The house that George built : with a little help from Irving, Cole, and a crew of about fifty / Wilfrid Sheed.
| Author/creator | Sheed, Wilfrid |
| Format | Book |
| Edition | 1st edition. |
| Publication Info | New York : Random House, ©2007. |
| Description | xxvi, 335 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | I could write a book if they asked me -- Part one. The piano era. The road to Berlin -- Irving Berlin: the little pianist who couldn't -- Of thee I sing, Gershwin -- Part two. Consequences - the great jazz songwriters. Harold Arlen: the songwriter's songwriter -- Hoagy Carmichael: the jazz song goes West -- Duke Ellington: royalty -- Part three. The stage - Broadway sings. Jerome Kern: jazz comes to Broadway slowly -- Cole Porter: from Peru to Paree to Broadway -- Richard Rogers: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Rodgers -- Part four. Hollywood - the sugar daddy. Hooray for Hollywood (sometimes) -- Harry Warren: the king of the unknowns and his quiet reign in Hollywood -- Jimmy Van Heusen: on the radio with Bing and Frank -- Johnny Mercer: the all-American voice -- Part five. Survival on Broadway - the curtain that won't stay down. Frank Loesser's great New York musical -- Gershwin's last heir: Burton Lane -- Cy Coleman and the future -- Coda: three more majors (for good measure) -- Appendix. Some names that (almost) got away. |
| Abstract | A celebration of the contributions of America's leading songwriters during the Golden Age of American popular music focuses on the work of such musicians as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, and other notables. From Irving Berlin to Cy Coleman, from "Alexander's Ragtime Band" to "Big Spender," from Tin Pan Alley to the MGM soundstages, the Golden Age of the American song embodied all that was cool, sexy, and sophisticated in popular culture. For four glittering decades, geniuses like Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Harold Arlen enticed unforgettable melodies out of thin air. Gershwin, in his brief but incandescent career, straddled Tin Pan Alley and Carnegie Hall, charming everyone in his orbit. Possessed of a world-class ego, Gershwin was also generous, exciting, and utterly original. Half a century later, his love songs are as moving as ever. The author uncovered the legends, mingled with the greats, and gossiped with the insiders. Now he's crafted a dazzling history of the era that "tripled the world's total supply of singable tunes." |
| General note | Includes index. |
| LCCN | 2006051030 |
| ISBN | 1400061059 |
| ISBN | 9781400061051 |