Ira Gershwin
b. 6 December 1896, New York City, New York, USA, d. 17 August 1983. Like his younger brother, George Gershwin, Ira was an indifferent student but became fascinated by popular music and in particular by the lyrics of songs. He began writing seriously in 1917 and had a number of minor successes, sometimes using the pseudonym ‘Arthur Francis’. In the '20s and '30s he was closely associated with his brother, George, collaborating on Broadway shows such as Tip Toes, Lady, Be Good!, Oh, Kay!, Funny Face, Rosalie, Strike Up The Band, Girl Crazy, Let 'Em Eat Cake, and Porgy And Bess. From those productions came some of the perennial standards of American popular song. Despite the high level of productivity the brothers maintained, and which produced such hits as That Certain Feeling, Someone To Watch Over Me, Do, Do, Do, 'S Wonderful, How Long Has This Been Going On?, I've Got A Crush On You, I Got Rhythm, But Not For Me, It Ain't Necessarily So, and Embraceable You, Ira Gershwin found time to write lyrics for other composers. Among these other songs were Cheerful Little Earful (with Billy Rose and Harry Warren), Let's Take A Walk Around The Block (with Harold Arlen and E.Y. ‘Yip’ Harburg) and I Can't Get Started (with Vernon Duke). In 1931, the brothers' collaboration on the Broadway show, Of Thee I Sing, resulted in an unprecedented honour when it became the first musical to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize. Just before George died in 1937, he worked with Ira on the movies A Damsel In Distress (A Foggy Day, Nice Work If You Can Get It) and Shall We Dance (Let's Call The Whole Thing Off, They All Laughed, They Can't Take That Away From Me). In the years immediately after his brother's tragically early death, Ira Gershwin wrote little but eventually resumed work, collaborating with Kurt Weill on the Broadway musical Lady In The Dark. He also wrote for films with Jerome Kern (Cover Girl), Harold Arlen (A Star is Born), and Harry Warren (The Barkleys of Broadway). Several of his and George's stage shows were adapted for the screen, and a collection of their old numbers formed the score for the Oscar-winning An American In Paris (1951). In 1959 Ira published a delightful collection of his works entitled LYRICS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS. He retired the following year, occasionally working on lyrics of past successes when they needed refining or updating for revivals of the most popular Gershwin shows. He died in August 1983. Ten years later some of his most popular lyrics were still being enjoyed in the New York and London productions of Crazy For You, a re-hash of the Gershwins' 1930 hit, Girl Crazy.