Porgy and Bess opened at the Alvin Theater in 1935.
“The reason I did not submit this work to the usual sponsors of opera in America was that I hoped to have developed something in American music that would appeal to the many rather than to the cultured few.”
The show closed after 124 performances. Although George was negotiating a West Coast revival of the show in 1937, he did not live to see its success.
By 1935 the Depression had created a great dent in the Broadway theater scene. FDR instituted the Federal Theater Project as part of his New Deal programs in order to keep theater people employed, and to keep ticket prices down. Broadway was struggling to stay alive. But in California, the movie industry was thriving.
The Gershwins let it be known they were available to write a Hollywood score, but the offers did not pour in. Their asking price, $100,000 plus a percentage of the gross, was considered very high considering it had been several years since their last hit. To make matters worse, in the eyes of Hollywood, there had also been that opera ! There was speculation that George had lost the ability to communicate with the average theater or movie goer. Eventually, RKO signed them to 20 weeks work on a vehicle for Fred Astaire called Watch Your Step, which was released as Shall We Dance.) George and Ira tied up all their New York business and moved to Beverly Hills in August 1936.
George enjoyed his second stay in California much more than he had his first visit six years earlier. He took every opportunity to play golf, tennis and swim. His home was equipped with a tennis court, and he often played with Arnold Shoenberg. As many of his New York cronies had already moved to California, or soon joined him there, there was a much more active social life.
His reputation as a Don Juan didn’t suffer in California either. His most notable romances included French actress Simone Simon, and Paulette Goddard. It was rumored that George begged Paulette to leave her husband, Charlie Chaplin, to marry him. He was crushed when she refused.
While George composed his film scores with Ira, he supplemented his income by giving public performances. During two all-Gershwin programs he performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, February 10-11, 1937, came an indication of his fatal illness. While performing The Concerto in F George experienced a blackout which caused him to fluff a few notes. Though the audience didn’t even notice the mistakes, it bothered George enough for him to see a doctor. Though the doctor felt that the cause of George’s experience was physical, the examination showed him to be in perfect health.
Since the results of the medical examinations did not uncover any physical problems, George forgot about the incident and began writing the score for a new Fred Astaire musical, A Damsel in Distress.
By early June 1937 George was complaining of headaches, but he dismissed them as the result of overwork. (This is the last photo of George Gershwin. It was taken on June 16, 1937.) He went back to the doctor, but all the tests and examinations, including a neurological exam on June 20 showed nothing wrong with him. The doctor suggested a spinal tap, which would have revealed the presence of a brain tumor, but this was a long and painful procedure and George decided not to have it done.
The doctors sent George home under heavy sedation. The sedatives seemed to decrease the instance of headaches, but George was obviously wasting away at a very rapid rate. Within only a couple of weeks he had lost weight, motor skills, and a great deal of his personal sparkle. He could not walk unaided, he was barely able to eat or speak.
On the morning of July 9, 1937 the doctor asked George to play the piano. That much he could still do. Later that day he lapsed into a coma and was rushed to the hospital. On the morning of July 10 the results of a spinal tap showed that he did indeed have a brain tumor. The doctors felt that surgery be performed immediately.
The country’s preeminent brain surgeon, Dr. Walter Dandy, could not be located. He vacationing on board his yacht. Calls were made to the White House and soon two navy destroyers were dispatched to locate the yacht and bring the doctor to California. The doctor got as far as the Newark airport, when the decision was made that the operation could not wait for his arrival. He was on the phone with the medical team in California during the surgery.
George Gershwin never regained consciousness. He died on Sunday, July 11, 1937. He was thirty-eight years old.