FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
George Gershwin (/ˈɡɜːrʃ.wɪn/; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions Rhapsody in Blue (1924) and An American in Paris (1928), the songs “Swanee” (1919) and “Fascinating Rhythm” (1924), the jazz standards “Embraceable You” (1928) and “I Got Rhythm” (1930), and the opera Porgy and Bess (1935), which included the hit “Summertime“.
Gershwin studied piano under Charles Hambitzer and composition with Rubin Goldmark, Henry Cowell, and Joseph Brody. He began his career as a song plugger but soon started composing Broadway theater works with his brother Ira Gershwin and with Buddy DeSylva. He moved to Paris, intending to study with Nadia Boulanger, but she refused him, afraid that rigorous classical study would ruin his jazz-influenced style; Maurice Ravel voiced similar objections when Gershwin inquired about studying with him. He subsequently composed An American in Paris, returned to New York City and wrote Porgy and Bess with Ira and DuBose Heyward. Initially a commercial failure, it came to be considered one of the most important American operas of the twentieth century and an American cultural classic.
Gershwin moved to Hollywood and composed numerous film scores. He died in 1937 of a brain tumor.
His compositions have been adapted for use in film and television, with many becoming jazz standards.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Does it snow a lot in the Antarctic?
Oddly enough, the Antarctic is considered one of the driest places on Earth. It gets only an inch or two of snow each year, making it more or less a desert. Those two inches a year, however, have been piling up for centuries, and the snow cover there is thought to be about two miles deep, making it a glacier.
Advice of the Day
Calm heartburn with kiwi or papaya.
Home Hint of the Day
To help prevent a ring in the tub, add a few drops of baby oil to your bathwater.
Word of the Day
Ceilometer
A cloud yardstick. A ceilometer measures the height of clouds.
Puzzle of the Day
What men may be said to be made from trees?
Aldermen
Born
- Gilbert Stuart (portrait painter) – 1755
- Cleveland Abbe (meteorologist, known as Old Probabilities) – 1838
- Bobby Allison (race car driver) – 1937
- Ozzy Osbourne (singer) – 1948
- Daryl Hannah (actress) – 1960
- Brendan Fraser (actor) – 1968
Died
- Madeline Kahn (actress) – 1999
- Henry Chauncey (founded the Educational Testing Service, whose SAT is used by thousands of colleges and universities) – 2002
- David Hemmings (actor) – 2003
Events
- Illinois was admitted to the Union as the 21st state– 1818
- Andrew Jackson was elected President of the United States– 1828
- Oberlin College, the first college to admit women (first coeducational college), founded in Oberlin, Ohio. First named Oberlin Collegiate Institute– 1833
- Johann Ludwig Krapf and Johannes Rebmann are the first Europeans to see Mt. Kenya– 1849
- Quebec Bridge opened to rail traffic, Quebec City– 1917
- George Gershwin, the young American composer, appeared as a soloist at a concert in Carnegie Hall, N.Y.C., playing his Concerto in F, the first jazz concerto for the piano in musical history– 1925
- Eleanor Roosevelt, Mayor La Guardia, and Governor Lehman dedicate the New Deal’s first low cost housing project in NYC– 1935
- Discovery of the Pumpkin Papers” secret documents was announced”– 1948
- Annette Toft was two millionth immigrant to Canada since WWII ended– 1960
- Commonwealth Pacific Cable (COMPAC) opened– 1963
- Final run of luxury train 20th Century Limited finished– 1967
- Pioneer 10, U.S. unmanned spacecraft, reached its closest approach to Jupiter, 21 months after its launch– 1973
- Jupiter flyby of Pioneer 11 spacecraft– 1974
- Polar bear cub born, Toledo Zoo, Ohio– 2009
Weather
- A storm raged in Denver, Colorado, and eventually left 45.7 inches of snow, smashing a previous record– 1913
- Providence, Rhode Island, had a record high of 66 degrees F– 2009
- Boston, Massachusetts, had a temperature of 69 degrees F, breaking the old record of 65 degrees F for this date– 2009
- Concord, New Hampshire, set a record at 65 degrees F– 2009
- In Portland, Maine, the temperature reached 68 degrees F, beating the old record high of 55 for this date– 2009
COURTESY www.almanac,com
