Gershwin at 80; Part 9

<v Yip Harburg>'Course, I was always hoping that, you know, I'd get a chance to write with Ira and him <v Yip Harburg>together. And my God I- well, I'll <v Yip Harburg>never forget what happened. <v Yip Harburg>We were- Herald Arlen and I were doing "Hurray for What!" <v Yip Harburg>with Russell Crouse and Howard Lindsay. <v Yip Harburg>And Howard Lindsay had a place up in Bucks County and <v Yip Harburg>we had gone up there to spend a week or so <v Yip Harburg>to get the play broken in, the "Hurray for What!" Show. <v Yip Harburg>And that- we had landed on Friday and this was Sunday. <v Yip Harburg>We'd come from Hollywood. <v Yip Harburg>Uh the Schuberts had flown us in. <v Yip Harburg>We'd come from ?hunting?, or rather we came in by train, really, Santa Fe. <v Yip Harburg>We were out in Bucks County and a <v Yip Harburg>uh telephone came from California. <v Yip Harburg>And it was one of those nice Bucks County country homes and Howard ran up

<v Yip Harburg>the steps to get the telephone ?inaudible? <v Yip Harburg>at the top of the landing. <v Yip Harburg>And he came down. <v Yip Harburg>Harold came down, he went up a whole <v Yip Harburg>bright, ruddy-faced person and he came down. <v Yip Harburg>He was gangrene and he almost fell down the steps. <v Yip Harburg>And I said, "What is it? What is it? What's the trouble?" He said, "Nothing, nothing, <v Yip Harburg>nothing." And evidently he had gotten <v Yip Harburg>ahold of uh Lindsay and Crouse and told them. <v Yip Harburg>But they wouldn't tell me, 'cause I was driving the car <v Yip Harburg>and I had to drive them back home that day. <v Yip Harburg>And they were afraid if they had told me, I wouldn't be able to drive the car home. <v Yip Harburg>So those 3 guys were sufferin' it up. <v Yip Harburg>I didn't know what was happenin'. I thought something conspiracy against me or something. <v Yip Harburg>He wouldn't tell me what was. <v Yip Harburg>In the car, now we were having a hilarious time. <v Yip Harburg>We were kidding. We were joking. We were laughing.

<v Yip Harburg>Up 'till that moment and on the way back, we go on the road, and it was like going <v Yip Harburg>to a funeral. It was a funeral. <v Yip Harburg>So I turned around, said, "What the hell has happened to you guys? <v Yip Harburg>I didn't do- Where's all the humor gone? <v Yip Harburg>Jeez. Are you- is it sure that bad? <v Yip Harburg>Are we really in trouble? I thought we all liked it." And <v Yip Harburg>uh finally, out of Russell Crouse came something. <v Yip Harburg>He said, "Well, we're worried about something." I go, "What are you worried about? <v Yip Harburg>I mean-" I tell them, I said, "I think you've got a great show here." <v Yip Harburg>Well, the conversation was that way in complete silence all rest of the way 'till <v Yip Harburg>we got to New York. <v Yip Harburg>And finally, I turned to ?country?. I delivered Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse to <v Yip Harburg>their respective homes. <v Yip Harburg>And what Harold had uh rented Minnelli's apartment <v Yip Harburg>on 52nd Street, had a lovely apartment. <v Yip Harburg>He was living near Manelli who was out on ?coach?. <v Yip Harburg>And uh Harold said, "Come on up with

<v Yip Harburg>me for a while. Let's go over a couple of things." And I went up and he was still morose. <v Yip Harburg>I knew that Harold, when he took the call, took the call, <v Yip Harburg>started to vomit and that they took him into- in the bathroom <v Yip Harburg>till he had vomited it all out. <v Yip Harburg>And then uh I said, "What happened? <v Yip Harburg>What did you eat? Did something happen?" And he says, "No. <v Yip Harburg>Yip, I have to tell you." He said, "I just got a call." He says, "George <v Yip Harburg>is dead." I said, well I said, <v Yip Harburg>"What- what are you talking about? What do you mean? George is dead?" He says, <v Yip Harburg>"George died on the operating table.". <v Miles Krueger>You knew that he had been ill? <v Yip Harburg>Oh, we all knew we'd been ill. <v Miles Krueger>But just seemed incomprehensible, that he [car honks] would actually die. <v Yip Harburg>Incomprehensible. You- Impossible to conceive of anything. <v Yip Harburg>I'm miss the guy that represented the- the

<v Yip Harburg>very exuberance of life, the very life force itself, the vortex <v Yip Harburg>of life. How could you ever think of George being <v Yip Harburg>dead? It just couldn't- it- <v Yip Harburg>and it took some time to make that impact. <v Yip Harburg>Well, of course, we couldn't work, we couldn't work for a week. <v Yip Harburg>Howard got very sick and tired. <v Yip Harburg>Well, to me, the whole thing was unbelievable for a while. <v Yip Harburg>It didn't- I couldn't quite get the reality of it <v Yip Harburg>for days to come. <v Yip Harburg>Good God. He was the inspiration for everything- for- for the whole group. <v Radio Host>Yip Harburg. <v Radio Host>George's sister, Frankie, was in Paris when she learned the terrible news. <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>My husband and I visited him in 1937, about 6 <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>months before he died. In California, we went out to visit him and Ira.

<v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>He looked wonderful then. He was in great shape. <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>In fact, we just wondered where he got his energy from. <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>He was so energetic and uh he said to us at the time, <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>I'll never forget this, but he said, "You know, I don't feel I've scratched the surface <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>yet of what I want to do." He said, "I'm only out here to make enough money <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>so that I don't have to think about money and then just do what I please." <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>He said, "I- I want to write symphonies and quartets and oper- American <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>opera." And he said, "Oh," he said, "I don't feel I've scratched the surface.". <v Miles Krueger>And yet, ironically, there's no condescension whatsoever in his last songs, which in many <v Miles Krueger>ways are his best. The songs for "Shall We Dance?" and "A Damsel in Distress" and- and <v Miles Krueger>"The Goldwyn Follies" are absolutely beautiful beyond words. <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>Oh, absolutely. So that's how it was. <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>And then it was that spring that he became ill and had these <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>headaches, you know. And we were in- I was in Europe with my husband, <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>and I didn't know he was sick. You know, we- it was- it was- well, I just can't even go

<v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>into it. It all happened very suddenly, then, the last few weeks <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>of his life. <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>The- the- the uh tumor that he had you know? <v Miles Krueger>He must have been just filled with disbelief, I should think that someone with that <v Miles Krueger>vitality to be vulnerable. <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>Yes. In fact, uh when we were in Europe, I think we were in Venice at that time, we got <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>a cable from Leonore who said uh thought perhaps <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>we had heard or-or read something. <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>In Walter Winchell's column, when Walter Winchell mentioned that George was a hospital <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>and she said anything you read, you know, don't believe it because nobody believes this <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>is really happening. And uh so I can even give it much thought, as I <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>knew George had complained about his health you know at times, and- so I <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>didn't really think anything more about it. <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>And then, uh oh, I don't know what was it, about maybe 10 days <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>later that we got a cable from Ira and he said everything possible was <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>done, George. And he went on about George.

<v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>Didn't even know he was sick. We were in Europe, and he was- he was that ill, you see. <v Frances Gershwin Godowsky>This is all very, uh very unexpected. <v Radio Host>Frances Gershwin now sings "Love is Here to Stay," which contains <v Radio Host>the final musical collaboration of George and Ira Gershwin. <v Speaker>[Frances Gershwin Godowsky sings "Love is Here to Stay"]. <v Miles Krueger>

<v Miles Krueger>This is Miles Krueger, wishing you goodnight. <v Radio Host>Gershwin at 80 has been a special 4-hour tribute, presented by the Institute of the <v Radio Host>American Musical, through the facilities of KUSC, Los Angeles. <v Radio Host>The program was made possible in part by a grant from Chapel Music. <v Radio Host>Your questions and comments about Gershwin at 80 are, of course, welcome. <v Radio Host>Please send them to Gershwin at 80, KUSC, University Park, <v Radio Host>Los Angeles, 9 triple 0 7. <v Radio Host>Gershwin at 80 was produced and hosted by Miles Krueger. <v Radio Host>The engineer was Gil Cuong. <v Radio Host>And this is Jim Schmader speaking.