Customer Reviews

Memory of All That: The Life of George Gershwin

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Though I enjoyed this book tremendously, it was a guilty pleasure. Gershwin's musical life has been thoroughly documented in other books, and comparatively Joan Peyser does a decent job of informing the reader of Gershwin's musical development in this book. However, her strong suit is Gershwin's personal life, and her theories and conclusions in that arena range from the very well-researched to blatant hearsay. Peyser's skill at doggedly digging up such obscure hearsay is impressive. Nothing revealed by Peyser's conclusions seems much out of character for Gershwin based on what we know from earlier more scholarly biographies; it all comes across as quite believable, and addresses head-on some of the juicier issues related to Gershwin's private life. In that sense, this book is a real page turner.

If the principles of scholarly biographical writing dictate that an author doesn't print information that didn't come from one or more reliable sources, Peyser has thumbed her nose that principle throughout this book. She frequently presents tantalizing bits of insider information that she obtained from a lone source, or worse yet from a person quoting another person, and in at least one memorable instance, a person quoting another person quoting another person (whew)! Having said that, essentially there are two new theories that she pushes in this book. One, is that Gershwin had a subconscious masochistic streak in him that caused him to gravitate towards people of a cruel, insensitive, selfish, or sadistic nature (theoretically because his mother was such a person), and the other: that it is a FACT, not rumor that Gershwin fathered an illegitimate son. While the former contention is merely interesting, the theory about Gershwin's illegitimate son carries more historical importance, and deserves a closer look.

Other biographies, notably Charles Schwartz' 1973 biography have addressed the alleged son's claim to be Gershwin's progeny while also making the disclaimer that there is no evidence to prove or disprove the alleged son's claim. Peyser, on the hand, dives head first into this controversy, throwing out every bit of information on the matter that she can dig up, from solid proof to secondhand hearsay and let's the reader decide whether or not it is true. Is this responsible journalism? Probably not. Does it mean that the story is nothing more than an outlandish fabrication? No, it does not. From what we do know as fact about Gershwin, the story is plausible. We do know from numerous reliable sources that Gershwin had an enormous sexual appetite, sleeping with dozens of women in his short life. We also know from the medical records of Gershwin's time that a dancer who appeared in George White's Scandals of 1927, one of Gershwin's musicals, gave birth to an illegitimate son in 1928 who grew up to bear a striking physical resemblance to George Gershwin, including the same premature male pattern baldness famously characteristic of the adult George Gershwin. All coincidence? Perhaps. But based only these facts alone, it is not hard to believe that Gershwin fathered at illegitimate child. It would be harder to believe that he did not. The odds were certainly against him.

I do believe there are certain exceptions to the principles of scholarly journalism, however questionable and unsavory they may be. One exception is when clear factual information simply does not exist to prove a theory, and the best proof an author can muster is circumstantial, e.g., Tchaikovsky's homosexuality. There is no solid proof to back up this claim OTHER than hearsay, and yet it is mentioned in all modern biographies of Tchaikovsky, and generally accepted as fact by the public. Another exception is when solid factual information is known to exist by the author but is withheld by its source, forcing the author to dig around for scraps from less reliable sources in order to corroborate what is known to be true behind closed doors. Such may be the case with Gershwin's alleged son. In all likelihood, there is more than enough evidence to prove or disprove the alleged son's legitimacy (or illegitimacy, as the case may be) as George Gershwin's son. If evidence exists that could disprove the claim of Gershwin's alleged son, one would think that the Gershwin family would have made it public years ago. Therefore, it is reasonable to deduce that the information that they refuse to share with biographers would prove the alleged son's claims to be true. It is understandable that George Gershwin's descendants would want to protect the image of so important an historical figure as George Gershwin, but it is also understandable that Peyser, sensing that she is onto something, would feel compelled to quote less credible sources than the Gershwin family in order to make a case for an important matter in the life of her subject.

I sense that this author has a good nose for sniffing out the truth behind a story even if the proof of her contentions fails to meet good journalistic standards . Intuitive journalism, one could call it. While I am the first to admit that this biography lacks the stamp of responsible journalism, and smacks of lasciviousness, I believe the author is barking up the right tree in most cases, even if she is unable to prove beyond a doubt that there's anything actually up the tree.

A must-read for anyone seriously interested in Gershwin's life, even if one disagrees with every word of it.

This is much more than trash. I found it an unholy but compelling stew. This biography seeks to unmask Gershwin legends while touching on Gershwin's family, 20th century music trends, Broadway, popular song, and the zeitgeist. Granted, it does not tie these things together with any sort of elegance!

Peyser is not afraid to shoot from the hip. Sometimes she overextends and misses...sometimes she is truly persuasive about the players' psychology and motivations.

It's a weird read, combining the recollections of a 101 year old Gershwin family member with observations on Stravinsky's development as a composer. But I'm glad I read it. And I respect this author for doing what she could to record the recollections of people decades after the events. That, in itself, is no mean scholarly contribution!

When someone of remarkable talent and an extraordinary personality dies young, memories become rosy and sometimes a saint enters the historic record. This author doggedly shows just how prickly and unpleasant George Gershwin and many of his family members could be.

Finally, I feel obliged to note that this author seems very indebted to Jablonski's *Gershwi*.

This book proves the old computing adage! It's too bad the author doesn't have any solid research to back up the wild claims she makes about Gershwin's life. Too bad there isn't less than one star on amazon.com ratings, this book deserves far less.

A unhealty stew of a book. While there are a few interesting insights, it is poorly integrated with little or no logical development. It reads like a poorly edited Master's thesis. Too much gossip, second and third-hand reports, and gross speculation. Gerwhwin's impact on both popular and "serious" music is severely understated. Probably the best part of the book is the picture section.

This book seems like an overt attempt at character assassination. If the author wants us to believe most of the "new material" that is presented in this book it's going to take more documentation than third or fourth hand rumor and gossip.

Surely there is a lot more complexity and depth to George Gershwin's character than we have had in previous biographies, but this trashy book doesn't convey that. For example, we are now to believe that Gershwin was a sadist because the author heard that from someone, who heard it from someone, who had it second hand from someone who heard it from George's psychologist? Puh-leeeze!

In my opinion, the author presents a lot of negative points about Gershwin without citing credible sources to back up the claims. I felt I was reading a diatribe from someone with a personal axe to grind, rather than a scholarly or well researched biography.

Let's hope a new generation of biographers don't cite this work as their source material for future biographies of Gershwin. It's trash.

There are other more informative biographies of Gershwin out there...go for something else.

This was a fascinating overview of the life and career of a wonderful composer/performer who left us much too early. It has many details of his life from his youth on through his burgeoning career and successes to his very sad and seemingly unnecessary early demise.
We can get some idea of the internal forces that drove him to his astounding output.
His music, an unbelievably beautiful and defining collection for one so young, has inspired and influenced many over the years and lives on through many movies and records/Cd's.
It's a worthy book for those of us who are lifelong fans to learn more about him, his wonderful talent and (as they say) 'the rest of the story'.

Joan Peyser presents a revealing new account of the intriguing life of American composer George Gershwin. Startling, and always well-documented, Peyser describes the life of this American musical icon of the 1930's, whose compositions include "Rhapsody In Blue", "An American In Paris" and the unforgettable "Porgy and Bess". Peyser, a frequent New York Times contributor and past editor of the distinguished journal "The Musical Quarterly", is well known for her acclaimed biographies of musicians Leonard Bernstein and Pierre Boulez. A great read - fascinating and very worthwhile.