, Ira Gershwin spent a great deal of time maintaining the financial affairs of his younger brother and functioned, to a large extent, as a business manager for their collective interests. After the death of his brother George, Gershwin inherited the lucrative royalties from his brother's musical scores and a priceless collection of artworks, valued at untold millions of dollars. After his brother's death, Gershwin collaborated with Jerome Kern and Harry Warren on the GOLDWYN FOLLIES OF 1938. Other Gershwin/Kern collaborations remained unpublished until 1968, including "Once There Were Two of Us," "Now That We Are One," and "No Question in My Heart." They worked on a movie score together, WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? and an operetta, "The Firebrand of Florence." Gershwin and the German-born composer, Kurt Weill, became acquainted in 1935, and collaborated on "Lady in the Dark," which opened on January 23, 1941 at the Alvin Theatre in New York City. In 1943, Gershwin worked on the score for Samuel Goldwyn's film, NORTH STAR, followed by the 1944 movie musical, COVER GIRL. Gershwin's final Broadway musical, "Park Avenue," opened at the Shubert Theatre on November 4, 1946. Ira Gershwin died on August 17, 1983 in Beverly Hills, California. Source: ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD BIOGRAPHY SUPPLEMENT, VOL. 20. Gale Group, © 2000 Gale Group. Reprinted by permission of The Gale Group. back to page 2