George Gershwin - The Tragic End of a Musical Prodigy | Biographical Documentary

One of the best loved composers and songwriters of all time, George Gershwin had no interest in music as a boy. But when he was 10 his parents bought a piano for his older brother, and to everyone’s surprise, he was able to pick out tunes he had learned by following the keys on a neighbour’s pianola.

He dropped out of school at 15 to work as a song plugger, pounding out ditties for people buying sheet music, but within three years his songs were being included in Broadway musicals.
The rest is history, he achieved worldwide fame with his musical theatre, movie scores and genre crossing jazz inspired classical music. He was intelligent, charming, witty, he painted, kept himself fit and had no secret vices.

But at the age of 38 he started behaving erratically, had an absence attack when playing at a concert and hallucinations of the smell of burning rubber. Tragically his symptoms were dismissed as psychological, and he was dead within six months.

Finding Out More
Edward Jablonski's biography, Gershwin, despite being quite old now, is still the most thorough of the numerous Gershwin biographies. I have listed this on my Amazon Store Page. https://www.amazon.com/shop/professor...

Academic References
Bagatti, D. (2016). Music and medicine: the tragic case of Gershwin's brain tumor and the challenges of neurosurgery in the first half of the 20th century. World Neurosurgery, 85, 298-304.
Dandy, W. E. (1919). Roentgenography of the brain after the injection of air into the spinal canal. Annals of surgery, 70(4), 397-403.
Leffert, M. (2011). The psychoanalysis and death of George Gershwin: An American tragedy. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry, 39(3), 421-452.
Sloop, G. D. (2001). What caused George Gershwin's untimely death? Journal of Medical Biography, 9(1), 28-30.
Teive, H. A., Germiniani, F., Cardoso, A. B., Paola, L. D., & Werneck, L. C. (2002). The uncinated crisis of George Gershwin. Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria, 60, 505-508.
Copyright Disclaimer
The primary purpose of this video is educational. I have tried to use material in the public domain or with Creative Commons Non-attribution licences wherever possible. Where attribution is required, I have listed this below. I believe that any copyright material used falls under the remit of Fair Use, but if any content owners would like to dispute this, I will not hesitate to immediately remove that content. It is not my intention to infringe on content ownership in any way. If you happen to find your art or images in the video, please let me know and I will be glad to credit you.

Images
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Wellcome Collection
Library of Congress

Music
Gershwin: Swanee - Al Jolson - Public domain.
Gershwin: Piano transcription of "The Man I Love" - Constantin Stephan CC4.0
Gershwin: 1st Prelude - La Pianista CC3.0
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue, orchestrated by Ferde Grofé, 1924 Jazz Band Version. Bramwell Tovey, piano soloist. United States Marine Band.
Gershwin: Do it again from The French Doll 1922 Paul Whiteman Orchestra - Public domain
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue recording from 1924, by George Gershwin. Public domain
Gershwin: Rialto Ripples - Jeffrey Biegel -Fair Use
Gershwin: When You Want 'Em, You Can't Get 'Em, When You've Got 'Em, You Don't Want 'Em - Gershwin Piano Roll. Public Domain.
Stephen Foster: The Old Folks at Home -Takayuki Yamashita -CC0
Beethoven: Symphony No 5 in C Minor: Fulda Symphonic Orchestra, Simon Schindler. EFF: Open Audio License version 1.
Chopin: Prélude op. 28 n° 4 - Dorian Pâquet CC4.0
Maurice Ravel: Bolero Conducted by Ravel 1930 Public domain
Nadia Boulanger - Trois Pièces pour violoncelle et piano - Cheng² Duo
Gershwin: American in Paris: Ulyanovsk State Academic Symphony Orchestra: conductor - Ilya Derbilov. CCAttribution
Gershwin: Porgy & Bess: Teatro Regio Torino - 2019 Production CCAttribution
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No 6 Wilhelm Furtwängler - Berlin Philharmonic
Claude-Paul Taffanel: Andante Pastoral et Scherzettino. Alex Murray (flute) and Martha Goldstein (piano) CC2.0
Gershwin: The Man I Love: Nethanya - Kibbutz Orchestra conducted by Yaron Gottfried Dan Gottfried piano CC Attribution.
Gershwin: Summertime Russian String Orchestra conducted by Misha Rachlevsky
Gershwin: 3 Preludes for Clarinet and Piano II. Clarinet: Byeon Gyu-ri, Piano: Kim Hwa-jeong CCAttribution
Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F soloist, Chris Reeves, Orchestra of the Pines directed by Gene Moon. CCAttribution

Video produced by Graeme Yorston and Tom Yorston.