Customer Reviews

A Talent for Genius: The Life and Times of Oscar Levant

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

'A Talent For Genius' is the exhaustive biography of one of the most colorful characters of American culture of the 30's and 40's: Oscar Levant.

In some ways, Levant's life proves to be even more interesting biography material than that of his good friend, the legendary George Gershwin. Perhaps this is because he lived for so much longer. Probably it is because of Levant's numerous talents other than music.

Because Levant was so social and knew so many of the luminaries of the arts of his time, this book pulls in a nice glimpse of the New York arts scene, MGM's Hollywood in the 40's & 50's, the U.S. classical music scene, and growing up Jewish in New York in the 20's.

Last but not least, Levant was a notorious wit; he was so funny that he could afford to be obnoxious and insulting and still count on being a welcome guest in the homes of his many friends. This biography captures such wit, and is entertainingly written (with tongue firmly in cheek) in its own right.

I am among those who prefer to not focus on Levant's later addiction to prescription drugs; such a living hell would seem to be too much a sad and undeserving fate for one of America's great entertainers and quirky geniuses. Here too, the subject matter is handled sensitively but unflinchingly.

The authors of this book have done a womderful job in fully depicting a very deserving and overdue subject: the life of Oscar Levant.

I first developed an interest in Oscar Levant after reading about him in "Harpo Speaks". Since that time, I've read all of his three books, have listened to two of his albums, followed by the reading of this book.

This book is one of the best biographies I have ever read. It reveals the good, bad, and the ugly of Levant's character. The authors spend a little too much ink playing the role of psychoanalyst, but most of what they offer seems to make sense regarding Levant's wild behaviors.

Overall, this is a fascinating book. Levant was a true original, and this book does an excellent job of filling in the empty spaces of Levant's autobiographies.

These two biographers have done a superb job reconstructing a life that Oscar himself was content (for an audience) to remember with zingers and one-liners. Anyone who has read Levant's hugely popular, now out of print, memoirs, knows that Oscar Levant was a sad, strange man with a razor wit and many compulsions and addictions. Perhaps this book's greatest gift is to show that he was also a decent, even sweet and thoughtful, man of great musical talent who deserves remembering.

In the opening chapter of this book the authors describe the home from which Levant came, and his Pittsburg childhood. On his mother's side they were both a very musical family, and one which had 'sarcasm and humor ' as an unending part of their talking with each other. The roots of Levant's later work are clearly in this childhood, and his specially close connection with his mother's family. Also the lively Pittsburgh world of the time, including the Colwell Street brothel and the teeming immigrant-filled streets were an essential part of the education of this very street- wise classical musician.
Levant's life involved a number of very great successes. He was a composer of more than talent, and of course arguably the best interpreter of his friend Gershwin's music.
He could be quite nasty , and a louse but it seems that many were willing to forgive him , perhaps because they appreciated his great difficulties in life. One of his famous sayings is something like, " They threw me out of the insane asylum because I was making everyone there depressed"
Levant had a career not only as classical pianist and composer, but also as TV talk- show host, and much later towards the end ' guest' on the Jack Paar show. He worked with the great musicians of his time. After a short first marriage he had a thirty - five year marriage to the singer June Gale. The couple had three children.
What is to say finally about a man who had so much talent, did so many things, but also suffered so much and was not particularly loveable many times?
Who else but him could have given us,
"Roses are red
Violets are blue
I am a schizophrenic
and so am I "

If one is a fan of Oscar Levant, I highly recommend looking into this book. The authors of this book had the amazing ability to work with Levant's wife, June, before she passed away helping to add any information that Oscar left out of his three autobioghraphies.

A fascinating figure of the twentieth century, the book highlights Levant's many talents as well as his many flaws and dark moments. The end of the book will surely touch your heart as well as break it as one dives into the complex life of this amazing, tortured, genius.

Only qualm would be the lack of explaination with certain phrases or words that then requires extra research (example, the word Pirandelloish, which in actuallity is not a word, but one Oscar made up).

About nine-tenths of this comes directly from Oscar Levant's three memoirs. That doesn't make it plagiarism, I suppose, since the "derivation", to put it charitably, is more or less (less, actually) acknowledged. It does make it copying someone else's biographies. (An AUTObiography is, after all, a biography.) It also makes reading this a chore for anyone interested enough in the subject to want to get the story from the horse's mouth. (And if you aren't that interested even, WHY are you bothering with THIS?) I deduct three stars.

I deduct a fourth star for this book's abuse of the English language with solecisms such as "germophobe" and "homophobe". (If "homophobe" were a word it would mean "clinical fear of sameness". The author wants it to mean misohomosexualism, hatred of homosexuals, -- someone I know maintains that "homophobe" is no worse than "chocoholic", which is rather like saying that Attila the Hun was no worse than Adolf Hitler.)

I deduct a fifth star for its politically correct pseudo-psychological speculation. It proffers the theory that Oscar Levant remarked upon the libretto of covertly homosexual minor composer Marc Blitzstein's heavy-handed socialist opera "The Cradle Will Rock"'s "pseudo virility" (Levant's phrase) in order to mask Levant's supposed homosexual attraction to George Gershwin. Au contraire, mon frere: 1) Marc Blitzstein did not even WRITE this opera's libretto; he only wrote its music, and Levant PRAISED its music. 2) Levant's assessment of this opera happens to adhere closely to the critical consensus. 3) There is no evidence whatsoever that Levant had any homosexual tendencies, and it is absurd and perverse to suggest that Levant's obvious, though severely qualified, admiration for Gershwin the man, in contradistinction to his even more obvious, and much less qualified, admiration for Gershwin the musician, constitutes evidence.

On the other hand, "A Talent for Genius" is an intriguing title. Too bad the authors never explain what they mean by it.

In any case, don't even consider this until you're read "A Smattering of Ignorance", "Memoirs of an Amnesiac", and "The Unimportance of Being Oscar", and then just skim it to try to find its scant new material -- or pass it by completely. Good luck.

Let's make no bones about it; Oscar Levant ended up a hopeless addict. I really doubt that his life could have been turned around through intervention programs. This books spells it out. It digs down deep into Levants soul, and is very honest at that. It's pretty hard to find good research on Oscar. This, so far, is as best as it comes. However, I'd like to see more; i.e., his 3 daughters. Much of this book is rehashed material. Some is unique.

Oscar Levant was probably the funniest and most entertaining man I ever saw as the host of a TV talk show. His show I think was called "The Oscar Levant
Show" and was on late night TV probably on channel
13 PBS in the late 60s. My favorite quote of Oscar -- "When I was young I looked like Al Capone but lacked his compassion"
The book is first rate and of course I knew nothing about Oscar's piano playing and composing career.
I knew one or two of his movie roles and that he
was a big part of the broadway musicals scene in
the 1940s & 50s. Or so it seemed. Finally I knew
Oscar loved to sleep and he said his ambition was
when he died he wanted to die in his sleep.
The best complement I can give the Kashner Schoen-
berger book is it is the bible for Oscar Levant's life. It's got it all.

These two biographers have done a superb job reconstructing a life that Oscar himself was content (for an audience) to remember with zingers and one-liners. Anyone who has read Levant's hugely popular, now out of print, memoirs, knows that Oscar Levant was a sad, strange man with a razor wit and many compulsions and addictions. Perhaps this book's greatest gift is to show that he was also a decent, even sweet and thoughtful, man of great musical talent who deserves remembering.

Oscar Levant was by far one of the most prominent pianists of the early 20th century. His fame was by no account singularly attributed to his musical success- his neuroses were were part of his biting, acerbic charm. His tale is from a golden age, littered with greats like Gershwin, Chaplin, Astaire, Garland, The Marx's, and the like.

This book is a detailed account of Oscar's life, and goes into greater detail of his apprehensions and taboo subjects than previously published in "A Smatttering of Ignorance", or "Memoirs of an Amnesiac".